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

Published: 8 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. Wednesday 9 September 2026 is a routine cop-show evening: two Police Interceptors episodes open proceedings at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 8pm, then Police Interceptors returns for a third outing at 9pm before Police: Night Shift 999 and an X-Files rerun close out the night from 10pm.

5Action Schedule: Wednesday 9 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Wednesday 9 September 2026, on Freeview 33.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Action today

Wednesday’s overnight hours run on the usual factual mix: Behind Bars: World’s Toughest Prisons at midnight, Outback Truckers at 1:05am, then two Trucking Hell episodes at 2am and 3am, before three hours of teleshopping from 4am. Cruise TV with LoveitBookit fills both breakfast slots, 7am and 8am.

Two more Trucking Hell episodes run back to back from 9am, then Police Interceptors takes a mid-morning slot at 10:15am and Gunsmoke settles in at 11:15am. The Lonely Man and Stranger at My Door share the early afternoon from 12:25pm, each split into two parts by a short 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, Wednesday 9 September 2026.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm

A driver loses control and sends their car careering across a busy junction, giving officers a pursuit to remember (series 17, episode 14).

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 7pm

A car spotted with no headlights after dark draws officers’ attention, and the stop turns into more than a routine check (series 17, episode 15).

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

Patrol crews trace vehicles suspected of links to wider criminal activity along the motorway network (series 6, episode 2).

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

A stolen lorry heading up the A1 gives officers a high-speed pursuit to end the shift on (series 22, episode 3).

Police: Night Shift 999 — 5Action, 10pm

Crews are called out after reports of an armed man in a residential street (series 4, episode 3).

The X-Files — 5Action, 11pm

In the episode “Trevor”, Mulder and Scully investigate an escaped convict who appears to have gained strange, near-supernatural abilities (series 6, episode 17).

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 two episodes at 6pm and 7pm, then Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 8pm before Police Interceptors returns for a third outing at 9pm. Police: Night Shift 999 has the 10pm slot 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

Wednesday is a fairly typical night for 5Action. Two Police Interceptors episodes open the evening at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes 8pm, and Police Interceptors returns for a third run at 9pm, so it’s worth checking the schedule table for the exact series and episode rather than assuming it’s one continuous block.

Police: Night Shift 999 at 10pm keeps the factual run going, and The X-Files rerun gives the night a scripted close at 11pm. Daytime runs the channel’s usual mix of teleshopping, trucking documentaries and an afternoon split by news bulletins, with Highway Thru Hell getting its slot at 4pm this afternoon.

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