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

Published: 5 September 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. Sunday’s evening is almost entirely two strands on repeat: four Canal Boat Diaries episodes run back to back from 6pm to 7:30pm, then two Bangers & Cash editions take 8pm and 9pm, before Canal Boat Diaries returns for the last two hours of the night. There’s honestly nothing else to tonight’s primetime. Full breakdown below.

Yesterday Schedule: Sunday 6 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Yesterday schedule for Sunday 6 September 2026, on Freeview 27.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Yesterday today

Sunday’s overnight opens with two Bangers & Cash episodes at midnight and 1am, then The Architecture the Railways Built at 2am before Teleshopping fills the small hours through to just after 6am.

The Architecture the Railways Built runs two more episodes back to back at 6:10am and 7:10am, then Great Continental Railway Journeys takes 8am and 9am and Great Canal Journeys holds 10am and 11am. Three Canal Boat Diaries episodes fill the early afternoon from midday, then Australia with Simon Reeve takes 3pm and 4pm ahead of the evening’s Canal Boat Diaries run, which starts early at 5pm and 5:30pm before continuing into primetime.

Yesterday tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Yesterday primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 6 September 2026.

Canal Boat Diaries — Yesterday, 6pm-7:30pm

Four episodes back to back, running two different series (1 and 2) end to end without a break. It’s low-key narrowboat-and-waterways viewing, following various boaters along Britain’s canal network — pleasant background television rather than appointment viewing, and there’s a lot of it tonight.

Bangers & Cash — Yesterday, 8pm & 9pm

Two episodes from different points in the run, eight series apart. The Mathewson family’s classic car auction house in Thornton-le-Dale is the constant regardless of which series is on: barn-find restorations going under the hammer, with Derek and his sons doing the deals.

Canal Boat Diaries — Yesterday, 10pm & 11pm

The night closes exactly as it opened, two more Canal Boat Diaries episodes rounding off an evening built almost entirely from this one strand plus Bangers & Cash.

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?

Four Canal Boat Diaries episodes run back to back from 6pm to 7:30pm, then Bangers & Cash takes 8pm and 9pm, and Canal Boat Diaries returns to close the night from 10pm. Two strands make up the entire evening.

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 is about as repeat-heavy as this channel gets: the whole of primetime is Canal Boat Diaries and Bangers & Cash, six Canal Boat Diaries episodes across the evening either side of two Bangers & Cash editions. There’s no third title anywhere in the schedule after 6pm. It’s honest comfort viewing rather than a night with anything new in it, and worth knowing that going in if you were after variety.

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