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

Published: 23 August 2026

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, Monday 24 August 2026, three NCIS episodes run back to back from 6pm to 9pm in broadcast order rather than as unconnected repeats, carrying the fallout from Kate’s death through the hour. A new Wild Cards follows at 9pm, and two Special Victims Unit cases close the night at 10pm and 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Monday 24 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Monday 24 August 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Monday’s schedule opens with the tail of a Special Victims Unit story, two episodes back to back taking the channel through to 1:55am, then two episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles carry it to just before 4am. A short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin and two hours of Teleshopping fill the small hours, and Ideal World Shopping holds the whole breakfast run from 6am to 9am. Three early NCIS episodes from series two open the daytime proper at 9:10am, then six straight Law & Order episodes, working from series six into series seven, run from noon through to 6pm without a break. NCIS returns at 6pm to open the evening’s three-part run.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Monday 24 August 2026. Law & Order closes out the afternoon at 5pm, then the evening builds around a proper three-hour arc rather than the usual grab-bag of repeats.

NCIS: the Kate arc — 5USA, 6pm to 9pm

5USA lines up three NCIS episodes in broadcast order tonight, and it makes for the channel’s most joined-up evening in a while. Twilight (6pm, series two) has a terrorist plotting to kill Gibbs; the series three opener at 7pm picks up in the immediate aftermath of Kate’s death, with the team hunting the man responsible; and by 8pm, Ari has kidnapped Ducky and is putting him through a run of mind games. Watched in order, it plays as one continuous story rather than three interchangeable hours.

Wild Cards — 5USA, 9pm

A new episode of Wild Cards follows at 9pm (series two, episode two). Max and Ellis take on a wild west case, tracking down whoever tried to harm a ranch family’s prized stud horse, and turn up a family secret along the way.

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

Two Special Victims Unit cases close the night, both drawn from early in series twenty. The 10pm case centres on the murder of a woman from a women’s empowerment group, with suspicion falling on its male leader. The 11pm follow-up finds Carisi’s investigation stalling when the victim, unable to recall the details of her assault, disappears.

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 run back to back from 6pm to 9pm in broadcast order, covering the fallout from Kate’s death and Ari’s kidnapping of Ducky. A new Wild Cards follows at 9pm, then two Special Victims Unit cases, drawn from early in series 20, 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

Monday puts 5USA back in its usual gear, but with a twist worth noticing: rather than three unconnected NCIS repeats, the 6pm-to-9pm block runs in broadcast order, carrying the Kate storyline across three genuinely linked hours instead of three interchangeable ones. Wild Cards adds a new episode at 9pm, and Special Victims Unit, as on most nights, sees out the schedule at 10pm and 11pm.

Beyond Wild Cards’ new outing, there’s no premiere and no live sport to flag. It’s still American crime drama from start to finish, but tonight the case-of-the-week format briefly gives way to something with real narrative continuity.

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