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, Friday 21 August 2026, the schedule runs four films back to back: a Christmas comedy at 5:15pm, then Flamin’ Hot, Honest Thief and The Forever Purge carry the night through to the early hours.

Film4 Schedule: Friday 21 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Film4 schedule for Friday 21 August 2026, on Freeview 14.

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Film4 today

It’s a lean day on Film4, with just twelve programmes covering the full 24 hours. Chopper closes out the previous night at 12:20am, and We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (2021) follows at 2:15am before Teleshopping fills the small hours through to 11am.

The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973), one of Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion fantasy adventures, opens the day’s proper films at 11am. Enemy Mine (1985), Wolfgang Petersen’s sci-fi with Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr, follows at 1:10pm. A five-minute Film4 Interview Programmes: Talking Film slot breaks up the afternoon at 3:20pm — a chat segment between films, not a film itself — before River of No Return (1954), Otto Preminger’s western starring Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe, takes the 3:25pm slot. Deck the Halls (2006), the Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito Christmas comedy, then opens early evening at 5:15pm. A festive film in the last week of August is an odd fit, but Film4 runs it regardless.

Film4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Film4 primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 21 August 2026.

Deck the Halls — Film4, 5:15pm

Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito lead this 2006 comedy about two neighbours locked in an escalating war over Christmas decorations. It runs through to 7:05pm, taking up most of Film4’s 6pm hour. Finding a festive film in the last week of August is a strange bit of scheduling, but there it is.

Flamin’ Hot — Film4, 7:05pm

Eva Longoria’s 2023 film, her feature directing debut, follows Richard Montañez, played by Jesse Garcia, from Frito-Lay janitor to the man who claims credit for inventing Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.

Honest Thief — Film4, 9pm

Liam Neeson plays a bank robber trying to hand himself in and put the past behind him, only for two corrupt FBI agents to frame him for murder instead. Standard-issue Neeson action from 2020, and the night’s main event on Film4.

The Forever Purge — Film4, 11:05pm

The fourth film in the Purge series, from 2021, follows a group fleeing across the US-Mexico border when the annual night of legalised crime refuses to end on schedule. Closes out Film4’s night.

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?

Four films tonight. Deck the Halls (2006), the Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito Christmas comedy, opens at 5:15pm. Flamin’ Hot (2023), directed by Eva Longoria and starring Jesse Garcia, follows at 7:05pm. Honest Thief (2020), with Liam Neeson, takes the 9pm slot, and The Forever Purge (2021) closes the night at 11:05pm. Full times for the rest of the day 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 fuller night than usual for Film4 — four films across a day of only twelve programmes in total, so each one gets real room. Deck the Halls turning up at 5:15pm in the last week of August is an odd bit of scheduling, but Honest Thief at 9pm is the pick of the night: solid, unfussy Liam Neeson action that does what it says on the tin, and reason enough to stay in on a Friday.

Watch

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | BBC One TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide | Films on TV This Week