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

Published: 27 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, Friday 28 August 2026, the evening opens with a Unit and Burn Notice rerun from earlier in the day before the night’s film, The Punisher, takes the 9pm slot. Thomas Jane and John Travolta lead a two-and-a-half-hour run through to 11:30pm. The Avengers closes the schedule at 11:30pm — the 1960s ITV spy series rather than the Marvel film, with Steed drawn into a case where the chief suspect is a man he thought he’d already dealt with five years earlier.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Friday 28 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Friday 28 August 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Overnight is vintage series rather than film: The Baron opens the day at midnight (series 1, episode 1) and The Persuaders! follows at 1am (series 1, episode 3). The disaster thriller NYC: Tornado Terror runs either side of a short This Week Back Then bulletin at 2:56am, then Coast Guard Alaska (series 3, episode 8) and a run of three Air Rescue episodes carry the channel to 6am, when Teleshopping takes over until 9am.

The morning opens with two more Raiders Of The Lost Art episodes at 9am and 9:30am, then Murder Maps at 10am (series 5, episode 3) and the western Johnson County War – Part 2, split by a short This Week Back Then bulletin either side of the hour. The Unit returns at 1pm (series 2, episode 17) and Burn Notice follows with a double bill at 2pm and 3pm (series 4, episodes 14 and 15) — the same three episodes the channel repeats again this evening at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. The Virginian, a 2014 western with Trace Adkins and Ron Perlman, takes the 4pm slot, breaking for five minutes of This Week Back Then at 4:56pm before resuming at 5:01pm and finishing at 6pm, exactly as primetime opens.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 28 August 2026.

The Unit — GREAT! Action, 6pm

The channel repeats its 1pm episode of The Unit (series 2, episode 17) to open the evening, sending the team back into a stand-off that already played out earlier in the day.

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

The same two episodes shown at 2pm and 3pm return for primetime. At 7pm, Michael teams up with a rival to keep a shipment of chemical weapons out of the wrong hands; at 8pm, Jesse and Sam hunt down a bible for an auction while Michael stays in Miami to back up Nate.

The Punisher — GREAT! Action, 9pm

The Punisher (2004) casts Thomas Jane as Frank Castle, an FBI agent who turns vigilante after his family is murdered by a gangland boss, played here by John Travolta. The film fills two and a half hours through to 11:30pm.

The Avengers — GREAT! Action, 11:30pm

Don’t mistake this for the Marvel blockbuster: it’s the 1960s ITV spy series, series six. John Steed is drawn into a run of agent killings whose chief suspect is a man he thought he’d already stopped, five years earlier.

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?

The Unit and a Burn Notice double open proceedings at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm — reruns of what the channel showed over lunch and into the afternoon. The Punisher, a 2004 thriller with Thomas Jane as vigilante Frank Castle and John Travolta as the crime boss he’s hunting, is the 9pm film and runs two and a half hours to 11:30pm. The Avengers closes the night at 11:30pm — the classic 1960s ITV spy series, not the Marvel film, built around a killer Steed thought he’d already dealt with five years before. 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 keeps close to the channel’s western identity: two more Raiders Of The Lost Art episodes and Murder Maps open the morning, followed by the western Johnson County War – Part 2. The Unit and a Burn Notice double, first shown after lunch, return unchanged to open the evening.

Primetime carries just one film. The Punisher gives Thomas Jane’s Frank Castle a family to avenge and John Travolta’s crime boss to take it out on, running from 9pm to 11:30pm. The Avengers closes the schedule at 11:30pm with a case built around a spy Steed thought he’d already stopped — the 1960s ITV series, not the Marvel film — a quiet way to end an evening otherwise given over to reruns.

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