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

Published: 5 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, Sunday 6 September 2026, is thin and tidy again: three Hetty Wainthropp Investigates reruns close out the early evening, then Sister Boniface Mysteries, Silent Witness and New Tricks carry primetime.

Drama Schedule: Sunday 6 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Drama schedule for Sunday 6 September 2026, on Freeview 20.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Drama today

Overnight opens with The Last Detective at 12:10am, then New Tricks and a British Sign Language edition of The Chelsea Detective before Teleshopping takes over from 4am.

Five episodes of The Bill run back to back through the whole morning, 7:20am to just after midday, then two Call the Midwife episodes carry into early afternoon. Catherine Cookson’s Tilly Trotter, a feature-length adaptation, takes 2:55pm, and Hetty Wainthropp Investigates opens the evening run with the first of three episodes from 5pm.

Drama tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Drama primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 6 September 2026.

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates — Drama, 6pm & 7pm

Two more reruns close out a run that started at 5pm, three episodes back to back. Patricia Routledge’s Lancashire cleaner-turned-amateur-sleuth and her put-upon young sidekick Geoffrey work through a case apiece; the 7pm outing rolls over into series 4, but there’s no fresh material here, just an old favourite on rotation.

Sister Boniface Mysteries — Drama, 8pm

Drama’s cosy-crime spin-off of Father Brown gets its usual 8pm slot. Sister Boniface, the forensically minded nun with a home laboratory in her potting shed, works another case in the fictional Cotswolds village of Great Slaughter.

Silent Witness — Drama, 9pm

The channel’s biggest primetime draw, this long-running forensic pathology drama fills the two-hour slot. No episode number given tonight, but it’s Drama’s most reliably watched hour of the week regardless of which case is on.

New Tricks — Drama, 11:15pm

The UCOS cold-case comedy-drama closes the night with a rerun, the retired detectives working through an old file rather than solving anything current.

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?

Three Hetty Wainthropp Investigates episodes run back to back from 5pm, then Sister Boniface Mysteries at 8pm, Silent Witness at 9pm and New Tricks closing out from 11:15pm. 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 mysteries filled out with archive comfort viewing. Tonight is thin but tidy — three Hetty Wainthropp reruns lead into Sister Boniface Mysteries, Silent Witness and New Tricks, nothing connecting any of them and no film to break up the run.

Daytime is where the channel earns its keep. Five episodes of The Bill fill the entire morning, and two Call the Midwife instalments carry into the afternoon ahead of a feature-length Tilly Trotter. 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