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

Published: 2 September 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 3 September 2026, NCIS runs three episodes back to back from 6pm, closing out series 3 with the second half of a two-parter before moving straight into the series 4 opener. Blue Bloods returns to the schedule at 9pm with series 12, and two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit close the night from 10pm.

5USA Schedule: Thursday 3 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Thursday 3 September 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Thursday’s schedule opens with four Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes running from midnight to just before 4am, followed by an Entertainment News on 5 bulletin. Teleshopping fills the next two hours, and Ideal World Shopping takes the whole breakfast slot from 6am to 9am. A second Entertainment News bulletin at 9am hands over to three 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 open series 8 from 3pm, running through to 6pm.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Thursday 3 September 2026. The evening turns on one thing: NCIS closing out series 3 and opening series 4 inside the same hour and a half.

NCIS — 5USA, 6pm

Series 3 wraps up here with the second half of a two-part story, picking up last night’s cliffhanger as Gibbs comes round from his coma with no memory of who he is.

NCIS — 5USA, 7pm

Straight into the series 4 opener, “Shalom” — the episode that brings Ziva David into the team.

NCIS — 5USA, 8pm

“Escaped” carries the new series into its second hour.

Blue Bloods — 5USA, 9pm

Blue Bloods is back after a night off the schedule, continuing series 12.

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

Series 21 resumes with its opener.

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

The second episode follows straight after.

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. It’s back on tonight’s schedule after a night off. 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. It isn’t on today, and the daytime grid otherwise rotates through NCIS spin-offs and different eras of Law & Order, 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 first half of the evening, wrapping up series 3 at 6pm with the second part of a two-parter, then launching straight into series 4 at 7pm and 8pm. Blue Bloods returns to the schedule at 9pm with series 12, and two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, series 21, close out the night from 10pm.

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 is livelier than most nights on 5USA, and it’s down to scheduling rather than novelty: three NCIS episodes back to back from 6pm, one closing series 3 and two opening series 4, followed by Blue Bloods stepping back into the 9pm slot after a night off and two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes to close. No films, no live sport — but a series changeover mid-evening is about as close as this channel gets to an event.

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