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

GREAT! TV is a free-to-air channel that lives on vintage British and American drama and sitcoms, and it sits at Freeview 34 with three sister channels for company. It has been through four names and one full closure since Sony launched it in 2011; Narrative Entertainment has run it since 2021.

Tonight, Tuesday 18 August 2026, The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm, the same series two, episode one that had its first UK airing at 10am this morning. Primetime then splits three ways rather than handing the whole night to one show: four episodes of M*A*S*H fill 7pm to 8:30pm, three of Brush Strokes carry the schedule on to 10:20pm, and two episodes of Robin’s Nest close the night out by 11:30pm.

GREAT! TV Schedule: Tuesday 18 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! TV schedule for Tuesday 18 August 2026, on Freeview 34.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! TV today

Bramwell opens the working day at 9am with a Victorian hospital-drama episode from series one, followed by a fresh instalment of The Irish R.M. at 10am. From 11am GREAT! TV settles into a pair of Little House on the Prairie episodes, then hands the early afternoon to three episodes of The Waltons from 1pm. The same Little House on the Prairie pair repeats from 4pm, running through to 6pm, when The Irish R.M. returns to open the evening.

Earlier, the overnight run opens with two more episodes of M*A*S*H at 12:25am and 12:55am, then Rising Damp at 1:25am, before two episodes of the rescue documentary Air Rescue from 1:55am. Highway to Heaven doubles up again from 3am, its two episodes split by a Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin, and TJC’s teleshopping then takes over the schedule from 5am through to 8am, when a single episode of The Waltons bridges into Bramwell’s 9am slot.

GREAT! TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! TV primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 18 August 2026.

The Irish R.M. — GREAT! TV, 6pm

Flurry Knox and Major Yeates get a second outing this evening. It’s the same series two, episode one that had its first UK airing at 10am this morning, repeated here ahead of two much longer runs.

M*A*S*H — GREAT! TV, 7pm–8:30pm (4 episodes)

Four consecutive episodes, series one, episodes 21 to 24, take the channel from 7pm through to 8:30pm. It’s a shorter dose than the ten-episode nights GREAT! TV sometimes schedules, though the mix of trench humour and quieter hospital-tent drama carries over from one instalment to the next regardless of how many are stacked together.

Brush Strokes — GREAT! TV, 9pm–10:20pm (3 episodes)

Jacko’s knack for falling for the wrong woman drives three episodes from 9pm, series four, episodes 2 to 4. His love life tends to land him in more trouble than any actual painting job, and this run of series four leans into exactly that.

Robin’s Nest — GREAT! TV, 11pm–11:30pm (2 episodes)

Two episodes close out primetime at 11pm and 11:30pm, series three, episodes 9 and 10, as Robin Tripp tries to keep his bistro afloat with a cast of unreliable help around him.

What kind of shows are on GREAT! TV

American family drama and rural nostalgia

Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons and Highway to Heaven carry the daytime hours, and two of the three are largely Michael Landon’s doing. He starred in and directed much of Little House, and created Highway to Heaven outright. The register barely shifts between them: slow, sincere, usually ending on a lesson learned.

British classic drama and sitcom

The British side is thinner but sharper. Ballykissangel and Doctor Finlay handle the gentle end. Rising Damp handles the other, with Leonard Rossiter’s Rigsby prowling a shabby Yorkshire bedsit house being appalling about more or less everything.

Stripped US sitcoms and evening films

M*A*S*H is the one the channel leans on hardest, sometimes ten episodes deep in a single night. Films turn up most evenings (disaster pictures, old British comedies) and the seams get filled with Air Rescue and the short Good News on GREAT! bulletins.

How to watch GREAT! TV

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find GREAT! TV across the main UK television platforms:

All four are free, with no subscription of any kind. Freesat is the exception: GREAT! TV was pulled from it on 7 February 2024 along with eight other Narrative Entertainment channels, and it has not come back since.

Streaming online

GREAT! TV streams free through Great! Player at great-player.com, no account or sign-in needed. The app is also available on Freeview Play, YouView, Amazon Fire TV, and Samsung and LG smart TVs, plus dedicated apps on the App Store and Google Play. It carries content from GREAT! TV alongside GREAT! Movies and GREAT! Action, so you can browse the whole network from one place.

GREAT! sister channels

Four channels carry the GREAT! banner, all run by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited, and the split between them is straightforward enough.

A seasonal fifth, GREAT! Movies Christmas, runs festive films from September to December, and GREAT! Real joined the line-up in 2024 with unscripted programming. The year-round channels all share the free Great! Player service.

Frequently Asked Questions

What channel is GREAT! TV on Freeview?

GREAT! TV is on channel 34 on Freeview, free and with no subscription. It moved onto the COM6 multiplex in June 2023, which took its coverage to nearly every Freeview household.

What channel is GREAT! TV on Sky, Virgin Media and Freely?

GREAT! TV is on Sky channel 157, Virgin Media channel 170 and Freely channel 32, all free to watch. It has not returned to Freesat since being dropped in February 2024.

What’s on GREAT! TV tonight?

Tonight, Tuesday 18 August 2026, The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm (series 2, episode 1). Four episodes of M*A*S*H run from 7pm to 8:30pm (series 1, episodes 21 to 24), three of Brush Strokes follow from 9pm to 10:20pm (series 4, episodes 2 to 4), and two episodes of Robin’s Nest close primetime at 11pm and 11:30pm (series 3, episodes 9 and 10).

Why does GREAT! TV show so much M*A*S*H?

Because 251 episodes across eleven seasons is enough to strip nightly for years without a viewer noticing the loop. The channel applies the same maths to Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons and Highway to Heaven during the day.

Is GREAT! TV free to watch, and does it carry adverts?

Yes, entirely free on Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and Freely, with no subscription. It is funded by advertising, which is also why the short Good News on GREAT! bulletins turn up between programmes.

Who owns GREAT! TV?

Narrative Entertainment UK Limited. It launched as Sony Entertainment Television in 2011, became Sony Channel in 2016, shut down in 2018, came back in 2019, and took the GREAT! TV name in May 2021 after Narrative Capital bought Sony’s UK free-to-air channels.

What are the GREAT! sister channels?

GREAT! TV sits alongside GREAT! Movies, GREAT! Action and GREAT! Romance, plus the seasonal GREAT! Movies Christmas and the unscripted GREAT! Real, which joined in 2024. All are owned by Narrative Entertainment and stream through the same free Great! Player app.

Can I watch GREAT! TV 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! TV knows precisely who is watching and rarely deviates from what keeps them there.

Tuesday’s daytime rotates The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie in matched pairs either side of a fresh episode of The Irish R.M. at 10am. The evening splits three ways rather than handing the whole night to one show: The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm, four episodes of M*A*S*H hold primetime through to 8:30pm, then Brush Strokes and Robin’s Nest share what’s left of the schedule before midnight. It is still a schedule built on repetition rather than variety, and it still works for the audience GREAT! TV is chasing.

Related: Freeview Channel Guide | Talking Pictures TV Guide | Films on TV This Week