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

Published: 21 August 2026

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. Saturday’s daytime works through the Mathewsons’ motoring spin-offs and a run of Canal Boat Diaries, then the evening leans hard on the channel’s biggest strand: after a Planet Earth II double at 5pm and 6pm, Bangers & Cash and its Restoring Classics spin-off take four of the six primetime hours between them. Full breakdown below.

Yesterday Schedule: Saturday 22 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Yesterday schedule for Saturday 22 August 2026, on Freeview 27.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Yesterday today

Saturday’s schedule opens just after midnight with a series 6 episode of Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics, 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 more episodes of Abandoned Engineering, from series 14 and series 5, pick things up from 6:10am, before Train Truckers settles in for a full four-hour run from 8am to midday, following the heavy-haulage crews who move locomotives and carriages by road.

The Mathewsons return in Flipping Bangers at midday and 1pm, the pair’s buy-cheap-sell-on spin-off, before Canal Boat Diaries takes the early afternoon from 2pm to 4pm with three consecutive episodes. Planet Earth II closes out the daytime with a double bill at 5pm and 6pm, “Islands” and “Mountains”, ahead of the evening’s Bangers & Cash-heavy primetime.

Yesterday tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Yesterday primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 22 August 2026. Four of the six primetime hours belong to the same two motoring strands, at different episodes — Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics and Bangers & Cash itself, which are separate programmes despite the shared branding, so it’s worth being clear on which is which before settling in.

Planet Earth II double bill — Yesterday, 5pm & 6pm

The evening opens with two back-to-back episodes of Planet Earth II, the 2016 sequel series: “Islands” at 5pm looks at wildlife cut off on remote outcrops, and “Mountains” at 6pm follows animals coping with life at altitude, among them snow leopards and golden eagles.

Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics — Yesterday, 7pm

Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics opens the run of car programmes at 7pm (series 7, episode 1), with a 1983 Daimler Double Six and a modified Triumph 2000 both going through the workshop.

Bangers & Cash — Yesterday, 8pm

The 8pm hour is the parent show, Bangers & Cash (series 14, episode 5) — the Mathewson family’s original auction-house format, following the business rather than a single restoration. A BMW 2002 from a country estate is among tonight’s acquisitions.

Dream Car Fixers — Yesterday, 9pm

Dream Car Fixers breaks up the run at 9pm (series 3, episode 1), with a 1969 Ford Corsair going in for rust repairs, a respray and an oil leak fixed for its owner, a retired postal worker.

Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics double — Yesterday, 10pm & 11pm

Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics returns for the last two hours of the night, two more episodes rather than a repeat of the 7pm one. At 10pm (series 3, episode 5) the team takes on a Hillman GT, described as the rarest car they’ve worked on; at 11pm (series 3, episode 6) it’s a Series 1 Land Rover, billed as the biggest restoration project the show has attempted.

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 Planet Earth II double opens the evening at 5pm and 6pm. Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics takes 7pm and Bangers & Cash itself takes 8pm, Dream Car Fixers has the 9pm slot, then Restoring Classics returns for two further episodes 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 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 on that strength more than most: after the Planet Earth II double at 5pm and 6pm, Bangers & Cash and its Restoring Classics spin-off fill four of the six primetime hours between them, with Dream Car Fixers breaking up the run at 9pm. It’s not a night for discovery, but anyone who already likes the Mathewsons will get plenty of them.

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