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

Talking Pictures TV is the independent, family-run channel built almost entirely on one man’s private film collection. Noel Cronin spent decades buying up the rights to older British and Hollywood titles through his company Renown Pictures, and in May 2015 he and his daughter, Sarah Cronin-Stanley, turned that archive into a television channel. Eleven years on, nobody else on British free-to-air is attempting anything like it. Thursday 20 August 2026 runs 20 programmes through the day without a single repeat, which is unusual even by this channel’s own standards. The evening opens with two archive series, Strange But True? at 6:20pm and The Brothers at 6:55pm, before Mark Saber and The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club share the 8pm hour. Two films close the night: Suzy Kendall and Frank Finlay in 1971’s Assault at 9:20pm, then Jean Gabin and Alain Delon in 1973’s Deux Hommes dans la Ville — Two Men in the City, to give it its English title — at 11:10pm. Full breakdown below.

Talking Pictures TV Schedule: Thursday 20 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Talking Pictures TV schedule for Thursday 20 August 2026, on Freeview 82.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Talking Pictures TV today

Thursday’s overnight run opens at 1:35am with Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler, a 1971 sci-fi oddity in which Leslie Nielsen plays a presidential candidate who comes round in a New Mexico clinic with no memory of the car crash that put him there. Melodies of the Moment – Glimpses follows at 3:40am, a short musical revue built around the fictional offices of Pow Wham and Zowie Radio City. Stagecoach West takes 4am for its 23rd episode, The Remounts, with Wayne Rogers and Robert Bray running a stagecoach line through a run of Old West troublemakers. The Man from U.N.C.L.E closes the overnight slot at 5am with its third outing, The Quadripartite Affair, Robert Vaughn and David McCallum working a four-sided plot built around a fear-inducing chemical.

Breakfast opens at 6am with Courageous Mr. Penn, a 1942 biographical drama with Clifford Evans as the Quaker who founded the Pennsylvania Colony, Deborah Kerr among the supporting cast. The Large Rope, also released as The Long Rope, takes 7:35am: Wolf Rilla’s 1953 drama has Donald Houston going back to the village where he was once accused of murder, determined to clear his name for good.

The Atomic Submarine takes 9am, a 1959 sci-fi with Arthur Franz sent to investigate a string of naval disasters that turn out to have a stranger cause than anyone expects. Scandal Sheet follows at 10:30am, Phil Karlson’s 1952 crime drama with John Derek and Broderick Crawford: an editor kills his ex-wife by accident, then hands the resulting story to his own protégé to chase down.

The afternoon opens with Bespoke Overcoat at 12:10pm, Jack Clayton’s 1955 short in which David Kossoff’s only wish, an overcoat, comes back to haunt his friend after his death. Cinebox Memories follows at 12:55pm, a brief archive clip of the Johnny Otis Band performing Willie and the Hand Jive. The Adventures of Sir Lancelot reaches its 24th episode, The Bridge, at 1pm, William Russell’s knight uncovering a plot against a village ahead of his own knighthood ceremony. By The Dome It’s Known takes 1:35pm, an archive look back at Southend’s Kursaal Amusement Park across eight decades of visitors. First Comes Courage follows at 2:50pm, Dorothy Arzner’s 1943 war drama with Merle Oberon as a member of the Norwegian resistance whose cover is threatened by a British commando’s feelings for her. Albert R.N. closes the afternoon at 4:35pm, Lewis Gilbert’s 1953 dramatisation of a real wartime escape built around a life-sized dummy standing in for an absent prisoner, Jack Warner and Robert Beatty leading the cast.

Talking Pictures TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Talking Pictures TV primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 20 August 2026. All 20 of today’s slots are unique — there isn’t a single repeat run anywhere in the schedule, which isn’t a given on this channel.

Strange But True? — Talking Pictures TV, 6:20pm

Michael Aspel presents this 1996 edition of the paranormal series (series 1, episode 28), looking at reports of mysterious lights over the Longdendale Valley in the Peak District alongside a separate item on animals that seem to sense things before they happen.

The Brothers — Talking Pictures TV, 6:55pm

The 1974 boardroom serial returns for its Conspirators episode (series 3, episode 11): Brian and David manoeuvre for control of the family haulage firm while Jennifer gets an unwelcome update from the bank.

Mark Saber — Talking Pictures TV, 8pm

Donald Gray’s blind detective works an art-fraud case in Signature for Murder (series 3, episode 46), this 1957 half-hour turning on whether a £5,000 painting is genuine before a body complicates matters.

The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club — Talking Pictures TV, 8:30pm

This archive variety show revives its working-men’s-club format for a Blackpool coach-trip edition (series 2, episode 12), with The Kaye Sisters and Malcolm Roberts among the turns booked for the night.

Assault — Talking Pictures TV, 9:20pm

Sidney Hayers directs the night’s main event, a 1971 thriller in which Suzy Kendall’s teacher puts herself in danger to draw out whoever has been attacking schoolgirls near the school, Frank Finlay running the investigation alongside her.

Deux Hommes dans la Ville — Talking Pictures TV, 11:10pm

Known in English as Two Men in the City, Jose Giovanni’s 1973 drama closes the night: Jean Gabin plays a probation officer trying to steer Alain Delon’s ex-convict straight, while a police inspector determined to see him fail won’t let his past stay buried.

What kind of films and shows are on Talking Pictures TV

Vintage British and Hollywood films

The backbone of the schedule is the Renown Pictures library: British films from the 1930s to the 1970s, plus war pictures, adventure films and the odd Hollywood title bought in to fill a gap. Quality swings wildly from one afternoon to the next, which is part of the deal.

Archive TV drama and detective series

Early evenings lean on serialised drama from the 1950s through the 1980s: Z Cars, Public Eye, Hannay and others of that stripe. Much of it isn’t shown anywhere else on British television, and some of it hadn’t been shown anywhere at all for thirty-odd years before this channel dug it out. If you want to know why people are fond of Talking Pictures TV rather than merely tolerant of it, this is the part of the schedule to point at.

Cult strands, B-movies and magazine shows

Late nights get stranger: horror and cult titles through Caroline Munro’s Cellar Club, oddities like Supernatural, imported curios.

How to watch Talking Pictures TV

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find Talking Pictures TV across the main UK television platforms:

Talking Pictures TV is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. It doesn’t run a +1 timeshift channel, so these are the only live feeds available.

TPTV Encore catch-up

TPTV Encore is the channel’s own free streaming service, launched in December 2021 and run through a browser at tptvencore.co.uk, with an app on Android. Register an email address and recent broadcasts are usually there for about a week.

The better reason to bother with it is what sits behind the catch-up: a deep archive that includes Southern Television material never given a regular slot on the main channel. Those older titles stay free after the catch-up window shuts, but they carry adverts.

Frequently asked questions

What’s on Talking Pictures TV tonight?

Two archive series open tonight’s schedule, Strange But True? at 6:20pm and The Brothers at 6:55pm, followed by Mark Saber at 8pm and The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club at 8:30pm. The night closes with two films: Assault at 9:20pm with Suzy Kendall and Frank Finlay, and Deux Hommes dans la Ville — Two Men in the City — at 11:10pm with Jean Gabin and Alain Delon.

What channel is Talking Pictures TV on?

Freeview 82, Sky 324, Virgin Media 445 and Freesat 306. It’s also on Freely at channel 36. All are free to watch.

Does Talking Pictures TV have a +1 channel?

No. TPTV Encore stands in for a +1 service, with recent broadcasts available to catch up on demand instead.

Is Talking Pictures TV free to watch?

Yes, entirely. It’s advertising-funded rather than subscription-funded, on the live channel and on TPTV Encore alike.

Verdict

I rate Talking Pictures TV highly for exactly what it is: a small independent operation that still does something none of the bigger channels bother with. Old films and archive television get a proper home here instead of the odd graveyard slot. It won’t be for everyone, and some evenings the schedule reads like a lucky dip. That’s also the appeal.

Assault is the one to catch tonight, at 9:20pm. Suzy Kendall carries a fairly grim premise without tipping it into exploitation, and Sidney Hayers keeps the tension believable for a film now pushing fifty-five years old. Deux Hommes dans la Ville, straight after at 11:10pm, is the tougher watch of the two: a French drama rather than a British staple, but Jean Gabin and Alain Delon anchor a genuinely bruising story about a man who can’t outrun his own record.

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