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

Yesterday is UKTV’s history and heritage channel: archive documentaries, military history, natural history and, these days, a great deal of classic motoring. BBC Studios has owned it outright through UKTV since 2019, and it’s free with no subscription. Thursday’s evening belongs largely to the motoring strand: Antiques Roadshow repeats at 6pm and The Green Planet takes 7pm, before a new Bangers & Cash at 8pm and Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics at 9pm. Two further Bangers & Cash repeats close out the night at 10pm and 11pm. More on that below. Channel numbers are further down.

Yesterday Schedule: Thursday 6 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Yesterday schedule for Thursday 6 August 2026, on Freeview 27.

What’s on Yesterday today

Thursday opens with Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics at midnight, where a sun-bleached Vauxhall Astra GTE gives the team trouble and a classic French moped joins the books alongside progress on a barn-find Mini Cooper S. A new Find It, Fix It, Flog It follows at 1am, with Henry and Simon in Bedfordshire meeting sellers Mary and Paul; Henry’s after a full set of industrial cubby-hole shelving while Simon has his eye on a full-size yurt. Abandoned Engineering at 2am surveys wartime and Cold War-era sites, from a Hull landmark flattened by German bombing to a retired aircraft carrier in California and disused tunnels beneath Sofia, ahead of the teleshopping block that runs until 6:10am.

Two more Abandoned Engineering episodes fill the morning from 6:10am: first a New Orleans music venue that repeatedly clashed with the authorities alongside a Belgian fort built to guard an unlikely treasure, then a Caribbean recording studio favoured by rock royalty and a Georgian spa town built for a dictator’s private use. A Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics double bill takes 8am and 9am, the team buying a Francis Barnett motorcycle at auction while an MG Metro restoration comes apart, followed by a 29,000-mile Ford Capri that Derek insists should stay untouched and a 1950s Hercules women’s racing bike. Secret Nazi Bases opens the mid-morning at 10am with the castle built at Vogelsang to train future Reich officers, and Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution follows at 11am, covering the camp’s final days and the fate of those who ran it.

Antiques Roadshow takes the early afternoon with two episodes from midday: first the Royal Agricultural University near Cirencester, where a signature said to be among the last Edward VIII made before his abdication turns up, then Newstead Abbey, with an English literature prize once presented to DH Lawrence and the bugle that sounded the real Charge of the Light Brigade. Bangers & Cash returns at 2pm and 3pm: Derek collects a Ford Thames 400E once owned by pop group Edison Lighthouse while Dave heads to York for an Astra GTE convertible, then Derek picks up a rare Ford Zodiac Farnham Estate and Dave collects a Triumph Toledo from an isolated tent in the Midlands. The afternoon then repeats: Secret Nazi Bases and Auschwitz: The Nazis and the Final Solution return at 4pm and 5pm, and the Cirencester Antiques Roadshow airs again at 6pm before new material resumes with The Green Planet at 7pm.

Yesterday tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

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

Antiques Roadshow — Yesterday, 6pm

A repeat visit to the Royal Agricultural University near Cirencester, where the finds include a signature reportedly among the last Edward VIII made before his abdication. It’s the episode’s second airing of the day, having already run at midday.

The Green Planet — Yesterday, 7pm

David Attenborough turns to desert flora, following plants that have adapted to near-total drought: cacti that grow in the shade of larger trees, and species that store what little rain falls inside pleated trunks.

Bangers & Cash — Yesterday, 8pm

A new episode sends Derek to Cambridgeshire chasing down a car built in Britain during the 1950s for the American market, one of several deals worked through at the Mathewson family’s Thornton-le-Dale yard tonight.

Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics — Yesterday, 9pm

The team can hardly believe it when a 1970s Volvo 144 turns up with just 15,000 miles on the clock, a rare survival for a car built to be driven hard and often.

Bangers & Cash — Yesterday, 10pm

A repeat built around a Ford Thames 400E once owned by pop group Edison Lighthouse and a trip to York for an Astra GTE convertible. It already aired at 2pm this afternoon.

Bangers & Cash — Yesterday, 11pm

Derek tracks down a rare Ford Zodiac Farnham Estate while Dave braves an isolated Midlands campsite for a Triumph Toledo, in a repeat of the 3pm broadcast.

What kind of shows are on Yesterday

Classic motoring and Bangers & Cash

Motoring is the growth area, and it is essentially one family: the Mathewsons of Thornton-le-Dale. Bangers & Cash produced Restoring Classics, and the channel has built a wider strand around them with Flipping Bangers and Find It, Fix It, Flog It.

Military and social history

Archive war documentaries are what the channel was founded on. The World at War still anchors a run of conflict and social history titles pulled from decades of British broadcast archive.

Natural history and engineering

The rest is natural history and engineering: A Perfect Planet, plus Abandoned Engineering and Secrets of the London Underground, which are really infrastructure documentaries wearing a history badge.

How to watch Yesterday

Channel numbers

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

Yesterday is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat channel numbers can vary slightly by region and box, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if these don’t match.

Streaming online

Yesterday streams live and free on u.co.uk and via the U app on smart TVs, iOS, Android and most streaming boxes. U is UKTV’s streaming service, formerly known as UKTV Play, and it’s free to sign up for. Most Yesterday shows are also available to catch up on demand once they’ve broadcast, though older archive series can come and go from the library.

Yesterday +1 and sister channels

Yesterday +1 runs the main schedule exactly an hour behind, on Freeview channel 26. Miss the start of a Bangers & Cash episode on the main channel and +1 lets you pick it up from close to the beginning an hour later instead.

Yesterday sits within the wider UKTV stable alongside Dave, Drama, Really and Alibi. If you enjoy Yesterday’s history and documentary output, Dave carries more panel shows and sitcoms, while Really leans towards true crime and paranormal programming.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is Yesterday on?

Freeview 27, Sky 155, Virgin Media 129 and Freesat 155. Yesterday +1 is on Freeview 26. All are free to watch.

What’s on Yesterday tonight?

A repeat of Antiques Roadshow opens the evening at 6pm, followed by The Green Planet at 7pm. A new Bangers & Cash airs at 8pm and Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics at 9pm, then two further Bangers & Cash repeats close the night at 10pm and 11pm.

Is Yesterday free to watch?

Yes, on every major UK platform, with advertising breaks but no subscription fee.

Can I watch Yesterday online for free?

Yes, live and on demand via u.co.uk and the U app, UKTV’s free streaming service.

Verdict

Pound for pound, Yesterday is one of the better-value channels on Freeview. The archive documentaries it built its name on are still there and still worth your time. The Mathewsons pay for them.

Thursday’s evening plays to that strength: a repeated Antiques Roadshow and The Green Planet lead into a new Bangers & Cash and Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics at 8pm and 9pm, before two further Bangers & Cash repeats carry the schedule through to midnight.

Related: Freeview Channel Guide | Dave TV Guide