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

Published: 23 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, Monday 24 August 2026, there’s a single film in primetime rather than the usual run of two or three: Hercules, the 2014 Dwayne Johnson outing, takes the 9pm slot and plays through to 11pm around a short This Week Back Then break, before a 1960s repeat of The Avengers closes the night at 11pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Monday 24 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Monday 24 August 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

The overnight run is vintage series and reality strands rather than film: The New Avengers at 12:30am (series 2, episode 10), The Persuaders! at 1:30am (series 1, episode 23), the disaster thriller Asteroid: Final Impact at 2:40am and Coast Guard Alaska at 4:15am (series 3, episode 4), with a back-to-back Air Rescue double either side of 5am. Two brief Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletins bookend that run, and the channel then hands six straight half-hours to Teleshopping, 6am to 9am.

The morning opens on documentary strands, Raiders Of The Lost Art at 9am and Murder Maps at 9:30am (series 4, episode 3), before The First of The Few, the 1942 drama starring Leslie Howard, David Niven and Rosamund John as the team behind the Spitfire, fills the late morning from 10:30am, broken by a five-minute This Week Back Then insert at 11:26am. The afternoon belongs to two shows that resurface later: The Unit at 1pm (series 2, episode 13) and a Burn Notice double at 2pm and 3pm (series 4, episodes 6 and 7). Seattle Superstorm, the 2012 disaster thriller with Esai Morales, then runs from 4pm to 6pm split by another This Week Back Then break, and the same episodes of The Unit and Burn Notice repeat straight through the early evening and into primetime — see below.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Monday 24 August 2026. Unusually for this channel, only one film gets a primetime slot — the rest of the evening is a straight repeat of the afternoon.

The Unit and Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 6pm, 7pm and 8pm

The channel opens its evening with programmes viewers may already have seen a few hours earlier. The Unit at 6pm (series 2, episode 13) is the same submarine-defection episode shown at 1pm, and the Burn Notice pair at 7pm and 8pm (series 4, episodes 6 and 7) repeat the 2pm and 3pm airings — Sam and Jesse working a contract killer for information first, then Michael stepping in once a retired spy’s Miami cover is blown and a Russian black-ops crew arrives looking for him.

Hercules — GREAT! Action, 9pm to 11pm

Dwayne Johnson leads the 2014 telling of Hercules, and it’s the night’s only film, running from 9pm to 11pm with a five-minute break for This Week Back Then just before 10pm. Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rebecca Ferguson and Joseph Fiennes round out the cast as a mercenary Hercules is talked into training an army for a king under threat from a rival warlord.

The Avengers — GREAT! Action, 11pm

The night closes with a rerun of the 1960s spy series The Avengers, not the Marvel film (series 5, episode 24). Steed and his partner look into the disappearance of a car carrying government officials, with a shrinking department budget for a motive.

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?

Monday evening has just one film. Hercules, the 2014 action outing starring Dwayne Johnson, runs from 9pm to 11pm split around a short This Week Back Then insert. Before that, the 6pm, 7pm and 8pm slots repeat The Unit and Burn Notice episodes already shown earlier in the afternoon, and the night ends with a 1960s repeat of The Avengers at 11pm. 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. Monday’s daytime leans on documentary strands and archive drama rather than the channel’s usual westerns: Raiders Of The Lost Art and Murder Maps open the morning, then The First of The Few, the 1942 Spitfire drama with Leslie Howard, David Niven and Rosamund John, holds the late morning. The afternoon’s two big strands, The Unit and a Burn Notice double, then air twice each — once at lunchtime and again in the early evening.

Primetime is unusually light on film for this channel, with just one title carrying the night. Hercules gives Dwayne Johnson the title role in the 2014 telling of the myth, and it takes the evening’s biggest slot from 9pm to 11pm. A rerun of the 1960s spy series The Avengers closes out proceedings at 11pm.

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