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

Updated: 14 July 2026

GREAT! Action is a free-to-air film channel built almost entirely around gunfights, chases and westerns, sitting on Freeview channel 42 alongside three network sisters. It began life on 10 September 2019 as Sony Movies Action, was renamed Great! Movies Action in May 2021 after Narrative Entertainment UK Limited bought Sony Pictures Television’s UK free-to-air channels, then settled on its current name in March 2023 when sister channel GREAT! Romance launched. Tonight, Tuesday 14 July 2026, the headline film is The Exception (2016) at 8pm, David Leveaux’s Second World War drama with Lily James, Jai Courtney and Christopher Plummer. Before it, Liam Neeson’s ice-trucking thriller The Ice Road (2021) opens the evening from 5:45pm, and James Nunn’s Eliminators (2016), with Scott Adkins, closes the night from 10pm. Channel numbers for every platform are further down the page.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Tuesday 14 July 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Tuesday 14 July 2026, on Freeview 42.

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Tuesday’s daytime schedule sticks to the channel’s western backbone. Wrangler holds the 9am and 10:01am slots either side of a short interstitial, followed by two back-to-back episodes of Tombstone Territory at 11am and 11:30am, both from the show’s third season. The High Chaparral takes over at noon and 1pm, before Steve McQueen’s bounty-hunter series Wanted: Dead or Alive closes out the series westerns at 2pm.

The afternoon’s film is They Came to Cordura from 3pm, Robert Rossen’s 1959 western with Gary Cooper as an army major sent to escort a group of decorated soldiers, one of them harbouring a guilty secret, across dangerous territory during the Mexican Revolution. Rita Hayworth and Van Heflin round out a strong cast. It’s split into two parts around a This Week Back Then interstitial at 3:56pm, before the evening’s run of films opens with The Ice Road from 5:45pm.

GREAT! Action Tonight — Primetime and the Evening Schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 14 July 2026.

This Week Back Then — GREAT! Action, 6:41pm

A five-minute pause for vintage news clips, splitting The Ice Road in two.

The Ice Road — GREAT! Action, 6:46pm

The Ice Road resumes for its second half. Liam Neeson’s 2021 disaster thriller follows a big-rig driver hired to haul equipment across a collapsing frozen lake to reach miners trapped after a diamond mine collapse, racing a clock measured in hours rather than days. It’s blunt, effective stuff, built for exactly the kind of channel showing it.

The Exception — GREAT! Action, 8pm

Tonight’s headline film. The Exception (2016) stars Lily James and Jai Courtney as a German soldier and a maid who falls for him while he investigates the exiled Kaiser Wilhelm II’s household in the Netherlands during the Second World War. Christopher Plummer, in one of his last major screen roles, plays the deposed Kaiser, and the plot’s love story is complicated by a secret the maid is hiding from the Nazis closing in around her. It’s a slower, more character-driven piece than most of GREAT! Action’s evening films, and carries its two leads well.

This Week Back Then — GREAT! Action, 8:56pm

The usual five-minute break, this time inside The Exception.

The Exception — GREAT! Action, 9:01pm

The Exception resumes for its final hour, building to the Kaiser’s household confronting Himmler’s visit.

Eliminators — GREAT! Action, 10pm

Eliminators (2016) closes the night. Scott Adkins plays a former US federal agent forced out of witness protection after his London home is raided by mistake, leaving him hunted by Europe’s most dangerous assassin while trying to get his daughter to safety. James Nunn directs a straightforward, well-drilled action thriller, including a fight staged inside a Thames cable car gondola.

This Week Back Then — GREAT! Action, 10:56pm

One more five-minute break, splitting Eliminators before its final act.

Eliminators — GREAT! Action, 11:01pm

Eliminators resumes to see out the night.

What kind of films are on GREAT! Action

Classic westerns and action icons

GREAT! Action’s own description of itself points to action icons such as John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren, and that’s a fair summary of its daytime identity. Westerns from the 1930s through the 1960s, including series like Tombstone Territory and The High Chaparral, make up a large share of the schedule, alongside 1980s and ’90s action vehicles built around a small handful of dependable stars.

Contemporary action and thriller premieres

The evening slots are where GREAT! Action leans hardest into star-driven action, pairing older studio thrillers with more recent independent titles, generally films that had a cinema or straight-to-video release before landing here. Tonight pairs Chuck Norris’s 1981 An Eye for an Eye with the 2013 Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg buddy thriller 2 Guns.

Anime, rescue documentaries and reality strands

Since around August 2024 the channel has diversified beyond pure film, adding overnight anime such as Dragon Ball Super and real-life rescue documentary series including Coast Guard Alaska and Air Rescue. It’s a small but noticeable shift from a channel that used to be film only, and it fills out the small hours rather than the evening schedule.

How to watch GREAT! Action

Channel numbers

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

GREAT! Action is free on Freeview, Sky and Virgin Media, with no subscription required. The channel was withdrawn from Freesat in early February 2024 along with eight other Narrative Entertainment channels; at the time of writing it has not returned to that platform.

Streaming online

GREAT! Action streams free through Great! Player at great-player.com, no account or sign-in needed. The app is also available on Freeview Play, YouView, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung and LG smart TVs, plus dedicated apps on the App Store and Google Play. It carries content from GREAT! Action alongside GREAT! Movies and GREAT! TV, so you can browse across the whole network from one place.

GREAT! sister channels

GREAT! Action is one of four channels run by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited under the GREAT! banner, all originally part of Sony’s UK free-to-air line-up before the May 2021 sale and rebrand.

A fifth, seasonal channel, GREAT! Movies Christmas, runs festive films from September to December each year. All four year-round channels share the free Great! Player streaming service.

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, Tuesday 14 July 2026, The Ice Road (2021) opens the evening from 5:45pm, with Liam Neeson driving a truck across a breaking frozen lake to reach trapped miners. The headline is The Exception (2016) from 8pm, a Second World War drama with Lily James, Jai Courtney and Christopher Plummer, and Eliminators (2016), Scott Adkins’s British action thriller, closes the night from 10pm. Check the schedule table above for the full day’s listings.

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 are owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited and 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 does one thing and does it reliably: free westerns and action films, all day, without asking for a penny or a login. Tuesday’s daytime run through Wrangler, Tombstone Territory and The High Chaparral is comfort viewing rather than appointment television, but it’s well curated for what it is, and the recent addition of rescue documentaries and anime in the small hours hasn’t dented the evening film slots.

The evening’s strength tonight is The Exception. Lily James and Christopher Plummer give the channel a rare stretch of proper character drama between the gunfights, and it’s a more considered piece than GREAT! Action’s evening slate usually offers. The Ice Road does exactly what a Liam Neeson disaster thriller promises, and Eliminators closes things out with Scott Adkins doing what Scott Adkins does, competently and without much fuss. The habit of splitting films around a five-minute interstitial still takes some getting used to, but with a lineup this solid it’s a minor complaint.

Related: Film4 TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide