ITV4 TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On ITV4 Tonight

ITV4 launched on 1 November 2005, taking over ITV’s off-peak Freeview slot from the ITV News Channel before absorbing what was left of the old Men and Motors the following spring. Two decades on, it’s ITV plc’s channel for live sport and archive action, with a streak of irreverence the main channel has never gone in for. Thursday 6 August has no live fixture in the schedule either, so archive drama carries the evening: two River Monsters episodes lead into a film-length Sharpe adventure at 7:50pm, The Motorbike Show follows at 10pm, and a new Black Sails episode closes the night from 11pm. Channel numbers for every platform are further down.

ITV4 Schedule: Thursday 6 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV4 schedule for Thursday 6 August 2026, on Freeview 26.

What’s on ITV4 today

Today opens at 1:05am with Minder, then The Professionals at 2am, before teleshopping fills the small hours from 3am to 6am. Magnum, P.I. runs back to back at 6am and 7am, Dempsey and Makepeace follows at 8:05am, and Boon at 9:05am. The Professionals returns at 10:10am and Robin of Sherwood at 11:20am, then Magnum, P.I. fills the middle of the day with two more episodes at 12:25pm and 1:30pm. Dempsey and Makepeace repeats at 2:30pm, Boon at 3:30pm and The Professionals at 4:40pm, and Minder rounds off the archive run at 5:45pm before River Monsters opens the evening with a double bill from 6:50pm.

ITV4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV4 primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 6 August 2026.

River Monsters — ITV4, 6:50pm

Jeremy Wade opens the evening in Alaska, chasing decades of local stories about disappearances around two remote lakes (series 2, episode 5).

River Monsters — ITV4, 7:20pm

A second episode follows straight after. Wade travels to Russia’s Amur river to look into three deaths linked to a reclusive freshwater giant (series 4, episode 5).

Sharpe — ITV4, 7:50pm

The Napoleonic drama runs to film length tonight. Sharpe is drawn into a duel with a Spanish nobleman over a perceived slight against his wife, and the episode carries through to 10pm without a break (series 2, episode 3).

The Motorbike Show — ITV4, 10pm

Henry Cole trains for the day with the Metropolitan Police’s Special Escort Group, then hands an engine to Sam Lovegrove to rebuild for the Bonneville land-speed project (series 5, episode 2).

Black Sails — ITV4, 11pm

Flint sails back into Nassau after the gold, only to find Hornigold no longer controls the fort. New to ITV4, this is episode 3 of series 2.

What kind of shows are on ITV4

Live sport: racing, rugby and darts

ITV4 carries the bulk of ITV’s live sport rights outside of ITV1’s biggest occasions. ITV Racing has been the channel’s anchor since horse racing moved to ITV from Channel 4 in 2017, running near-daily meetings alongside the showpiece Saturdays. The Nations Championship, rugby’s new global competition launched in July 2026, means ITV4 now shows live rugby through the summer months, when British fans wouldn’t normally get much international action on terrestrial TV. The channel has also carried live darts in recent seasons, including instalments of the World Series of Darts.

Motorsport, rally and archive sport

Beyond the live fixtures, ITV4 fills its schedule with motorsport digest shows. World Rally Championship Highlights and Motorsport Mundial both round up international series that rarely get UK coverage elsewhere, and the channel runs nightly highlights through Isle of Man TT race week each spring. Archive strands such as The Big Match Revisited and Goals of the 1990s dig into old football footage.

American reruns, action and wrestling

The rest of the schedule fills out with imported American comedy and reality (Two and a Half Men, American Pickers) and classic British crime drama reruns such as Minder. None of it demands your full attention. All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite airs weekly in the late-night slot, with a repeat the following Saturday.

How to watch ITV4

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find ITV4 across the main UK television platforms:

ITV4 is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Virgin Media and Freesat’s +1 position can move about more than Freeview and Sky, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if it doesn’t line up exactly.

Streaming online

ITV4 streams live and free through ITVX at itv.com/watch and via the ITVX app on smart TVs, mobiles, tablets and streaming devices including Amazon Fire TV and Roku. You need a free account. Most of the archive and clip-show programming sits in the ITVX library afterwards, though racing and rugby rights usually mean shorter catch-up windows on the live sport.

ITV4 +1 and sister channels

ITV4+1 runs the same schedule an hour behind. Switch on to find Formula E Highlights already under way and +1 will start it again from the top an hour later.

ITV4 sits alongside ITV1, ITV2, ITV3 and ITVBe in ITV plc’s channel family, all streaming through ITVX. ITV1 carries the network’s biggest live sport occasions, ITV3 leans into drama and period pieces, and ITV4 gets the more male-skewing sport and action mix.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is ITV4 on Freeview?

ITV4 is on Freeview channel 26. ITV4+1 is on Freeview channel 59. Both are free with no subscription needed.

What channel is ITV4 on Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat?

Channel 120 on Sky, channel 118 on Virgin Media, and channel 117 on Freesat. ITV4+1 is on channel 220 on Sky; check your on-screen guide for the exact +1 position on Virgin Media and Freesat.

What’s on ITV4 tonight?

Thursday 6 August 2026: no live sport tonight. Two episodes of River Monsters open the evening from 6:50pm, Sharpe runs at film length from 7:50pm to 10pm, The Motorbike Show follows at 10pm, and a new Black Sails closes out the night from 11pm.

What is ITV4+1?

A timeshift channel showing the ITV4 schedule exactly one hour later, on Freeview 59 and Sky 220.

Is ITV4 free to watch, and does it have adverts?

Yes, entirely free to air with no subscription fee on any platform. As a commercial ITV channel it carries advertising breaks, the same as ITV1.

Can I watch ITV4 online for free?

Yes, live and free through ITVX at itv.com/watch and via the ITVX app. A free account is required.

Verdict

ITV4 does one thing very well: live racing and rugby, without a subscription in sight, from a broadcaster that’s covered sport for decades. Ed Chamberlin and Francesca Cumani’s racing coverage is the strongest thing on it. The archive filler and American reruns are functional rather than exciting, and wrestling fans get AEW once a week while everyone else skips the slot.

Tonight has no live fixture either, so archive drama carries the schedule instead: a River Monsters double, a full Sharpe adventure and a new Black Sails episode. It’s a lighter line-up than the racing and rugby days, but Sharpe still holds up as appointment viewing for genre fans, and Black Sails keeps building out its pirate-era cast.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | ITV1 TV Guide | Film4 TV Guide