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

Published: 4 September 2026

Drama launched on 8 July 2013 and is owned by BBC Studios as part of the UKTV stable alongside Dave, Yesterday and W. It was rebranded U&Drama on 16 July 2024, though most viewers and on-screen guides still call it Drama. Tonight, Saturday 5 September 2026, is a thin, tidy evening of unconnected mysteries: two Darby and Joan episodes from 5pm, The Brokenwood Mysteries at 7pm, Wallander at 9pm and Blackshore closing out from 11pm.

Drama Schedule: Saturday 5 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Drama schedule for Saturday 5 September 2026, on Freeview 20.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Drama today

Overnight, Lovejoy plays at midnight, then Sister Boniface Mysteries, At Home with the Braithwaites and a British Sign Language edition of The Chelsea Detective see out the small hours before Teleshopping takes over from 4am to 7:10am.

Four episodes of Birds of a Feather open the daytime proper, then two feature-length Jonathan Creek mysteries, Satan’s Chimney and The Grinning Man, run back to back from 9:40am through to 2:40pm — nearly five hours of David Renwick’s locked-room plots. Two New Tricks episodes carry the mid-afternoon, and Darby and Joan opens the evening from 5pm with two episodes before primetime.

Drama tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Four unconnected mysteries fill the evening, none of them building on each other.

Darby and Joan — Drama, 5pm and 6pm

Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi’s odd-couple detectives close out a missing-persons case at 5pm before a subplot about Jack’s old policing days resurfaces at 6pm.

The Brokenwood Mysteries — Drama, 7pm

A rugby coach turns up dead, tied to his own goalpost, in this New Zealand import. Neill Rea’s wine-loving detective keeps the tone lighter than most British procedurals manage.

Wallander — Drama, 9pm

Kenneth Branagh’s Swedish detective is asked by an old friend to look again at his father’s death, which everyone else has written off as natural causes. The night’s biggest title, and it gets the full two-hour slot.

Blackshore — Drama, 11pm

A missing daughter and a twenty-year-old allegation collide as Fia’s murder case gets more complicated. Closes out the night.

What kind of shows are on Drama

Classic BBC and ITV archive drama

The backbone of the schedule is British drama from the last forty-odd years. Jonathan Creek, New Tricks, Lovejoy, Birds of a Feather and Miss Marple all get regular daytime and early-evening outings, most of them first shown on BBC One or ITV. The whole point of the channel is that you can drop in at almost any hour and land on something you half-remember.

Cosy crime and international mysteries

Drama also runs a decent sideline in gentler, often overseas, crime. The Brokenwood Mysteries from New Zealand and Harry Wild from Ireland are the two regulars: puzzle-driven, light on violence, usually tied up within the hour or two.

Newer acquired and prestige drama

The Count of Monte Cristo and The Boy That Never Was are newer, high-profile productions in the schedule alongside all the archive material.

How to watch Drama

Channel numbers

Drama’s channel numbers across the main UK platforms:

Drama is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Drama+1 on Freeview is a limited-reach service, so availability can depend on your transmitter; your on-screen guide is the definitive source if these don’t match.

Streaming online

Drama streams live at u.co.uk and via the U app on smart TVs, iOS, Android and Freeview Play devices. You’ll need a free U account, and a large on-demand library sits alongside the live stream.

Drama +1 and sister channels

Drama+1 carries the same schedule an hour behind, for catching whatever’s just been missed on the main channel.

Drama sits inside the wider UKTV portfolio, which includes U&Dave for comedy and panel shows, U&Yesterday for history and factual programming, and U&W for factual entertainment, all free-to-air, plus the pay channels U&Alibi, U&Eden and U&Gold. Dave is the nearest alternative on the electronic programme guide for comedy rather than mystery.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s on Drama tonight?

Two Darby and Joan episodes at 5pm and 6pm, then The Brokenwood Mysteries at 7pm, Wallander at 9pm and Blackshore closing out the night from 11pm. Check the schedule table above for the full day’s listings.

What channel is Drama on Freeview?

Drama is on channel 20 on Freeview, BT TV, TalkTalk TV and YouView. Drama+1 is on Freeview channel 60 as a limited-reach service. Both are free.

What channel is Drama on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat?

Sky channel 143, Virgin Media channel 116, and Freesat channel 158. Drama+1 is on Sky 243 and Virgin Media 316.

Can I watch Drama for free on U?

Yes. It streams live at u.co.uk and through the U app, with a large on-demand archive alongside it. You’ll need a free U account, but there’s no subscription fee.

Is Drama free to watch?

Yes, completely free to air on every platform, with advertising breaks during and between programmes but no subscription cost.

Verdict

Drama does one thing and does it well: British and international mysteries filled out with newer acquisitions solid enough to hold their own against the archive material. Tonight is thin but tidy — Darby and Joan, The Brokenwood Mysteries, Wallander and Blackshore, four separate cases with nothing linking them and no film to interrupt the run.

Daytime is where the channel earns its keep. Nearly five hours of Jonathan Creek’s two best-remembered feature-length mysteries, Satan’s Chimney and The Grinning Man, run back to back from mid-morning, bookended by Birds of a Feather and New Tricks. It’s a schedule built for dropping in rather than appointment viewing, and today does that job as well as it usually does.

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