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

5Star is Channel 5’s reality and factual-entertainment channel, built on the landlord, tenant and bailiff documentaries that made its daytime reputation, plus imported true-story series and Piers Morgan’s nightly opinion slot. It’s part of the Paramount-owned Channel 5 stable and free to watch on Freeview 32. Tonight, Tuesday 18 August 2026, Home and Away is on 5Star rather than the main Channel 5 channel: a repeat opens the evening at 6pm, followed by the new episode at 6:30pm. From 7pm the channel moves into its regular medical-documentary run — GPs: Behind Closed Doors, Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts, 999: Killer On The Line and 999: Critical Condition — before Skin A&E closes out the night at 11pm.

5Star Schedule: Tuesday 18 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Star schedule for Tuesday 18 August 2026, on Freeview 32.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Star today

Tuesday’s overnight run opens with 999: Killer On The Line (series 2, episode 6) at midnight, before Cold Case Killers (series 2, episode 5) follows at 1am. Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts (series 6, episode 5) takes the 1:55am slot, Skin A&E (series 6, episode 10) follows at 2:45am, and a single episode of Friends (series 9, episode 21) closes out the small hours at 3:30am. Teleshopping then holds the schedule from 4am through to 7am.

Daytime opens with two shopping strands, Shop: Must Have Ideas at 7am and eFOLDi Mobility Scooters at 7:30am, before two back-to-back episodes of Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun run from 8am (series 14, episodes 63 and 64). Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords takes the 10am hour (series 5, episode 6), then three episodes of Traffic Cops fill 11am to 2pm and three of Police Interceptors follow from 2pm to 5pm. Car Pound Cops (series 2, episode 2) closes out the afternoon at 5pm, before Home and Away opens the evening below.

5Star tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Star primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 18 August 2026.

Home and Away — 5Star, 6pm & 6:30pm

Summer Bay’s 5Star slot keeps its usual two-part shape tonight. The 6pm airing repeats series 39, episode 125, and the channel picks the story back up with the actual new instalment, episode 126, at 6:30pm. Anyone who already caught the earlier broadcast on Channel 5 itself can treat the 6pm hour as a recap rather than fresh plot.

GPs: Behind Closed Doors — 5Star, 7pm

Series 8 continues at 7pm with episode 32, the observational strand that follows GPs and their patients through routine surgery appointments rather than emergencies.

Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts — 5Star, 8pm

Cameras return to a UK emergency department at 8pm for episode 10 of series 6, following staff through whatever the evening brings in.

999: Killer On The Line — 5Star, 9pm

The night’s one genuine premiere lands at 9pm. Series 2, episode 7 of 999: Killer On The Line reconstructs a real murder case where the emergency call itself became evidence, mixing archive audio with reconstruction around a call that didn’t add up.

999: Critical Condition — 5Star, 10pm

Series 2, episode 3 follows at 10pm, moving from the killer-focused hour into the channel’s wider run of frontline medical footage.

Skin A&E — 5Star, 11pm

Series 7, episode 2 closes primetime at 11pm, the channel’s dermatology-focused entry in its medical-documentary rotation.

What kind of shows are on 5Star

Landlord, tenant and bailiff documentaries

This is where 5Star has its own patch. Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords and its spin-off Extreme Nightmare Tenants follow eviction specialists and rogue-landlord investigations, while Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up! turns the same doorstep tension towards unpaid debt. No other British free-to-air channel gives this much schedule space to the subject.

Reality, true-story and consumer documentary

Skin A&E, Dirty Home Rescue and Scam City: Don’t Get Caught Out! cover the rest of the factual output, and imports such as Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly Australia bring in versions of formats British viewers already know from the domestic originals.

Opinion, news and chat

Piers Morgan Uncensored gives 5Star a nightly dose of studio argument, a YouTube-native format repurposed for a terrestrial evening slot since the 2025 deal.

Sitcom reruns

Friends is the channel’s long-serving gap-filler, though these days it tends to surface in the small hours rather than in the morning blocks it once held.

How to watch 5Star

Channel numbers

Here’s where to find 5Star across the main UK television platforms:

5Star is free on all of the above platforms, with no subscription required. Virgin Media and Freesat channel numbers may vary slightly depending on your box and region, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if these don’t match.

Streaming online

5Star streams live and free at channel5.com and via the 5 app (formerly known as My5, before Channel 5’s 2025 rebrand unified its linear and streaming services under one name) on smart TVs, iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire TV. You’ll need a free account, which costs nothing to set up. Many 5Star programmes also turn up on demand, though not every title stays available indefinitely.

5Star +1 and sister channels

5Star+1 plays the same schedule an hour behind, which is useful on a channel that so often runs three episodes of the same series in a row. It’s on Sky (228), Virgin Media (326) and Freesat (141). There’s no +1 slot for 5Star on Freeview, so Freeview viewers who miss the start of something have to pick it up on demand.

5Star sits alongside two other channels in the Paramount-owned Channel 5 family. 5USA, on Freeview 33, carries US crime dramas and imported procedurals. 5Action, on Freeview 21, focuses on action films and adventure series. All three, plus the main Channel 5, stream together through the 5 app.

Frequently asked questions

What channel is 5Star on Freeview?

5Star is on Freeview channel 32. It’s also on Sky (128), Virgin Media (126) and Freesat (131), all free with no subscription.

What’s on 5Star tonight?

It’s Tuesday, so the evening opens with Home and Away — a repeat at 6pm, then the new episode at 6:30pm, both on 5Star rather than the main Channel 5 channel. From 7pm the schedule settles into 5Star’s usual medical-documentary run: GPs: Behind Closed Doors, Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts, 999: Killer On The Line and 999: Critical Condition, before Skin A&E closes out the night at 11pm. The schedule table above has the exact times for each.

Can I watch 5Star online for free?

Yes. It streams live at channel5.com and through the 5 app (formerly My5); you’ll need a free account. Many programmes also appear on demand afterwards.

Verdict

Tuesday adds Home and Away to 5Star’s usual medical-documentary run. The soap is on 5Star rather than the main Channel 5 channel tonight, with a repeat at 6pm and the new episode at 6:30pm, before GPs: Behind Closed Doors, Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts, 999: Killer On The Line and 999: Critical Condition carry the schedule to 11pm, when Skin A&E takes the last hour.

It’s a soap-then-documentaries structure typical of a 5Star weeknight: no films tonight, just one hospital or true-crime strand handing over to the next, with 999: Killer On The Line’s series 2 return giving the night its only fresh premiere. The daytime schedule backs it up with the channel’s landlord and traffic-cop staples — Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun, Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords, Traffic Cops and Police Interceptors — filling the hours before Home and Away opens the evening.

Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Channel 5 TV Guide | Freeview Channel Guide | Films on TV This Week