ITV3 TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On ITV3 Tonight

ITV3 is ITV’s drama channel, launched on 1 November 2004 as a home for the broadcaster’s back catalogue of detective series, period drama and classic sitcoms. Midsomer Murders, Lewis, Poirot, Heartbeat: if it involves a village, a body and a detective in no hurry to leave, it has probably run here. Thursday 15 October 2026 leans straight into that reputation: Heartbeat into Vera at 8pm, then Downton Abbey at 10pm and a two-part DCI Banks story from 11pm.

ITV3 Schedule: Thursday 15 October 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV3 schedule for Thursday 15 October 2026, on Freeview 10.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

Also on TV tonight at 9pm

• BBC One: The Celebrity Traitors (from 8pm)
• ITV1: Long Lost Family
• BBC Two: Surgeons: At the Edge of Life
• Channel 4: Our Tiny Islands (from 8pm)
• Channel 5: Love Nature
• Film4: Wrath of Man
• E4: Gogglebox
• ITV2: Big Brother
• ITV4: Benidorm
• More4: Our Yorkshire Pub Rescue with Jon Richardson

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

What’s on ITV3 today

The Royal is on at 12:55am, then George and Mildred at 2am, Unwind with ITV at 2:25am and Teleshopping from 2:30am.

The day proper starts at 6am with Wild at Heart, then Classic Emmerdale and two Classic Coronation Street episodes from 7:05am. Inspector Morse is on at 9:15am, and Heartbeat runs at 11:30am and 12:35pm, with The Royal at 1:35pm and another Wild at Heart at 2:40pm. The classic soaps return from 3:40pm, and a third Heartbeat of the day starts at 5:50pm, with a fourth at 6:55pm.

ITV3 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV3 primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 15 October 2026.

Heartbeat — ITV3, 6:55pm

Second of two back-to-back Heartbeat episodes (series 15, episode 23, Keeping Secrets). It is Helen and Rob’s wedding day, and a noise complaint brings Ashfordly police out to a neighbour dispute that turns nasty.

Vera — ITV3, 8pm

Series 11, episode 3, Tyger Tyger. A raid on a port looks like an inside job, and Brenda Blethyn’s Vera follows it back to a kidnapping.

Downton Abbey — ITV3, 10pm

Series 4, episode 4. Mary has a decision about her future to make in the aftermath of the house party.

DCI Banks — ITV3, 11pm

A two-part story, Buried, from series 4 (episodes 3 and 4). Part one starts with a lawyer found dead by an underground river and an affair with a disgruntled employee. Part two follows at 11:55pm, with Stephen Tompkinson’s Banks moving a witness and his teenage daughter to a hotel after a hitman’s threat.

What kind of shows are on ITV3

Detective drama and cosy crime

The backbone. Midsomer Murders, Vera, Inspector Morse, Endeavour and Wycliffe cover roughly four decades of British detective television between them, and ITV3 works through them in long runs rather than one-off repeats. You can usually pick a series up mid-week and stay with it.

Period and literary adaptation

The Darling Buds of May, and Agatha Christie’s Poirot when it comes round. David Suchet played the part across thirteen series for ITV between 1989 and 2013. These tend to be scheduled in full-series blocks.

Classic sitcom

George and Mildred and its ITV contemporaries fill the overnight and early-morning slots. Nobody’s setting an alarm for these; they’re on while the day gets going.

That long-run scheduling shows up starkly in the data. Across 48 days we logged 933 ITV3 slots drawn from just 26 different programmes, with Heartbeat alone accounting for 138 of them — the most concentrated schedule on Freeview. For a nostalgia channel that is arguably the product working as intended; the full figures are in our study of repeats on UK television.

How to watch ITV3

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find ITV3 across the main UK television platforms:

Free on all of them, no subscription. Numbers shift regionally, so check your on-screen guide if one doesn’t match.

Streaming online

ITV3 streams live and free through ITVX, at itv.com/watch and via the ITVX app on smart TVs, mobiles, tablets and most games consoles. A free account is all that’s needed, no payment details. The ITVX library also carries individual episodes and full boxsets from the channel, Vera and Poirot included, if you’d rather not wait for a repeat to come round.

ITV3 +1 and sister channels

The +1 channel is less useful than it used to be. Since November 2023 it has broadcast only a reduced overnight window rather than a full hour-behind simulcast, so if you’ve missed the start of something, ITVX catch-up is the better bet.

ITV3 sits alongside ITV1, home to Coronation Street, Emmerdale and the network’s biggest primetime shows, and ITV4, which handles sport, action films and older action series.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is ITV3 on Freeview?

Channel 10, free to air.

What’s on ITV3 tonight?

There’s no single standout tonight, just a solid detective evening. Heartbeat is on at 6:55pm, Vera follows at 8pm, Downton Abbey is at 10pm and the two-part DCI Banks story Buried closes the night from 11pm. Check the schedule table above for the full day’s listings.

Can I watch ITV3 online for free?

Yes, live through ITVX on the website, the app, and most smart TVs and consoles.

Is ITV3 free to watch?

Yes, and it has been since 2004. There’s advertising, but no subscription fee on any platform.

Verdict

The channel has never pretended to be about new television, and tonight is cosy crime and period drama from start to finish. Inspector Morse and Heartbeat fill the daytime.

Nothing here is new. Vera is the evening’s anchor at 8pm, Downton Abbey follows at 10pm and DCI Banks closes things from 11pm.

Related: ITV1 TV Guide | ITV4 TV Guide | What’s On TV Tonight | Films on TV This Week