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, Vera, Wycliffe, Inspector Morse: if it involves a body in a village and a detective who doesn’t much like being interrupted, it has probably run here. Tonight, Friday 14 August 2026, a Heartbeat double leads into the evening from 5:50pm, Doc Martin runs twice from 8pm, Grantchester follows with two more from 10pm, and Trial and Retribution opens Rules of the Game at 11:50pm.

ITV3 Schedule: Friday 14 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV3 schedule for Friday 14 August 2026, on Freeview 10.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on ITV3 today

Daytime on ITV3 keeps to its usual detective and soap-repeat rota, and today is a good example. Agatha Christie’s Poirot’s The Dream opens the day at 1:25am, an industrialist’s suicidal dreams turning out to hide something Poirot isn’t prepared to dismiss as coincidence. A short Unwind with ITV wellbeing filler follows at 2:20am, and teleshopping fills the gap from 2:30am until George and Mildred returns at 6am with two episodes back to back, George resenting the dog’s better treatment in one, then accusing next-door of attempted murder over a stolen bottle of gin in the next. Two episodes of Classic Emmerdale run from 7:05am, then two of Classic Coronation Street from 8:05am lead into a further pair of Suchet-era Poirot cases from 9:10am: The Kidnapped Prime Minister, in which Poirot has 32 hours to find an abducted PM before an important conference, and The Adventure of the Western Star, built around a Belgian film star’s threatened diamond. Heartbeat holds the late morning with two episodes from 11:35am, one following Mike’s search for a link between a dead farm worker and a spate of animal deaths, the other centred on a domestic dispute Tricia gets pulled into. Midsomer Murders makes its only appearance of the day at 1:35pm, and it’s a notable one: The Killings at Badger’s Drift, the very first case of the entire series, in which the murder of an elderly resident shatters the calm of a village that turns out to have plenty to hide. The schedule then repeats the pattern in reverse: two more episodes of Classic Emmerdale from 3:35pm, Classic Coronation Street twice more from 4:40pm, and Heartbeat twice further ahead of the evening.

ITV3 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV3 primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 14 August 2026.

Heartbeat double bill — ITV3, 5:50pm & 6:55pm

Two more Aidensfield outings close out the early evening. First, at 5:50pm, Lord Ashfordly throws a society ball to mark his marriage, only for his new bride to turn out rather less refined than the neighbours were braced for. The 6:55pm follow-up swaps the ballroom for the racetrack, with Mike none too pleased to find Tricia has taken up with a racehorse trainer.

Doc Martin double bill — ITV3, 8pm & 9pm

Martin Ellingham’s professional troubles carry the 8pm and 9pm hours. He’s barred from practising while his fitness-to-work hearing looms, which does nothing to stop Portwenn’s residents cornering him for free diagnoses anyway. The second episode raises the stakes further, with a GMC assessor sent down to scrutinise both the surgery and its famously prickly doctor, while Al finds himself unexpectedly engaged to Morwenna.

Grantchester double bill — ITV3, 10pm & 11pm

A parish fete goes badly wrong at 10pm, when a sudden death gives Alphy something other than his own tangled love life to think about. An hour later, the setting shifts to Cambridge itself, where a death on campus drags Geordie and Alphy into a row between rival academics just as Alphy’s romance with Meg hits a snag of its own.

Trial and Retribution — ITV3, 11:50pm

Rules of the Game opens just before midnight. A prostitute’s body turns up at Heathrow, a Ukrainian billionaire is hauled in on suspicion of murder, and Walker finds she has no choice but to let him go. Part two follows in the small hours for anyone staying up.

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.

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?

A Heartbeat double, two episodes of Doc Martin, two of Grantchester and the opening part of a Trial and Retribution case. Times are in the primetime rundown above.

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

ITV3 has never pretended to be about new television, and today is a fair illustration of what that means in practice: archive soaps through the afternoon, two Poirot cases, the very first Midsomer Murders outing, and an evening built around a Doc Martin double before Grantchester and a Trial and Retribution opener carry the channel past midnight. Depth is the whole proposition. If you already know the channel, a Friday like this needs no explanation. If you don’t, it’s still one of the easier ways into British detective drama on Freeview, since you can drop into almost any afternoon or evening and land halfway through something worth finishing.

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