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

Published: 6 September 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 7 September 2026 is a routine cop-show evening: Police Interceptors opens with a paired rerun block at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 8pm, then Police Interceptors returns for a separate, later-series episode at 9pm. Highway Thru Hell and a X-Files rerun close out the night from 10pm.

5Action Schedule: Monday 7 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Monday 7 September 2026, on Freeview 33.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Action today

Monday’s overnight hours run on the usual factual mix: two Behind Bars: World’s Toughest Prisons episodes from 12:40am, then World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera at 2:45am and a short Trucking Hell slot at 3:45am, before three hours of teleshopping from 4am. Cruise TV with LoveitBookit fills both breakfast slots, 7am and 8am.

Two more Trucking Hell episodes open the morning proper at 9am and 9:20am, then Police Interceptors has a mid-morning slot at 10:20am and Gunsmoke settles in at 11:20am. The western double bill follows in the afternoon: The Lawless Breed from 12:20pm and The Big Trees from 2:05pm, each split into two parts by a five-minute Entertainment News on 5 bulletin rather than shown straight through. Highway Thru Hell has a 4pm slot and Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 5pm, running the schedule up to tonight’s primetime.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Monday 7 September 2026.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm and 7pm

Two consecutive episodes from series 17 (episodes 10 and 11) open the evening as a paired rerun block, real pursuit footage and a narrator explaining what tipped the officers off. It’s the channel’s bread and butter, and running two straight through is the standard evening opener rather than anything unusual.

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

Nicky Campbell narrates series 5 (episode 10), swapping the urban chases of the 6pm and 7pm hours for high-speed pursuits on Britain’s motorway network. Same format, different roads.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

A separate, later slot for the flagship strand: this is series 22 (episode 1), a different run entirely from the two episodes shown at 6pm and 7pm rather than a continuation of the same block. Worth noting if you’re following the series numbers rather than just leaving it on.

Highway Thru Hell — 5Action, 10pm

Series 3 continues (episode 4), following the Canadian heavy-recovery crews who make the rest of 5Action’s roadside documentaries look tame by comparison. Consistently the strongest thing the channel shows all week.

The X-Files — 5Action, 11:05pm

A series 6 rerun (episode 15) closes the night, giving the schedule a dose of scripted drama once the cop shows and recovery trucks are done.

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 the evening with a paired rerun at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 8pm, and Police Interceptors returns for a separate, later-series episode at 9pm. Highway Thru Hell has the 10pm slot and The X-Files closes the night at 11:05pm. 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 a fairly typical night for 5Action. Police Interceptors gets two goes at primetime, a paired rerun at 6pm and 7pm and then a separate, later-series episode at 9pm either side of Motorway Cops at 8pm, so it’s worth checking the schedule table if you want to know which run you’ve landed on rather than assuming it’s one continuous block.

Highway Thru Hell at 10pm is the strongest hour on offer, and The X-Files rerun gives the night a scripted close at 11:05pm. Daytime runs the channel’s usual mix of teleshopping, trucking documentaries and a western double bill split by news bulletins.

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