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

Published: 21 August 2026

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: Saturday 22 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete That’s TV schedule for Saturday 22 August 2026, on Freeview 56.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on That’s TV today

Saturday’s small hours effectively replay Friday’s primetime before the schedule turns to older archive material: Benidorm opens the day at midnight, Minder follows at 1am, then Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, a single episode of Man About the House and The Kenny Everett Video Show each get one outing before 3:25am. That’s 60s – Best Music Live! leads into two episodes of Nearest and Dearest at 4am and 4:25am, and then Shop with Shop Unlimited’s teleshopping strand runs from 5am to 8am across two blocks. That’s 60s – Best Music Live! returns for a shorter slot at 8am, and from there the schedule settles into one long run: five episodes of Oh, Doctor Beeching! carry the morning from 10:15am through to 1:15pm.

The afternoon belongs to two more stripped runs. Steptoe and Son plays four episodes back to back from 1:15pm to 3:50pm, then a 1975 Christmas special of Rising Damp, out of season but true to the channel’s habits, leads into three regular episodes of Rising Damp that take the schedule from 4:20pm through to 5:50pm. That’s when the day’s main event begins: four episodes of Man About the House run in sequence, the first of them the show’s original 1973 launch episode.

That’s TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the That’s TV primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 22 August 2026.

Man About the House — That’s TV, 5:50pm

Four episodes of Man About the House run back to back from 5:50pm to 7:20pm, and the first is the one worth setting a reminder for: it’s the show’s original 1973 launch episode, in which Chrissy and Jo go looking for a new female flatmate to replace their departing housemate and end up taking in Robin instead, on the condition he keeps quiet about their unconventional arrangement with the Ropers upstairs. The three episodes that follow at 6:20pm, 6:50pm and 7:20pm are later instalments from the same 1970s run, not a continuation of the opener’s story.

Minder — That’s TV, 7:55pm

Terry ends up nursing an injured hand after helping Des out of a jam, while Arthur gets dragged into a heroin deal by a stand-in sidekick who has landed him in far deeper trouble than usual. George Cole and Dennis Waterman lead as ever, with Mike Reid and George Layton guesting.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9pm

Sammy is buoyed by how his comeback performance went and starts pushing Monty for a full evening show, until a run-in with an over-attached fan makes him think twice. Elsewhere, Noreen senses that her twin, Doreen, is on her way, while Rob races off to the airport hoping to talk Cyd round.

Shameless — That’s TV, 9:55pm

Mimi takes up with Billy, a young footballer at the Jockey, only for him to attempt some blackmail once the relationship sours, a mistake the Maguire matriarch is not inclined to let slide. Shane and Kelly try their luck matchmaking for Paddy without much joy, and Frank ends up temporarily blinded after a run-in with bootleg vodka.

Man About the House — That’s TV, 11pm

A second helping of Man About the House closes out the late slot, a different episode from the 5:50pm run in which Robin’s plans for a romantic evening are scuppered once Chrissy insists on chaperoning his girlfriend’s visit.

Mind Your Language — That’s TV, 11:35pm

The night ends with Mind Your Language, as the language class find themselves accidentally locked in by the caretaker with the weekend looming.

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?

Four episodes of Man About the House run from 5:50pm to 7:20pm, the first of them the sitcom’s original 1973 launch episode. Minder takes the 7:55pm slot, Benidorm follows at 9pm, Shameless at 9:55pm, a further Man About the House repeat at 11pm, and Mind Your Language closes the night at 11:35pm. 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. Saturday’s daytime shows the channel’s usual habit of stacking one sitcom across several hours in a row: five episodes of Oh, Doctor Beeching!, four of Steptoe and Son and three of Rising Damp before the evening even starts, all shows most British viewers have already seen several times over.

Tonight has a genuine hook, though. The 5:50pm Man About the House isn’t just another repeat, it’s the sitcom’s opening episode from 1973, and a rare chance to see where a channel built on reruns actually started. Benidorm and Shameless remain the strongest hour of the night, the point where the older material gives way to something with a bit more edge, bookended by Minder beforehand and a second 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