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

Published: 13 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. Tonight, Monday 14 September 2026, is back to a normal weeknight rather than a sports night — Sunday’s live NFL doubleheader doesn’t repeat. Police Interceptors opens primetime with two episodes at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes the 8pm slot, Police Interceptors returns at 9pm, and the night closes with Highway Thru Hell at 10pm and an X-Files rerun at 11pm.

5Action Schedule: Monday 14 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Action schedule for Monday 14 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 three Behind Bars: World’s Toughest Prisons episodes from midnight to just after 3am, then a short Highway Patrol episode and an Entertainment News on 5 bulletin lead into three hours of Teleshopping. Cruise TV with LoveitBookit fills both breakfast slots, 7am and 8am, the second one a new episode.

Trucking Hell has a short slot ahead of Police Interceptors at 9:20am, then Gunsmoke runs a single episode from 10:20am before Vera Cruz carries the late morning into early afternoon, split by a brief Entertainment News on 5 update. Bite the Bullet takes over from 1:20pm, again broken by a short news bulletin, before Traffic Cops picks up at 4pm and Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders hands over to this evening’s schedule at 5pm.

5Action tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Action primetime line-up for tonight, Monday 14 September 2026, with no live sport disrupting the usual run.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 6pm and 7pm

Two consecutive cases open the evening (series 18, episodes 5 and 6), dashcam and body-cam footage of high-speed pursuits with a narrator filling in what happened once the cuffs go on. It’s the format 5Action leans on more than any other.

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

Nicky Campbell narrates this outing (series 6, episode 5), trading the urban chases of the 6pm and 7pm shows for motorway patrols and the specific hazards of policing at speed.

Police Interceptors — 5Action, 9pm

A third helping to close out primetime (series 22, episode 6), drawn from a much later run than the two earlier episodes tonight.

Highway Thru Hell — 5Action, 10pm

The Canadian heavy-recovery documentary at 10pm (series 3, episode 5), following crews wrestling wrecked rigs off mountain passes. It’s consistently the most compelling hour 5Action puts out all week.

The X-Files — 5Action, 11pm

A rerun from the show’s classic run closes the night (series 6, episode 20), a rare piece of scripted drama once the cop shows and recovery trucks are done for the evening.

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?

No live sport tonight. Police Interceptors opens with two episodes at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders follows at 8pm, and Police Interceptors returns at 9pm. Highway Thru Hell takes 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

Tonight is the channel running to its normal template rather than handing the evening to live sport. Police Interceptors takes two slots at 6pm and 7pm, Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders sits at 8pm, and Police Interceptors closes out primetime at 9pm.

Highway Thru Hell is the pick of the night at 10pm, the strongest thing 5Action shows most weeks, before an X-Files rerun sees the schedule out at 11pm. Daytime runs the usual mix of factual and recovery programming: Behind Bars: World’s Toughest Prisons overnight, Cruise TV with LoveitBookit through breakfast, then Gunsmoke, Vera Cruz and Bite the Bullet carrying the late morning into the afternoon.

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