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

Legend is what the old Horror Channel turned into after its 2022 rebrand: still free to air, still fond of a monster, but now handing most of its evenings to sci-fi, fantasy and action cinema. Wednesday’s overnight slot goes to Michael Cimino’s Vietnam War drama The Deer Hunter, then the schedule threads Walker, Texas Ranger, The Six Million Dollar Man and Babylon 5 in and out of the daytime on the way to primetime. James Van Der Beek’s 2001 western Texas Rangers headlines the evening at 9pm. Full breakdown below.

Legend Schedule: Wednesday 19 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Legend schedule for Wednesday 19 August 2026, on Freeview 41.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Legend today

Overnight belongs to The Deer Hunter at 1:35am, Michael Cimino’s 1978 Vietnam War drama following three steelworkers from small-town Pennsylvania through combat, captivity and the fractured lives waiting for them back home, with Robert De Niro leading a cast that also features Christopher Walken and Meryl Streep. Legend goes off air just before 5am and stays dark until 5:30am, then runs teleshopping until programmes resume at 8am with Walker, Texas Ranger (series three, episode thirteen), Walker and Trivette closing in on a pair of stuntmen using a film shoot as cover for an actual train robbery.

The morning belongs to the channel’s regular daytime rotation: The Six Million Dollar Man at 9am (series five, episode twelve) has Steve Austin risking a wing-walking stunt to earn a Soviet defector’s trust, then Babylon 5 at 10am (series three, episode seven) sends Marcus and Franklin chasing a string of odd incidents down in Downbelow traced to a parasite, while Shadow vessels start massing uncomfortably close to Centauri space. Geo-Disaster fills 11am, a 2017 disaster feature in which a family scattered by a near-apocalyptic event has to fight its way back together.

The afternoon runs two vintage genre features either side of the regular Legend Lowdown bulletin. Night Of The Big Heat airs at 1pm, a 1967 British chiller with Christopher Lee in which a sudden heatwave leaves the island of Fara’s residents helpless and a visiting scientist starts to suspect it isn’t a natural one. The Day of the Triffids follows at 3pm, the 1963 version with Howard Keel, in which a meteor shower blinds most of the world’s population just as carnivorous plants begin closing in on the survivors. Star Trek: The Original Series takes 5pm, then The Six Million Dollar Man repeats at 6pm (series five, episode thirteen) to open the run into primetime, Steve back from an orbital test flight to find six years have passed and a treason charge waiting for him.

Legend tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Legend primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2026.

The Six Million Dollar Man — Legend, 6pm

The series five repeat opens the evening with Steve Austin returning from an orbital test flight to find six years have passed without him, and a treason charge waiting.

Babylon 5 — Legend, 7pm

Series three, episode eight. Sheridan learns exactly how far the Shadows’ reach now extends, uncovering their alliance with a race the station had trusted, while the Nightwatch tightens its grip over Babylon 5 itself.

Walker, Texas Ranger — Legend, 8pm

Series three, episode fourteen has Walker working undercover among Dallas’ homeless population after a gang of wealthy teenagers starts targeting them.

Texas Rangers — Legend, 9pm

Steve Miner’s 2001 western sends James Van Der Beek, Dylan McDermott and Ashton Kutcher into post-Civil War Texas, where lawman Leander McNelly recruits a company of green volunteers to bring order back to a lawless state.

Killing Field — Legend, 10:50pm

Bruce Willis and Chad Michael Murray headline this 2021 thriller, released in the US as Survive the Game, in which a cop whose partner is snatched during a botched drugs raid tracks the gang back to an isolated farmhouse for a last confrontation.

What kind of shows are on Legend

Cult horror and its Horror Channel roots

Horror hasn’t been dropped, just demoted. Amicus and Hammer-adjacent anthologies still turn up, along with independent chillers and oddities like Horror Express, though these days they land in the afternoon or after midnight rather than at 9pm.

Sci-fi, fantasy and action films

Most evenings belong to genre cinema of a specific vintage: Van Damme, Steven Seagal, Dolph Lundgren, and further back, the fantasy adventures Ray Harryhausen animated. Film4 has the recent theatrical releases covered. Legend is working two or three decades earlier, and there is less competition for that ground than you would think.

Classic genre television

Very few channels still hand hours to vintage American genre TV. Legend does. The Twilight Zone runs as a nightly double bill, and Star Trek, Babylon 5 and The Six Million Dollar Man fill most weekday daytimes.

How to watch Legend

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find Legend across the main UK television platforms:

No subscription is required on any of them. Virgin Media and Freesat numbers can shift depending on your box and region, so trust your on-screen guide over this table if the two disagree.

Streaming online

Legend streams live and free through the WatchFreeUK app, available on Freeview Play, Freesat and YouView, and as a download on iOS, Android, Fire TV, Roku, and Samsung and LG smart TVs. No account or sign-up is required, which is more than can be said for most of its rivals. The catch-up section carries a selection of recently broadcast programmes, but licensing means not everything that airs stays available, and windows vary by title.

Legend Xtra and sister channels

Legend Xtra launched on 1 July 2022 as HorrorXtra and took its current name in a November 2023 refresh. Same broad mix of action, sci-fi and horror, free on Freeview channel 69, Sky 317, Virgin Media 171, Freesat 138 and Freely 51, with a +1 timeshift on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat.

Both channels belong to the CBS AMC Networks UK Channels Partnership, a joint venture between Paramount Networks UK & Australia and AMC Networks International UK. True Crime and True Crime Xtra come from the same stable and sit alongside them in the WatchFreeUK app.

Frequently Asked Questions

What channel is Legend on Freeview?

Legend is on Freeview channel 41.

What’s on Legend tonight?

Tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2026, the 9pm film is Texas Rangers (2001), starring James Van Der Beek as part of a company of young recruits sent to restore order to post-Civil War Texas, preceded by Babylon 5 at 7pm and Walker, Texas Ranger at 8pm. Killing Field (2021), with Bruce Willis and Chad Michael Murray, closes the night at 10:50pm.

Is Legend free to watch?

Yes, entirely. There are advert breaks during films and between programmes, but no subscription fee on any platform.

What was Legend called before?

It launched in 2004 as The Horror Channel, briefly became Zone Horror in 2006, reverted to Horror Channel in 2010, and became Legend on 30 June 2022.

Can I watch Legend online?

Yes, live and free through the WatchFreeUK app, no account needed.

Verdict

Legend is not chasing prestige and would look daft if it tried. What it gives instead is proper scheduled hours to material other free channels treat as filler. Horror Channel-era chillers hold the fringes of the schedule, but most nights now belong to the action cinema Van Damme and his contemporaries were making through the 1990s.

Wednesday follows the same formula: The Deer Hunter overnight, a pair of vintage genre features either side of the afternoon Legend Lowdown bulletin, then Walker, Texas Ranger and Babylon 5 carrying the schedule into a Reconstruction-era western and a contemporary crime thriller by way of a nightcap. Nobody is pretending this is a discovery channel. It knows exactly what it is.

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