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

Published: 12 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. Sunday 13 September 2026 is built around live sport: a run of westerns and old films fills the afternoon before Live: NFL on 5: Baltimore Ravens @ Indianapolis Colts kicks off (coverage starts 5:30pm, kick-off is 6pm) and runs deep into the evening, the second half of a two-game NFL Sunday shared with the main Channel 5 channel. Once the game wraps, two Cops episodes and Cycling: Vuelta a Espana 2026 highlights close out the night.

5Action Schedule: Sunday 13 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Sunday 13 September 2026, on Freeview 33.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Action today

Sunday’s overnight hours run on The X-Files: three episodes from 12:45am to 3:35am, then Trucking Hell has a short slot ahead of an Entertainment News on 5 bulletin and three hours of Teleshopping from 4am. Cruise TV with LoveitBookit fills both breakfast slots, 7am and 8am.

Gunsmoke then runs four episodes from 9am to just after midday, followed by the western Chief Crazy Horse, split by a brief Entertainment News on 5 bulletin partway through. Gunfight at the OK Corral takes over from mid-afternoon, again broken by a short news update, and runs through to 5:30pm, when the schedule hands over to tonight’s live NFL coverage.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 13 September 2026.

Live: NFL on 5: Baltimore Ravens @ Indianapolis Colts — 5Action, 5:30pm

The night’s main event. Sam Quek and Osi Umenyiora present coverage of the Ravens’ trip to Indianapolis, the second half of a two-game NFL Sunday split across the Channel 5 stable — the main channel carries Green Bay Packers @ Minnesota Vikings from 9pm. Build-up starts at 5:30pm ahead of a 6pm kick-off at Lucas Oil Stadium, and coverage is scheduled to run three and a half hours, carrying the game through the 9pm hour before the regular schedule resumes.

Cops — 5Action, 9pm–9:30pm

Two back-to-back episodes fill the slot once the NFL coverage wraps, riding along with US police officers on routine and not-so-routine calls. It’s the channel’s cheapest, most durable format.

Cycling: Vuelta a Espana 2026 — 5Action, 10pm

Highlights from that day’s stage of Spain’s three-week race, condensed from hours of live racing down to the climbs, crashes and sprint finishes that decided the result.

Cops — 5Action, 11pm–11:30pm

Two more episodes close out the night, a later-series pair than the ones shown at 9pm.

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?

Live: NFL on 5: Baltimore Ravens @ Indianapolis Colts kicks off at 6pm, with coverage starting at 5:30pm, and runs deep into primetime. Two Cops episodes follow once the game wraps, Cycling: Vuelta a Espana 2026 highlights take the 10pm slot, and two more Cops episodes close the night. 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

Tonight leans on live sport rather than the usual film or cop-show template. Live: NFL on 5: Baltimore Ravens @ Indianapolis Colts takes over from 5:30pm and runs well past the hours it would otherwise hand to a film or a cop-show block.

Cops and Cycling: Vuelta a Espana 2026 highlights fill the hours after the game wraps. Daytime runs a stretch of old westerns rather than the usual vehicle-recovery mix, with Gunsmoke and a pair of films split by news bulletins carrying the schedule from mid-morning into early evening.

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