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

Published: 27 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, Friday 28 August 2026, three NCIS episodes run back to back from 6pm to 9pm in series order, then two Beauty and the Beast episodes take the 9pm hour, before Law & Order: Special Victims Unit closes the evening at 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Friday 28 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Friday 28 August 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Friday’s schedule opens with two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes back to back from midnight (series 19), followed by two episodes of Prodigal Son from 2am. 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, Friday 28 August 2026.

NCIS — 5USA, 6pm to 9pm

Three straight NCIS episodes carry 5USA from 6pm to 9pm, running in series order (series 3, episodes 12 to 14). Gibbs’ team works through a missing-persons case, the abduction of a commander with knowledge of a sensitive nuclear cargo, and the deaths of two marines’ wives that turn out to be more than domestic.

Beauty and the Beast — 5USA, 9pm to 11pm

The 9pm hour goes to a two-episode run of Beauty and the Beast (series 2, episodes 5 and 6, in order). Cat digs into her own past at a school reunion, then confronts the father who has been shaping events from the shadows.

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

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit closes the night (series 20, episode 13). Benson steps in for two teenage sisters left without a father after his murder.

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 12 to 14), then two consecutive Beauty and the Beast episodes take the 9pm hour (series 2, episodes 5 and 6), before Law & Order: Special Victims Unit closes the night at 11pm (series 20, episode 13).

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

Friday splits neatly into three parts: NCIS runs in series order from 6pm to 9pm rather than as three unconnected repeats, two consecutive Beauty and the Beast episodes take the 9pm hour, and Special Victims Unit closes the night at 11pm. 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.

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