Full CBeebies listings for Tuesday 27 October 2026, with times in London local time.

CBeebies on a Tuesday: a day of short bursts and one fresh start

See also: What's on tonight across all channels | Wednesday's TV guide

CBeebies runs on five- and ten-minute programmes, so the only real event on the day is Octonauts starting a fresh run at 15:25. The episode is “The Colossal Squid”, the first of series two as the channel has it, and it sits in the afternoon lull between the lunchtime shows and the teatime block. It is a series with five series and 133 episodes to date, so there is a long back catalogue for any child who takes to it.

Elsewhere the channel works as a fixture list. Teletubbies and Numberblocks each turn up twice today, and a long tail of regulars, from Monster Makes to Twirlywoos to Alphablocks, are on day after day. That is deliberate. Under-fives like knowing what comes next, and parents like being able to plan around it.

The other programme worth marking is the one that ends the day. In the Night Garden takes the 18:20 slot for a full half hour, the longest single programme on the channel today, and it is followed at 18:50 by a short Bedtime Stories. It is the channel’s way of winding down, and a good one to build a routine around.

After 18:58 the channel hands over to its overnight loop of This Is CBeebies, so anything you want has to be caught before then.

Pick of the day: Octonauts, for being the only thing here that is actually beginning.


Also on TV tonight at 9pm

  • BBC One: Blue Lights
  • BBC Two: Surgeons: At the Edge of Life
  • ITV1: New: Unbelievable Moments:…
  • Channel 4: The Great British Bake Off (from 8pm)
  • Channel 5: Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild
  • BBC Four: The Normans
  • ITV2: Big Brother
  • ITV3: Vera (from 8pm)
  • ITV4: Junk and Disorderly
  • E4: Gogglebox

Every channel tonight, side by side · Films on TV tonight · Tomorrow’s TV


Frequently asked questions

Is there a film on CBeebies tonight?

No. CBeebies has no films in its evening schedule on Tuesday 27 October 2026.

What time does CBeebies’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with Clangers at 6pm.

A pre-school channel that runs on repetition

CBeebies is the BBC’s channel for pre-school children, and its defining feature is that almost nothing on it is a one-off. Across the five weeks we tracked, every minute of its airtime went to titles that came back on three or more days, and no films were shown at all. Programmes are short, often five or ten minutes, so a typical day carries about 76 of them, double what a full-length adult channel fits in. Most of those are a core of around eighteen titles that appear every single day.

For the audience it serves, this is the design rather than a flaw. Small children like the same characters at roughly the same times, and CBeebies gives them exactly that.

What a CBeebies day looks like

The channel is on air from 6am to 7pm. It shares its broadcast space with BBC Four, which takes over in the evening.

Early morning, 6am to 9am. This is the busiest stretch and the one built around the channel’s biggest names. Bing usually opens the day just after 6am. Mojo Swoptops follows just before 7am, Hey Duggee at around 7.05am, Bluey at about 7.20am, Go Jetters at 7.35am and Peter Rabbit at 7.50am. Love Monster tends to take 8.25am. Many of these come back again later, which is how Bluey reached 161 airings in 34 days and Hey Duggee 155: four or five showings a day each.

Mid-morning, 9am to noon. The tone shifts towards learning and making. Tralala sits at about 9.15am, Something Special at 9.45am, and a set of weekday series rotate from 10.45am: What’s in Your Plant Pot?, Monster Makes, Let’s Go for a Walk and Kiri and Lou, the last of which held 11.10am on 23 days.

Lunchtime and afternoon, noon to 5pm. Go Wild and What’s on Your Head? appear around 12.30pm, Waffle the Wonder Dog at 12.40pm, then Puffin Rock and Yukee around 1pm. Early afternoon is a cluster of animal and outdoor programmes: Andy’s Dino Island, I Can Grow It and Hamza Loves Animals: Africa at 2.20pm on their days, and Maddie’s Do You Know? at 2.35pm. Octonauts usually appears at around 3.25pm, Supertato at 4.10pm.

Teatime, 5pm to 7pm. Zog sits near 4.55pm, Balamory at about 5.05pm, Rafi the Wishing Wizard at 5.30pm and Sarah & Duck at 5.50pm on the 20 days it appeared. The channel then winds down towards its 7pm close.

There is no evening schedule. Weekends follow the same pattern as weekdays, with the same core titles in much the same places.

Popular shows on CBeebies

Bluey is an Australian animated series for pre-school children, first shown in 2018 and now three series and more than 150 episodes long. It was the most-aired programme on CBeebies across our five weeks, on every day we tracked.

Hey Duggee is a British animated comedy series that began in 2014, directed by Grant Orchard, with three series and over 130 episodes. It ran every day, usually first around 7.05am.

Bing is a British animated series from 2014, with two series and more than 100 episodes. It is typically the first proper programme of the CBeebies day.

Something Special is a long-running BBC programme first shown in 2003, presented by Justin Fletcher. It has passed 21 series, and it held a daily slot at about 9.45am.

Octonauts is an animated adventure series that began in 2010, combining adventure with education across five series and more than 130 episodes. It aired on every day of the window.

Balamory is a live-action series from 2002 whose cast included Julie Wilson Nimmo, Miles Jupp and Andrew Agnew. It ran to five series and more than 260 episodes, and it turns up at teatime on about half of all days.

How to watch CBeebies

CBeebies is on Freeview channel 202, with CBeebies HD on 204. It is on Sky 608, Sky Glass 202, Virgin Media 702, Freesat 601 and Freely 352. It is broadcast from 6am to 7pm.

It streams live and on catch-up on BBC iPlayer. A TV Licence is needed to watch it live on any platform and to use BBC iPlayer.

CBeebies and its sister channels

CBeebies is part of the BBC’s family of channels: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Three, BBC Four, CBBC, BBC News, BBC Parliament, BBC Scotland and BBC Alba.

The obvious next step is CBBC, the BBC’s channel for older children. It mixes cartoons with factual series and a daily Newsround bulletin, and it stays on air until 7pm too. BBC Four uses the same broadcast space after CBeebies closes, with documentaries and archive music. BBC One and BBC Two are the main channels; BBC Two’s weekend daytime is largely given over to children’s programmes. BBC Three, BBC News, BBC Parliament, BBC Scotland and BBC Alba are not covered on this site.

Outside the BBC, Channel 5 is the nearest alternative: children’s programmes fill much of its morning, before it switches to adult factual series.

Who it’s for

CBeebies is for pre-school children, and for the parents who need to know when Bluey is on. If your child has a favourite, the chances are it appears several times a day, every day. Older children will find it too young and will be happier on CBBC. There is nothing here for adults, and it is not trying to be.

What channel is CBeebies on Freeview?

CBeebies is Freeview channel 202, and 204 in HD.

What time is CBeebies on?

It broadcasts from 6am to 7pm every day. In the evening the same space carries BBC Four.

What time is Bluey on CBeebies?

Bluey appeared four or five times a day in the period we measured, first at around 7.20am and then again through the day.

Can I watch CBeebies online?

Yes, live and on catch-up on BBC iPlayer, which needs a TV Licence.