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

Published: 29 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: Sunday 30 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete That’s TV schedule for Sunday 30 August 2026, on Freeview 56.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on That’s TV today

Sunday opens with a Benidorm double bill at 12:05am and 12:35am, then Minder, Birds of a Feather, Man About the House and The Kenny Everett Video Show see out the small hours before the clip strand That’s 60s – Best Music Live! drops in at 3:20am. A Nearest and Dearest double either side of 4am runs into Shop with Shop Unlimited’s teleshopping block, which holds the schedule from 5am to 8am.

What follows is a run of Christmas specials, purely by coincidence of scheduling rather than any planned theme. Three Bread outings from 1988, 1989 and 1990 fill the late morning, then, after a gap in the schedule, In Sickness and in Health’s own 1989 festive episode picks up at 1:30pm. Steptoe and Son follows with two of its own, the 1973 special and 1974’s A Perfect Christmas, the sitcom’s very last episode.

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? closes the afternoon with its 1974 Christmas instalment at 3:55pm, and Birds of a Feather takes over from 4:55pm with a 2014 festive special built around a family trip to the Canary Islands, running into the early evening.

That’s TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the That’s TV primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 30 August 2026. An
earlier Birds of a Feather, a festive special sending Tracey to Tangier in
search of her missing son Travis, is already running from 5:25pm and clears
the schedule at 6:20pm, right as the line-up below begins.

Birds of a Feather Christmas Special — That’s TV, 6:20pm

The third Birds of a Feather of the evening is billed as a dedicated
Christmas Special, with Tracey plotting a festive surprise that threatens
to unsettle the household and Dorien chasing a mystery of her own. Emily
Atack guests alongside the regular cast.

Birds of a Feather — That’s TV, 7:15pm

A fourth and separate episode follows straight after. Dorien has bought the
house and taken charge, tension simmers with Tracey, and Sharon is away on
a cruise off Costa Rica. Les Dennis guests as the latest complication in
Dorien’s love life.

Minder — That’s TV, 7:55pm

Arthur backs an amateur darts player he reckons can go all the way, only
for the man to be nobbled before the contest. His fallback plan, running
his own tournament, comes unstuck when too few entrants turn up and he’s
left short of the prize money.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9pm

Madge announces plans to marry a man she barely knows, brushing off
Janice’s objections, while an arm-wrestling contest cooked up by the Oracle
and his mother gives two old rivals the chance to settle a score.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9:25pm

The gang signs up for what they’re told is a free bullfight excursion, a
trip that horrifies the animal lovers among them and brings out an
unexpectedly ruthless side in Madge. Telle, meanwhile, strikes up an odd
new friendship with the Oracle.

Shameless — That’s TV, 9:55pm

Ian takes up boxing to build his confidence and grows close to the club’s
owner, Jock, but a funding crisis and an old debt to a local enforcer put
the gym’s future in doubt. Elsewhere, Micky’s attempt to join the fire
service goes sideways before he redeems himself in an emergency. Former
world champion boxer Ricky Hatton has a guest role.

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

Workmen moving into the flat force the three housemates out for the night,
and Robin’s enthusiasm for sharing a bed evaporates once he finds out who
he’s sharing it with.

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

Jeremy opens up to his class about growing up in an orphanage, then gets a
surprise of his own when caretaker Sid lets slip something unexpected.

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 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 twice in a row from 6:20pm, a Christmas Special followed by a regular episode, before Minder takes the 7:55pm slot. From 9pm it’s a Benidorm double bill, then Shameless at 9:55pm. Man About the House gets one more outing at 10:55pm, and Mind Your Language rounds off the night 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 happens to be built almost entirely from Christmas specials: three Bread outings from the late 1980s, a festive edition of In Sickness and in Health, and two Steptoe and Son Christmas episodes, one of them the sitcom’s very last. None of it was scheduled as a themed day; the channel’s regular strands simply landed on their seasonal episodes together.

The evening keeps the same thread going. Birds of a Feather runs four times between 4:55pm and 7:55pm, including a dedicated Christmas Special at 6:20pm, before Minder takes the 7:55pm slot. A Benidorm double bill at 9pm and 9:25pm is the strongest patch of the schedule, with Shameless following straight after at 9:55pm. Man About the House gets a single primetime showing at 10:55pm, and Mind Your Language closes the night at 11:25pm.

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