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, Wednesday 19 August 2026, The Unit repeats at 6pm ahead of a Burn Notice double bill from 7pm, before Pistol Whipped, Steven Seagal’s 2008 vigilante thriller, takes over at 9pm. A five-minute This Week Back Then interstitial splits the film at 9:56pm and it picks back up at 10:01pm, and the night closes with a rerun of the 1960s Avengers TV series at 11:15pm, with Steed and Emma Peel rather than the 1998 film of the same name.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Wednesday 19 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Wednesday 19 August 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Two vintage spy series open the schedule back to back: The New Avengers at 12:25am, where the team traces a rocket stolen from a munitions warehouse while Purdey runs into an awkward reunion with an old boyfriend, and The Persuaders! at 1:25am, where Danny becomes the chief suspect after his date, the daughter of a millionaire, is abducted and he has to clear his own name while finding her. Firequake, a 2014 disaster thriller with Alexandra Paul, follows at 2:25am, built around an explosive new energy source leaking into the Earth’s crust. Coast Guard Alaska and three episodes of Air Rescue carry the channel through the small hours with sea rescues, a stranded bushwalker, and a rescue crew member who ends up saving his own former football coach, before six half-hour Teleshopping blocks fill the schedule through to 9am.

The daytime turns to art history, a notorious murder case and a couple of westerns. Raiders Of The Lost Art opens proper programming at 9am tracing how Rembrandt’s paintings ended up scattered across the world, then moves at 9:30am to El Greco, an artist the show says took nearly three centuries to be properly valued. Murder Maps follows at 10am with the case of Ruth Ellis, the nightclub manager whose 1955 killing of her abusive lover made her the last woman ever executed in Britain. Lone Rider, a 2008 western with Lou Diamond Phillips as a Civil War veteran taking on the landowner who has seized his hometown, runs either side of an 11:56am This Week Back Then insert and through to 12:50pm, when The Unit takes over with Jonas in trouble in Georgia and Colonel Ryan clashing with the vice president’s staff back home. Two episodes of Burn Notice follow from 1:50pm, first a Miami bomb threat and then Michael’s uneasy alliance to head off a second attack, before Battle For The Skies, a 2013 World War Two drama about a downed RAF crew evading a determined SS officer, splits around a second This Week Back Then break and runs to 6pm, when The Unit repeats to open the evening.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2026.

The Unit — GREAT! Action, 6pm

The evening opens with a same-day repeat of The Unit (series 2, episode 10), the episode shown at 12:50pm in which Jonas runs into trouble in Georgia while Colonel Ryan squares up to the vice president’s staff back home.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 7pm and 8pm

Burn Notice doubles up from 7pm, also repeating its afternoon airings: a Miami bomb threat from a terrorist demanding Michael’s cooperation (series 3, episode 16), followed by Michael’s uneasy new alliance meant to head off a second attack, while Sam and Fiona get dragged into a dispute between a lawyer and a biker gang (series 4, episode 1).

Pistol Whipped — GREAT! Action, 9pm

Tonight’s main event is Pistol Whipped, Steven Seagal’s 2008 vigilante thriller about a washed-up, drink-sodden ex-cop offered a shot at redemption as a hired assassin working for an unnamed backer, with the city’s biggest gangsters as his targets. GREAT! Action splits the film around a five-minute This Week Back Then insert at 9:56pm, resuming at 10:01pm rather than starting something new.

The Avengers — GREAT! Action, 11:15pm

The night closes with The Avengers (series 5, episode 20), the 1960s ITV spy series rather than the 1998 film or the Marvel franchise. Patrick Macnee’s Steed and Diana Rigg’s Emma Peel get caught up in a deadly car race with a fatal twist at the finish, while chasing down a killer and a set of stolen top-secret papers.

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?

Wednesday evening opens with The Unit at 6pm, repeating its own 12:50pm airing, then Burn Notice doubles up from 7pm with the same two episodes shown earlier in the afternoon. Pistol Whipped, Steven Seagal’s 2008 vigilante thriller, takes the 9pm slot, breaking for a five-minute This Week Back Then insert at 9:56pm before resuming at 10:01pm. The night closes with a rerun of the 1960s Avengers spy series at 11:15pm, starring Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg rather than the 1998 film cast. 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. Wednesday’s daytime leans on true stories and westerns rather than films: Raiders Of The Lost Art traces how Rembrandt’s paintings scattered across the world before turning to El Greco, an artist the show says took centuries to be properly valued, and Murder Maps revisits the 1955 killing of Ruth Ellis, the last woman ever executed in Britain. Lone Rider, a modest 2008 Lou Diamond Phillips western, holds down the late morning. None of it is new, but it is well chosen.

The evening is unusually repeat-heavy even by this channel’s standards. The Unit and both halves of Burn Notice all replay episodes the channel already showed earlier the same day, so anyone who watched the afternoon gets little new before 9pm. Pistol Whipped changes that: a lean 2008 Steven Seagal thriller, split either side of a short archive insert, and easily the strongest thing on the schedule tonight. The night then closes out with a rerun of the 1960s Avengers TV series, Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg rather than Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman, so don’t go in expecting the 1998 film.

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