Film4 TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On Film4 Tonight

Film4 is the UK’s free-to-air film channel, on Freeview 14. It dropped its subscription fee on 23 July 2006 and has run on advertising ever since. Tonight, Thursday 6 August 2026, a short interview special at 6:40pm leads into The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, Will Sharpe’s 2021 biopic of illustrator Louis Wain with Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy, at 6:45pm. Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass’s 2013 thriller starring Tom Hanks, takes the 9pm premiere slot, before Dance with a Stranger, the 1985 Ruth Ellis drama with Miranda Richardson, closes the night at 11:40pm. Sky, Virgin and Freesat numbers, the +1 channel and the streaming details are all further down.

Film4 Schedule: Thursday 6 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Film4 schedule for Thursday 6 August 2026, on Freeview 14.

What’s on Film4 today

Thursday’s overnight hours belong to Downhill at 2am, the 2020 dark comedy-drama with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Will Ferrell as a couple whose marriage frays after a skiing holiday goes badly wrong, before Teleshopping fills the small hours from 3:40am through to 11am.

Miracle on 34th Street takes the 11am slot, the 1994 remake with Richard Attenborough as a department store Santa forced to prove in court that he’s the real thing. The Black Swan follows at 1:15pm, the 1942 Tyrone Power swashbuckler about a reformed pirate turned governor’s enforcer. Sign of the Pagan runs from 3pm, the 1954 historical epic with Jack Palance as Attila the Hun, and All That Heaven Allows closes the afternoon at 4:50pm, Douglas Sirk’s 1955 melodrama pairing Jane Wyman’s widow with Rock Hudson’s younger gardener.

Film4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Film4 primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 6 August 2026.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain interview special — Film4, 6:40pm

A five-minute interview special opens the evening, with Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy talking through the making of the biopic that follows. Brief, but a decent primer before the film proper.

The Electrical Life of Louis Wain — Film4, 6:45pm

Will Sharpe’s 2021 biopic of illustrator and cat obsessive Louis Wain has Cumberbatch in the lead and Claire Foy as his wife Emily, with Olivia Colman narrating. It’s an odd, melancholy film, more interested in Wain’s deteriorating mental state than in his commercial success, and better for it.

Captain Phillips — Film4, 9pm

Tonight’s headline slot. Paul Greengrass shot this account of the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking with his usual handheld urgency, and Tom Hanks plays the title role as a man holding himself together through sheer procedure until he can’t anymore. The final scenes, after the rescue, are the reason people still bring this film up more than a decade on.

Dance with a Stranger — Film4, 11:40pm

Mike Newell’s 1985 drama tells the story of Ruth Ellis, the last woman hanged in Britain, with Miranda Richardson in the role. Rupert Everett and Ian Holm co-star. A downbeat way to close the night, and a well-acted one.

What kind of films are on Film4?

Hollywood and recent theatrical releases

A good chunk of the schedule is mainstream Hollywood: films that played UK multiplexes and reached television a couple of years later. The bigger, more recent titles go in the 9pm and 6.30pm slots, where the audience is widest.

British cinema and Film4 Productions

Film4 Productions, the channel’s film-funding arm, has backed British cinema since 1982, originally trading as Channel Four Films. Four Weddings and a Funeral, Trainspotting, This Is England, 12 Years a Slave, Poor Things — four decades of co-productions, and the reason the channel gets more benefit of the doubt than its commercial rivals.

World cinema, independent and cult film

Film4 shows more subtitled film than any other British free-to-air channel, mostly after 11pm, alongside cult American independents and things that never got a proper UK release. That late shift is the best thing about it.

How to watch Film4

Channel numbers

Where to find Film4 on the main UK platforms:

Film4 is free on all of the above, with no subscription required. Virgin Media and Freesat numbers can vary by box and region, so check your on-screen guide if these don’t match.

Streaming online

Film4 streams live and free at channel4.com/now/f4 and via the Channel 4 app on smart TVs, iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire TV. You’ll need a free Channel 4 account, which takes a couple of minutes to set up. Films that have aired often turn up on demand in the Film4 collection afterwards, but licensing means plenty of them never do, and the ones that make it don’t stay long.

Film4 +1 and catching a film you missed

Film4 +1 runs the same schedule an hour behind, on Freeview 47 and Sky 314. Sit down at 10:15pm with the 9pm premiere already 75 minutes gone and +1 lets you start it near the beginning instead of writing the evening off.

If you miss a film outright and it never appears on demand, wait. Film4 reruns titles fairly regularly, usually in themed seasons or when a director or actor is back in the news, so searching a week or two ahead in your on-screen guide often turns one up.

Frequently asked questions

What’s on Film4 tonight?

A short interview special at 6:40pm leads into The Electrical Life of Louis Wain, the 2021 Benedict Cumberbatch biopic, at 6:45pm; Captain Phillips, Tom Hanks’s 2013 hijacking thriller, at 9pm; and Dance with a Stranger, the 1985 Ruth Ellis drama with Miranda Richardson, at 11:40pm. Full times for the rest of the evening are in the schedule table above.

What time do films start on Film4?

Typically around 11am, 2pm, 4pm, 6.30pm, 9pm, and 11pm to midnight. Running lengths shift the exact times day to day, so your on-screen guide has the most accurate information.

Is Film4 free to watch?

Yes, and it has been since it left subscription in July 2006. Expect ad breaks during films, but no fee on any platform.

Can I watch Film4 online for free?

Yes, live at channel4.com or through the Channel 4 app, with a free account.

Verdict

I rate Film4, with reservations. The 9pm slot and the run after 11pm are what keep me coming back: recent releases, the odd Productions title, and foreign-language cinema you’d rarely stumble across on any other free channel. Daytime is mostly the same forty-odd Hollywood titles on rotation, and the ad breaks mid-film wear thin some nights.

Tonight is a mixed but interesting bill. The Electrical Life of Louis Wain at 6:45pm, preceded by its own interview special, is a quiet, sad little film that rewards patience more than excitement. Captain Phillips at 9pm is the clear pick of the night, tense and well-directed, with Hanks doing some of his best work in the closing stretch. Dance with a Stranger at 11:40pm rounds things off with a proper piece of British drama rather than a retread.

Watch

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | BBC One TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide