Full Channel 4 listings for Wednesday 28 October 2026, with times in London local time.

Channel 4 builds its night around a Grand Designs hour

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

Channel 4’s evening has a spine, and it is Grand Designs at 9pm. Around it the channel has lined up a news special at seven, Location, Location, Location at eight and First Dates at ten, so the four hours read as a single, deliberate run. Stay for the 9pm hour and the rest of the evening comes with it.

Grand Designs is a British documentary series that has run to 20 series and 160 episodes, and that record is the argument for putting it in the middle of primetime. It faces Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC One and Spotlight on BBC Two, and it is a different sort of hour from either. Four stars, and the pick.

The lead-in matters. Location, Location, Location at 8pm is billed as new and runs for an hour, against the opening episode of Celebrity Race Across the World on BBC One and The Repair Shop on BBC Two. That is the toughest hour on the channel’s night, since both rivals are strong, and Channel 4 is relying on loyalty to its own brand rather than on novelty. Three stars: a sound programme in a difficult slot.

Before it, Budget Special: C4 News takes the 7pm hour in full. An hour is a generous slot for a news programme, and the Budget label is the channel’s way of marking the day. It faces The One Show and Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing, so giving up the early-evening audience for something more serious is a deliberate choice. Three stars, for the effort rather than the entertainment.

After Grand Designs comes First Dates at 10pm, listed as new and running to 65 minutes, the longest programme of the primetime run. It is up against BBC News at Ten and Ellie & Natasia on BBC Two, and it is the show most likely to pick up viewers who have seen enough of the news. Three stars, with the extra five minutes working in its favour.

At 11.05 Social Media Monsters runs for 65 minutes, and a Taskmaster is in the small hours at five past midnight. Neither will matter to most readers, but Taskmaster is the one to set a recording for.

Daytime is mostly fixtures. Frasier fills the morning from 9.10, The King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond fill breakfast, and the afternoon moves through Countdown, A Place in the Sun and Help! We Bought a Village. Four in a Bed and Come Dine with Me lead into a 6pm A New Life in the Sun block.

Overall, this is a Channel 4 schedule that knows where its weight sits: a steady run from seven to eleven, anchored at nine.


Also on TV tonight at 9pm

  • BBC One: Who Do You Think You Are?
  • BBC Two: Spotlight
  • ITV1: Carabao Cup: Liverpool v Chelsea (from 7.30pm)
  • Channel 5: Cause of Death
  • BBC Four: The Planets
  • ITV2: Big Brother
  • ITV3: Midsomer Murders (from 8pm)
  • ITV4: Sharpe (from 7.20pm)
  • E4: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA
  • More4: Our Tiny Islands

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


Frequently asked questions

What’s on Channel 4 tonight?

On Wednesday 28 October 2026, Channel 4 shows Budget Special: C4 News at 7pm, New: Location, Location, Location at 8pm, Grand Designs at 9pm and New: First Dates at 10pm.

Is there a film on Channel 4 tonight?

No. Channel 4 has no films in its evening schedule on Wednesday 28 October 2026.

What’s on Channel 4 late tonight?

After 11pm, Channel 4 has Social Media Monsters at 11.05pm.

What time does Channel 4’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with A New Life in the Sun: Where… at 6pm.