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 period 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’s strongest pairing, Benidorm into Shameless, arrives once the early evening sitcoms have cleared. Full times for every programme are in the table below.

That’s TV Schedule: Sunday 16 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete That’s TV schedule for Sunday 16 August 2026, on Freeview 56.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on That’s TV today

Sunday follows the channel’s usual pattern of stacking whole runs of a show back to back rather than spreading single episodes through the day. Two editions of Nearest and Dearest, Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker’s Lancashire pickle-factory sitcom, see out the small hours from 4am before teleshopping fills the gap to 8am. Oh, Doctor Beeching! then works through five episodes from 8:10am: an overnight body causes chaos in the signal box, a horsebox belonging to Lady Lawrence arrives just as the signal box appears to catch fire, a welcome new arrival at Hatley station is followed by a less welcome one, May weighs a move to a bigger station against Jack and Cecil’s objections, and the day rounds off with a dance-night episode built around Ethel’s hopes of finding romance.

Steptoe and Son runs three from 11:10am: Harold’s ill-fated bulk purchase of thousands of pairs of reject false teeth, his bid to swap the rag-and-bone cart for a career in television repair, and a foreign holiday plan that Albert derails by faking a heart attack. Rising Damp then holds the early afternoon for seven episodes, 12:55pm to 4:10pm, taking in some of the sitcom’s best-remembered plots: Alan’s smuggled-in date, Rigsby’s ill-advised hunger strike, a boxing match fought over Miss Jones’s affections, and a smooth-talking con man calling himself Seymour. Once that clears, seven episodes of Birds of a Feather carry the schedule from 4:40pm through to 8pm, opening with a Canary Islands Christmas special before primetime’s newer material takes over.

That’s TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the That’s TV primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 16 August 2026.

Birds of a Feather — That’s TV, 6:05pm–7:30pm

Four editions run back to back through early evening. Tracey’s bid for Auntie Vera’s old Pearly Queen sash turns into a needling contest with Sharon, before a book-group session on Crime and Punishment brings Dorien’s old rival Melanie Fishman back into the picture. By 7pm Tracey is newly out of prison and starting a job in the school kitchen Sharon now runs, and the 7:30pm edition opens a two-parter built around a 1970s-themed weekend away that’s about to go wrong for someone.

Minder — That’s TV, 8pm

Terry takes on a driving job that turns sour fast: the Mercedes vanishes the moment his back is turned, and he ends up the prime suspect once a stash of diamonds is found to have been stashed inside it. George Cole and Dennis Waterman lead.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9pm

A contaminated pool forces a full evacuation of the Solana, and Joyce’s fallback plan, a hastily arranged circus outing, falls apart when the manager admits the acts aren’t actually available. Bean, Mateo and Jacqueline end up improvising an evening of entertainment in their place, saving the night through sheer nerve rather than planning.

Shameless — That’s TV, 9:55pm

Old history catches up with Yvonne, who scrambles to keep it from Chesney and Meena, while Frank tries to stay off the drink long enough to win Liam and Stella round. Debbie takes matters into her own hands, and Mimi, newly released from prison, lays down terms for her marriage to Paddy that he isn’t ready to accept.

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

Chrissy and Jo try to head off trouble before Robin’s row with a loud regular at the Mucky Duck Saloon boils over into something worse.

Mind Your Language — That’s TV, 11:25pm

A short one to close out the classroom strand: Jeremy sets out to help a student in genuine distress.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 11:55pm

A repeat of the 9pm episode, the pool-and-circus story, for anyone still up after Mind Your Language.

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, Bread, Birds of a Feather, 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, often twice in a day, while When the Boat Comes In supplies the one genuinely serious hour in the daytime. Benidorm and Shameless, both decades younger than the rest of it, hold primetime.

Music and variety nostalgia

That’s 60s – Best Music Live! drops in several times a day as a filler strand of archive performance footage, 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 5am 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?

Seven episodes of Birds of a Feather run back to back from 4:40pm to 8pm, then Minder takes the 8pm slot. Benidorm follows at 9pm, Shameless at 9:55pm, and the night closes with Man About the House at 10:55pm and Mind Your Language at 11:25pm. 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. Sunday’s daytime is where the channel shows its hand: rather than spreading one episode of each sitcom through the day, it stacks whole runs together, five Oh, Doctor Beeching!, three Steptoe and Son, seven Rising Damp and then seven straight editions of Birds of a Feather, all shows British viewers have already seen several times over.

The evening holds up better than the daytime marathon might suggest. Benidorm and Shameless are the strongest hour of the night, the point where the channel’s older material gives way to something with a bit more edge, bookended by Minder beforehand and two more sitcoms after.

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