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

Published: 22 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, Sunday 23 August 2026, it’s a three-film evening: High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood’s 1973 western, opens at 6pm and runs to 8:10pm around a short This Week Back Then break. Parker, the 2013 thriller with Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez, takes over at 8:10pm, and American Heist, the 2014 heist drama with Hayden Christensen and Adrien Brody, closes the night at 10:30pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Sunday 23 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Sunday 23 August 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

The overnight run is a mix of vintage series and reality strands: The Persuaders! at 1:45am (series 1, episode 22), Super Collider at 2:45am and Coast Guard Alaska at 4:15am (series 3, episode 3). A back-to-back Air Rescue double at 5am and 5:25am and a short Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin at 5:50am lead into a three-hour Teleshopping block from 6am to 9am.

The daytime is built entirely around older films, each one broken into two halves around a five-minute This Week Back Then insert. A further Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin and a Murder Maps episode (series 3, episode 4) open the morning proper at 9am and 9:10am, before Tomorrow We Live, a 1943 British wartime drama, runs from 10:10am to 12pm split by the 11:06am interstitial. Immortal Sergeant, a 1943 war drama pairing Henry Fonda with Maureen O’Hara, takes the early afternoon from 12pm to 2pm, followed by Night People, Gregory Peck and Broderick Crawford’s 1954 Cold War thriller, from 2pm to 4pm. Run Silent, Run Deep, the 1958 submarine drama with Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster, closes out the afternoon from 4pm to 6pm, when High Plains Drifter opens the evening.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 23 August 2026. All three films are interrupted by a brief This Week Back Then insert, so each is written here as the single continuous film it is rather than two separate slots.

High Plains Drifter — GREAT! Action, 6pm

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this 1973 western as a nameless gunfighter who rides into a corrupt mining town and is hired to protect it from three outlaws due for release from prison. The film runs from 6pm to 8:10pm, breaking briefly at 6:56pm for This Week Back Then before resuming at 7:01pm.

Parker — GREAT! Action, 8:10pm

Jason Statham plays a professional thief left for dead by his own crew after a heist goes wrong; Jennifer Lopez co-stars as a struggling Florida estate agent drawn into his hunt for revenge. Taylor Hackford directed this 2013 adaptation of Donald Westlake’s novel Flashfire. It runs from 8:10pm to 10:30pm, pausing at 9:06pm for This Week Back Then and picking up again five minutes later.

American Heist — GREAT! Action, 10:30pm

Hayden Christensen plays a man trying to go straight who is pulled into one last bank job by his ex-convict brother, played by Adrien Brody. The 2014 crime drama closes the night from 10:30pm to 12:30am, with This Week Back Then breaking in at 11:28pm before the film resumes at 11:33pm.

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?

Sunday evening is a three-film run, each one split around a short This Week Back Then insert. High Plains Drifter, Clint Eastwood’s 1973 western, opens at 6pm and plays through to 8:10pm. Parker, the 2013 thriller with Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez, takes the 8:10pm slot and runs to 10:30pm, and American Heist, the 2014 crime drama with Hayden Christensen and Adrien Brody, closes the schedule at 10:30pm. 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. Sunday’s daytime runs entirely on older films rather than fresh titles: Tomorrow We Live, a 1943 British wartime drama, gives way to Immortal Sergeant, pairing Henry Fonda opposite Maureen O’Hara, then Night People starring Gregory Peck, and Run Silent, Run Deep, the Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster submarine drama, each broken around midday and afternoon by brief This Week Back Then inserts.

The evening holds up well against the rest of the week. High Plains Drifter gives Clint Eastwood the dual role of star and director in a lean 1973 western, before Parker, Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez’s 2013 revenge thriller, takes the night’s biggest slot. American Heist, Hayden Christensen and Adrien Brody’s 2014 bank-job drama, closes out proceedings at 10:30pm.

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