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

Published: 25 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: Wednesday 26 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete That’s TV schedule for Wednesday 26 August 2026, on Freeview 56.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on That’s TV today

Wednesday’s small hours keep the same overall shape as any other night without repeating what came before: Benidorm opens at midnight, Minder follows at 1am, then a comedy run of Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Man About the House and The Kenny Everett Video Show carries through to just past 3am. A That’s 60s clip strand and a second Nearest and Dearest double sit either side of 4am before Shop with Shop Unlimited’s teleshopping block takes over from 5am until 8am.

The daytime is a straight run of single episodes rather than one sitcom stripped across the morning. Rising Damp opens at 8am, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em follows at 8:30am, then You Rang, M’Lord? at 9:05am, Bread at 10:10am, Steptoe and Son at 10:45am and Oh, Doctor Beeching! at 11:25am. Rising Damp gets a second, different episode at 11:55am.

The afternoon runs Man About the House again at 12:25pm, Goodnight Sweetheart at 12:55pm, a feature-length When the Boat Comes In from 1:35pm and Minder’s second showing of the day at 2:40pm. Just Good Friends airs at 3:45pm, Man About the House for a third time at 4:25pm, Bread again at 4:55pm, and Birds of a Feather closes out the pre-primetime run at 5:30pm.

That’s TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the That’s TV primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 26 August 2026.

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

A quick five-minute burst of archive performance footage from the 1960s bridges the daytime schedule and the evening proper.

Rising Damp — That’s TV, 6:05pm

Leonard Rossiter’s Rupert Rigsby, the meddling, penny-pinching landlord of a run-down boarding house, opens the evening’s sitcom run.

Steptoe and Son — That’s TV, 6:35pm

The rag-and-bone double act of Albert and Harold Steptoe, forever squabbling in their Shepherd’s Bush yard, takes the 6:35pm slot.

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

Bob Ferris and Terry Collier, older and further apart than they were as young men on the make, carry the 7:15pm half hour.

Minder — That’s TV, 7:55pm

Arthur Daley’s dodgy dealing and Terry McCann’s minding of him fill the last slot before primetime; a different instalment from the one ITV4 runs earlier tonight at 5:55pm.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9pm

The very first episode of Benidorm ever broadcast, restarting the sitcom from the beginning. The Garvey family and the rest of the Solana holidaymakers arrive at the resort for the first time, including the pub-quiz champion known as the Oracle and his overbearing mother. It’s an unflagged switch by the schedule — the channel has quietly gone back to episode one — and it’s the best reason to tune in tonight.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9:30pm

Straight on to the second episode of the same original run, continuing where the 9pm opener left off.

Shameless — That’s TV, 9:55pm

Frank Gallagher and his sprawling, chaotic Chatsworth Estate household take the 9:55pm slot, a slightly earlier start than the show has had on recent nights.

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

Robin, Chrissy and Jo’s flatshare sitcom gets its one primetime-adjacent outing of the night, now sitting at 10:55pm rather than the top of the hour.

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

The evening class sitcom, built around Mr Brown’s mixed bag of foreign-language students, closes out the scheduled comedy run.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 11:55pm

A same-night repeat of the 9pm series opener, for anyone who missed the restart first time round.

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

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 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?

Birds of a Feather runs to 6pm, then Rising Damp at 6:05pm, Steptoe and Son at 6:35pm and Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? at 7:15pm carry the early evening. Minder takes the 7:55pm slot, then Benidorm restarts its run from the very first episode at 9pm, with the second episode following at 9:30pm. Shameless is at 9:55pm, Man About the House has its primetime showing at 10:55pm, Mind Your Language follows at 11:25pm, and the night closes with a repeat of the 9pm Benidorm episode at 11:55pm. 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. Wednesday’s daytime is less repetitive than the channel can be: instead of stacking one sitcom across several hours, single episodes of Rising Damp, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, You Rang M’Lord?, Bread and Steptoe and Son rotate through the morning, most of them shows most British viewers have already seen several times over.

The evening keeps its usual shape but with a genuine surprise buried in it. Sitcoms carry the early slots into Minder at 7:55pm, before handing over to the night’s real event: Benidorm going all the way back to its very first episode at 9pm, followed immediately by episode two at 9:30pm. Shameless holds its 9:55pm slot, Man About the House gets its single primetime outing at 10:55pm, and Mind Your Language closes out the night before a same-night repeat of the Benidorm opener at 11:55pm.

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