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

Published: 23 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, Monday 24 August 2026, Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing opens primetime at 7pm, followed by a double helping of Would I Lie To You? at 7:40pm and 8:20pm. Richard Ayoade hosts Have I Got a Bit More News for You at 9pm, then QI XL and Taskmaster close out the evening from 10pm. Channel numbers are further down the page.

Dave Schedule: Monday 24 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Dave schedule for Monday 24 August 2026, on Freeview 19.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Dave today

Monday’s overnight run opens with Live at the Apollo at midnight, Chris McCausland hosting Sophie Duker and Emmanuel Sonubi, followed straight after by the same QI XL Christmas special that repeats again at 10pm. Four Parks and Recreation episodes from series four carry the channel to 4am, when teleshopping takes over until Top Gear returns at 7:25am with its Motorhome Grand Prix stunt.

Two Border Force: America’s Gatekeepers episodes fill the back half of the morning, then Rick Stein’s India opens its Kolkata and Chennai leg at 10:20am ahead of Yukon Gold’s new series opener at 11:20am. The feed repeats the same Top Gear episode, series 20 episode 2, at both 12:20pm and 1:20pm — a duplicate in the schedule data rather than a genuine double bill. Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing gets an early airing at 2:20pm before Guy’s Garage and Hairy Bikers’ Best of British take the rest of the afternoon. Rick Stein’s India returns for a teatime double, series one’s opening episode at 5pm followed by the Mumbai and Pondicherry instalment at 6pm, handing over directly to tonight’s primetime at 7pm.

Dave tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Dave primetime line-up for tonight, Monday 24 August 2026.

Rick Stein’s India — Dave, 6pm

Stein’s teatime double wraps up with the Mumbai leg (series 1, episode 2), tracking down the fish behind Bombay duck before moving south to Pondicherry’s fusion cooking. It sets up a bigger food thread than a single episode alone would carry.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing — Dave, 7pm

Paul Whitehouse and Bob Mortimer mark the opening of the coarse fishing season on the Norfolk Broads (series 4, episode 6). BBC Two also has a Gone Fishing outing at 10pm tonight, but that’s a different run entirely — series five, filmed around the Surrey Hills — so the two shouldn’t be confused with each other.

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

Two editions run back to back. The 7:40pm one is a clip special built from material that never made the final cut, pulling in past guests as varied as John Cooper Clarke and Danny Dyer. The 8:20pm follow-up is a seasonal edition originally made for Christmas, with Kelly Holmes, Jo Brand and Ruth Jones joining Bill Bailey opposite Rob Brydon’s regular panel — an odd fit for late August, but it plays the same either way.

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

Richard Ayoade takes the host’s chair for this extended edition (series 69, episode 10), with broadcaster Kelly Cates and comedian Jack Dee sitting in against regulars Ian Hislop and Paul Merton. Worth noting this isn’t the same show as BBC One’s Have I Got News for You later tonight — that one has Stephen Mangan hosting a different panel entirely.

QI XL — Dave, 10pm

Another festive repeat, billed as a variety special, with Sandi Toksvig steering Alan Davies, Emmanuel Sonubi, Lulu and Gyles Brandreth through the extended cut (series 22, episode 9). As with the earlier Would I Lie To You?, the Christmas dressing doesn’t match the calendar, but the extra runtime is the real draw for regular viewers.

Taskmaster — Dave, 11pm

Nish Kumar and Aisling Bea are among the contestants in “The Leprechaun Or The Lesbian” (series 5, episode 2), a title Greg Davies clearly enjoyed setting up. Expect a Robin Hood impression from Kumar and a task involving yoghurt that goes badly for Mark Watson.

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, Monday 24 August 2026, Rick Stein’s India rounds off the early evening at 6pm, then Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing opens primetime at 7pm. A Would I Lie To You? double follows at 7:40pm and 8:20pm, Richard Ayoade hosts Have I Got a Bit More News for You at 9pm, and the night closes with QI XL at 10pm and Taskmaster 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

Monday’s daytime is lighter on repeat runs than a typical weekend, but the feed still manages one accidental duplicate: the same Top Gear episode, series 20 episode 2, turns up at both 12:20pm and 1:20pm rather than as a genuine double bill. Around it, Border Force: America’s Gatekeepers, an early Yukon Gold season opener and a first pass at Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing carry the afternoon, before Rick Stein’s India closes the early evening with back-to-back episodes.

Primetime is where the night earns its keep. Gone Fishing’s return to the Norfolk Broads is worth watching in its own right, distinct from the different series BBC Two is running the same evening, and the Would I Lie To You? double pairs a genuinely unusual clip-show format with a seasonal special that’s arrived several months early. Richard Ayoade’s turn hosting Have I Got a Bit More News for You is a different beast to the BBC One original airing later tonight, guests included, and worth watching as its own thing rather than an echo. QI XL and Taskmaster close the evening reliably, even if the QI edition is another Christmas leftover doing service in August.

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