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, Tuesday 18 August 2026, the channel opens primetime with two Heartbeat episodes from 5:50pm, hands the 8pm hour to Vera, then runs two Grantchester episodes back to back from 10pm before Trial and Retribution closes out the night at 11:50pm.

ITV3 Schedule: Tuesday 18 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV3 schedule for Tuesday 18 August 2026, on Freeview 10.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on ITV3 today

Daytime on ITV3 runs almost entirely in repeat pairs today, eight of them between the small hours and early evening, none stretching beyond a double. Overnight opens with Trial and Retribution at 12:55am (series 11, episode 4), then a single George and Mildred episode at 1:55am, “…And Women Must Weep” (series 1, episode 3), a short Unwind with ITV wellbeing slot at 2:20am, and three and a half hours of teleshopping through to 6am.

Breakfast brings the first pair: two more George and Mildred episodes from 6am (series 2, episodes 1 and 2), a single Classic Emmerdale repeat at 7:05am, then two Classic Coronation Street episodes from 8:05am. Two Agatha Christie’s Poirot cases, series 3 episodes 4 and 5, fill the mid-morning from 9:10am, and a Heartbeat pair carries the late morning into early afternoon, series 12 episodes 11 and 12 running 11:30am to 12:35pm. Midsomer Murders (series 1, episode 4) then has the early afternoon to itself from 1:35pm, before two more Classic Emmerdale repeats from 3:35pm and a further two Classic Coronation Street episodes from 4:40pm carry the schedule into early evening, where a final Heartbeat pair, series 12 episodes 13 and 14, opens primetime from 5:50pm.

ITV3 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV3 primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 18 August 2026.

Heartbeat — ITV3, 5:50pm

Two episodes open the evening. At 5:50pm, Lord Ashfordly is rattled by a stash of missing explosives at his quarry ahead of a government minister’s visit, while a group of would-be bell-ringers manage to make matters worse (series 12, episode 13, “For Whom the Bell Tolls”). The 6:55pm follow-up turns to a serious road accident and a leaking tanker that throws Aidensfield into chaos (episode 14).

Vera — ITV3, 8pm

Series seven opens the way most of Vera’s best cases do: with a body that looks accidental until it isn’t. A wildlife ranger turns up dead on a remote island off the Northumberland coast, and Brenda Blethyn’s detective reads the marks on him differently to everyone else (series 7, episode 1, “Natural Selection”). It’s the strongest hour of ITV3’s night, and gets the 8pm slot to itself.

Grantchester — ITV3, 10pm

Two episodes run back to back. At 10pm, a heavy night’s drinking lands Leonard in a police cell, and sobering up doesn’t shrink the fallout (series 10, episode 5). The 11pm episode sends Alphy to a birthday night out at a gig that ends with the band’s singer dead before the encore (episode 6).

Trial and Retribution — ITV3, 11:50pm

A man newly out of prison for a murder he still says he didn’t commit goes back to his old estate looking for answers, and is shot by the victim’s father before he gets very far (series 11, episode 5, the first part of “Conviction”). It’s the last new primetime slot before the night turns over to the small hours.

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 Vera on its own at 8pm, two Grantchester episodes from 10pm and Trial and Retribution closing out the night at 11:50pm. 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 Vera anchoring primetime at 8pm before Grantchester and Trial and Retribution see the night out. Depth is the whole proposition, and today’s schedule leans on it hard: eight separate programmes run in repeat pairs between midnight and primetime, none of them longer than a double. 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