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, Saturday 29 August 2026, the 1954 Cold War thriller Night People holds the whole 6pm hour before Predestination takes over at 7pm. Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook’s time-travel chase gives way to Dwayne Johnson’s Hercules at 9pm, and Steven Seagal’s Flight Of Fury closes the night at 11pm. All three films break briefly for a five-minute This Week Back Then bulletin partway through.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Saturday 29 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Saturday 29 August 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Overnight is vintage series rather than film: The Baron opens the day at 12:30am (series 1, episode 2), a jewel-heist caper for Steve Forrest’s reformed-thief-turned-antiques-dealer John Mannering, and The Persuaders! follows at 1:30am (series 1, episode 4) with Roger Moore and Tony Curtis poking around a reopened country house. The disaster picture Super Eruption, with Richard Burgi battling a blown Yellowstone supervolcano, splits around a short This Week Back Then bulletin from 2:30am, then four Air Rescue episodes carry the channel to 6am, when Teleshopping takes over for three hours.

Good News on GREAT! Extra opens the morning at 9am, then Murder Maps at 9:10am revisits the 1966 Shepherd’s Bush police killings (series 4, episode 4). Big Lift, a 1950 Berlin Airlift drama with Montgomery Clift and Paul Douglas, runs either side of a This Week Back Then break from 10:20am to 12:55pm. The afternoon settles into black-and-white war pictures: Henry Fonda and Maureen O’Hara’s desert drama Immortal Sergeant from 12:55pm, then Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster hunting a Japanese destroyer in Run Silent, Run Deep from 2:55pm, each split by its own five-minute bulletin. Night People, the 1954 Gregory Peck thriller, takes over at 4:55pm and runs to 7pm, holding the whole 6pm hour before primetime’s Predestination begins.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 29 August 2026.

Night People — GREAT! Action, 4:55pm

Gregory Peck plays a US Army colonel trying to trade for a kidnapped GI’s freedom in a divided, post-war Berlin, never quite sure which of his contacts he can trust. It’s a 1954 Cold War thriller rather than a modern action title, and it holds the whole 6pm hour by itself before a short This Week Back Then bulletin and the start of Predestination at 7pm.

Predestination — GREAT! Action, 7pm

Ethan Hawke and Succession’s Sarah Snook lead this 2014 time-travel thriller about an agent who polices crimes before they happen, sent after a bomber who always seems to be a step ahead. The film pauses briefly for This Week Back Then just before 8pm and resumes straight after.

Hercules — GREAT! Action, 9pm

Dwayne Johnson swaps his usual modern-day roles for togas in this 2014 telling of the myth, leading a band of fighters hired to help restore a king to his throne. Like the two films either side of it, it breaks for a five-minute bulletin around 10pm before finishing.

Flight Of Fury — GREAT! Action, 11pm

Steven Seagal closes the night as a special-ops soldier chasing down a missing stealth bomber before it lands in the wrong hands. Released direct-to-video in 2007, it’s the kind of low-budget close to the evening GREAT! Action regulars will recognise.

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?

Three films tonight, each broken by a short This Week Back Then bulletin. Night People runs from 4:55pm to 7pm, so it covers the whole 6pm hour on its own before Predestination takes over at 7pm. Hercules follows at 9pm, and Flight Of Fury closes the schedule at 11pm. See the schedule table above for the rest of the day.

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. Saturday’s daytime leans older than usual: The Baron and The Persuaders! overnight, a run of Air Rescue documentaries towards breakfast, then an afternoon built entirely from black-and-white war and adventure films — Big Lift, Immortal Sergeant and Run Silent, Run Deep — before Night People arrives at 4:55pm and quietly takes over the 6pm hour.

Primetime carries three films rather than the usual one. Predestination gives Ethan Hawke and Sarah Snook a time-travel puzzle to solve from 7pm, Hercules puts Dwayne Johnson in charge of a mercenary band from 9pm, and Steven Seagal’s Flight Of Fury sees the night out from 11pm. Each one pauses briefly for a five-minute bulletin, which is the small trade-off for a free, ad-funded schedule this heavy on films.

Related: Film4 TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide | Films on TV This Week