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

Updated: 20 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 20 September 2026, is a three-film primetime, each one broken once by the regular bumper: Raid On Entebbe opens the evening at 5:35pm, split by a five-minute This Week Back Then bumper at 6:31pm and resuming at 6:36pm, then Battle For The Skies takes over at 8:35pm, broken the same way at 9:31pm and picking back up at 9:36pm. The Exception closes out the night from 10:45pm, split once more at 11:41pm and resuming at 11:46pm.

GREAT! Action Schedule: Sunday 20 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! Action schedule for Sunday 20 September 2026, on Freeview 42.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! Action today

Sunday’s overnight run opens with a This Week Back Then bumper at 12:21am ahead of Urban Justice, then Collision Course runs in two halves either side of a bumper from 1:25am. Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletins break up a Coast Guard Alaska instalment (series 2, episode 4) and three Air Rescue episodes (series 2, episodes 1 to 3) through to 6am, when Teleshopping takes over until 9am.

Raiders Of The Lost Art opens the morning proper at 9:10am (series 2, episode 2), then the documentary strand Total War runs across two instalments either side of a bumper from 9:50am, continuing with Total War – Medium Panzers at 11:10am (series 1, episode 2). Tomorrow We Live takes the early afternoon from 12:10pm, and The Sand Pebbles fills most of the rest of the afternoon from 2pm, running through to Raid On Entebbe’s evening start below.

GREAT! Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! Action primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 20 September 2026.

Raid On Entebbe — GREAT! Action, 6:36pm

Raid On Entebbe opens the evening from 5:35pm, a dramatisation of the 1976 Israeli hostage-rescue raid on Uganda’s Entebbe airport, with Peter Finch among the cast in one of his last screen roles. The regular five-minute This Week Back Then bumper interrupts it once at 6:31pm, and it resumes at 6:36pm to run on into primetime proper.

Battle For The Skies — GREAT! Action, 8:35pm

Battle For The Skies airs from 8:35pm, a Second World War aviation drama built around an RAF bomber crew. This Week Back Then breaks it the same way at 9:31pm, resuming at 9:36pm to run through to The Exception.

The Exception — GREAT! Action, 10:45pm

The Exception closes out primetime from 10:45pm, a Second World War drama pairing Lily James with Jai Courtney. It’s split by the same bumper at 11:41pm and picks back up at 11:46pm to see the night out.

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, Sunday 20 September 2026, Raid On Entebbe opens the evening from 5:35pm, split by a five-minute This Week Back Then bumper at 6:31pm and resuming at 6:36pm. Battle For The Skies takes over at 8:35pm, broken the same way at 9:31pm before picking back up at 9:36pm, and The Exception closes out primetime from 10:45pm, split once more at 11:41pm and resuming at 11:46pm. 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 war-and-action night built around three feature-length titles rather than the series-heavy schedule some evenings bring. Overnight runs Urban Justice and Collision Course either side of the regular bumpers, then Coast Guard Alaska and a run of Air Rescue instalments fill the gap to Teleshopping at six. Raiders Of The Lost Art, the Total War documentary strand, Tomorrow We Live and The Sand Pebbles carry the day through to early evening.

Primetime runs Raid On Entebbe into Battle For The Skies into The Exception, each broken once by the regular five-minute This Week Back Then bumper. Three wars, three different decades of film-making, is a reasonable shape for a Sunday night.

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