Channel 4 TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On Channel 4 Tonight

Published: 29 August 2026

Channel 4 is the UK’s publicly owned but ad-funded broadcaster, free to watch and responsible for a fair chunk of the odder British television of the past forty years. You’ll find it at 4 on Freeview, and at 104 on Freeview HD, Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat. It streams live and on demand for free at channel4.com and through the Channel 4 app. Channel 4 News runs weeknights at 7pm; Gogglebox is the Friday 9pm fixture.

Sunday 30 August is built around Sunday Brunch, the three-hour weekend fixture that runs live from 10am, and around a war epic that occupies much of the afternoon: The Bridge on the River Kwai runs from 3:30pm and doesn’t finish until 6:35pm, eating into what would normally be the evening’s opening slot. Gogglebox takes 7pm, Richard E. Grant closes out his travel series at 8pm, and 24 Hours in Police Custody and a new run of Love Cheats fill out the rest of the night.

Channel 4 Schedule: Sunday 30 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 4 schedule for Sunday 30 August 2026, on Freeview 4.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 4 today: the daytime schedule

Sunday daytime on Channel 4 has none of the weekday fixtures — no Countdown, no A Place in the Sun, no Four in a Bed. The overnight hours run the American sitcom archive and a stray documentary: White Ant at 1am, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA at 1:15am, then the drama Hope from 2:05am and four episodes of The Simpsons from 4:10am, with Superhero Tri 2026 taking the run up to 6:20am.

Breakfast is two episodes of Cheers, then three of Everybody Loves Raymond and three of Frasier, carrying through to 10am. That’s when the channel’s Sunday signature takes over: Live: Sunday Brunch runs a full three hours, from 10am to 1pm. Three more episodes of The Simpsons fill the early afternoon, then Our Farm Next Door: Amanda, Clive and Kids at 2:25pm. The Bridge on the River Kwai starts at 3:30pm and runs three hours five, holding the schedule right up to 6:35pm — later than most channels’ evening news.

Channel 4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Sunday 30 August is a fuller night on Channel 4 than the schedule at first suggests, largely because of what’s still running when the evening technically starts.

The Bridge on the River Kwai — Channel 4, 3:30pm

David Lean’s 1957 war epic has been running since mid-afternoon and doesn’t let go until 6:35pm, which means Channel 4’s evening proper opens more than three hours after the film began. Anyone tuning in at 6pm expecting the usual run-up to the news finds Alec Guinness’s Colonel Nicholson still building his bridge.

Channel 4 News — Channel 4, 6:35pm

A twenty-five-minute bulletin, shorter than the weekday hour and starting later than the film’s afternoon slot would suggest.

Gogglebox — Channel 4, 7pm

Sofas across the country react to the past week’s television, this time to series 27, episode 19. It’s one of two Gogglebox outings on the schedule tonight — the second is a later repeat, not a new episode.

Richard E. Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey — Channel 4, 8pm

This is the last of four episodes, closing out the actor’s journey through the Ionian with a stop in Corfu before he reaches Ithaca, the island Odysseus was trying to get home to. The feed tags it as new, which is technically true — it’s the first UK broadcast — but it’s a send-off, not a launch.

24 Hours in Police Custody — Channel 4, 9pm

A new case for the fixed-camera documentary strand, built around the hunt for whoever ran down a teenage boy and left him fighting for his life. Ninety minutes on a channel that has built a reputation on exactly this kind of unfussy, procedural filmmaking.

Love Cheats — Channel 4, 10:15pm

A new series opener for the romance-fraud strand, which opens its second run with stories involving a global music icon and a wealthy businessman targeted by scammers posing as love interests.

Gogglebox — Channel 4, 11:15pm

A repeat of an earlier series-26 episode, not connected to the 7pm edition and airing well past most viewers’ bedtimes.

Popular shows on Channel 4

Comedy and entertainment

Gogglebox has been running since 2013, filming regular families and friends reacting to the week’s telly from their own sofas. When something big happens in the culture, their reactions often land harder than any think-piece. It won the BAFTA for Reality and Constructed Factual in 2014 and is still going more than a decade later.

Taskmaster moved to Channel 4 from Dave in 2020 and has run a new series most years since. Greg Davies’s mock authority and Alex Horne’s deadpan make for a double act that never feels forced. Series 21 began in April 2026 with Amy Gledhill, Armando Iannucci, Joanna Page, Joel Dommett and Kumail Nanjiani.

Factual and documentary

24 Hours in A&E films inside a working NHS hospital, originally St George’s in Tooting and later King’s College, with fixed cameras and no presenter. It trusts the patients and staff to carry it, which they do. Dispatches, running since 1987, does the investigative work few other British programmes go near; its 2023 Russell Brand investigation was made jointly with two national newspapers.

Baking, lifestyle and food

The Great British Bake Off can make an entire nation care about proving times and choux pastry. It moved from the BBC to Channel 4 in 2017 and still pulls some of the biggest entertainment audiences of the year each autumn. Bake Off: The Professionals swaps the amateurs for trained pastry chefs, and the sugar-work sculptures they produce are frankly ridiculous. Come Dine With Me just keeps going in the afternoons, held together entirely by Dave Lamb’s narration.

How to watch Channel 4 live and on demand

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find Channel 4 depending on your platform:

All of these are free-to-air, no subscription needed. Channel 4 takes no money from the TV Licence; it runs on advertising and commercial partnerships, which is why you get ad breaks on both the linear channel and the stream.

Channel 4 streaming service

Channel 4 streams live and on demand for free at channel4.com and through the Channel 4 app, which runs on smart TVs, iOS, Android, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and most major streaming sticks. You need a free account to watch; registration takes a couple of minutes. Alongside the live feed there’s the full on-demand library, box sets, and some series that never appear on linear TV. Most programmes stay up for at least 30 days after broadcast. The service used to be called All 4 before Channel 4 folded it under its own name in 2023.

The Channel 4 family of channels

Channel 4 runs a group of free-to-air digital channels alongside the main service.

E4 is the entertainment and comedy channel aimed at younger viewers. It’s the linear home of Hollyoaks, which airs Monday to Wednesday at 7pm on E4, with the omnibus appearing on Channel 4 overnight on Tuesdays. E4 also carries American imports including The Big Bang Theory and Friends. It’s on Freeview 28, Sky 140 and Virgin Media 144.

More4 is where the factual and lifestyle back catalogue goes to live a second life: property, true crime, acquired documentary series, and a great many daytime repeats. More4 is on Freeview 18, Sky 144 and Virgin Media 148.

Film4 is the free movie channel, and a genuinely good one: mainstream Hollywood in the evenings, world and independent cinema later on, no subscription anywhere in it. Film4 is on Freeview 15, Sky 313 and Virgin Media 428.

4seven replays the past week of Channel 4 and its sister channels at different times of day, for anyone who’d rather not use the app. It’s on Freeview 47 and Sky 149.

Frequently asked questions

What channel number is Channel 4 on Freeview?

Channel 4 is on channel 4 on Freeview. If you have a Freeview HD receiver or a TV with a built-in Freeview HD tuner, Channel 4 HD is on channel 104. Both carry the same programmes.

What channel is Channel 4 on Sky?

Channel 4 is on channel 104 on Sky, which covers Sky Q, Sky Stream and Sky Glass. Channel 4 HD is the default feed at 104.

What channel is Channel 4 on Virgin Media?

Channel 4 is on channel 104 on Virgin Media.

What channel is Channel 4 on Freesat?

Channel 4 is on channel 104 on Freesat. If you’re in Wales you may find S4C at 104 on some tuners; check your regional listing accordingly.

What time is Channel 4 News on?

Channel 4 News is on Monday to Friday at 7pm, running until 7:55pm. It’s produced by ITN and streams free on channel4.com and the Channel 4 app alongside the linear broadcast. Weekend bulletins are shorter and earlier, typically around 6:30-6:35pm and roughly twenty-five minutes long.

What time is Gogglebox on Channel 4?

Gogglebox’s home slot is Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4, with episodes available on the Channel 4 streaming service shortly after broadcast. The Celebrity Gogglebox spin-off turns up in other slots through the week, including some Monday nights, with a different line-up of famous faces reacting to the same shows.

What’s on Channel 4 tonight?

Tonight, Sunday 30 August 2026, The Bridge on the River Kwai runs into the evening, not finishing until 6:35pm. Gogglebox opens the schedule proper at 7pm, Richard E. Grant’s Very Modern Odyssey wraps up its four-part run at 8pm, 24 Hours in Police Custody brings a new case at 9pm, and Love Cheats starts a second series at 10:15pm. A repeat edition of Gogglebox closes out the night at 11:15pm.

Can I watch Channel 4 online for free?

Yes. Channel 4 streams live and on demand for free at channel4.com and through the Channel 4 app. A free account is required to watch. The service is available on smart TVs, phones, tablets, Amazon Fire TV, Roku and most streaming sticks. Channel 4 is ad-supported, so adverts are included in the stream.

Does Channel 4 have a streaming service?

Yes. It’s the same free service covered above at channel4.com and via the Channel 4 app, previously known as All 4 before Channel 4 dropped the separate branding in 2023.

Verdict

Channel 4’s Sunday is built around two long single items rather than a run of half-hour formats. The Bridge on the River Kwai holds the schedule for most of the afternoon and edges into what would normally be early-evening territory, pushing the news back to 6:35pm. From there it’s a solid four-item evening: Gogglebox, a travel documentary reaching its natural end point, a fixed-camera crime documentary, and a series opener for Love Cheats.

Richard E. Grant’s finale is worth catching for anyone who’s followed the series, but going in cold at episode four isn’t the ideal starting point. The stronger reason to watch is the 9pm-10.15pm run, where Channel 4 does what it does best: unshowy, well-made factual programming with real cases attached.

Watch

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Channel 4 Schedule | BBC One TV Guide | Films on TV This Week