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. Wednesday night runs the usual pursuit-heavy line-up, with the 8pm Motorway Cops splitting two Police Interceptors outings from a third later on, before Police: Night Shift 999 and an X-Files rerun close out the night.

5Action Schedule: Wednesday 12 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Wednesday 12 August 2026, on Freeview 33.

What’s on 5Action today

The overnight schedule opens with World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera at 12am (series 6, episode 2), which follows rescue crews battling wildfires along England’s east coast before switching to a flooded Skiathos, where tourists are left stranded by a Greek storm. Outback Truckers takes the 1am slot (series 3, episode 4), and two back-to-back editions of Trucking Heavy fill 2am and 3am (series 3, episodes 14 and 15): one about shifting a refurbished narrowboat through streets too tight for the rig, the other a driver hauling a pair of crushers across Bolton. Entertainment News on 5 wraps up the block at 3:50am, and teleshopping runs from 4am to 7am.

Cruise TV with LoveitBookit fills 7am and 8am, the second edition flagged as new. Trucking Hell returns at 9am (series 5, episode 6), a truck landing on live electrical cabling by the A1 while a lorry teeters on soft ground nearby. Police Interceptors follows at 10am (series 2, episode 4), officers pursuing car thieves trying to get a stolen BMW out of the country, plus a burglary case that ends in Southend. Gunsmoke takes 11am (series 12, episode 28), turning on a jobless man hired to strip nitroglycerin out of dynamite so a gang can blow open a row of safes.

Two films fill the early afternoon, each split by a news bulletin rather than by chance. The Outcast (1954), starring John Derek and Joan Evans, runs from 12pm to 1:05pm and picks up again at 1:10pm, Jet Cosgrave returning home after his father’s death to wrest back the family ranch claimed by a corrupt uncle. Track of the Cat (1954), with Robert Mitchum and Diana Lynn, follows the same split pattern from 1:50pm and again from 2:55pm, a psychological drama about a struggling family holed up in a remote cabin as the eldest son tries to control them.

Highway Thru Hell opens the evening run at 4pm (series 1, episode 3), Jamie weighing up whether to keep his son on the crew after he blows his wages on piercings, while Kevin walks off a job he turned up to without the right gear. Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders follows at 5pm (series 3, episode 4), officers responding to a collision in Middlewich after an 11-year-old is struck by a van.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 12 August 2026.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm & 7pm

Two editions back to back to open the night (series 15, episodes 3 and 4). The first has patrol crews chasing down a Golf GTI clocked well over the limit, before a report of gunfire at a party turns into a full firearms callout. An hour later, dog handler Steve joins armed officers for a tense doorstep stand-off after a man is accused of going for someone with an axe and a machete.

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

PC Doran gives chase to a gang bolting from a robbery in Ellesmere Port (series 3, episode 9), while colleague PC Swash is sent to a head-on smash that leaves a driver trapped in the wreckage.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

A separate case from earlier in the evening (series 25, episode 12): officers track down a gang who made off with roughly £10,000 of designer coats. One of the thieves puts up a fight, and police dog Peggy has to step in to bring him down.

Police: Night Shift 999 — 5Action, 10pm

PC Hayes goes after a man seen injecting drugs openly in public (series 3, episode 8), while over on the M5, PC Merchant flags down a driver who’s been caught watching television behind the wheel.

The X-Files — 5Action, 11pm

A grim discovery, a young girl found mutilated, brings her family’s priest to Mulder and Scully’s door in this series 5 rerun (episode 17). The case carries an unusually dark, almost ritualistic edge for the hour.

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, Police: Night Shift 999 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

Wednesday’s pick is the 4pm Highway Thru Hell (series 1, episode 3), Jamie weighing up whether to keep his son on the crew after he blows his wages on piercings, while Kevin walks off a job without the gear he needs, ahead of the evening’s cop-show run.

Three Police Interceptors outings anchor the night, two from series 15 at 6pm and 7pm and a series 25 repeat at 9pm, with Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders splitting them apart at 8pm. Police: Night Shift 999 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