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, running everything from live racing to reruns of classic drama and American sitcoms. Wednesday 19 August has no live fixture in the schedule either, so primetime runs on the channel’s own mix of factual and film instead: The Motorbike Show opens the evening at 7pm, a highlights package from the Women’s Tour of Britain cycling takes 8pm, and RoboCop 3 fills the 9pm hour, paused briefly by a FYI Daily bulletin at 10pm before AEW: Collision, a recorded US wrestling import, closes out the night at 11:05pm. By day, classic drama reruns carry the schedule, with two-episode runs of Magnum, P.I. and Robin of Sherwood either side of Boon and The Professionals.

ITV4 Schedule: Wednesday 19 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete ITV4 schedule for Wednesday 19 August 2026, on Freeview 26.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on ITV4 today

Wednesday’s overnight hours open with Dark Side of the Ring at midnight (series 2, episode 5), before a two-episode run of Benidorm takes the schedule from 12:55am (series 1, episodes 1 and 2) and BattleBots follows at 1:50am (series 7, episode 29). Unwind with ITV’s mindfulness strand airs at 2:45am, with teleshopping filling the small hours from 3am. Magnum, P.I. gets the day properly under way with a two-episode run from 6am (series 7, episodes 6 and 7), and Robin of Sherwood follows at 8:05am (series 3, episode 3). The late morning brings Boon at 9:10am (series 7, episode 3) and The Professionals at 10:15am (series 2, episode 3), before Robin of Sherwood returns with its fourth episode at 11:25am. Magnum, P.I. comes back for another two-episode run from 12:30pm, through to 2:35pm, when The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes takes over (series 5, episode 5). Boon’s fourth episode airs at 3:45pm, The Professionals returns at 4:50pm, and Minder closes out the afternoon at 5:55pm (series 3, episode 7), ahead of The Motorbike Show opening the evening.

ITV4 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the ITV4 primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2026. There’s no live fixture in it — everything from 8pm on is either a highlights package, a film or a recorded import.

The Motorbike Show — ITV4, 7pm

Henry Cole opens the evening with The Motorbike Show (series 6, episode 2), taking a 1960s drag bike out at North Weald airstrip.

Cycling: Women’s Tour of Britain Highlights — ITV4, 8pm

Billed as cycling, this is a highlights round-up rather than live coverage: Stage One of the Women’s Tour of Britain, a 158.9km route that starts and finishes in Cockermouth.

RoboCop 3 — ITV4, 9pm

RoboCop 3 (1993, starring Robert John Burke) takes the 9pm hour. A short FYI Daily bulletin breaks in at 10pm, and the film picks straight back up at 10:05pm — it doesn’t end and restart, just pauses for five minutes.

AEW: Collision — ITV4, 11:05pm

Primetime closes with AEW: Collision (series 4, episode 35), a recorded pickup of the US wrestling show rather than a live broadcast. The card features FTR, Thunder Rosa, Jon Moxley and Jay White.

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 The Motorbike Show 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?

Wednesday 19 August 2026: no live sport tonight. The Motorbike Show opens primetime at 7pm, a Women’s Tour of Britain cycling highlights package follows at 8pm, and RoboCop 3 fills the 9pm hour, split by a short FYI Daily bulletin at 10pm. AEW: Collision, a recorded pickup of the US wrestling show, closes the night at 11:05pm.

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 sport, without a subscription in sight, from a broadcaster that’s covered racing, rugby and darts for years. There’s none of that tonight. Wednesday 19 August falls back on the channel’s steadier furniture instead — bikes, a cycling round-up and a nineties action film rather than a fixture worth clearing your evening for.

The Motorbike Show opens the night at 7pm without asking much of the viewer, and the 8pm cycling slot is a Stage One highlights package rather than live racing. RoboCop 3 takes the 9pm hour, breaking for a short FYI Daily bulletin at 10pm before it resumes. AEW: Collision closes out primetime at 11:05pm, but it’s worth knowing before you sit down that it’s a recorded pickup of the US show rather than a same-night broadcast. Anyone chasing live sport is better off checking tomorrow’s ITV4 listings, or ITV1 for the network’s bigger fixtures.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | ITV1 TV Guide | Film4 TV Guide | Films on TV This Week