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

Published: 21 August 2026

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 22 August 2026, it’s a three-film evening: The Trust, Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood’s 2016 crime thriller, opens at 7:05pm and runs to 9pm, split around 8pm by a short This Week Back Then insert. Road To Perdition, Sam Mendes’s 2002 gangster drama with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, follows at 9pm, and Pistol Whipped, the 2008 Steven Seagal thriller, closes the night at 11:30pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Saturday 22 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Saturday 22 August 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Two vintage spy series open the night back to back: The New Avengers at 12:20am (series 2, episode 8) and The Persuaders! at 1:20am (series 1, episode 21). Disaster Zone: Volcano In New York, a 2006 TV movie with Costas Mandylor as a tunnel worker who discovers lava seeping into New York’s aqueducts, follows at 2:20am. Coast Guard Alaska airs twice from 3:55am, Air Rescue closes out the overnight run at 5:25am, a short Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin follows at 5:50am, and a three-hour Teleshopping block fills the schedule from 6am to 9am.

The daytime turns to a bounty hunt, a real crime investigation, and two classic adventure films. Wanted: Dead Or Alive, the Steve McQueen bounty-hunter series, opens the morning at 9am (series 1, episode 6), followed by a Murder Maps double at 9:30am and 10:30am (series 3, episodes 3 and 2). Buck And The Preacher, Sidney Poitier’s 1972 directorial debut, starring Poitier alongside Harry Belafonte and Ruby Dee as a wagon guide and a con-man preacher helping freed slaves head west, begins at 11:30am, splits around a This Week Back Then break at 12:26pm, and resumes at 12:31pm to run through to 1:45pm. Captain From Castile, the 1947 Tyrone Power swashbuckler directed by Henry King, takes over at 1:45pm, itself broken by a further This Week Back Then insert at 2:41pm before resuming at 2:46pm and running to 4:45pm. Jewel of the Nile, the 1985 sequel to Romancing the Stone with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito, closes out the afternoon from 4:45pm through to 7:05pm, when The Trust opens the evening.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 22 August 2026.

The Trust — GREAT! Action, 7:05pm

Two corrupt Las Vegas cops, played by Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood, stumble on a stash of cash behind a routine search warrant and decide to help themselves to it, in a 2016 heist that unravels faster than either of them plans for. Jerry Lewis has a small role as Cage’s father. A short This Week Back Then insert splits the film in two around 8pm, but it’s one continuous story either side of the break, running through to 9pm.

Road To Perdition — GREAT! Action, 9pm

Sam Mendes’s 2002 gangster drama sends Tom Hanks’s hitman on the run with his young son after a mob killing turns on his own family, with Paul Newman as the ageing crime boss torn between loyalty and self-preservation. Jude Law and Daniel Craig fill out a cast built for prestige rather than spectacle. It’s the biggest title on tonight’s schedule and takes the full two and a half hours to 11:30pm.

Pistol Whipped — GREAT! Action, 11:30pm

Steven Seagal plays a disgraced former cop drawn into contract killing to clear his debts, before starting to suspect the man giving him his orders isn’t being straight with him. The 2008 thriller closes out the night.

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?

Saturday evening is a three-film run. The Trust, Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood’s 2016 crime thriller, opens at 7:05pm and plays through to 9pm around a short This Week Back Then break. Road To Perdition, Sam Mendes’s 2002 gangster drama with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, takes the 9pm slot, and Pistol Whipped, the 2008 Steven Seagal thriller, closes the schedule at 11:30pm. 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 is built around vintage adventure rather than fresh films: Buck And The Preacher, Sidney Poitier’s 1972 directorial debut with Harry Belafonte, and Captain From Castile, the 1947 Tyrone Power swashbuckler, both split around midday and early afternoon by brief This Week Back Then inserts, before Jewel of the Nile, the 1985 Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner sequel to Romancing the Stone, rounds out the afternoon.

The evening is the channel’s strongest of the week. The Trust pairs Nicolas Cage against type with Elijah Wood in a 2016 heist-gone-wrong thriller, before Road To Perdition, Sam Mendes’s 2002 gangster drama with Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, takes the night’s biggest slot. Pistol Whipped, Steven Seagal’s 2008 contract-killer thriller, closes out proceedings at 11:30pm.

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