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. Saturday 8 August has no live fixture, though Carabao Cup first-round highlights run at 10pm: Sharpe’s Siege carries the evening at film length from 7:45pm, and AEW Dynamite closes from 11:30pm. Channel numbers for every platform are further down.

ITV4 Schedule: Saturday 8 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV4 schedule for Saturday 8 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, Saturday 8 August 2026.

Sharpe — ITV4, 7:45pm

“Sharpe’s Siege”, running at film length. Winter 1813, and the Comte de Maquerre arrives to tell Wellington that Bordeaux is ready to turn on Napoleon. Over two hours with no break, so it plays as a feature.

EFL Carabao Cup Highlights — ITV4, 10pm

Round one round-up, including Burnley against Notts County, Leicester against Northampton, Norwich against MK Dons, and the Middlesbrough against Wrexham tie ITV1 carried live on Friday night. Highlights, not live coverage.

All Elite Wrestling: Dynamite — ITV4, 11:30pm

The weekly AEW hour to close, with Jon Moxley, MJF, Ricochet and Adam Page on the roster. Taped rather than live.

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?

Saturday 8 August 2026: no live sport, though Carabao Cup first-round highlights run at 10pm. Sharpe’s Siege takes the evening at film length from 7:45pm, and AEW Dynamite closes at 11:30pm.

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 action carries the schedule instead: Minder, a full Sharpe adventure and RoboCop before the wrestling. It’s a lighter line-up than the racing and rugby days, but Sharpe still holds up as appointment viewing for genre fans, and RoboCop is a reliable 9pm.

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