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 21 August 2026, The Unit repeats at 6pm ahead of a Burn Notice double bill at 7pm and 8pm, before High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood’s 1973 western, takes the 9pm film slot and plays through to 11:20pm, split only by a brief This Week Back Then insert. The night closes with an episode of the 1960s Avengers spy series, Steed and Emma Peel investigating a gang blackmailing millionaires, not the 1998 big-screen version with Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Friday 21 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Friday 21 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 night back to back: The New Avengers at 12:05am (series 2, episode 7) and The Persuaders! at 1:05am (series 1, episode 20). Stonados, a 2013 disaster film in which a former storm chaser tracks a freak weather system hurling exploding boulders across Boston, follows at 2:05am, then Coast Guard Alaska at 3:40am. Three episodes of Air Rescue carry the schedule from 4:25am to 5:40am, two short Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletins follow, and a single three-hour Teleshopping block fills the schedule from 6am to 9am.

The daytime turns to a classic bounty hunt, a real crime case and a spaghetti western. A short Good News bulletin at 9am leads into Wanted: Dead Or Alive at 9:10am (series 1, episode 5, “Passing of Shawnee Bill”). Steve McQueen’s bounty hunter Josh Randall advances half a promised reward to a man who claims he can lead him to a wanted outlaw, only to find the trail isn’t as straightforward as he’s been told. A further Good News bulletin at 9:40am precedes Murder Maps at 9:50am (series 4, episode 2), which covers the 1966 Shepherd’s Bush murders, in which three police officers were shot dead by Harry Roberts and two accomplices. Any Gun Can Play, a 1967 spaghetti western starring Gilbert Roland, Edd Byrnes and George Hilton, built around a gold heist and a chain of double-crosses, runs from 10:50am into the early afternoon. The Unit repeats at 1pm (series 2, episode 12), and Burn Notice follows with the same two episodes it plays again in the evening, first at 2pm (series 4, episode 4) then 3pm (series 4, episode 5). Eye for an Eye splits around a 4:56pm This Week Back Then break and runs to 6pm, when a repeat of The Unit opens the evening proper.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 21 August 2026.

The Unit — GREAT! Action, 6pm

The Unit opens the evening with a same-day repeat of its 1pm outing (series 2, episode 12), giving Jonas’s team a second airing before Burn Notice takes over.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 7pm

Burn Notice at 7pm (series 4, episode 4, “Breach of Faith”) is also a repeat of its earlier afternoon slot. Sam draws Michael into a struggling military charity, and a bid to recover missing funds tips into a stand-off with the police.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 8pm

The 8pm Burn Notice (series 4, episode 5, “Neighborhood Watch”) continues the same repeated pairing. Michael goes after Kendra, the hired killer who got away with an incriminating tape, determined to bring her in for questioning.

High Plains Drifter — GREAT! Action, 9pm

High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood’s 1973 western, takes the 9pm slot and plays through to 11:20pm as one film, interrupted only by a five-minute This Week Back Then insert at 9:56pm. Eastwood directs and stars as a nameless gunfighter hired to protect the mining town of Lago from three outlaws bent on revenge, a job that turns out to have a supernatural edge to it.

The Avengers — GREAT! Action, 11:20pm

The night closes at 11:20pm with the 1960s ITV series The Avengers, not the Marvel film. “You Have Just Been Murdered” (series 5, episode 21) has Steed and Emma Peel tracking a gang that blackmails millionaires with staged assassination attempts, before one of the threats turns out to be real.

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?

Friday evening opens with The Unit at 6pm, repeating its own 1pm airing, then Burn Notice doubles up at 7pm and 8pm with the same two episodes shown earlier in the afternoon. High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood’s 1973 western, takes the 9pm film slot and runs through to 11:20pm, broken only briefly by This Week Back Then. The night closes with an episode of the 1960s Avengers spy series, Steed and Emma Peel rather than the 1998 film cast, tracking a gang blackmailing millionaires. 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 leans on a real crime case and a spaghetti western rather than fresh films: Murder Maps covers the 1966 Shepherd’s Bush police murders, and Any Gun Can Play, a 1967 Italian western built around a gold heist and a string of double-crosses, holds down the late morning and into the early afternoon. 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 episodes of Burn Notice replay the exact same episodes the channel showed earlier the same day, so anyone who watched the afternoon gets nothing new before 9pm. High Plains Drifter changes that: Clint Eastwood directing and starring as a nameless gunfighter with a supernatural edge to his errand, easily the biggest draw on tonight’s schedule. The night then closes with a rerun of the 1960s Avengers spy series, Patrick Macnee and Diana Rigg tracking a gang of blackmailers, so don’t go in expecting the 1998 film.

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