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

Published: 2 September 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: Thursday 3 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete That’s TV schedule for Thursday 3 September 2026, on Freeview 56.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on That’s TV today

Thursday opens with Benidorm just after midnight, then Minder, Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Man About the House and The Kenny Everett Video Show carry the small hours before the archive clip strand That’s 60s – Best Music Live! drops in at 3:25am. Two Nearest and Dearest episodes back to back from 4am run into The Yorkshire Steam Railway: All Aboard at 4:50am, then a teleshopping stretch from 6am — cruise holidays, then a folding mobility scooter, then cruise holidays again — which holds until the sitcoms resume at 8am.

From there it’s a straight run of classic material with no theming beyond the usual back catalogue: Rising Damp and Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em through breakfast, You Rang, M’Lord?, Bread, Steptoe and Son and Oh, Doctor Beeching! into late morning, then Rising Damp again at noon. The afternoon carries Man About the House, Goodnight Sweetheart, the 1970s Tyne-set drama When the Boat Comes In at 1:40pm, Minder again at 2:45pm, Just Good Friends, and a second Man About the House and Bread before Birds of a Feather closes out early evening at 5:30pm.

Unlike some days, there’s no seasonal coincidence or long-running strand filling the afternoon — just the channel’s usual stack of half-hour sitcoms, one after another, until the evening line-up takes over at 6pm.

That’s TV tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the That’s TV primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 3 September 2026. That’s 60s – Best Music Live! opens the evening at 6pm — it’s a ten-minute package of archive clips rather than a live broadcast, whatever the title suggests.

Rising Damp — That’s TV, 6:10pm

This is the last Rising Damp episode ever made. Rigsby, having finally got his divorce papers through, proposes to Miss Jones — and both of them get cold feet before the wedding can happen. It closed out the whole series in 1978 and gives the 6:10pm slot more weight than a routine rerun; no episode numbers are given today, so it’s worth knowing that specifically.

Steptoe and Son — That’s TV, 6:40pm

Harold is confronted with the possibility that he is about to become a father, one of the marginally less bleak entries in Galton and Simpson’s back-and-forth between father and son.

Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? — That’s TV, 7:20pm

Bob and Terry head off on a fishing trip, the sort of low-key misadventure the sequel to The Likely Lads built its reputation on.

Minder — That’s TV, 7:55pm

Terry is talked into stepping back through the ropes for one more fight. ITV4 is also running Minder tonight, but a different episode from earlier in the show’s run — the two channels aren’t showing the same hour.

Benidorm — That’s TV, 9pm

The Garvey clan and the rest of the Solana regulars are back for a goodwill stay, with Sheridan Smith among the guest cast. This is the ITV sitcom, not to be confused with Channel 5’s unrelated crime drama Benidorm Is Murder airing at the same time, or with the four separate Benidorm episodes ITV4 has stacked into its own evening.

Shameless — That’s TV, 9:55pm

Joe and Karen try to get off the estate for good, one of the sharper hours in a night otherwise built on gentler comedy.

Man About the House — That’s TV, 11pm

Chrissy makes a home video, the last sitcom of the night before things wind down.

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

Miss Courtney runs into her former fiancé, closing out the schedule.

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?

It’s a straight classic-sitcom run from 6pm: Rising Damp, Steptoe and Son, then Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads? at 7:20pm, before Minder takes the 7:55pm slot. Benidorm follows at 9pm, then Shameless at 9:55pm. Man About the House gets one more outing at 11pm, and Mind Your Language closes the night at 11:30pm. Tonight’s 6:10pm Rising Damp is the last episode the series ever made. Rising Damp, Man About the House and Minder all air more than once today, but as different episodes rather than straight repeats. 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. Thursday’s afternoon is a straight run of 1970s and 1980s sitcoms with no particular theme, running from breakfast through to Birds of a Feather at 5:30pm, When the Boat Comes In providing the one period-drama break in the middle of the day.

The evening opens with three sitcoms back to back, Rising Damp into Steptoe and Son into Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, before Minder takes the 7:55pm slot with a different story from the one ITV4 runs earlier the same evening. That 6:10pm Rising Damp is worth singling out: it’s the final episode the series ever made, Rigsby proposing to Miss Jones after his divorce comes through. Benidorm at 9pm is the strongest patch of the night, with Shameless close behind at 9:55pm. Man About the House gets a single primetime showing at 11pm, and Mind Your Language closes the night at 11:30pm. Several of the day’s regulars, Rising Damp, Minder and Man About the House among them, air more than once today, but each showing is a different episode rather than the same one repeated.

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