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

Published: 24 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, Tuesday 25 August 2026, three NCIS episodes run back to back from 6pm to 9pm in series order, then the channel hands the rest of the night to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, with three episodes pulled from three different series running from 9pm through to midnight.

5USA Schedule: Tuesday 25 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Tuesday 25 August 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Tuesday’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, Tuesday 25 August 2026.

NCIS — 5USA, 6pm to 9pm

Three NCIS episodes fill the front half of the evening, series 3 episodes 3 to 5 running in story order rather than as three unrelated repeats, so Gibbs’s team carries the same thread from one hour into the next. There’s no need to catch all three from the start, since each case still resolves inside its hour, but watching the run through gives the block a momentum a single episode doesn’t have.

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit — 5USA, 9pm to midnight

The back half of the night belongs entirely to Special Victims Unit, and unusually it’s three episodes from three different series rather than one continuous run: a new series 26 case at 9pm, then older instalments from series 20 and series 18 at 10pm and 11pm. It’s a good stretch to dip into for a single episode, since each one is a self-contained case with a different cast era behind it.

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 series order (series 3, episodes 3 to 5), then Law & Order: Special Victims Unit takes over completely: a new series 26 episode at 9pm, followed by series 20 and series 18 cases 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

Tuesday splits neatly into two halves: NCIS runs in series order from 6pm to 9pm rather than as three unconnected repeats, and Special Victims Unit then takes the rest of the night solo, mixing a new series 26 case in with older episodes from series 20 and 18. There’s no premiere beyond that 9pm SVU outing and no live sport on 5USA tonight — just a night that rewards watching the NCIS run through rather than dropping in partway.

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