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

Published: 7 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, Tuesday 8 September 2026, is series television into a film rather than a double bill: The Unit takes the 6pm slot, then two Burn Notice episodes run back to back from 7pm, both repeats of their earlier daytime airing. Universal Soldier: A New Beginning takes over at 9pm, broken by a five-minute This Week Back Then interstitial at 9:56pm before resuming at 10:01pm, and The Avengers, the 1960s spy series, closes out the night from 11:10pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Tuesday 8 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Tuesday 8 September 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

The Baron opens the day just after midnight (series 1, episode 9), followed by The Persuaders! at 1:50am (series 1, episode 12) and Coast Guard Alaska at 2:50am (series 4, episode 7). Three Air Rescue instalments run back to back from 3:35am to 5:25am, each break marked by a short Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin. Teleshopping fills 6am to 9am.

Railway Murders holds the 9:10am slot (series 1, episode 3), Murder Maps follows at 10:10am (series 1, episode 1), and the western Hangman’s Knot runs from 11:10am into early afternoon, broken by a short This Week Back Then interstitial at 12:06pm. The Unit airs at 1pm (series 3, episode 1), then Burn Notice runs twice from 2pm (series 5, episodes 10 and 11), before The House On The Hill, a two-hour film, closes out the afternoon from 4pm ahead of tonight’s line-up below.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 8 September 2026.

The Unit — GREAT! Action, 6pm

An episode from series 3 of the US military drama, following a covert Delta Force team on overseas missions while the soldiers’ wives handle their own drama back on base. Long finished in America, it’s a fixture of this teatime slot largely because there’s so much of it to draw on.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 7pm

Series 5’s tenth episode, with Michael Westen still working odd jobs for cash in Miami while chasing down whoever burned him as a spy in the first place. Glib voiceover, a gadget or con for every job, low stakes by design.

Burn Notice — GREAT! Action, 8pm

Episode 11 follows straight on, with Westen’s usual crew of Sam, Fiona and Jesse back for another client. Watched back to back like this, the two episodes play as one continuous case rather than two separate ones.

Universal Soldier: A New Beginning — GREAT! Action, 9pm

Tonight’s listing name is a rebrand of 2009’s Universal Soldier: Regeneration, the third theatrical entry in the franchise and the first to reunite Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren as revived super-soldiers Luc Deveraux and Andrew Scott. Director John Hyams sends them after terrorists who’ve seized the Chernobyl plant and taken the Ukrainian prime minister’s children hostage, with a young Scott Adkins as the opposition’s own lab-made fighter. Reviewers at the time rated it the strongest film in the series, grittier and more grounded than the sequels either side of it. It’s split tonight by the usual five-minute This Week Back Then filler at 9:56pm, picking back up six minutes later.

The Avengers — GREAT! Action, 11:10pm

Not the Marvel team-up but the 1960s British spy series, here in its final colour-era run, with Patrick Macnee’s John Steed partnered by Linda Thorson as the newly recruited Tara King. Stylised, arch and deliberately unrealistic, closer to sixty years old than fifty, and it still holds up better than most of tonight’s schedule.

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?

Series television into a film tonight. The Unit airs at 6pm, then two Burn Notice episodes run 7pm to 9pm. Universal Soldier: A New Beginning follows at 9pm, split by a five-minute This Week Back Then interstitial at 9:56pm and resuming at 10:01pm, before The Avengers 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, though tonight leans on series television rather than the channel’s usual film pairing. Daytime carries the usual mix of true-crime repeats, Murder Maps and a western before Burn Notice and The Unit take the afternoon.

Primetime repeats a fair bit of that same afternoon run: The Unit and Burn Notice again before Universal Soldier: A New Beginning takes 9pm, broken by the same five-minute This Week Back Then interstitial the channel uses everywhere. The Avengers closes out a night that is watchable rather than essential, better suited to having on than sitting down for.

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