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

Published: 22 August 2026

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. Sunday’s primetime again sets the dashcam formula aside for two westerns and one action blockbuster: The Last Hunt from 4:20pm, Rio Lobo from 6:25pm and The Rock from 9pm, each broken once by a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin. An hour of extreme-weather footage closes out the night from 11:40pm.

5Action Schedule: Sunday 23 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Sunday 23 August 2026, on Freeview 33.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Action today

Sunday’s overnight hours belong to The X-Files, three series six episodes running back to back from 12:50am, before Trucking Hell brings a single series one episode at 3:45am. Three hours of teleshopping fill the rest of the night, and Cruise TV with LoveitBookit takes both breakfast slots, 7am and 8am, the second one a new episode.

A short Entertainment News on 5 update opens the 9am hour, then Outback Truckers runs two series three cases back to back from 9:05am. Gunsmoke takes over for the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, five series 13 episodes running from 11am through to 4:15pm, before the first of the evening’s westerns starts at 4:20pm.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 23 August 2026. The evening’s shape is set before 6pm even arrives: The Last Hunt, a 1956 western with Robert Taylor as a buffalo hunter turned bounty man, runs from 4:20pm to 6:25pm, broken once by a short Entertainment News on 5 update. From there it’s two more titles carrying the channel through to midnight.

Rio Lobo — 5Action, 6:25pm

John Wayne headlines Rio Lobo (1970), the last film Howard Hawks ever directed, as a former Union officer tracking down the men who framed a wartime friend. It runs through to 9pm, with the usual short Entertainment News on 5 break splitting the film at 7:25pm.

The Rock — 5Action, 9pm

Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage lead The Rock (1996), Michael Bay’s Alcatraz-set thriller pitting a disillusioned general against a chemical weapons expert and a former convict racing to stop a nerve gas strike on San Francisco. It runs to 11:40pm, again broken once by Entertainment News on 5, this time at 10:05pm.

World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera — 5Action, 11:40pm

The night closes with an hour of real disaster footage rather than another film: storms, floods and wildfires caught on camera by the people who lived through them (series 6).

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?

Sunday is two westerns then one action film. The Last Hunt (1956) starts at 4:20pm, Rio Lobo (1970) follows from 6:25pm, and The Rock (1996) takes 9pm; each is interrupted once by a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin. World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera closes the night from 11:40pm. 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

Sunday again breaks from the channel’s usual dashcam formula: two westerns and one action blockbuster fill the evening from 4:20pm to 11:40pm, each one broken by a brief Entertainment News on 5 bulletin rather than the usual mid-show ad breaks alone. The Last Hunt and Rio Lobo make a solid pairing of 1950s and 1970s westerns, but The Rock, with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage squaring off on Alcatraz, is the pick of the night if time is short.

World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera closes things out from 11:40pm, real storm and wildfire footage rather than another scripted film. A shorter watch than what came before it, and a change of pace before the schedule loops back round to The X-Files reruns after midnight.

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