What was on TV last night? How to find a programme you missed

The quickest route

If you know roughly what you are after, the broadcaster's own catch-up service is faster than any listings site, because it shows you the programme and lets you watch it:

Channel	Catch-up service	Cost
BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four	BBC iPlayer	Free, TV licence required
ITV1, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4	ITVX	Free with ads
Channel 4, E4, More4, Film4	Channel 4	Free with ads
Channel 5, 5STAR, 5USA	My5	Free with ads

All four let you browse by channel and by date, which is what you want if the question is "what was on at 9pm" rather than "where is this specific programme".

If you only remember the time

The 9pm slot is where most people lose track of a programme, because it is where the main drama and documentary titles sit across all the terrestrial channels on the same night.

A useful shortcut: if it was a returning drama, it is almost certainly on iPlayer or ITVX within a few minutes of broadcast and stays there for at least a month. If it was a film, it may not be — film rights are usually time-limited, so a film shown on Film4 or Channel 5 often does not appear on catch-up afterwards at all.

If it was a film

Films are the hardest case. A film broadcast last night on Film4, Channel 5 or ITV1 may have gone straight back behind its rights window. The broadcast can genuinely be the only chance to see it free.

If you know the title, it is worth checking whether it is on a streaming service you already have rather than waiting for a catch-up entry that may never arrive.

Finding what is on next instead

If what you actually want is another chance to see something — a repeat, a second showing, or the next episode — that is a forward-looking question, and it is the one our listings answer directly. Search for the programme and you will get every upcoming airing across all UK channels, with the date, time and channel for each.

That is often more useful than finding last night's schedule, because it tells you when you can actually watch the thing.