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

Published: 12 September 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 13 September 2026, Simon Reeve’s Tropic of Capricorn opens the evening at 6pm, then Guy Martin: Proper Jobs takes 7pm. The night’s one genuine premiere follows at 8pm: Wagging Rights, a new competitive dog-training format pairing celebrities including Rhod Gilbert and Sara Pascoe with their pets. Have I Got a Bit More News for You takes 9pm, QI follows at 10pm, and two Mock the Week episodes close out the night from 10:40pm. Channel numbers are further down the page.

Dave Schedule: Sunday 13 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Dave schedule for Sunday 13 September 2026, on Freeview 19.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Dave today

Overnight opens with Would I Lie To You? at 12:15am, then Have I Got a Bit More News for You at 12:55am, Live at the Apollo at 1:55am and Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish at 2:55am, before Teleshopping fills the small hours from 4am to just after seven.

Pointless opens the broadcast day proper at 7:10am, then three Yukon Gold episodes run from 8am to 11am, when Red Bull Soapbox Race takes over for a two-part outing lasting until 2pm. Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Christmas Fishing fills the early afternoon from 2pm, and four Would I Lie To You? episodes carry the schedule from 3:20pm into this evening’s line-up.

Dave tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Dave primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 13 September 2026.

Tropic of Capricorn with Simon Reeve — Dave, 6pm

Reeve continues his journey along the line that circles the globe roughly 23 degrees south, this leg taking him across the breadth of mainland Australia (series 1, episode 3).

Guy Martin: Proper Jobs — Dave, 7pm

Martin swaps his usual motorbikes and speed trials for a shift underground, going to work at one of Britain’s deepest coal mines beneath the North Sea (series 2, episode 2).

Wagging Rights — Dave, 8pm

The one genuine new arrival of the night. Five celebrities, Rhod Gilbert and Sara Pascoe among them, put their dogs through competitive obedience and agility rounds. It’s a broad, family-friendly format rather than a typical Dave booking, and the first outing will tell you whether it’s got legs.

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

Steph McGovern hosts the extended cut, with Stephen Mangan and Salma Shah joining the team captains to pick over the week’s news (series 70, episode 2).

QI — Dave, 10pm

Stephen Fry hosts this repeat from series 10, well before Sandi Toksvig’s tenure, with Jo Brand joining the show’s one permanent fixture, Alan Davies.

Mock the Week — Dave, 10:40pm

Two episodes close out the night back to back: a compilation of best bits and previously unseen material at 10:40pm, then a fresher outing hosted by Dara Ó Briain, with Maisie Adam and Angela Barnes among the guests, from 11:20pm.

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, Taskmaster: 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. Dave’s daytime sitcom rotation runs deep too, with long-running BBC and Channel 4 comedies filling the hours between panel shows.

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?

Tropic of Capricorn with Simon Reeve opens the evening at 6pm, then Guy Martin: Proper Jobs takes 7pm. Wagging Rights, a new celebrity dog-training format, airs at 8pm, Have I Got a Bit More News for You follows at 9pm, and QI takes 10pm. Two Mock the Week episodes 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

Tonight leans on Dave’s usual panel-show strength rather than a sitcom rerun night. QI and two Mock the Week episodes close out primetime from 10pm, backed up by Have I Got a Bit More News for You at 9pm — three different panel formats inside two hours.

The one genuine new arrival is Wagging Rights at 8pm, a competitive dog-training format fronted by a mixed bag of celebrities and their pets. It’s a broader, more family-friendly booking than Dave’s usual comedy-panel diet, and worth a look to see how it settles in alongside QI and Mock the Week.

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