Dave

Updated: 9 August 2026

Dave is UKTV’s comedy and entertainment channel, and almost everything it broadcasts belongs to somebody else. The exception is Red Dwarf, which Dave revived in 2009 with the original cast and has been trading on ever since. UKTV became a wholly owned subsidiary of BBC Studios in 2021 and renamed the channel U&Dave in July 2024, when it pushed the whole portfolio under a single “U” brand. Nobody calls it that. Tonight, Tuesday 4 August 2026, it’s another panel-show evening: Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing opens at 7pm, then two episodes of Would I Lie to You? run back to back from 7:40pm. Have I Got a Bit More News for You follows at 9pm with Jack Dee in the guest host’s chair, an early Stephen Fry-hosted QI XL repeats at 10pm, and Taskmaster closes the night at 11pm.

Dave Schedule: Tuesday 4 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Dave schedule for Tuesday 4 August 2026, on Freeview 19.

What’s on Dave today

Tuesday daytime on Dave is built around classic Top Gear and travel documentary repeats. An early episode from series 7 airs at 7:25am, before two instalments of Border Force America’s Gatekeepers cover the late-morning stretch from 8:20am. Rick Stein’s Spain and Yukon Gold fill 10:20am and 11:20am, then two more Top Gear repeats from series 15 run through the early afternoon. Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing gets a daytime outing at 2:20pm ahead of Martin Clunes: Islands of America at 3pm, and Rick Stein’s Spain returns twice more from 4pm before the evening schedule takes over at 6pm.

Dave tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Dave primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 4 August 2026.

Hairy Bikers’ Best of British — Dave, 6pm

This episode turns to Britain’s fishing trade, taking in Welsh coracle fishing and a stop on the Isle of Wight to look at underused species that could take the pressure off over-fished favourites. It’s the gentler end of the evening, more food history than competition.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing — Dave, 7pm

Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse take their rods to the lakes of Essex, kitted out with more gear than the fish probably warrant. Between casts they get into what a mid-life crisis actually looks like, and somehow end up at a beauty clinic.

Would I Lie to You? — Dave, 7:40pm

Bob Mortimer, Patsy Kensit, Greg Davies and Richard Osman sit across from team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell, each trying to sell an outlandish personal story as true. Rob Brydon presides, or pretends to referee.

Would I Lie to You? — Dave, 8:20pm

A second helping straight after, with Jack Whitehall, Emily Maitlis, Jim Carter and Armando Iannucci taking their turn against Mitchell and Mack. Whitehall and Iannucci both know how to spin a story, which makes the guessing harder than the earlier episode.

Have I Got a Bit More News for You — Dave, 9pm

Jack Dee takes the guest host’s chair for this rerun, with Phil Wang and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi filling the panellist seats alongside regulars Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Dee’s flat delivery plays well off Hislop’s needling.

QI XL — Dave, 10pm

This extended edition, “Lumped Together”, already went out in Dave’s own graveyard slot at 2am, so it’s a same-day repeat rather than a fresh outing. Stephen Fry hosts this earlier era of the show, with David Mitchell, Ronni Ancona, Jimmy Carr and Alan Davies working loosely through a theme of love handles that, as usual, is mostly an excuse for tangents. The XL cut gives all four more room than the nightly half-hour version allows.

Taskmaster — Dave, 11pm

Greg Davies hands out another set of surreal tasks in an episode built around two unlikely supporting players: a cyclist landed with a stray item of clothing, and an 83-year-old man named Hugh, grilled by the contestants for reasons the task never quite explains.

What kind of shows are on Dave

Panel shows and comedy institutions

This is the channel’s whole personality. Would I Lie to You?, QI, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Mock the Week when it’s in rotation: two decades of British panel comedy, nearly all of it bought in from the BBC and Channel 4 rather than commissioned here. What Dave adds is the scheduling. Episodes come in blocks you can drop into at any point and leave whenever you like, which is a different way of watching television and, on a weeknight, not the worst one.

Sitcoms: archive and revivals

Red Dwarf is the one thing Dave can properly call its own. The channel brought it back in 2009, a decade after the BBC finished with it, and got Chris Barrie, Craig Charles, Danny John-Jules and Robert Llewellyn all to return. Not Going Out is the other long runner, still in production after more than fifteen years.

Factual entertainment and documentaries

A thinner strand of observational and scripted-reality shows fills the gaps: Highland Cops, Meet the Richardsons and similar, mostly parked in daytime. It’s ballast between the comedy blocks.

How to watch Dave

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find Dave across the main UK television platforms:

Dave is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Channel numbers can vary slightly by region and set-top box, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if these don’t match.

Streaming online

Dave streams live and on demand for free on U, UKTV’s streaming service, at u.co.uk and through the U app on smart TVs, iOS, Android and Amazon Fire TV. U was called UKTV Play until the 2024 rebrand. You need a free account, and there are ad breaks, the same ones you’d sit through on a TV set.

Dave ja vu and sister channels

Dave ja vu is the timeshift channel, running the main schedule an hour behind under a pun that has somehow survived since the 2000s. It’s on Freeview 74, and coverage is patchier than the main signal because it shares broadcast capacity with local TV services in parts of the country. Where reception is thin, the U app is the better fallback for anything you’ve missed.

The rest of the family: U&Drama, U&Yesterday and U&W free to air, with U&Gold, U&Alibi and U&Eden behind pay-TV. All of them sit in the same app.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is Dave on Freeview?

Dave is on Freeview channel 19, and Dave ja vu on 74.

What’s on Dave tonight?

Tonight, Tuesday 4 August 2026: Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing opens at 7pm, two episodes of Would I Lie to You? follow from 7:40pm, Have I Got a Bit More News for You airs at 9pm with Jack Dee guest hosting, an early Stephen Fry-hosted QI XL repeats at 10pm, and Taskmaster closes the night at 11pm.

Who hosts QI and Would I Lie to You??

QI is hosted by Sandi Toksvig, with Alan Davies the permanent panellist since 2003. Would I Lie to You? is hosted by Rob Brydon, with David Mitchell and Lee Mack as team captains since the show began in 2007.

Can I watch Dave online for free?

Yes, free on U at u.co.uk or in the U app. You’ll need an account, and it’s ad-supported.

Verdict

QI XL at 10pm is the pick of the night, even as a same-day repeat of the edition Dave already aired at 2am: an early episode from Stephen Fry’s years hosting, with David Mitchell, Ronni Ancona, Jimmy Carr and Alan Davies working the “Lumped Together” theme. It’s a properly stacked panel-show evening either side of it too, with Would I Lie to You? running two episodes from 7:40pm and Have I Got a Bit More News for You at 9pm putting Jack Dee in the guest host’s chair opposite Ian Hislop and Paul Merton.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing opening the primetime run at 7pm is the gentler counterpoint, Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse working an Essex lake rather than trying to catch each other out. Taskmaster at 11pm rounds things off with Greg Davies putting the contestants through another set of odd tasks. A solid Tuesday for anyone who wants comedy over drama.

Related: Freeview Channel Guide | Drama TV Guide