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

Published: 31 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 1 September 2026, NCIS holds the whole of early primetime with three episodes back to back from 6pm, all from the same stretch of series 3. A new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows at 9pm, with two more SVU episodes running in proper sequence behind it at 10pm and 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Tuesday 1 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Tuesday 1 September 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Tuesday’s schedule opens with two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes either side of midnight, then Blue Bloods and a single episode of NCIS: Los Angeles running through to just before 4am, with an Entertainment News on 5 bulletin between them. Teleshopping covers the small hours from 4am, and Ideal World Shopping takes the whole breakfast slot from 6am to 9am. A second Entertainment News bulletin at 9am hands over to three consecutive NCIS episodes from series 3, running through to midday. The afternoon then belongs to Law & Order: three episodes close out series 7 from noon, then three more move into series 8 from 3pm, running through to 5pm.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 1 September 2026.

NCIS — 5USA, 6pm

The first of three consecutive series 3 episodes. “Bait” (episode 18) puts a schoolboy at the centre of it, wired to a device and holding a classroom, with the team working against the clock to get the other pupils clear.

NCIS — 5USA, 7pm

“Iced” (episode 19) turns up a missing marine in a frozen lake. He is not alone down there, which is the part that turns a recovery into an investigation.

NCIS — 5USA, 8pm

“Untouchable” (episode 20) closes the run. A Pentagon code specialist is found dead, apparently by his own hand, and the team is not convinced.

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

Series 26, episode 8, and the newest of tonight’s three. A robbery turns into an armed stand-off with two women held inside; Carisi works to keep them alive while Benson and Rollins gamble on a way to end it.

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

Back to series 20 for the last two hours. Episode 21 has Benson working with an exchange student left badly shaken after an assault by a cab driver.

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

Episode 22 follows straight on. An attack on a rapper’s wife at their home drags a running feud between two recording artists into the squad room.

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. Neither is on today, and the daytime grid rotates through NCIS spin-offs and different eras of Law & Order instead, so the exact line-up shifts from week to week.

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?

NCIS holds the whole of early primetime with three episodes back to back at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm, all from series 3. A new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit follows at 9pm, series 26, and two more SVU episodes close the night in proper sequence, series 20 episodes 21 and 22, 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 is a genuinely repeat-heavy night with one real exception: three NCIS episodes in a row from 6pm, then a proper new episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit at 9pm, followed by two more SVU episodes that run in sequence behind it. No films, no live sport, and only the one new episode — just 5USA doing what it does most nights, with a single genuine premiere in it.

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