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, Thursday 20 August 2026, The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm, the same series two, episode three that had its first UK airing at 10:10am this morning. Four episodes of M*A*S*H then fill 7pm to 8:30pm (series two, episodes five to eight), before the 9pm slot hands over to Carry On Cabby, the 1963 comedy that sends Sid James’s Speedee Taxis up against Glamcabs, the rival firm crewed entirely by women. A short Good News on GREAT! bulletin breaks in at 9:52pm; the film resumes at 9:57pm and runs through to 11pm, when two episodes of Robin’s Nest close the night out by 11:30pm.

GREAT! TV Schedule: Thursday 20 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! TV schedule for Thursday 20 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 9:10am with a Victorian hospital-drama episode from series two, followed by a new instalment of The Irish R.M. at 10:10am. From 11:10am GREAT! TV settles into an extended episode of Little House on the Prairie, then hands the early afternoon to three episodes of The Waltons from 1pm. The same Little House on the Prairie episode repeats from 4:10pm, running into early evening, when The Irish R.M. returns at 6pm to open primetime.

Earlier, the overnight run opens with two episodes of M*A*S*H either side of midnight, then Rising Damp and Man About the House take the two half-hour slots that follow. Two episodes of the rescue documentary Air Rescue run from 2am, and Highway to Heaven doubles up from 3am, its two episodes each followed by a Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin. TJC’s teleshopping then holds the schedule from 5am through to 8am, when a Good News bulletin leads into a single episode of The Waltons ahead of Bramwell’s 9:10am slot.

GREAT! TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! TV primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 20 August 2026.

The Irish R.M. — GREAT! TV, 6pm

The evening opens with a repeat of series two, episode three, “Holy Island” — the same instalment that had its first UK airing this morning.

MAS*H — GREAT! TV, 7pm–8:30pm

Four half-hour M*A*S*H episodes carry the first stretch of primetime, series two’s fifth through eighth instalments running back to back until 9pm.

Carry On Cabby — GREAT! TV, 9pm

Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Connor lead the 1963 Carry On outing, in which Sid’s Speedee Taxis firm goes to war with Glamcabs, a rival cab company staffed entirely by women. A Good News on GREAT! bulletin cuts in for five minutes at 9:52pm; the film picks straight back up at 9:57pm and plays through to 11pm.

Robin’s Nest — GREAT! TV, 11pm

Two episodes of Robin’s Nest close the night, series three’s eleventh and twelfth instalments back to back from 11pm to 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, Thursday 20 August 2026, The Irish R.M. repeats at 6pm (series 2, episode 3). Four episodes of M*A*S*H run from 7pm to 8:30pm (series 2, episodes 5 to 8), then the 1963 Carry On Cabby, starring Sid James, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Connor, takes the 9pm slot, interrupted by a Good News on GREAT! bulletin at 9:52pm before resuming at 9:57pm. Two episodes of Robin’s Nest 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.

Thursday’s daytime rotates The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie around a new episode of The Irish R.M. at 10:10am. 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 Carry On Cabby takes the 9pm slot, split by a short news bulletin, before two episodes of Robin’s Nest 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