Full Talking Pictures TV listings for Tuesday 27 October 2026, with times in London local time.

Our Man Flint is the evening, and a Durbridge serial is the late shift

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

Talking Pictures puts its best foot forward at 8pm with Our Man Flint, a 1966 spy parody directed by Daniel Mann and starring James Coburn, with Lee J. Cobb alongside. At 130 minutes it takes the whole prime slot, and it was also on the channel on 24 October. Four stars, and the pick.

At 10.10pm the channel starts Francis Durbridge’s The Doll, a drama whose first episode runs 65 minutes. It is a series opener and is on twice today, with episode two at 11.15pm, which means a viewer can see the first two parts back to back. That is a generous way to launch something, and a sound reason to keep the recorder running.

The rest of the evening is thin on novelty. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. at 6.55pm is a decent lead-in to the Flint film, both being spy fare, and a Look at Life short comes just before it at 6.40pm.

The daytime is the channel’s real character. Night Nurse (1931) with Barbara Stanwyck and Clark Gable is on at 8.10am, and White Corridors (1951) with Googie Withers fills 4.50pm. Those are the films to set the recorder for if the evening is taken.


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

What’s on Talking Pictures TV tonight?

On Tuesday 27 October 2026, Talking Pictures TV shows Our Man Flint at 8pm and Francis Durbridge’s The Doll at 10.10pm.

Is there a film on Talking Pictures TV tonight?

Yes: Our Man Flint (1966) at 8pm.

What’s on Talking Pictures TV late tonight?

After 11pm, Talking Pictures TV has Francis Durbridge’s The Doll at 11.15pm.

What time does Talking Pictures TV’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with Look at Life at 6.40pm.

An archive channel that changes its mind every day

Talking Pictures TV is an archive of old British films and television, played back with very little routine. Only one title, the Sherlock Holmes series at 6am, appeared on most of the 34 days we tracked, and only 34% of airtime went to titles that recur on three or more days. That is one of the lowest figures of any channel we follow. Film is the largest single share of the day at 29%, drama comes next at 21%, and almost everything on the channel was made decades ago.

Where most channels sell repetition, this one sells range. The trade-off is that you rarely know what will be on until you look.

What a Talking Pictures TV day looks like

The early morning is the most settled part. The Man From U.N.C.L.E. usually takes 5am, and Sherlock Holmes follows at 6am on 25 of the 34 days. On some mornings What’s on TPTV with Noel, the channel’s own short preview and chat slot, turns up around 7.20am.

From there the day is mostly films, broken up by half-hour archive series. Z Cars tends to take 10.30am, The Adventures of William Tell and The Buccaneers sit around 1pm, and The Duchess of Duke Street around 1.30pm. Look at Life, a run of short documentary reels, drops into the afternoon on half the days we tracked, often around 3.15pm, and Dial 999 follows at about 3.30pm. That’s My Boy holds 4pm on the days it airs, and The Footage Detectives, a history strand about old film, takes 5pm.

The 6pm to 10.30pm evening is where the channel looks most like a conventional schedule, though it still shuffles its pieces. Rooms takes 6pm on some days and The Scales of Justice around 6.25pm on others. Then come the 7pm and 7.30pm slots for Z Cars, Out of Town, The Footage Detectives or Dick Turpin, and at 8pm one of the channel’s crime series: Maigret, Van der Valk, Saber of London or Public Eye, each holding the slot for a run of evenings before giving way to the next. The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club, a 1970s variety show, took 8.30pm on five evenings. The 9pm hour belongs to a serial or a crime drama such as Fox, or a film. On about half the evenings we tracked, a feature starts between 9.30pm and 11pm: French Connection II, The Boys From Brazil, The Mosquito Coast and The Killing of Sister George all filled that late slot. Films then run through the night.

Cellar Club with Caroline Munro, a horror and science fiction strand, appeared at 9pm on five evenings. With our window running towards Halloween, it is probably seasonal.

Weekends change the mix rather than the character. Drama falls from 24% of weekday airtime to 14%, and sitcom rises from 1% to 6%, with That’s My Boy, For the Love of Ada and The Lucy Show in the daytime.

Popular shows on Talking Pictures TV

Z Cars is the BBC police procedural that began in 1962 and ran to 12 series and 801 episodes, with James Ellis, Brian Blessed, Stratford Johns and Frank Windsor among its cast. It turns up mid-morning and at 7pm.

Public Eye is an ITV drama from 1965 starring Alfred Burke, which ran to seven series and 87 episodes. It held the 8pm slot on five evenings.

Dick Turpin is an ITV adventure series from 1979 starring Richard O’Sullivan, four series and 31 episodes long. It is a 7.30pm regular.

The Duchess of Duke Street is a BBC One period drama from 1976 starring Gemma Jones, two series and 31 episodes. It sits in the early afternoon and sometimes at 8pm.

The Adventures of Robin Hood is an ITV adventure series from 1955 starring Richard Greene, four series and 143 episodes long, usually in the early afternoon.

The films lean heavily on British cinema of the 1940s and 1950s: of the films we could date, more than half were made in those two decades, and the 1950s alone account for over 90 of them. Alec Guinness is the most frequent star, in The Man in the White Suit, The Card, Last Holiday, Our Man in Havana and Damn the Defiant!. Dirk Bogarde appears in The Blue Lamp and Appointment in London. John Gilling is the most frequent director with seven films, including The Night Caller and Pickup Alley, and Lewis Gilbert follows with five, among them Reach for the Sky. Carol Reed’s The Third Man aired twice in the window.

How to watch Talking Pictures TV

Talking Pictures TV is on Freeview channel 82, Sky 324, Virgin Media 445 and Freesat 306. On Freely it is channel 36. It is not on Sky Glass or Sky Stream. Its catch-up service is TPTV Encore, which is free but needs you to register. Watching any channel live needs a TV Licence.

Talking Pictures TV and its neighbours

Talking Pictures TV has no sister channels; it stands on its own.

The nearest match is GREAT! TV, which runs Ealing-era British comedies such as The Ladykillers and Kind Hearts and Coronets at weekends alongside its sitcoms, though it is far more repetitive. For older films with a harder edge, Legend fills its afternoons with westerns and war pictures from the same decades. Sky Arts is the other home for archive anthology drama.

Who it’s for

This is a channel for someone who likes to be surprised by an old film, and who is happy to check what is on rather than rely on a habit. It rewards anyone with a fondness for black-and-white British cinema, 1960s and 1970s ITV and BBC series and vintage crime drama. It is a poor fit for anyone wanting the same programme at the same time every night, and very little of it is recent.

What channel is Talking Pictures TV on Freeview?

It is on Freeview channel 82. It is also on Freely 36, Sky 324, Virgin Media 445 and Freesat 306.

Does Talking Pictures TV show films?

Constantly. Film takes 29% of its airtime, more than any other kind of programme, and most of it is British cinema from the 1940s and 1950s.

What’s on Talking Pictures TV most evenings?

Usually an archive crime series at 8pm, such as Maigret, Van der Valk or Public Eye, with Dick Turpin or Z Cars before it and a film later on. The exact titles change from one run of evenings to the next.

Can I watch Talking Pictures TV online?

Yes, through TPTV Encore, its free catch-up service, which asks you to register first.