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

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. Channel numbers are further down the page.

Dave Schedule: Thursday 13 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Dave schedule for Thursday 13 August 2026, on Freeview 19.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Dave today

Thursday’s schedule opens just after midnight with a repeat of Mock the Week (Dara O Briain and Hugh Dennis joined by James Acaster, Rob Beckett, Ed Byrne, John Robins and Holly Walsh), then two further editions of Would I Lie To You? at 12:40am and 1:20am, the first with Bob Mortimer and Mel Giedroyc among the guests, the second bringing in Lee Mack, David Mitchell, Miles Jupp, Heston Blumenthal, Emilia Fox and Ed Byrne. QI XL’s “Vocal” edition airs at 2am, Sandi Toksvig quizzing Ed Byrne, Jimmy Carr, Judi Love and Alan Davies, before Richard Osman’s House of Games (Stephen Bailey, Amanda Lamb, Nick Moran and Crystelle Pereira), Parks and Recreation and a stretch of teleshopping from 4am see out the night.

Top Gear returns at 7:25am with another car-football stunt, Toyota Aygos against Brazilian-built VW Foxes, Michael Gambon in the reasonably priced car. Two episodes of Border Force America’s Gatekeepers follow from 8:20am, then Rick Stein’s Cornwall gets its first outing of the day at 10:20am, closing his Cornish odyssey with a city break in Truro, and 10:50am, revisiting his early days running a Padstow nightclub before he makes a fish pie. Yukon Gold, a new instalment, airs at 11:20am, ahead of a Top Gear double from 12:15pm, electric cars by the seaside first, then a supercar shootout in Italy between a Lamborghini Aventador, a McLaren MP4-12C and a Noble M600. Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing gets an early airing at 2:20pm as Bob and Paul chase a pike that has eluded them all trip in Norfolk, Guy Martin: Proper Jobs sends him out as a wildlife warden on the Calf of Man at 3pm, and Hairy Bikers’ Best of British closes the afternoon at 4pm with a chilli gingerbread, before the evening schedule takes over.

Dave tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Dave primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 13 August 2026.

Rick Stein’s Cornwall — Dave, 6pm & 6:30pm

Two fresh instalments back to back move the trip on from the afternoon repeats. At 6pm (series 2, episode 2) Rick is in St Ives meeting the artist Alfred Wallis and touring a rare stained-glass collection at St Neot, below Bodmin Moor. At 6:30pm (series 2, episode 3) Springwatch’s Gillian Burke walks him through a stretch of Atlantic temperate rainforest on the Helford River.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing — Dave, 7pm

A repeat of this afternoon’s 2:20pm outing (series 3, episode 3): Bob and Paul are still after the Norfolk pike that has beaten them on every previous trip.

Would I Lie To You? — Dave, 7:40pm & 8:20pm

Two fresh series 8 outings, separate from the pair repeated overnight. At 7:40pm (episode 5) Rob Brydon puts claims about Kelly Hoppen washing with an orange and Rhod Gilbert’s French garage holiday to the panel. At 8:20pm (episode 6) Greg Davies takes the guest captain’s seat opposite Richard Osman and Phill Jupitus.

Hit Point — Dave, 9pm

Hit Point is a genuine premiere, launching simultaneously on Dave, U&Drama and W (series 1, episode 1). Bella and Leo catch a robbery case whose details refuse to line up, and the banter between the two detectives hints at something more than a working relationship.

Have I Got a Bit More News for You — Dave, 10pm

Katherine Parkinson hosts (series 69, episode 3), with Julian Clary and Jemima Kelly ranged against regular captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.

Taskmaster — Dave, 11pm

The “Meat” episode (series 4, episode 5): Noel Fielding gets a sliding session and Swede Fred takes an intense video call among Greg Davies’ set tasks.

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, Thursday 13 August 2026: Rick Stein’s Cornwall runs from 5pm to 6:30pm, Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing follows at 7pm, then Would I Lie To You? twice from 7:40pm, new drama Hit Point premieres at 9pm, Have I Got a Bit More News for You follows 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

Hit Point is tonight’s one premiere: a new detective drama launching simultaneously on Dave, U&Drama and W, with Leo and Bella working a heist that doesn’t quite add up. Everything else in primetime is a repeat, though not always of the episode already shown earlier the same day — the Rick Stein and Gone Fishing slots double back on the afternoon, while both Would I Lie to You? outings are fresh series 8.

That is Dave’s whole trick, and it works more often than it should. The panel shows are old but the rotation is deep enough that you rarely land on the one you watched last week.

Related: Freeview Channel Guide | Drama TV Guide | Films on TV This Week