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, Wednesday 19 August 2026, the channel opens primetime with two Heartbeat episodes from 5:50pm, hands the 8pm hour to Midsomer Murders, then runs two Grantchester episodes back to back from 10pm before Trial and Retribution closes out the night at 11:50pm.

ITV3 Schedule: Wednesday 19 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV3 schedule for Wednesday 19 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, nine of them between the small hours and the start of primetime, none stretching beyond a double. Overnight opens with Trial and Retribution at 12:55am, the concluding half of “Conviction” (series 11, episode 6), then a single George and Mildred episode at 1:55am, “Baby Talk” (series 1, episode 4), 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 3 and 4), then two Classic Emmerdale repeats from 7:05am and two Classic Coronation Street episodes from 8:05am. Two Agatha Christie’s Poirot cases, series 3 episodes 6 and 7, fill the mid-morning from 9:10am, and a Heartbeat pair carries the late morning into early afternoon, series 12 episodes 13 and 14 running 11:30am to 12:35pm. Midsomer Murders’ “Death in Disguise” (series 1, episode 5) 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 15 and 16, opens primetime from 5:50pm.

ITV3 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV3 primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2026.

Heartbeat — ITV3, 6:55pm

The second half of tonight’s Heartbeat pairing (series 12, episode 16) sees Ventress doubting a keen new constable while Vernon tries to make a good impression on the village’s newly arrived doctor.

Midsomer Murders — ITV3, 8pm

Tonight’s case, “Wild Harvest” (series 16, episode 3), belongs to the Neil Dudgeon era of the show. A farmer turns up dead in a wild boar enclosure, doused in truffle oil, and Barnaby’s inquiries lead him to a smart local restaurant and its temperamental head chef. It’s the sort of plot ITV3 has built its reputation on: an eccentric method of death, a closed community of suspects, and a village that looks far too pretty to hide a killer.

Grantchester — ITV3, 10pm

Two episodes run back to back from 10pm (series 10, episodes 7 and 8). First, a body at a photoshoot throws a spanner in the new venture Cathy and Mrs C have been building, while Geordie meddles in Alphy’s love life on the side. The second sends the pair after a death connected to a fascist speaker’s visit to the university, and the two detectives don’t see eye to eye on how to handle it.

Trial and Retribution — ITV3, 11:50pm

The night closes with the first half of “The Box” (series 11, episode 7). DCS Walker is meant to be looking after his ageing mother in Glasgow, but gets pulled into an old friend’s case: a sister who vanished eight years earlier.

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 11:50pm. 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, an early-afternoon Midsomer Murders case, then a second helping of Midsomer 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: nine 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