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, Friday 14 August 2026, The Unit and two episodes of Burn Notice repeat from 6pm before The Transporter Refueled, the 2015 action thriller with Ed Skrein, takes the 9pm slot, followed by a rerun of the original 1960s Avengers at 11:05pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Friday 14 August 2026 (Full Listings)

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

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Six half-hour Teleshopping slots fill the channel from 6am until 9am, when Raiders Of The Lost Art picks up proper programming with an episode on the hunt for Vermeer’s missing paintings and the forger who profited from the gap he left behind (series 1, episode 6). Murder Maps follows at 10am, opening an investigation built around discoveries at Brighton station and King’s Cross in the summer of 1934.

The Doolins Of Oklahoma, Randolph Scott’s 1949 western about an outlaw trying to hang up his guns while federal marshals close in, runs from 11am. It breaks for a five-minute This Week Back Then bulletin at 11:56am, then picks back up at 12:01pm through to 1pm.

The Unit repeats at 1pm, followed by the same pair of Burn Notice episodes due to air again at 7pm and 8pm tonight: a client trying to get free of a gang of violent conmen at 2pm, then Sam calling in a favour to help nail a child predator at 3pm. Sniper Elite, Kevin Sorbo’s 2014 alien-invasion thriller, closes out the afternoon from 4pm, pausing again for This Week Back Then at 4:56pm before wrapping up at 6pm.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

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

The Unit — GREAT! Action, 6pm

The evening opens with a rerun of The Unit (series 2, episode 7), the same hour that went out over lunch. Jonas and Bob use their day off to pull a young girl free from a cult leader as a personal favour to an old friend, while Tiffy quietly covers for Charlotte and lands herself in far more trouble than she bargained for.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 7pm

Burn Notice picks up at 7pm with episode 10, also a repeat of its 2pm slot. Michael and Fiona are hired to spring a woman from a gang of violent con artists after an insurance scam turns sour, while somebody working an angle on Michael goes to unusually drastic lengths just to get his attention.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 8pm

Episode 11 of Burn Notice follows straight on at 8pm. Sam calls in a favour from his old friend Mack to help build a case against a suspected child predator, and Michael’s path crosses with Mason Gilroy, an associate of the sinister Strickler who’s angling to become his next employer.

The Transporter Refueled — GREAT! Action, 9pm

The Transporter Refueled is the one properly cinematic booking in tonight’s line-up. Ed Skrein takes the wheel for this 2015 sequel, playing a retired mercenary drawn into a dangerous arrangement with a femme fatale and her three associates, all with a Russian crime boss in their sights.

The Avengers — GREAT! Action, 11:05pm

The night closes with a rerun of the classic 1960s series (series 5, episode 14). Steed and Mrs Peel are called in when a national security breach turns out to be linked to a string of adults behaving with peculiar childishness, Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg carrying it with their usual dry chemistry.

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?

The Unit opens the evening at 6pm, then Burn Notice runs two episodes back to back at 7pm and 8pm, both repeated from earlier in the afternoon. The Transporter Refueled, the 2015 action thriller with Ed Skrein, takes over at 9pm. The night closes with a rerun of the original 1960s Avengers, with Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg, at 11:05pm. 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. Friday’s daytime schedule runs from an art-forgery documentary through Randolph Scott’s western The Doolins Of Oklahoma and into Kevin Sorbo’s alien-invasion thriller Sniper Elite, a decent stretch for genre regulars. The evening belongs to one film.

The Transporter Refueled at 9pm is the reason to tune in tonight, Ed Skrein taking over the wheel from Jason Statham for this 2015 sequel. The Unit and Burn Notice earlier in the evening repeat the same episodes shown that afternoon, so viewers who caught them the first time can go straight to primetime, then stay on for the original 1960s Avengers at 11:05pm.

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