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

Published: 3 September 2026

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, Friday 4 September 2026, The Irish R.M. takes its regular 6pm slot with series one’s second episode. MASH then carries straight on from last night’s block with the second half of the same opening week: four episodes back to back from 7pm to 8:30pm — “The Kids”, “Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?”, “Dear Peggy” and “Of Moose and Men”. At 9pm the channel drops the sitcom entirely for The Exception, a 2016 wartime drama in which a German officer, played by Jai Courtney, becomes entangled with a Jewish maid at the exiled Kaiser’s house, split by a five-minute Good News on GREAT! at 9:52pm and running to 11:20pm, when two of the evening’s earlier MASH episodes repeat to close the night.

GREAT! TV Schedule: Friday 4 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete GREAT! TV schedule for Friday 4 September 2026, on Freeview 34.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on GREAT! TV today

Friday opens just after midnight with the second half of Thursday’s MAS*H block running on into the small hours, four more series-four episodes through to 1:55am. An episode of Air Rescue follows, then two of Highway To Heaven either side of 3am and 4am, each break marked by a short Good News on GREAT! Extra bulletin, before TJC’s teleshopping fills the schedule from 5am to 8am.

The Waltons opens the daytime proper at 8:10am with series eight’s ninth episode, and Bramwell takes the 9:10am slot. Highway To Heaven gets its first new outing of the day at 10:10am, before Little House on the Prairie runs its tenth series-four episode from 11:10am. The Waltons returns from 1pm, closing out series eight before opening series nine at 2pm and continuing into part two of that story at 3pm, then the 11:10am episode of Little House on the Prairie repeats at 4:10pm, and The Irish R.M. takes its regular 6pm slot ahead of the evening’s MAS*H run.

GREAT! TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the GREAT! TV primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 4 September 2026.

The Irish R.M. — GREAT! TV, 6pm

The Irish R.M. opens the evening at 6pm with series one’s second episode, the softer-edged of the channel’s two British dramas and the lead-in to the M*A*S*H run that follows.

MAS*H — GREAT! TV, 7pm to 8:30pm

Four consecutive M*A*S*H episodes carry the whole of primetime from 7pm to 8:30pm: “The Kids”, “Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?”, “Dear Peggy” and “Of Moose and Men” (series 4, episodes 9 to 12). The run picks up exactly where Thursday’s block of episodes five to eight left off, so between the two nights the channel has now worked through all of series four’s opening week in order.

The Exception — GREAT! TV, 9pm

The Exception (2016) takes over completely from 9pm, with Jai Courtney as a German officer drawn into danger at the exiled Kaiser’s household, alongside Lily James and Christopher Plummer. It’s interrupted just once, by a five-minute Good News on GREAT! bulletin at 9:52pm, before resuming at 9:57pm and running through to 11:20pm.

MAS*H — GREAT! TV, 11:20pm & 11:50pm

The night closes with two M*A*S*H repeats rather than fresh episodes: the 11:20pm and 11:50pm showings are the same instalments that opened primetime at 7pm and 7:30pm.

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 (war pictures, old British comedies, the odd action thriller) and the seams get filled with 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, Friday 4 September 2026, The Irish R.M. takes its regular 6pm slot with series one’s second episode. MASH then completes the second half of series four’s opening week: four episodes from 7pm to 8:30pm, “The Kids”, “Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler?”, “Dear Peggy” and “Of Moose and Men”. At 9pm the channel switches to The Exception, a 2016 wartime drama starring Jai Courtney, Lily James and Christopher Plummer, split by a five-minute Good News on GREAT! at 9:52pm and running to 11:20pm, when two of the evening’s earlier MASH episodes repeat to close the night.

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.

Friday’s evening completes what Thursday started. The Irish R.M. takes its regular 6pm slot, then M*A*S*H runs the second half of series four’s opening week: four episodes from 7pm to 8:30pm carrying “The Kids” through to “Of Moose and Men”. The Exception, a 2016 wartime drama starring Jai Courtney, Lily James and Christopher Plummer, takes over completely at 9pm, split by a short Good News on GREAT! bulletin, before two of those same M*A*S*H episodes repeat at 11:20pm and 11:50pm to close the night. A sitcom run and a genuine feature film, back to back — a tidier pairing than the channel usually bothers with.

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