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

Published: 6 September 2026

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, Monday 7 September 2026, three action titles carry the evening from 6:55pm: the war thriller Behind Enemy Lines (2001), the 1987 original Predator, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) to close.

Film4 Schedule: Monday 7 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Film4 schedule for Monday 7 September 2026, on Freeview 14.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Film4 today

Mothering Sunday closes out the overnight run before a long teleshopping block takes the channel from 3:10am into mid-morning, broken only by a short LumoTV filler slot at 8am.

Four films then carry the whole daytime: the western Canyon Passage at 11am, The Spoilers just before 1pm, Lifeboat mid-afternoon, and the melodrama Imitation of Life running from 4:25pm into the early evening, ahead of tonight’s action run from 6:55pm.

Film4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

A straightforward action night, no standout event, just three well-worn favourites back to back.

Behind Enemy Lines (2001) — Film4, 6:55pm

Owen Wilson’s downed NATO pilot evading capture in Bosnia, with Gene Hackman as the admiral bending the rules to get him out. Solidly built studio thriller, better than its reputation suggests.

Predator (1987) — Film4, 9pm

The original, not a sequel or reboot: Schwarzenegger’s commando squad picked off one by one in the jungle by something they can’t see. Still the high point of the whole franchise.

Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) — Film4, 11:10pm

Tom Hardy back as the symbiote-possessed journalist, this time facing down Woody Harrelson’s Cletus Kasady. Broad, silly, and knows it.

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?

Behind Enemy Lines (2001) opens the evening at 6:55pm, Predator (1987) follows at 9pm, and Venom: Let There Be Carnage (2021) closes the night from 11:10pm. Full times for the rest of the day, including Canyon Passage at 11am and Lifeboat mid-afternoon, 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 safe, crowd-pleasing action lineup rather than an adventurous one — Predator at 9pm is the pick of the three by some distance, still the sharpest thing Schwarzenegger ever signed up for. Behind Enemy Lines and Venom: Let There Be Carnage are comfortable rather than essential. None is a Film4 Productions title. Daytime is quieter than usual, four older films with no single centrepiece.

Watch

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