What is a +1 channel?
A +1 channel shows exactly the same schedule as its parent channel, one hour later. Nothing is edited or different — if you miss the start of a 9pm programme, the +1 version starts it at 10pm.
They exist because they are cheap. A broadcaster already owns the rights and the playout; running the same feed an hour behind costs very little and doubles the chances of catching a viewer. That is also why they come and go: when a broadcaster needs the capacity for something else, the +1 is usually the first thing dropped.
The confusing part for viewers is that a +1 is not carried on every platform. A channel can have a +1 on Sky and not on Freeview, which is the source of most of the searches that land on this page.
Which +1 channels are on Freeview?
Only a handful. These are the ones with a verified Freeview slot:
| +1 channel | Freeview | Also on |
|---|---|---|
| Quest +1 | 70 | Sky 244 |
| Blaze +1 | 92 | Freeview only |
| Yesterday +1 | 26 | — |
Blaze is the unusual one: its +1 exists on Freeview and nowhere else. There is no Blaze +1 on Sky, Virgin Media or Freesat, so Freeview is the only route to a delayed watch.
The ones that are not on Freeview
These +1 channels exist, but a Freeview viewer will never find them:
| +1 channel | Sky | Virgin Media | Freesat | On Freeview? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5Star+1 | 228 | 326 | 141 | No |
| Really +1 | 242 | 365 | — | No |
| Film4 +1 | 314 | — | — | No |
| ITV4+1 | 220 | — | — | No |
| Drama+1 | 243 | 316 | — | No |
| 5USA +1 | — | — | 130 | No |
If you are on Freeview and looking for one of these, it is not a retune problem and it is not missing from your box — the slot does not exist on the platform. The on-demand service is the answer instead: Quest and Really both stream free through discovery+, and 5Star is on Channel 5’s own free service.
The ones that do not exist at all
Two searches come up often enough to be worth answering plainly:
- There is no BBC +1 channel. Not BBC One, not BBC Two, not BBC Four. The BBC has never run timeshift channels — iPlayer does that job, and everything is on there after broadcast.
- There is no Sky Arts +1. Sky Arts has no hour-behind version on any platform.
The full list of UK +1 channels
Every +1 service currently broadcasting in the UK, across all platforms:
Channel 4 family — Channel 4+1 (regional variants), E4 +1, More4+1, Film4 +1
ITV family — ITV+1 (regional variants), ITV2+1, ITV3+1, ITV4+1
Channel 5 family — 5+1, 5STAR+1, 5USA+1
Discovery / Warner Bros. Discovery — QUEST+1, Quest Red+1, Really +1, DMAX+1, TLC+1, Food Network+1
UKTV — U&Drama+1, U&Yesterday+1, U&Eden+1, U&W+1
Narrative / GREAT! family — GREAT! tv+1, GREAT! action+1, GREAT! Romance+1, GREAT! Mystery+1
Others — Legend Xtra+1, True Crime+1, Together TV +1, STV Central +1, STV North +1
Note that “exists” and “is on your platform” are different things — see the tables above for where each one actually appears.
Is a +1 the same as catch-up?
No, and the difference matters:
- A +1 channel is live broadcast. It runs to a fixed schedule and you cannot pause, rewind or pick a programme. You get whatever is on, an hour behind.
- Catch-up is on demand. You choose the programme and when to start it.
A +1 is more useful than it sounds for the case it is built for: you have sat down at 9.20pm, something started at 9pm, and you would rather watch it properly from the beginning than join late. For anything older than that evening, catch-up is the better route.
Where to find tonight’s schedule
A +1 channel’s listings are simply the parent channel’s listings shifted an hour. For what is on the main channels tonight:
- What’s on TV tonight — tonight across the main channels
- Freeview channel guide — every Freeview channel number
- Quest TV guide · Really TV guide · Blaze TV guide · Film4 TV guide
Related on TV Radar: Freeview Channel Guide · What’s On TV Tonight · Freeview vs Sky vs Virgin
Channel numbers verified against our own channel guides and the published broadcast feed. +1 slots are dropped and added more often than main channels — if a number has moved, tell us via the contact page.
