GREAT! Action TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On GREAT! Action Tonight

GREAT! Action is a free-to-air film channel on Freeview 42, built around action films and westerns. It started out as Sony Movies Action on 10 September 2019 and has been renamed twice since, most recently in March 2023. Tonight, Thursday 15 October 2026, is a series-led evening with one film in it: The Unit at 6pm, two back-to-back Burn Notice episodes at 7pm and 8pm, then Salt at 9pm. A live listing agrees with every start time up to the film.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Thursday 15 October 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Thursday 15 October 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

Also on TV tonight at 9pm

• BBC One: The Celebrity Traitors (from 8pm)
• ITV1: Long Lost Family
• BBC Two: Surgeons: At the Edge of Life
• Channel 4: Our Tiny Islands (from 8pm)
• Channel 5: Love Nature
• Film4: Wrath of Man
• E4: Gogglebox
• ITV2: Big Brother
• ITV3: Vera (from 8pm)
• ITV4: Benidorm

Every channel tonight, side by side · Films on TV tonight · Tomorrow’s TV

What’s on GREAT! Action today

The small hours are retro series and one film: The Baron at 12:55am, The Persuaders! at 1:55am and the feature Jet Stream at 2:55am, then Coast Guard Alaska at 4:15am and two Air Rescue episodes before teleshopping takes over at 6am.

Daytime starts with a Hitler documentary at 9am and Murder Maps at 10am, then the western The Stranger Wore a Gun at 11am (it breaks for a short This Week Back Then slot and resumes at 12:01pm). The High Chaparral is on at 1pm, Burn Notice at 2pm and 3pm, and the film The House on the Hill at 4pm, which leads into tonight’s primetime below.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Series first, film later: a military drama, a run of spy episodes, then one big-screen thriller.

The Unit — GREAT! Action, 6pm

David Mamet’s Delta Force drama, with Dennis Haysbert, Robert Patrick and Max Martini as the team and Regina Taylor as one of the wives left waiting on base. It is an hour of missions abroad and strained marriages at home. The same episode is repeated late tonight.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 7pm

Jeffrey Donovan plays Michael Westen, a spy cut loose by his own agency and stuck in Miami taking odd jobs. Two episodes run back to back from 7pm, and they are the same pair the channel showed at 2pm and 3pm, so anyone who caught them this afternoon has seen tonight’s hour already.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 8pm

The second of the pair. Bruce Campbell and Gabrielle Anwar are around for the banter, and Sharon Gless makes Michael’s mother a regular nuisance.

Salt — GREAT! Action, 9pm

The night’s one film is the 2010 spy thriller, directed by Phillip Noyce. Angelina Jolie plays a CIA officer named by a defector as a Russian sleeper agent, and she spends the rest of the picture running, with Liev Schreiber and Chiwetel Ejiofor in pursuit. The feed gives it one unbroken slot to around 11:10pm, with no sign of a mid-film bumper.

The Unit — GREAT! Action, 11:10pm

The 6pm episode again, which makes this a late repeat. One live listing puts it ten minutes later, at 11:20pm, so allow for either.

What kind of films are on GREAT! Action

Classic westerns and action icons

The channel advertises itself as the home of John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, and for once the marketing is accurate. Westerns from the 1930s to the 1960s take up most of the daylight hours, series as well as films, with Tombstone Territory and The High Chaparral in heavy rotation. After that come the 1980s and ’90s action vehicles, built around a small and very dependable cast list.

Contemporary action and thrillers

Evenings go harder on star names, usually one bigger studio picture with a leaner independent thriller either side of it. Most had a cinema release before they arrived here.

Anime, rescue documentaries and reality strands

Since around August 2024 the overnight hours have gone to things that are not films at all: Dragon Ball Super, and rescue documentaries such as Coast Guard Alaska and Air Rescue. The evening slots have so far been left alone.

How to watch GREAT! Action

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find GREAT! Action across the main UK television platforms:

Freesat viewers lost it in early February 2024, along with eight other Narrative Entertainment channels, and it has not come back.

Streaming online

GREAT! Action streams free through Great! Player at great-player.com, with no account or sign-in. The app is on Freeview Play, YouView, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung and LG smart TVs, plus the App Store and Google Play. GREAT! Movies and GREAT! TV sit in the same app, so the whole network is in one place.

GREAT! sister channels

GREAT! Action is one of four channels run by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited under the GREAT! banner.

A fifth channel, GREAT! Movies Christmas, appears seasonally and runs festive films from September to December.

Frequently Asked Questions

What channel is GREAT! Action on Freeview?

GREAT! Action is on channel 42 on Freeview. It’s not currently on Freesat, having been withdrawn from that platform in early February 2024 along with eight other Narrative Entertainment channels. It remains free on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media.

What channel is GREAT! Action on Sky and Virgin Media?

Channel 323 on Sky, channel 426 on Virgin Media. Both carry the same schedule as Freeview 42 and both are free to watch.

What’s on GREAT! Action tonight?

Tonight, Thursday 15 October 2026: The Unit at 6pm, Burn Notice at 7pm and 8pm, and Salt at 9pm. The Unit repeats at 11:10pm in the feed, though one live listing has it at 11:20pm. The live listing agrees with the feed on the earlier start times.

Is GREAT! Action free to watch, and does it carry adverts?

Yes, entirely free on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media, with no subscription. It carries advertising during films, which is why some titles run in two parts around a short interstitial such as This Week Back Then.

Who owns GREAT! Action?

Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. The channel launched in September 2019 as Sony Movies Action, was rebranded Great! Movies Action in 2021 after Narrative Capital’s acquisition of Sony’s UK channels, and became GREAT! Action in March 2023.

What are the GREAT! sister channels?

GREAT! Movies, GREAT! TV and GREAT! Romance, plus the seasonal GREAT! Movies Christmas. All stream free via Great! Player.

Can I watch GREAT! Action online for free?

Yes, through Great! Player at great-player.com, with apps on Freeview Play, YouView, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung and LG smart TVs. No account is needed.

Verdict

GREAT! Action costs nothing to watch and needs no sign-up. Tonight is mostly episodic: a military drama, then two Burn Notice episodes, then one Angelina Jolie thriller.

If you only watch one thing, make it Salt at 9pm. It is the only film on the night, and the feed shows no break in it.

Related: Film4 TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide | Films on TV Tonight