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. Today, Monday 17 August 2026, the channel opens primetime with two Heartbeat episodes from 5:50pm, hands the 8pm hour to a single Midsomer Murders case, then runs two Grantchester episodes back to back from 10pm before Trial and Retribution closes out the night at 11:55pm.

ITV3 Schedule: Monday 17 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV3 schedule for Monday 17 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 archive-sitcom rota, and today runs through it in order. The Dark opens the schedule at 12:55am, then a single George and Mildred episode, a short Unwind with ITV wellbeing slot at 2:20am and three and a half hours of teleshopping carry things through to 6am.

Two more George and Mildred episodes get the morning going from 6am, series 1 numbers 9 and 10, followed by a pair of Classic Emmerdale repeats from 7:05am and two Classic Coronation Street episodes from 8:05am, three back-to-back reruns that fill out breakfast. Two Agatha Christie’s Poirot cases, series 3 episodes 2 and 3, take up the mid-morning from 9:10am, then two Heartbeat episodes run from 11:35am through to 1:35pm, when Midsomer Murders (series 1, episode 2) takes the early-afternoon slot on its own. A single Classic Emmerdale repeat at 3:35pm and two more Classic Coronation Street episodes from 4:40pm carry the schedule into early evening, where two further Heartbeat episodes open primetime from 5:50pm.

ITV3 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV3 primetime line-up for tonight, Monday 17 August 2026.

Heartbeat — ITV3, 5:50pm

Two Heartbeat episodes open the evening, series 12 numbers 11 and 12, keeping ITV3’s Aidensfield constables busy back to back until 8pm. It’s comfort scheduling rather than appointment viewing, the sort of slot regulars will recognise without needing to check what’s actually on.

Midsomer Murders — ITV3, 8pm

Midsomer Murders takes the 8pm hour on its own tonight, series 16’s second case for DCI Barnaby’s fictional county and its improbably high murder rate. It’s the show ITV3 has built its reputation on, and the reason the channel can run whole afternoons and evenings without ever touching anything made this decade. This one has the full two hours to itself before Grantchester takes over.

Grantchester — ITV3, 10pm

Two Grantchester episodes follow from 10pm, series 10’s third and fourth cases run back to back rather than split across separate nights. It’s a slower, more melancholy watch than the hour before it, and the post-watershed slot suits that change of pace.

Trial and Retribution — ITV3, 11:55pm

Trial and Retribution closes the night at 11:55pm with a single episode from series 11. Lynda La Plante’s crime drama, built around DCI Mike Walker for most of its run, tells each case in something close to real time alongside the investigation, one of the more distinctive formats among ITV3’s crime archive.

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?

Two Heartbeat episodes from 5:50pm, then Midsomer Murders on its own at 8pm, two Grantchester episodes from 10pm and Trial and Retribution closing out the night at 11:55pm. 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: two Poirot cases and a run of soap reruns and sitcom repeats through the morning, a single Midsomer Murders episode in the early afternoon, then another that anchors primetime at 8pm before Grantchester and Trial and Retribution see the night out. Depth is the whole proposition. It’s a schedule built for dipping in and out of rather than sitting through start to finish, and one of the easier ways into British detective drama on Freeview, since you can land in almost any afternoon or evening slot and still follow what’s going on.

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