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

Published: 27 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. Friday’s daytime runs the same shape as most weekdays here: an Abandoned Engineering double, a Bangers & Cash double and an Antiques Roadshow double at midday, and several of those episodes resurface later on. Churchill’s Bid to Abolish Britain and The World at War repeat at 4pm and 5pm, the same Antiques Roadshow comes round again at 6pm, and the 2pm and 3pm Bangers & Cash episodes return at 10pm and 11pm. Primetime is where tonight earns its keep: David Attenborough’s Seven Worlds One Planet looks at Asia at 7pm, then Canal Boat Diaries settles in for two fresh episodes back to back at 8pm and 9pm, following narrowboat Robbie from Oxford to Reading and on to Windsor. Full breakdown below.

Yesterday Schedule: Friday 28 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Yesterday schedule for Friday 28 August 2026, on Freeview 27.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Yesterday today

Friday’s schedule opens just after midnight with Bangers & Cash, followed by Find It, Fix It, Flog It at 1am and Abandoned Engineering at 2am, before just over three hours of teleshopping fill the small hours from 3am.

Two more episodes of Abandoned Engineering run from 6:10am, then Bangers & Cash takes the 8am and 9am hours with a pair of episodes. Churchill’s Bid to Abolish Britain and The World at War carry the schedule through mid-morning, taking it up to midday.

Antiques Roadshow settles in for a double from midday, before Bangers & Cash repeats that same pairing structure in the early afternoon with two episodes from 2pm. Churchill’s Bid to Abolish Britain and The World at War repeat themselves from 4pm, and by 6pm Antiques Roadshow is back on screen — the same Durham Cathedral episode shown at noon, not a new one — ahead of an evening that opens with David Attenborough’s Seven Worlds One Planet looking at Asia, moves into a fresh Canal Boat Diaries double at 8pm and 9pm following narrowboat Robbie from Oxford to Reading and on to Windsor, and closes on a Bangers & Cash pair that repeats the afternoon’s 2pm and 3pm episodes.

Yesterday tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Yesterday primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 28 August 2026.

Three slots this evening are repeats rather than fresh material, worth flagging once rather than treating as three separate items. The 6pm Antiques Roadshow returns to Durham Cathedral, the same visit the channel showed at noon. The 5pm World at War, covering Bomber Command’s struggle to hit its targets precisely during the Blitz, repeats the 11am broadcast. And the 10pm and 11pm Bangers & Cash slots — a war-era Willys Jeep heading for auction, then a lot taking in a red Austin Healey from 1957, an Escort at the turn of the eighties and a Bedford electric van built by hand just after the war — are the same two episodes the channel aired at 2pm and 3pm this afternoon.

Seven Worlds One Planet — Yesterday, 7pm

David Attenborough turns to Asia for this instalment, tracking wildlife across a continent that stretches from Arctic tundra to dense jungle. It’s the genuine highlight of the early evening, sandwiched between the day’s second Antiques Roadshow and the channel’s own motoring double.

Canal Boat Diaries — Yesterday, 8pm & 9pm

Two fresh episodes run back to back, both series 6 and both following the same journey in order. At 8pm, narrowboat Robbie sets off from Oxford towards Reading, with a stop for emergency repairs near Abingdon along the way. At 9pm the trip continues from Reading to Windsor, taking in a former Beatle’s riverside home at Henley.

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 repeats at 6pm, the same Durham Cathedral episode shown at noon, followed by David Attenborough’s Seven Worlds One Planet looking at Asia at 7pm. Canal Boat Diaries takes both 8pm and 9pm with fresh episodes, following narrowboat Robbie from Oxford to Reading and then on to Windsor, before the night closes with two more Bangers & Cash episodes at 10pm and 11pm that repeat the afternoon’s 2pm and 3pm instalments.

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 the travel and natural history side of the schedule rather than the motoring one: Attenborough’s Seven Worlds One Planet at 7pm gives way to two fresh episodes of Canal Boat Diaries at 8pm and 9pm, following the same journey from Oxford to Windsor in order. The 6pm Antiques Roadshow is the same episode shown at midday, and the 10pm and 11pm Bangers & Cash instalments repeat the afternoon’s 2pm and 3pm episodes — worth knowing before settling in for what looks like four fresh hours of programming and isn’t.

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