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

Published: 5 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, Sunday 6 September 2026, is two war films rather than one: Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 anti-war drama Paths of Glory runs from 7pm, broken by a five-minute This Week Back Then at 7:56pm before resuming to 9pm. Hamburger Hill takes over from there, the 1987 Vietnam War film following a US Army platoon through a brutal ten-day assault, also split by This Week Back Then, this time at 9:56pm, before Sniper: Legacy closes the night at 11:20pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Sunday 6 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Sunday 6 September 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

This Week Back Then and Attack Force open the day just after midnight, then Seattle Superstorm runs twice either side of a second This Week Back Then from 1:10am. Coast Guard Alaska takes the 3am slot (series 4, episode 5), followed by five Air Rescue instalments back to back from 3:45am to 5:50am and a short Good News on GREAT! Extra closing out the small hours. Teleshopping fills 6am to 9am.

Railway Murders runs three episodes back to back from 9am to noon. Hell in Normandy holds midday, split by a five-minute This Week Back Then at 12:56pm. The African Queen follows from 2:10pm, broken the same way at 3:06pm, and The Vikings 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, Sunday 6 September 2026.

Paths of Glory — GREAT! Action, 7pm

Kubrick’s 1957 courtroom-and-trenches drama, Kirk Douglas as the colonel defending three soldiers scapegoated for a failed attack. Nearly seventy years old and still sharper than most of what airs around it tonight. Split by a five-minute This Week Back Then at 7:56pm, resuming 8:01pm.

Hamburger Hill — GREAT! Action, 9pm

A platoon grinds up the same hill, again and again, over ten days in the 1987 Vietnam War film. Less interested in strategy than in attrition, and the cast is deliberately unglamorous for it. Also broken by This Week Back Then, at 9:56pm, resuming 10:01pm.

Sniper: Legacy — GREAT! Action, 11:20pm

Closes the night. Latest of the long-running Sniper series, this one bringing back Chad Michael Collins’ Brandon Beckett for another long-range assignment gone sideways.

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 war films, each split by a five-minute This Week Back Then interstitial. Paths of Glory (1957) runs 7pm to 9pm; Hamburger Hill (1987) runs 9pm to 11:20pm; Sniper: Legacy closes the night from 11:20pm. 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 of war films rather than a repeat-heavy evening. Daytime carries the channel’s usual mix of true-crime repeats and vintage war pictures, with Hell in Normandy, The African Queen and The Vikings each split around a five-minute This Week Back Then.

Primetime is the better watch: Kubrick’s Paths of Glory followed by Hamburger Hill’s grimmer Vietnam War drama, both broken the same way, then Sniper: Legacy to close out the night. Worth switching on for either film, and Paths of Glory especially.

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