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

Published: 25 August 2026

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, Wednesday 26 August 2026, the evening opens on a soap double, Home and Away at 6pm and 6:30pm, with the 6:30pm edition the new one. GPs: Behind Closed Doors takes the 7pm slot and Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts follows at 8pm, before the disaster film San Andreas holds 9pm — interrupted by a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 10:05pm and resuming ten minutes later. Special Forces: Most Daring Missions closes the night at 11:20pm with its final episode.

5Star Schedule: Wednesday 26 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5Star schedule for Wednesday 26 August 2026, on Freeview 32.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5Star today

Wednesday’s overnight keeps to 5Star’s usual medical and true-crime mix: Surgeons: A Matter of Life or Death opens at midnight (series 2, episode 4), followed by Cold Case Killers at 1am (series 3, episode 4) and Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts at 2am (series 6, episode 12). Skin A&E follows at 2:45am (series 7, episode 3), a single episode of Friends airs at 3:35am (series 10, episode 6), and Teleshopping then holds the schedule for three hours from 4am.

Daytime opens with two shopping strands, Shop: Must Have Ideas at 7am and eFOLDi Mobility Scooters at 7:30am, before two more episodes of Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun run from 8am to 10am (series 14, episodes 75 and 76). Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords takes the 10am slot (series 6, episode 5), then three episodes of Traffic Cops fill 11am to 2pm (series 12, episodes 1, 3 and 5) and three of Police Interceptors run from 2pm to 5pm (series 9, episodes 2 to 4) — daytime only again; the strand doesn’t return once primetime starts. Car Pound Cops closes out the afternoon at 5pm (series 2, episode 8) before Home and Away opens the evening below.

5Star tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5Star primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 26 August 2026.

Home and Away — 5Star, 6pm and 6:30pm

5Star opens the evening with a soap double rather than its usual documentary run. The 6pm edition (series 39, episode 131) is the one Freeview viewers who caught the earlier same-day showing will already know; the 6:30pm follow-up (episode 132) is the new one, so anyone catching up should aim for the second half hour.

GPs: Behind Closed Doors — 5Star, 7pm

Series 8 continues at 7pm (episode 38), with GPs working through a day of walk-in cases and follow-up appointments.

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

The fly-on-the-wall emergency strand takes 8pm (series 6, episode 16), following paramedics and A&E staff through call-outs as they come in.

San Andreas — 5Star, 9pm

Dwayne Johnson and Carla Gugino headline this 2015 disaster film about a rescue-helicopter pilot racing to reach his family after a massive earthquake splits California apart. It’s 5Star’s film slot back in action after a night off, though the film doesn’t run straight through: a five-minute Entertainment News on 5 bulletin breaks in at 10:05pm before San Andreas resumes at 10:10pm through to 11:20pm.

Special Forces: Most Daring Missions — 5Star, 11:20pm

The run closes out at 11:20pm with its concluding episode, covering a covert British operation to extract personnel during a coup in Gambia.

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?

5Star has a film tonight. The evening opens with a Home and Away double at 6pm and 6:30pm, the second one new, before GPs: Behind Closed Doors at 7pm and Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts at 8pm lead into the disaster film San Andreas at 9pm, briefly interrupted by Entertainment News on 5 at 10:05pm before resuming at 10:10pm. Special Forces: Most Daring Missions, the concluding part of its run, closes the night at 11:20pm. 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

Wednesday brings the film library back after a night off, and it shapes the whole evening. Home and Away opens with a doubled-up soap slot before GPs: Behind Closed Doors and Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts hand over to San Andreas at 9pm, the disaster film running in two halves either side of a short news bulletin. Special Forces: Most Daring Missions wraps up its run at 11:20pm.

The only new episode in primetime is the 6:30pm Home and Away; everything else is a returning strand, and San Andreas is a repeat showing rather than a premiere. Daytime keeps to the channel’s usual factual staples: two more editions of Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun, a single Nightmare Tenants, Slum Landlords case, then three editions each of Traffic Cops and Police Interceptors fill the afternoon before Home and Away opens the evening. Police Interceptors is a daytime fixture only today — it doesn’t return once primetime starts.

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