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

That’s TV runs almost entirely on British television’s back catalogue: sitcoms from the 1970s and 1980s, a bit of crime drama, archive music clips, and a long teleshopping stretch before breakfast. It’s free to air on Freeview, Sky, Freesat and Virgin Media, with no subscription and no app of its own. Tonight, Thursday 15 October 2026, is a sitcom evening: Rising Damp at 6:10pm, Steptoe and Son at 6:40pm and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? at 7:15pm lead into Minder at 7:55pm, then Benidorm into Shameless from 9pm. Full times for every programme are in the table below.

That’s TV Schedule: Thursday 15 October 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete That’s TV schedule for Thursday 15 October 2026, on Freeview 56.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

Also on TV tonight at 9pm

• BBC One: The Celebrity Traitors (from 8pm)
• ITV1: Long Lost Family
• BBC Two: Surgeons: At the Edge of Life
• Channel 4: Our Tiny Islands (from 8pm)
• Channel 5: Love Nature
• Film4: Wrath of Man
• E4: Gogglebox
• ITV2: Big Brother
• ITV3: Vera (from 8pm)
• ITV4: Benidorm

Every channel tonight, side by side · Films on TV tonight · Tomorrow’s TV

What’s on That’s TV today

The small hours open with Benidorm at 12:05am, then Minder, Goodnight Sweetheart and Man About the House, a Kenny Everett Video Cassette at 3am and two Nearest and Dearest episodes, with a railways documentary at 4:50am rounding off the night. From 6am the channel is teleshopping, cruise holidays and menswear pitches, until Upstairs, Downstairs arrives at 8am.

The late morning is You Rang, M’Lord?, Bread, Steptoe and Son and Oh, Doctor Beeching!. The afternoon runs Rising Damp, Man About the House, Goodnight Sweetheart and the Tyneside drama When the Boat Comes In at 1:45pm, then a second Upstairs, Downstairs, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, another Man About the House and Minder at 5pm. The evening line-up is below.

That’s TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the That’s TV primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 15 October 2026.

That’s 60s – Best Music Live! — That’s TV, 6pm

Ten minutes of archive performance clips from 1960s music shows, which is the channel’s way of getting from the 5pm Minder to the evening sitcoms.

Rising Damp — That’s TV, 6:10pm

Leonard Rossiter as the landlord Rigsby, with Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington as his lodgers. Half an hour, and the first of three sitcoms in a row.

Steptoe and Son — That’s TV, 6:40pm

The Oil Drum Lane rag-and-bone men, Albert and Harold, at the 6:40pm slot.

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? — That’s TV, 7:15pm

The sequel to The Likely Lads, with Bob and Terry older and still arguing over the same things. It runs to 7:55pm.

Minder — That’s TV, 7:55pm

An hour of Arthur Daley’s dealings, with Terry McCann trying to keep him out of trouble. It is the longest single programme before the evening settles into Benidorm.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9pm

The Costa Blanca holiday-resort sitcom, which is far newer than anything else on the channel tonight. The listing does not give an episode.

Shameless — That’s TV, 9:55pm

The Gallagher family’s Manchester estate comedy-drama follows at 9:55pm, with no episode named in the listing.

Man About the House — That’s TV, 10:55pm

The 1970s flat-share sitcom returns for a half-hour late on.

Goodnight Sweetheart — That’s TV, 11:30pm

Nicholas Lyndhurst as a man who slips between the 1990s and the Blitz, and the last programme before midnight.

What kind of shows are on That’s TV

Sitcoms from the 1970s and 1980s

This is the bulk of the channel. Rising Damp, Steptoe and Son, Man About the House, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Just Good Friends and Mind Your Language cycle through daytime and early evening on a near-constant loop. There’s no theming to speak of: they’re familiar half-hours filling the space between the shopping strands and whatever the channel has lined up for the evening.

Crime and drama reruns

Minder does most of the heavy lifting on the crime and drama side, often turning up more than once in a day. Benidorm and Shameless, both decades younger than the rest of the schedule, hold primetime.

Music and variety nostalgia

The archive clip strand billed as That’s 60s drops in several times a day, live performance footage from 1960s music shows and a leftover from when the group ran full decade-themed music channels. Longer compilations such as Ronnie Barker: The Very Best Of turn up as one-off hours.

Teleshopping

Roughly 6am to 8am, given over to mattresses and garden multitools. A free channel with no subscription income has to fill the small hours with something that pays for itself.

How to watch That’s TV

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find That’s TV across the main UK platforms:

Virgin Media’s number shifts more often than the others, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if it doesn’t match.

Streaming online

There’s no That’s TV app, no catch-up service and no live stream of its own, which puts it a long way behind Channel 4 or ITV. You watch it as it goes out, through a Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media or Freesat box or smart TV. A Freeview Play-enabled television will find and tune the channel for you with no extra setup.

That’s TV regional and sister channels

That’s TV belongs to That’s Media, whose chief executive, Daniel Cass, built the group out of local television licences: around 20 of them, awarded under Ofcom’s Local Digital Television Programme. That’s Manchester, That’s Solent and That’s Glasgow all opt out for local news and community programming for part of the day, then simulcast the national schedule for the rest.

That’s TV 2 works the same archive on a separate schedule. The group also tried standalone channels themed to the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s; several were folded back into the main service or closed outright earlier in 2026, which is why the 60s music show now appears as a filler strand rather than a channel in its own right.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is That’s TV on Freeview?

Channel 56 nationally, or 80 in Greater Manchester. That’s TV 2 is on 65, and the local opt-out versions sit on 7 or 8 depending on where you live.

What’s on That’s TV tonight?

Tonight starts with Rising Damp at 6:10pm, then Steptoe and Son at 6:40pm and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? at 7:15pm. Minder is on at 7:55pm, Benidorm follows at 9pm and Shameless at 9:55pm, with Man About the House at 10:55pm and Goodnight Sweetheart closing out the night at 11:30pm. The table above has the full day.

Is That’s TV free to watch?

Yes, on every platform that carries it. Ad breaks during programmes and teleshopping before breakfast are how it pays for itself.

Verdict

That’s TV is comfort viewing and makes no pretence otherwise. Thursday is a classic-sitcom evening: Rising Damp, Steptoe and Son and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? run back to back from 6:10pm, with Goodnight Sweetheart closing the night at 11:30pm.

Minder at 7:55pm is the hour-long centrepiece, and Benidorm at 9pm into Shameless at 9:55pm makes the strongest pairing. Man About the House at 10:55pm and Goodnight Sweetheart at 11:30pm close it out.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Freeview Channel Guide | Talking Pictures TV Guide | Films on TV Tonight