5Action TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On 5Action Tonight

5Action is Channel 5’s cop-show and action channel, and it has had more names than most channels manage in a decade: Spike at launch in 2015, 5Spike from 2017, merged with the UK’s Paramount Network in 2020, and 5Action since January 2022. Tuesday night runs the usual pursuit-heavy line-up, with the 8pm Motorway Cops splitting two Police Interceptors outings from a third later on, before Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law and an X-Files rerun close out the night.

5Action Schedule: Tuesday 11 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Tuesday 11 August 2026, on Freeview 33.

What’s on 5Action today

Tuesday’s overnight run opens with a returning series rather than true crime: World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera at 12:05am (series 6, episode 1) is back for a new run of extreme-weather footage, followed by Outback Truckers at 1am (series 3, episode 3) and two episodes of Trucking Heavy at 2am and 3am (series 3, episodes 12 and 13), before Entertainment News on 5 at 3:50am and teleshopping takes over from 4am to 7am.

Cruise TV with LoveitBookit fills 7am and 8am, then Trucking Hell returns at 9am (series 5, episode 5), a crew clearing up after a crash in icy conditions and digging out a stolen truck buried in mud. Police Interceptors follows at 10am (series 2, episode 3), Essex officers chasing down a stolen BMW, and Gunsmoke takes 10:55am (series 12, episode 27), a bank robber who saved a group of nuns finding they want him to hand himself in.

The early afternoon is given over to two films, each split into two parts by a news bulletin rather than two separate westerns. The Jayhawkers! (1959), starring Jeff Chandler and Fess Parker, runs from 12pm to 1pm and resumes at 1:05pm after Entertainment News on 5, an ex-convict working to avenge his wife’s death by opposing a man intent on ruling the territory. The Night of the Grizzly (1966), starring Clint Walker, follows the same pattern from 2:05pm to 3:05pm and again from 3:10pm, a retired lawman’s inherited Wyoming ranch under threat from a grasping neighbour, a bounty hunter and a bear.

Highway Thru Hell opens the evening run at 4pm (series 1, episode 2), Jamie’s crew dealing with a lumber spill while he heads to Tennessee to collect a delayed heavy-rescue truck, and Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders follows at 5pm (series 3, episode 3), officers tailing an uninsured car whose driver turns out never to have passed a test.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 11 August 2026.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm and 7pm

Two episodes from the current series open the evening. At 6pm (series 15, episode 1) the Interceptors work West Yorkshire, one of the force’s busiest patches for rising criminal activity, and at 7pm (series 15, episode 2) runaway drivers are talked down with the threat of a Taser before a drink-driver resisting arrest gets a face full of PAVA spray.

Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders — 5Action, 8pm

Motorway Cops breaks up the Police Interceptors run at 8pm (series 3, episode 8). Callers report an HGV weaving across the M6, and PCs Jamie Barlow and Amy Hollis set off to track down the vehicle before it causes real damage.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

Police Interceptors returns on its own at 9pm with a series 20 repeat (episode 9). A pursuit begins with a Vauxhall Meriva driven by someone playing an April Fool’s prank, and even a direct hit from Dan’s X5 doesn’t stop him first time.

Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law — 5Action, 10pm

At 10pm, Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law (series 2, episode 1) turns the cameras on the rail industry’s own revenue protection teams, following their day-to-day run-ins with suspected fare evaders across the network.

The X-Files — 5Action, 11pm

The night ends with a rerun of The X-Files at 11pm (series 5, episode 16). Mulder is drawn to a blind woman who may be seeing crime scenes through a killer’s eyes, one of the show’s stranger procedural cases.

What kind of shows are on 5Action

Cop shows and roads policing documentaries

This is the channel, really. Police Interceptors, Traffic Cops and Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders between them account for most of the grid, and they are built to an identical template: dashcam and body-cam footage, a narrator over the top, and the officer explaining afterwards what made them look twice. John Thomson narrates one, Jamie Theakston another, Nicky Campbell the third, and that voice is often the quickest way to work out which show you have actually landed on.

Action films and westerns

Older genre cinema fills the afternoons, mostly westerns. Gunsmoke, The Walking Hills and Horizons West come round often, usually split either side of a news bulletin. A full western occasionally makes it into an evening slot, but not often.

Heavy recovery and trucking documentaries

Highway Thru Hell, Trucking Hell and Outback Truckers cover the same job on three continents: British roadsides, the Australian outback, the Canadian mountain passes. Highway Thru Hell is the best of them and 5Action seems to know it, since it tends to get a decent evening slot rather than being buried overnight.

How to watch 5Action

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find 5Action across the main UK television platforms:

5Action is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Virgin Media and Freesat numbers can vary slightly by region and box, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if these don’t match.

Streaming online

5Action streams live and free through 5, Channel 5’s combined broadcast and streaming platform, at channel5.com and via the 5 app on smart TVs, iOS, Android and Amazon Fire TV. The service was known as My5 until Channel 5 merged its linear channels and catch-up library into the single “5” brand in March 2025. A free account is all you need, and recent episodes of shows like Police Interceptors and Highway Thru Hell are generally available to catch up on afterwards.

5Action sister channels

5Action sits under Channel 5 Broadcasting Limited, itself part of Paramount Skydance Corporation, alongside three siblings. 5USA runs American crime dramas and imported US series, so it is far more scripted than anything here. 5Star does reality and true crime, personality-led where 5Action is all dashcam and recovery trucks. Channel 5 is the flagship and takes the group’s biggest dramas, documentaries and 5 News; the other three pick up the specialisms it does not have room for.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is 5Action on?

Freeview 33, Sky 150 (Sky Q) or 165 (Sky Glass and Sky Stream), Virgin Media 150 in HD or 187 in SD, and Freesat 132.

What’s on 5Action tonight?

The channel’s usual cop-show rotation. Police Interceptors takes 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders breaks up the run at 8pm, a third Police Interceptors follows at 9pm, Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law airs at 10pm, and The X-Files closes the night at 11pm. Full times are in the schedule table above.

Is 5Action free to watch?

Yes, completely free to air with no subscription, though it carries advertising and teleshopping strands throughout the schedule, particularly during the day.

Can I watch 5Action online for free?

Yes. It streams live at channel5.com and through the 5 app, the platform formerly known as My5. A free account is all that’s required.

Verdict

Tuesday’s pick is the 4pm Highway Thru Hell, Jamie’s crew dealing with a lumber spill while a delayed heavy-rescue truck is collected from Tennessee, ahead of the evening’s cop-show run.

Three Police Interceptors outings anchor the night, two from the current series 15 at 6pm and 7pm and a series 20 repeat at 9pm, with Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders splitting them apart at 8pm. Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law and The X-Files close out the schedule at 10pm and 11pm.

Related: Channel 5 TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide | Films on TV This Week