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. Friday night runs the usual pursuit-heavy line-up: Police Interceptors at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders splitting them from a third Police Interceptors at 9pm, then two new episodes of Cops and an X-Files rerun to close out the night.

5Action Schedule: Friday 14 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Friday 14 August 2026, on Freeview 33.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Action today

The overnight schedule opens with World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera at 12am (series 6, episode 4): a typhoon rips through the Philippines and leaves millions without homes, while a British hiker has a narrow escape from an avalanche in Kyrgyzstan. Outback Truckers follows at 1am (series 3, episode 6), Jonny Rayner weighing up whether to risk a crocodile-infested river crossing in the dark or lose hours waiting for daylight on an urgent run. Two Trucking Heavy episodes fill 2am and 3am (series 3, episodes 18 and 19): Sam easing a shipping container converted into a summer cabin over a hedge and through a gap barely wider than the load itself, then a vintage 1950s Class 08 diesel shunter causing headaches on a cross-country move hampered by a traffic jam and a couple of awkward roundabouts. Entertainment News on 5 closes the block at 3:50am, and teleshopping runs through to 7am.

Cruise TV with LoveitBookit takes 7am and 8am, the second airing flagged new. Trucking Hell returns at 9:45am (series 5, episode 8): a coach that has careered off a road near Burton upon Trent needs rescuing against the clock, and a fully loaded tipper truck breaks down on Lee’s patch. Police Interceptors follows at 10:45am (series 2, episode 6), the force’s dog unit called in on a thief before a Range Rover pursuit uncovers a stash of stolen cars. Gunsmoke takes 11:45am (series 13, episode 1), Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell tasked with getting a notorious outlaw back to Dodge City to face trial after their stagecoach is deliberately sabotaged en route.

Once Upon A Time In The West (1969), the Sergio Leone western starring Henry Fonda, splits either side of the 1:50pm news bulletin, running from 12:50pm and resuming at 1:55pm: a mysterious stranger joins forces with a wanted desperado to stop a railroad baron’s hired gun from seizing a widow’s land.

Highway Thru Hell opens the evening run at 4pm (series 1, episode 5): rival tow operator Al Quiring seizes his chance to poach a job from Jamie while the Rotator sits out of action during a busy stretch on the mountain. Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders follows at 5pm (series 3, episode 6), PC Andy Doran drafted in to back up the Highways team over a broken-down car and a driver whose attitude has already caused problems.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 14 August 2026.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm & 7pm

Two series 15 instalments run back to back to open the evening. The 6pm half follows a back-garden chase after a burglary call-out before officers flood a housing estate hunting suspects linked to a shooting, and the 7pm follow-up puts a police helicopter onto a driver who bails out of a stolen car, then finds a drunk driver struggling to grasp what he’s actually done wrong.

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

Series four opens with a stop big enough to draw in six patrol cars and the dog unit, an oddly petty row over a hockey stick, and a breath test result nobody in the car saw coming.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

Officer Phil Broughton flags down a battered old Vauxhall over suspected cloned plates. The stop takes an unexpected turn once he learns the driver behind the wheel only turned 15 that day.

Cops — 5Action, 10pm & 10:30pm

Two new episodes air back to back. First, a driver fleeing an illegal sideshow rams a patrol car, and two women’s story to deputies unravels once a fragment of meth turns up. Then a suspect is found wedged into a crawl space, a father is maced after confronting a man he catches peeping at his daughter, and a row over a broken television spirals well out of proportion.

The X-Files — 5Action, 11pm

Tonight’s series five rerun has Mulder taken hostage by a man convinced his boss is an actual monster. By the end of the hour, Mulder isn’t so sure the man is wrong.

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, two new episodes of Cops air at 10pm and 10:30pm, 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

Friday’s pick is the 4pm Highway Thru Hell (series 1, episode 5): rival tow operator Al Quiring takes advantage of the Rotator being sidelined to poach a job out from under Jamie, ahead of the evening’s cop-show run.

Police Interceptors takes 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders splits the block at 8pm, and a third Police Interceptors (series 20) closes it out at 9pm. Two new episodes of Cops and a series five rerun of The X-Files finish the night at 10pm, 10:30pm and 11pm.

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