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

Published: 26 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, Thursday 27 August 2026, three NCIS episodes run back to back from 6pm to 9pm in series order, then 5USA opens Blue Bloods’ twelfth series at 9pm, before two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit cases close the evening from 10pm.

5USA Schedule: Thursday 27 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Thursday 27 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 Special Victims Unit episodes back to back, running from midnight through to just before 4am and jumping between series 19, 20 and 26 along the way. A short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 3:55am and two hours of Teleshopping fill the rest of the small hours, and Ideal World Shopping holds the whole breakfast run from 6am to 9am. Another Entertainment News bulletin at 9am leads into three early NCIS episodes from series two, running 9:10am to noon, then six straight Law & Order episodes from series seven carry the afternoon 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, Thursday 27 August 2026.

NCIS — 5USA, 6pm to 9pm

Three straight NCIS episodes carry the channel from 6pm into primetime proper, working through series 3, episodes 9 to 11 in broadcast order rather than as scattered repeats. It’s the same case-of-the-week formula 5USA leans on every weeknight, just further back in the run than the daytime double bills.

Blue Bloods — 5USA, 9pm

Blue Bloods steps up to the 9pm slot with a genuine series opener: episode 1 of series 12, Hate Is Hate, first broadcast in the US in October 2021. It’s a change of pace from the procedurals either side of it, built around the Reagan family table as much as the case, and worth a look for anyone who has only caught 5USA’s later Blue Bloods repeats.

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

Two Special Victims Unit cases close out the night, series 20 episodes 11 and 12, run in order rather than jumbled from different seasons. SVU is the channel’s late-evening anchor most weeknights, and tonight’s pairing keeps the story threads consistent between the two hours.

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 9 to 11), then Blue Bloods opens its twelfth series at 9pm, before two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit cases close the night from 10pm (series 20, episodes 11 and 12).

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 splits neatly into three parts: NCIS runs in series order from 6pm to 9pm rather than as three unconnected repeats, Blue Bloods then opens a new series at 9pm, and two Special Victims Unit cases close the night in order from 10pm rather than a scattered triple bill. There’s no live sport on 5USA tonight — just a night built around proper runs back to back rather than a scattershot of one-offs, with a genuine series premiere as the evening’s centrepiece.

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