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, Wednesday 19 August 2026, The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm, the same series two, episode two that had its first UK airing at 10am this morning. Four episodes of M*A*S*H then fill 7pm to 8:30pm, before the 9pm slot hands over to the 1975 All Creatures Great and Small film, starring Simon Ward and Anthony Hopkins, split around a short Good News on GREAT! bulletin at 9:52pm. Two more episodes of M*A*S*H close the night out by 11:30pm.

GREAT! TV Schedule: Wednesday 19 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! TV schedule for Wednesday 19 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 four episodes of M*A*S*H from midnight to 1:30am, then two episodes of the rescue documentary Air Rescue from 2am. Highway to Heaven doubles up from 3am, its two episodes each followed 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, Wednesday 19 August 2026.

The Irish R.M. — GREAT! TV, 6pm

The Irish R.M. opens the evening at 6pm with a repeat of series two, episode two, the same instalment that had its first UK airing at 10am this morning.

MAS*H — GREAT! TV, 7pm to 8:30pm

Four back-to-back episodes of M*A*S*H carry the schedule from 7pm to 8:30pm, series two, episodes one to four. It’s the usual GREAT! TV approach: strip several half-hours together rather than spread them across the week.

All Creatures Great and Small — GREAT! TV, 9pm

The 9pm slot belongs to All Creatures Great and Small, not a new episode of the recent drama series despite how the schedule labels it, but the 1975 feature film starring Simon Ward and Anthony Hopkins. Ward plays James Herriot, the newly qualified vet who joins Siegfried Farnon’s practice in the Yorkshire Dales, with Hopkins as his gruff, unpredictable employer. GREAT! TV splits the film in two around a short Good News on GREAT! bulletin at 9:52pm, so the second half resumes at 9:57pm and runs to 11pm.

MAS*H — GREAT! TV, 11pm and 11:30pm

Two more episodes of M*A*S*H, series two, episodes one and two, close out primetime before midnight.

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, Wednesday 19 August 2026, The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm (series 2, episode 2). Four episodes of M*A*S*H run from 7pm to 8:30pm (series 2, episodes 1 to 4), then the 1975 All Creatures Great and Small film, starring Simon Ward and Anthony Hopkins, takes the 9pm slot, split around a Good News on GREAT! bulletin at 9:52pm. Two further episodes of M*A*S*H close primetime at 11pm and 11:30pm.

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.

Wednesday’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 mixes the usual repetition with one genuine change of pace: The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm, four episodes of M*A*S*H hold primetime through to 8:30pm, then the 1975 All Creatures Great and Small film takes the 9pm slot, split by a short news bulletin, before two more episodes of M*A*S*H close the night. 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