Watch Yesterday

Yesterday is a free-to-air channel available in the UK and Ireland that broadcasts history-related content, including educational programmes and fiction dramas.

Yesterday was launched in 2002 under the name UK History in place of the closed Play UK channel. UK History borrowed plenty of history-related factual and documentary content from UK Horizons channel, thus permitting the latter to include more diverse programming into its schedule.

The channel got its current moniker Yesterday in 2009, when its parent company UKTV undertook a major overhaul of its assets and branding. The channel preserved the green color from its previous branding but got a new ident: the word Yesterday in a half-green and half-white circle.

Yesterday has its HD version. Its test launch took place in July 2022, and the official airing began in August 2022, available on Sky Q, Sky HD and Virgin Media.

In 2012, Yesterday made an attempt to woo new, younger audiences and underwent some changes. It got a brand-new ident - letter Y made of 3-dimensional green blocks – and added more entertaining content, together with the slogan "Entertainment Inspired By History".

The channel brings to viewers an extensive lineup of shows of the big ‘Life’ cycle by David Attenborough that were originally made for BBC. The lineup includes the most popular titles, along with lesser known ones.

Yesterday has a ‘love/hate’ relationship with its time-shift version. Yesterday +1 was launched in 2018 on Freeview, then removed in 2019, and returned back to Freeview in 2020, where it is currently available.

The channel mostly shows content from BBC archives, with some shows and documentaries bought from other channels or commissioned specifically for Yesterday. Programmes taken from BBC one, Two and Three are usually shortened to provide space for three advertising blocks inside every 1-hour show.

Testing different modes of programming, in 2014, Yesterday shifted away from purely historical content and included more general knowledge programmes, including natural history, engineering, railroads history, and science shows.

Yesterday features several specialty shows dedicated to restoration of antique items and landmarks, including Restoration Workshop, Great British Landmark Fixers and Bangers & Cash: Restoring Classics.