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

5USA is Channel 5’s home for imported American crime and legal drama, the channel that keeps NCIS, Blue Bloods and the Law & Order franchise on British screens night after night. It launched as Five US in October 2006, took the 5USA name in 2011, and has sat inside the Paramount-owned Channel 5 family since 2014. Tonight, Thursday 20 August 2026, three NCIS episodes run back to back from 6pm before Blue Bloods takes the 9pm slot, and two Special Victims Unit episodes close out the night at 10pm and 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Thursday 20 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Thursday 20 August 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Thursday’s schedule opens with four episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, running from midnight to just before 3am, then a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin and two hours of teleshopping carry things through to 6am. Ideal World Shopping fills the breakfast slot for three hours, then a second Entertainment News bulletin at 9am hands over to NCIS, which runs three episodes from 9:10am. From midday, six Law & Order episodes, worked from series six into series seven, carry the schedule right through to 6pm, when the evening’s NCIS run begins. Just seven programmes fill all 23 slots of the day between them: the two news bulletins, two shopping strands, Special Victims Unit, NCIS and Law & Order. Blue Bloods is the only title that doesn’t repeat, appearing once at 9pm.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 20 August 2026. It’s worth saying upfront: the whole day, primetime included, is built from just seven programmes spread across 23 slots, so the story tonight is less “what’s new” than “what’s on repeat.”

NCIS — 5USA, 6pm to 8pm

Three series two cases run back to back to open the evening. An Eye for an Eye at 6pm puts Gibbs’s team onto a grim delivery addressed to a petty officer’s home; Bikini Wax at 7pm follows a death linked to a swimwear contest; Conspiracy Theory at 8pm digs into a suicide that doesn’t add up. Same team, same format, three hours straight.

Blue Bloods — 5USA, 9pm

Episode 16 of series 11 sees the Reagan family close ranks to keep one of their own out of danger. The on-screen guide flags this as new, but it isn’t — series 11 dates back to 2021, so this is a repeat regardless of the badge.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — 5USA, 10pm and 11pm

Two series 19 cases close the night. Guardian, at 10pm, opens with a reported gang rape; Mama, at 11pm, turns on a claim made by a patient with Alzheimer’s. Both sit well behind SVU’s current US run, which is normal for 5USA’s late slot.

What kind of shows are on 5USA

NCIS and the naval procedural strand

NCIS is the spine of the schedule. Donald P. Bellisario’s naval investigative drama spun off from JAG in 2003 and has since piled up more than twenty seasons of case-of-the-week plotting, which 5USA works through steadily, usually a season or two behind the current US broadcast.

Law & Order and the Chicago-style franchise format

Dick Wolf’s Law & Order universe, headlined here by Special Victims Unit, is the other pillar. The channel likes to string two or three episodes together in one block, which works because the franchise was built on a rotating cast of detectives and prosecutors rather than a single running story. You can drop in anywhere.

Family and legal drama: Blue Bloods and Bull

Blue Bloods brings the one thing most of 5USA’s imports skip: a family at the centre of the case files, with the Reagans’ dinner-table scenes doing as much work as the investigations. Bull, Michael Weatherly’s post-NCIS drama about a trial-science consultancy, fills a similar afternoon role more lightly. CBS ended it in 2022 after six seasons.

TV movies, classic mystery and reruns

The gaps go to Jesse Stone TV films, Murder She Wrote reruns and reality strands like Cops. Nothing on 5USA is live.

How to watch 5USA

Channel numbers

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

Virgin Media and regional Sky channel numbers can shift slightly depending on your box and area, so your on-screen guide is the definitive source if these don’t match.

Streaming online

5USA streams live and free at channel5.com and via the 5 app (formerly My5) on smart TVs, iOS, Android, and Amazon Fire TV. You’ll need a free 5 account, which costs nothing to set up. Selected NCIS, Blue Bloods and Law & Order episodes also turn up on demand, though licensing means not everything broadcast makes it there and availability windows vary by title.

5USA +1 and sister channels

5USA +1 runs the same schedule an hour behind on Freeview and Freesat channel 130. If a show has already started on the main channel, it’s just beginning on 5USA +1.

The sister channels split the rest of Channel 5’s imports between them. 5Star takes US reality and lifestyle, 5Action takes films and adventure series, and 5Select, the newest of them, handles documentary and factual.

Frequently asked questions

What’s on 5USA tonight?

Three NCIS episodes lead into the evening from 6pm, running through series two, before Blue Bloods takes the 9pm slot with an episode from series 11 (flagged “new” on screen, though it isn’t). Two Special Victims Unit episodes, drawn from series 19, close out the night at 10pm and 11pm.

What time do the main shows start on 5USA?

Primetime on 5USA typically runs from around 7pm through to midnight, with the headline procedural slot usually landing at 9pm. Daytime hours are mostly given over to earlier seasons of the same shows, run in double or triple bills.

Is 5USA free to watch?

Yes, entirely free to air on Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media and Freesat. There are ad breaks throughout, as with any commercial channel, but no subscription fee anywhere.

Can I watch 5USA online for free?

Yes. It streams live at channel5.com and through the 5 app; you’ll need a free account. Selected episodes of its biggest shows also appear on demand afterwards, though not every episode makes the cut.

Verdict

Thursday’s real story is the arithmetic rather than any single episode: 5USA fills 23 slots today with just seven programmes, cycling Law & Order, Special Victims Unit and NCIS through the schedule from before dawn to close. Tonight’s primetime follows the same pattern, with three NCIS episodes handing over to Blue Bloods at 9pm and two Special Victims Unit episodes seeing the night out.

The one thing worth flagging is that Blue Bloods isn’t actually new. The on-screen guide badges it as a premiere, but series 11 dates back to 2021, so treat tonight’s episode as a repeat regardless of what the flag says.

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