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: Friday 21 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete That’s TV schedule for Friday 21 August 2026, on Freeview 56.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on That’s TV today

Friday follows the same shuffle this channel favours over long stacked runs. A Kenny Everett compilation sees out the small hours, then two episodes of Nearest and Dearest run back to back from 4am before Shop with Shop Unlimited’s teleshopping strand takes over in two blocks from 5am to 8am. After that the schedule turns into single half-hour slots rather than repeats: That’s 60s – Best Music Live! opens breakfast at 8am, Rising Damp follows at 8:05am, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em at 8:40am, Never the Twain at 9:15am, On the Buses at 9:45am, Bread at 10:20am, Steptoe and Son at 10:55am, Oh, Doctor Beeching! at 11:30am and a second helping of Rising Damp at 12:10pm, rarely the same title twice in a row.

The afternoon keeps up the same pattern. Man About the House opens it at 12:40pm, Goodnight Sweetheart follows at 1:10pm, and then the one hour of proper drama in the day’s line-up, When the Boat Comes In, a 1970s period serial set around a shipbuilding community in the north-east of England, takes the 1:50pm slot: Manners turns up with a job offer for Jack, whose partner Dolly is expecting, and James Bolam leads the cast. Minder gets a further outing at 2:50pm, then Just Good Friends, another Man About the House and a second Bread carry the schedule into early evening, and Birds of a Feather closes out the run at 5:30pm just before primetime begins.

That’s TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the That’s TV primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 21 August 2026.

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

A five-minute burst of archive 1960s performance footage bridges the afternoon repeats and the evening sitcom run.

Rising Damp — That’s TV, 6:05pm

Rigsby gives up on Miss Jones and turns his attention to new arrival Marilyn instead, only to discover her day job is exotic dancer — and that she keeps a python for company. Leonard Rossiter, Richard Beckinsale and Don Warrington star.

Steptoe and Son — That’s TV, 6:40pm

Harold decides he can fit a central heating system himself, with no help required, while Albert watches on with the scepticism the plan deserves.

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

Bob wakes up a groom-to-be, while a restless Terry takes his frustration out on whichever neighbour crosses his path. Rodney Bewes and James Bolam star.

Minder — That’s TV, 7:55pm

Shady travel agent Monty Wiseman talks Arthur into storing a coffin collected from Heathrow, and when a coroner orders an autopsy, the body ends up stashed in Terry’s bedroom instead — a decision that raises awkward questions about what’s actually inside the casket. Suzi Quatro and Derek Fowlds guest alongside regulars George Cole and Dennis Waterman.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9pm

Monty frets over Sammy’s attempt at a comeback while Kenneth tries to dodge Vladimir’s persistent advances. Cyd’s father Franco is due at the Solana, unsettling the Dawsons, and the return of Noreen and Pauline brings an unexpected change of luck for Pauline’s stalled writing.

Shameless — That’s TV, 9:55pm

Jamie grows anxious about Karen as she tries to prove herself beyond motherhood, leaving the Maguires to deal with the fallout when it goes wrong. Frank’s summons to Liam’s school threatens to expose the lies he’s told to cover his life on Chatsworth, just as Liam’s first romance is turning serious.

Man About the House — That’s TV, 11pm

Sharing a flat with one man is difficult enough for the girls, and it only gets harder when Larry, a mate of Robin’s, turns up needing somewhere to stay.

Mind Your Language — That’s TV, 11:30pm

A distraught student turns up to class and dramatically declares he’s about to end it all, sending the rest of the room into a familiar sitcom spin.

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?

The evening opens with a run of classic sitcoms: That’s 60s – Best Music Live! at 6pm, Rising Damp at 6:05pm, Steptoe and Son at 6:40pm and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? at 7:15pm. Minder takes the 7:55pm slot, Benidorm follows at 9pm, Shameless at 9:55pm, Man About the House at 11pm, and Mind Your Language closes 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. Friday’s daytime shows the format working the other way round from its usual habit: instead of stacking one sitcom across several hours, the schedule rotates through Rising Damp, Steptoe and Son, Bread, On the Buses, Man About the House and half a dozen others in single half-hour bursts, all shows most British viewers have already seen several times over.

The evening holds up well regardless. 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 Man About the House and a Mind Your Language repeat closing things out after.

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