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

Yesterday is UKTV’s history and heritage channel, mixing archive documentaries, military history and natural history with a growing slate of classic motoring shows. BBC Studios has owned it outright through UKTV since 2019, and it’s free with no subscription required. Thursday’s daytime works through wartime history and the Mathewsons’ car business, then the evening opens with Antiques Roadshow and Blue Planet before the Mathewsons take over properly: a new Bangers & Cash at 8pm, Dream Car Fixers at 9pm, and two further Bangers & Cash episodes closing out the night from 10pm. Full breakdown below.

Yesterday Schedule: Thursday 20 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Yesterday schedule for Thursday 20 August 2026, on Freeview 27.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Yesterday today

Thursday’s schedule opens just after midnight with an episode of Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics from series 5 — the team taking a punt on a three-wheeled Reliant Robin — followed by Find It, Fix It, Flog It at 1am and an Abandoned Engineering outing at 2am. Just over three hours of teleshopping fill the schedule from 3am.

Two further episodes of Abandoned Engineering, series 14 episodes 4 and 5, pick things up from 6:10am. Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics takes over from 8am for a back-to-back pair from series 5.

Secret Nazi Bases and The World at War share the late morning from 10am, Laurence Olivier’s wartime archive series still doing much of the heavy lifting for the channel’s history output. Antiques Roadshow fills the top of the afternoon from midday with two episodes from series 37, Fiona Bruce visiting Hillsborough Castle and then Kirby Hall, then Bangers & Cash proper returns at 2pm and 3pm with a pair from series 6. Both Secret Nazi Bases and The World at War repeat at 4pm and 5pm ahead of the evening, and the midday edition of Antiques Roadshow airs again at 6pm to open primetime.

Yesterday tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Yesterday primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 20 August 2026.

Antiques Roadshow — Yesterday, 6pm

Fiona Bruce opens the evening at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland (series 37, episode 1), where the team casts an eye over a curious collection tied to the royal residence itself.

Blue Planet — Yesterday, 7pm

This “Frozen Seas” episode (series 1, episode 4) looks at how marine life copes with the harshest conditions at both poles, one of the strongest instalments in a series that has held up well since it first aired.

Bangers & Cash — Yesterday, 8pm, 10pm and 11pm

The Mathewsons take over the rest of the evening with three separate Bangers & Cash outings, and it is worth saying plainly: only the first of them is new. The 8pm edition (series 14, episode 5) is genuinely fresh — Derek visits a grand aristocratic estate and comes away with three classics, among them a much-wanted BMW 2002. The 10pm and 11pm slots that close the night are repeats from series 6: Paul collects a 1961 Vauxhall Cresta styled after American design of the era at 10pm, then 11pm turns to a batch of old police cars, including a V8-engined Rover P6, plus a Mod’s collection of vintage Italian scooters heading to auction.

Dream Car Fixers — Yesterday, 9pm

Sandwiched between the two Bangers & Cash bookends, Sheldon and Will take on a 1969 Ford Corsair for retired postal worker Chris in the series three opener. Rust and a respray promise one of their toughest builds yet.

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?

Antiques Roadshow opens the evening at 6pm, then Blue Planet takes the 7pm slot. A new Bangers & Cash airs at 8pm, Dream Car Fixers follows at 9pm, and the night closes with two more Bangers & Cash episodes at 10pm and 11pm — three Bangers & Cash airings across the evening altogether, though only the 8pm edition is new.

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 remains one of the better-value channels on Freeview. The archive documentaries that built its reputation are still on air, and Bangers & Cash has grown into the channel’s biggest draw since it began in 2019.

Tonight leans hard into the motoring strand: Antiques Roadshow and Blue Planet open the evening, then it’s largely the Mathewson family’s show from 8pm onward, a new Bangers & Cash sitting either side of Dream Car Fixers before two more Bangers & Cash repeats close things out. Three helpings of the same format in one evening is a lot even for one of the channel’s best performers, but it’s the kind of scheduling that suggests UKTV knows exactly who’s still watching at 11pm.

Related: Freeview Channel Guide | Dave TV Guide | Films on TV This Week