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

Published: 15 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, Wednesday 16 September 2026, two Rick Stein’s Long Weekends episodes open the evening from 5pm, then Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing takes 7pm. Two Would I Lie to You? episodes run back to back from 7:40pm, mid-primetime ahead of QI XL at 9pm. Have I Got a Bit More News for You follows at 10pm, and Taskmaster closes the night from 11pm. Channel numbers are further down the page.

Dave Schedule: Wednesday 16 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Dave schedule for Wednesday 16 September 2026, on Freeview 19.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Dave today

Overnight opens with Mock the Week at 12:05am, then two Would I Lie to You? episodes from 12:45am, QI XL at 2am and Dave Gorman: Modern Life Is Goodish at 3am, before Teleshopping fills the small hours from 4am until 7:25am.

Pointless opens the broadcast day proper at 7:25am, then two Border Force America’s Gatekeepers episodes carry the morning before two Rick Stein’s Long Weekends episodes take 10:20am and 11:20am. Two Top Gear episodes take the early afternoon from 12:20pm, Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing and How Britain Worked follow, and Hairy Bikers’ Best of British leads into two more Rick Stein’s Long Weekends episodes opening this evening’s line-up from 5pm.

Dave tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Dave primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 16 September 2026.

Rick Stein’s Long Weekends — Dave, 5pm–6pm

Two episodes open the evening, the fifth instalment of series 1 followed straight after by the sixth. Unhurried food-and-travel television, well suited to the slot before anything more demanding starts.

Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing — Dave, 7pm

Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse settle in for series 7’s second episode, still one of the gentlest hours in British comedy despite the fishing rods being largely an excuse for the chat.

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

Two episodes run back to back ahead of QI, series 13’s opener followed immediately by its second outing. Rob Brydon keeps the format moving; David Mitchell and Lee Mack remain the double act that makes the panel worth watching regardless of the guests.

QI XL — Dave, 9pm

The extended cut takes 9pm, series 14’s twelfth episode giving Sandi Toksvig’s panel extra room to wander off-topic, usually where the show is funniest.

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

The looser, later edition of the news quiz follows at 10pm, one episode into series 66.

Taskmaster — Dave, 11pm

Series 6 closes the night, an older run rather than anything current in Dave’s rotation.

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?

Two Rick Stein’s Long Weekends episodes open the evening from 5pm, then Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing takes 7pm. Two Would I Lie to You? episodes run back to back from 7:40pm, QI XL follows at 9pm, and Have I Got a Bit More News for You takes 10pm. Taskmaster closes out the night from 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

Tonight leans on Dave’s usual panel-show strength. Two Would I Lie to You? episodes run back to back from 7:40pm, QI XL takes 9pm and Have I Got a Bit More News for You follows at 10pm — three panel formats in a row before Taskmaster closes things out from 11pm.

There’s no new arrival tonight, just Dave doing what it does best: a comedy-panel relay running through most of primetime, bookended by two Rick Stein’s Long Weekends episodes and Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing earlier in the evening.

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