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’s primetime opens with two runs of Police Interceptors at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes the 8pm slot, Police Interceptors returns for a third case at 9pm, Police: Night Shift 999 moves into 10pm, and The X-Files closes out the night from 11pm.

5Action Schedule: Wednesday 19 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Wednesday 19 August 2026, on Freeview 33.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Action today

Wednesday’s overnight run opens with World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera at midnight, series six, covering Hurricane Helene’s floods in North Carolina and a storm tearing through downtown Houston. Outback Truckers follows at 1am, then Trucking Heavy splits into two episodes at 2am and 3am, the second following a tight delivery of a porta-cabin down a narrow gateway and the return of Birmingham’s Floozy in the Jacuzzi sculpture to its usual spot in the city centre. A short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 3:50am hands over to two hours of teleshopping, and Cruise TV with LoveitBookit then takes both the 7am and 8am breakfast slots, the second a new edition.

Trucking Hell splits the 9am hour into two editions, the second covering a truck shedding both rear wheels mid-delivery while hauling a slide-bed load, and a dustbin lorry left stuck axle-deep in mud. Police Interceptors gets an earlier outing at 10:20am, series two, chasing a truck driver across three counties alongside a joyriding teenager out for a laugh, and Gunsmoke’s thirteenth series arrives at 11:20am with a revenge plot built around a stolen calf.

Early afternoon turns to westerns: Seven Men from Now (1956, Randolph Scott and Gail Russell) runs either side of the 1:25pm news update, and Run for Cover (1955, James Cagney and Viveca Lindfors) does the same around the 3:05pm bulletin. Highway Thru Hell takes 4pm, and Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders returns at 5pm with a robbery pursuit through Ellesmere Port, setting up the run of Police Interceptors that opens tonight’s primetime at 6pm.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2026.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm

Series 16 opens the evening with two cases running in parallel: officers Charlie and Paul go after a driver who filled up and sped off without paying, while colleagues Chris and Sophie pull over a learner who has somehow already picked up eight points before passing a test.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 7pm

A second episode swaps the usual road chase for a tenser stand-off: armed officers are called out to a doorstep after reports of an alleged assault involving an axe and a machete, a slower-burning case than the pursuits either side of it.

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

PC Niaz Waddington goes after a driver suspected of siphoning fuel, while PC Mike Clark’s hunch about a white van turns into a drugs search that turns up something unsettling hidden inside a child’s toy.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

A third instalment opens with a car running on cloned plates, and the driver very nearly loses PC Scott by cutting across the central reservation and driving straight into oncoming traffic to shake the tail.

Police: Night Shift 999 — 5Action, 10pm

This Gloucestershire-set response series settles into 10pm this week, following officers through a suspected pub assault and a shoplifting call in Cheltenham town centre. It’s a newer addition to 5Action’s evening line-up, pitched a notch quieter than the chases either side of it.

The X-Files — 5Action, 11pm

Series six’s second case is one of the more talked-about instalments: a hijacker carrying a lethal infection holds Mulder at gunpoint in his own car, forcing him to keep it moving no matter what. It’s also notable now for a supporting turn from Bryan Cranston, years before Breaking Bad.

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?

Police Interceptors opens with two episodes at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 8pm, and a third Police Interceptors case follows at 9pm. Police: Night Shift 999 takes over at 10pm, and The X-Files closes out the night from 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 sticks close to the channel’s house formula: Police Interceptors takes three separate slots across the evening (6pm, 7pm and 9pm), with Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders breaking up the run at 8pm. Police: Night Shift 999 then takes the 10pm slot, a newer strand for 5Action pitched a notch quieter than the pursuits on either side of it. None of it is essential, but it does what 5Action always does, competently and without surprises.

The X-Files at 11pm remains the one break from the roads-and-pursuits template. Series six’s second case is a genuine curiosity too, thanks to a young Bryan Cranston in a supporting role years before Breaking Bad. Worth staying up for if the rest of the evening hasn’t held your attention.

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