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

Published: 18 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 19 September 2026, is a two-film primetime: the 1964 heist thriller The Train opens the evening at 6:10pm, split by a five-minute This Week Back Then bumper at 7:06pm and resuming at 7:11pm, then The Girl In The Spider’s Web takes over at 9pm, broken the same way at 9:56pm and picking back up at 10:01pm. Urban Justice closes out the night from 11:25pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Saturday 19 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Saturday 19 September 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Saturday’s overnight run opens with two spy-adventure episodes, The Baron at 12:15am (series 1, episode 18) and The Persuaders! at 1:15am (series 1, episode 21), then the disaster thriller Super Eruption from 2:15am and a Coast Guard Alaska instalment from 3:40am (series 2, episode 3). Three short Air Rescue episodes fill the rest of the small hours from 4:35am to 6am (series 1, episodes 4 to 6), each preceded by a Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin, before Teleshopping takes over until 9am.

Raiders Of The Lost Art opens the morning proper at 9:10am (series 2, episode 1), then The Stuka runs either side of a This Week Back Then bumper from 9:40am, and the western Bandolero! takes the late morning from 11:05am, continuing after midday into a second half at 12:08pm. The Charge of The Light Brigade fills most of the afternoon from 1:30pm, again split by a bumper and resuming at 2:31pm, before Appointment In London closes out the day in two halves either side of 5:08pm, running up to The Train’s evening start below.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 19 September 2026.

The Train — GREAT! Action, 6:10pm

The Train is John Frankenheimer’s 1964 black-and-white thriller about French Resistance railwaymen trying to stop the Nazis shipping a trainload of looted art out of Paris. Burt Lancaster does most of his own stunt work, and it still shows. A five-minute This Week Back Then bumper breaks the film at 7:06pm; it picks back up at 7:11pm and runs through to nine.

The Girl In The Spider’s Web — GREAT! Action, 9pm

The Girl In The Spider’s Web puts Claire Foy in the Lisbeth Salander role for a standalone entry loosely continuing Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series, built more around hacking and hardware than the earlier films’ slow-burn menace. The same five-minute bumper interrupts it at 9:56pm, resuming at 10:01pm.

Urban Justice — GREAT! Action, 11:25pm

Urban Justice is a Steven Seagal revenge thriller from the back half of his direct-to-DVD run, closing out the night without a break.

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?

Tonight, Saturday 19 September 2026, The Train opens primetime at 6:10pm, split by a five-minute This Week Back Then bumper at 7:06pm and resuming at 7:11pm. The Girl In The Spider’s Web takes over at 9pm, broken the same way at 9:56pm before picking back up at 10:01pm, and Urban Justice closes out the night from 11:25pm. 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 two-film night rather than the series-heavy schedule some evenings bring. Overnight runs The Baron and The Persuaders! through the small hours, then Super Eruption, Coast Guard Alaska and a run of Air Rescue instalments fill the gap to Teleshopping at six. Raiders Of The Lost Art and a run of westerns — The Stuka, Bandolero!, The Charge of The Light Brigade and Appointment In London — carry the day through to early evening.

Primetime opens with The Train at 6:10pm, the regular five-minute This Week Back Then bumper breaking it once before The Girl In The Spider’s Web takes the 9pm slot the same way. Urban Justice runs straight through from 11:25pm to close the night. Older heist thriller into newer franchise sequel into direct-to-DVD action is a reasonable shape for a Saturday.

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