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

Published: 4 September 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 5 September 2026, is two films rather than one: the 2003 western remake Monte Walsh, with Tom Selleck and Isabella Rossellini, runs from 6:30pm, broken by a five-minute This Week Back Then at 7:26pm before resuming to 9pm. Homefront takes over from there, Jason Statham as a retired DEA agent whose quiet retirement gets upended when he crosses a local drug lord, also split by This Week Back Then, this time at 9:56pm, before Attack Force closes the night at 11:10pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Saturday 5 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Saturday 5 September 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

The 1960s ITC adventure series The Baron opens the day at 12:15am (series 1, episode 8), followed by The Persuaders! at 1:15am (series 1, episode 11) and the thriller Absolute Zero at 2:15am. Coast Guard Alaska runs at 3:40am (series 4, episode 4), then Air Rescue takes three half-hour slots from 4:35am to 5:50am. Teleshopping fills 6am to 9am.

Railway Murders runs three episodes back to back from 9am to noon. Gung Ho, the 1986 Michael Keaton comedy about a Japanese firm taking over a struggling American car plant, holds midday, split by a five-minute This Week Back Then at 12:56pm. The 1978 war film Force 10 From Navarone, with Harrison Ford and Robert Shaw, follows from 2pm, broken the same way at 2:56pm, and the 1956 war drama Between Heaven And Hell, with Robert Wagner, takes the afternoon into early evening from 4:30pm, split at 5:26pm ahead of tonight’s line-up.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 5 September 2026: two films, each broken by the same five-minute filler slot.

Monte Walsh — GREAT! Action, 6:30pm

Tom Selleck and Isabella Rossellini lead this 2003 television remake of the Lee Marvin western, following an ageing cowboy watching the frontier close in around him as ranching gives way to fences and railways. It runs 6:30pm to 7:26pm, breaks for five minutes of This Week Back Then, then resumes at 7:31pm through to 9pm.

Homefront — GREAT! Action, 9pm

Jason Statham plays a retired DEA agent whose new life in a quiet town unravels once he crosses a local drug boss, played by James Franco, who won’t let the family he’s trying to protect stay out of it. Same pattern as the first film: 9pm to 9:56pm, a short break, then back from 10:01pm to 11:10pm.

Attack Force — GREAT! Action, 11:10pm

Attack Force 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?

Two films, each split by a five-minute This Week Back Then interstitial. Monte Walsh (2003), with Tom Selleck and Isabella Rossellini, runs 6:30pm to 9pm; Homefront (2013), with Jason Statham, runs 9pm to 11:10pm; Attack Force closes the night from 11:10pm. 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, and tonight is a proper double bill rather than a repeat-heavy evening. Daytime carries the channel’s usual mix of ITC adventure series and vintage war pictures, with Gung Ho, Force 10 From Navarone and Between Heaven And Hell each split around a five-minute This Week Back Then.

Primetime is the better watch: Monte Walsh’s elegiac western followed by Homefront’s more straightforward revenge thriller, both broken the same way, then Attack Force to close out the night. Worth switching on for either film.

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