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

Published: 7 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, Tuesday 8 September 2026, three Last of the Summer Wine episodes run back to back from 6pm, then three episodes of ‘Allo ‘Allo!’ take the 8pm hour before New Tricks and Copper close out the night.

Drama Schedule: Tuesday 8 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Drama schedule for Tuesday 8 September 2026, on Freeview 20.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Drama today

Overnight opens with Lovejoy at midnight, then Sister Boniface Mysteries at 1am and At Home with the Braithwaites at 2am, before a British Sign Language edition of The Chelsea Detective at 3:05am and Teleshopping from 4am until half past seven.

The Bill opens the broadcast day proper at 7:30am, then two Classic Doctors episodes lead into Classic Holby City and Classic Casualty through the late morning. The Bill returns at midday, two Classic EastEnders episodes and two Classic Neighbours episodes fill the early afternoon, and Sister Boniface Mysteries, Kingdom and As Time Goes By carry the schedule into early evening.

Drama tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Drama primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 8 September 2026.

Last of the Summer Wine — Drama, 6pm

The first of three archive episodes to open the evening, from a run recorded in 1990 as the sitcom moved into its second decade on air. Bill Owen’s Compo and Peter Sallis’s Clegg trade the same gentle Yorkshire slapstick that had already kept the show going for sixteen years by this point, with Michael Aldridge’s Seymour by now settled into the trio. It’s comfort viewing rather than appointment television, and Drama schedules it exactly that way.

Last of the Summer Wine — Drama, 6:40pm

The second instalment carries straight on from the 6pm episode, with the same three ageing troublemakers finding some new scheme to get wrong in the Holmfirth hills. Anyone tuning in partway through the run will recognise the shape of it immediately: a daft plan, a bit of chaos, and Clegg watching from the sidelines with his usual dry commentary.

Last of the Summer Wine — Drama, 7:20pm

The third and final episode in tonight’s run closes out the block before ‘Allo ‘Allo! takes over at 8pm. By series 12 the format had long since settled into a groove, and this stretch is a fair example of how comfortable the show had become with its own rhythms.

‘Allo ‘Allo! — Drama, 8pm

Three episodes of the Nazi-occupied-France farce open primetime, with Gorden Kaye’s café owner René Artois juggling the Resistance, the Gestapo and his own domestic chaos as usual. Series 6 dates from 1991, well into the run, so the cast of double agents, hidden paintings and disguised sausages are all firmly established by this point.

‘Allo ‘Allo! — Drama, 8:40pm

The second of tonight’s three episodes keeps the same farcical engine turning over, with René’s increasingly implausible cover stories testing the patience of everyone around him. It’s broad, silly, and unapologetically so.

‘Allo ‘Allo! — Drama, 9:20pm

The run’s closing episode wraps up whatever scheme has been unravelling across the last hour and forty minutes, before New Tricks takes the schedule into slightly more serious territory at 10pm. This late in the show’s run, the appeal is entirely in the catchphrases and the familiar faces rather than any surprise.

New Tricks — Drama, 10pm

The sixth episode of series 10 sends the Unsolved Crime and Open Case Squad back into a cold case, the format that carried the show through twelve series on BBC One between 2003 and 2015. By this point the ensemble of retired detectives investigating cases the Met never closed had settled into a groove that plays closer to a procedural than the sitcom energy surrounding it in Drama’s schedule.

Copper — Drama, 11pm

Copper closes out the night, a BBC America original set in the Five Points slum of 1860s Manhattan rather than anywhere British. Tom Weston-Jones plays Kevin Corcoran, an Irish immigrant police detective navigating corruption and class divides in post-Civil War New York across the show’s first series. It’s an unusual pick for a channel built on domestic archive comedy, but it fits Drama’s habit of using the late slot for something a shade grittier.

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 Last of the Summer Wine episodes run back to back from 6pm to 7:20pm, then three episodes of ‘Allo ‘Allo!’ fill the 8pm hour, New Tricks airs at 10pm and Copper closes out the night at 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 mysteries filled out with archive comfort viewing. Tonight leans hard on reruns — three Last of the Summer Wine episodes back to back, then three episodes of ‘Allo ‘Allo!’ — before New Tricks and Copper close out primetime.

Daytime is where the channel earns its keep. The Bill gets two separate outings, morning and midday, and the Classic EastEnders and Classic Neighbours double bills either side of lunch are exactly the kind of scheduling that keeps Drama ticking over. 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