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

Published: 23 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. Monday is back to the channel’s bread and butter, with no films anywhere in primetime. Police Interceptors takes the 6pm and 7pm slots before Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders lands at 8pm, Police Interceptors returns for a third outing at 9pm, and the night closes with a new Highway Thru Hell at 10pm and an X-Files repeat at 11pm.

5Action Schedule: Monday 24 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Monday 24 August 2026, on Freeview 33.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Action today

Monday’s overnight hours belong to World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera, three series six episodes running back to back from 12:45am, before Trucking Hell brings a single episode at 3:45am and three hours of teleshopping close out the night. Cruise TV with LoveitBookit takes both breakfast slots, 7am and 8am, the second one a new episode.

Trucking Hell returns for a second, longer episode at 9am, then Police Interceptors has a daytime outing at 9:55am ahead of Gunsmoke at 10:55am. Warpath, a 1950s western, opens the afternoon at 11:55am and returns after a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 1:05pm; Five Card Stud, a second western, follows the same pattern either side of the 2:55pm news update. Highway Thru Hell has an earlier, unrelated episode at 4pm, a different run from the new one arriving at 10pm.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

There are no films anywhere in primetime tonight — 5Action’s two westerns, Warpath and Five Card Stud, are both daytime, split either side of the lunchtime Entertainment News on 5 bulletin. The evening belongs entirely to the channel’s usual cop-show and recovery-truck mix, running from 5pm through to close.

Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders opens the early evening at 5pm with a suspected drink driver near Congleton and a three-vehicle crash elsewhere in Cheshire, running through to 6pm.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm and 7pm

Police Interceptors then takes both the 6pm and 7pm hours, two series 16 episodes back to back rather than a double bill of the same one. Expect the usual mix of pursuits and roadside stops rather than a single running story across the hour.

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

Motorway Cops returns at 8pm with a different run from its 5pm outing, series 5 rather than series 4, following Northumbria Police through an angry van driver with no MOT and a suspected drug stop.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

A third Police Interceptors airs at 9pm, this time from series 20 rather than the series 16 pair earlier in the evening. A stolen Renault pursuit ends in a crash, and the episode also covers a strip search and a cannabis farm find. Two strands, four total airings across the night, each time a different series.

Highway Thru Hell — 5Action, 10pm

The night’s one new episode. Highway Thru Hell (series 3, episode 3) follows Brandon through a close call on an icy stretch of highway that reinforces why he stays cautious, while further along the road Jamie pulls a woman free from an overturned truck in a frozen river. A separate, earlier episode from series 2 aired at 4pm this afternoon.

The X-Files — 5Action, 11pm

The evening winds down with a series six rerun of The X-Files. Mulder is convinced he has swapped bodies with another man, and Scully spends the episode trying to talk him round and reverse it.

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?

There are no films in primetime tonight. Police Interceptors opens the evening at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 8pm, Police Interceptors returns for a third airing at 9pm, then a new Highway Thru Hell airs at 10pm before 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

Monday is 5Action doing what it does most nights: no films, just cop shows and recovery trucks back to back from 5pm. Two Police Interceptors strands run through the evening, series 16 taking the 6pm and 7pm slots and series 20 turning up again at 9pm, with a change of pace in between from Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders at 8pm.

Highway Thru Hell at 10pm is the one genuinely new thing on offer, and it’s also the pick of the night — Brandon’s icy close call and Jamie’s river rescue are a level above the dashcam footage either side of it. The X-Files rerun at 11pm is a reasonable way to wind down once the trucks and patrol cars have had their say.

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