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

Published: 29 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, Sunday 30 August 2026, Simon Reeve opens the evening at 6pm with the first leg of a new Tropic of Capricorn journey, before Guy Martin: Proper Jobs and a genuinely new Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake lead into primetime. Have I Got a Bit More News for You takes the 9pm slot, Dave digs a Christmas edition of QI out of the archive for 10pm, and two editions of Mock the Week close the night from 10:40pm. Channel numbers are further down the page.

Dave Schedule: Sunday 30 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Dave schedule for Sunday 30 August 2026, on Freeview 19.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Dave today

Sunday’s overnight hours are reruns: three episodes of Not Going Out before midnight, an early replay of Have I Got a Bit More News for You at 1:35am, Live at the Apollo at 2:40am with Loyiso Gola hosting Scott Bennett and Helen Bauer, and a first showing of tonight’s QI Christmas special at 3:25am, before teleshopping takes the channel over until 7:20am. Eddie Eats America opens the proper broadcast day with a crawfish-eating challenge in Houston, then two Top Gear specials fill the rest of the morning — the old India trip with Clarkson, Hammond and May, followed by the Polar Challenge race to the North Pole.

A third Top Gear special, the Burma edition and its bridge over the River Kwai, runs into early afternoon. Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing takes over at 1:20pm for three episodes of its fifth series, Bob and Paul working the River Exe and Bossington Beach before heading to the River Dee in north Wales and then up to Loch Ness for ferox trout. Would I Lie to You? fills the rest of the afternoon with four editions of its tenth series — guests across the run include Sara Cox, Warwick Davis, Katherine Ryan and Claudia Winkleman — before Tropic of Capricorn with Simon Reeve opens the evening at 6pm and hands over to tonight’s primetime line-up.

Dave tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Dave primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 30 August 2026.

Tropic of Capricorn with Simon Reeve — Dave, 6pm

Simon Reeve sets off on a new circumnavigation of the globe along the southern tropic, and Dave carries the first leg tonight: a crossing of Namibia and Botswana. The series itself isn’t a new commission — Reeve has been making journeys like this for years — but it’s the start of this particular run on Dave.

Guy Martin: Proper Jobs — Dave, 7pm

Guy Martin swaps engines for boots this week, training alongside a mountain rescue team whose search dogs work terrain that would stop most walkers.

Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake — Dave, 8pm

A genuinely new episode, and a tough one: Pete’s cases this week are a puppy whose leg needs surgical repair after a serious break, and a young Doberman just released from quarantine kennels.

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

Charlie Brooker chairs the extended edition of the news quiz. Artist Grayson Perry and comedian Angela Barnes are this week’s recruits, squaring off against team captains Paul Merton and Ian Hislop.

QI — Dave, 10pm

Billed simply as “Birth”, this is actually a Christmas special dusted off for an August slot. Stephen Fry, who chaired QI until 2016, hosts, with Alan Davies, Mark Steel, Phill Jupitus and Rich Hall on the panel.

Mock the Week — Dave, 10:40pm

Dara Ó Briain and Hugh Dennis run through the week’s headlines with James Acaster, Kerry Godliman, Glenn Moore and Angela Barnes — a second appearance for her within the hour — plus Nish Kumar.

Mock the Week — Dave, 11:20pm

A second helping follows straight after. Ed Gamble, Milton Jones, Miles Jupp and Felicity Ward take the panel this time, with Nish Kumar back for his second edition of the night.

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, Sunday 30 August 2026, Tropic of Capricorn with Simon Reeve opens the evening at 6pm, followed by Guy Martin: Proper Jobs at 7pm and a new episode of Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake at 8pm. Have I Got a Bit More News for You takes the 9pm slot, QI’s archive Christmas special airs at 10pm, and two editions of Mock the Week close out the night from 10:40pm.

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

Sunday’s daytime is heavier on reruns than most: three Top Gear specials back to back, three episodes of Gone Fishing, and four editions of Would I Lie to You? before the evening proper starts.

Primetime is a mixed night rather than the double-sitcom stack Dave sometimes runs. Tropic of Capricorn gives the evening a genuine new episode to open on, and Pete Wicks: For Dogs’ Sake adds a second. Have I Got a Bit More News for You is this week’s edition of the news quiz, but after that Dave turns to the archive: QI’s Christmas special is a repeat in a summer disguise, and both Mock the Week editions are pulled from an earlier series. Two new episodes and four familiar ones — solid rather than showy.

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