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

Published: 4 September 2026

5USA is Channel 5’s home for imported American crime and legal drama, the channel that keeps NCIS, the Law & Order franchise and Beauty and the Beast 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, Saturday 5 September 2026, three consecutive episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles run from 6pm to 8pm (series 6, episodes 10 to 12), a standalone NCIS episode takes 9pm, and two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit close the night at 10pm and 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Saturday 5 September 2026 (Full Listings)

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

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Saturday’s schedule opens with three Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes running from midnight, drawn from series 21 and 20, then Wild Cards at 2:50am and an Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 3:50am. Teleshopping fills two hours from 4am, and Ideal World Shopping takes the breakfast slot from 6am to 9am. Cops opens the morning proper, followed by two Blue Bloods episodes at 9:20am and 10:10am and three Bull episodes running through to 2pm. NCIS: Los Angeles then takes over for the rest of the afternoon, seven episodes back to back from 2:05pm through to 8pm.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

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

NCIS: Los Angeles — 5USA, 6pm, 7pm & 8pm

Three episodes run back to back to close out the afternoon’s run. A killer starts targeting a string of marines at 6pm, a cyber-security firm is burgled at 7pm, and Callen goes undercover to bring down an arms dealer at 8pm. All three are series 6, episodes 10 to 12.

NCIS — 5USA, 9pm

The standalone NCIS slot, not the LA spin-off that’s just finished, deals with a report of missing nuclear materials. One line’s enough for a case-of-the-week hour like this.

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

Two episodes close the night. The 10pm hour packs in three major cases that all land at midnight, then 11pm turns on the assault of a teenage girl that uncovers something bigger. Different series numbers, so treat them as separate cases rather than a continuing story.

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 has a morning slot today rather than an evening one — two episodes at 9:20am and 10:10am. Bull, Michael Weatherly’s post-NCIS drama about a trial-science consultancy, fills the late-morning slot more lightly, with three episodes today. CBS ended it in 2022 after six seasons. Tonight’s primetime belongs to NCIS: Los Angeles and Law & Order instead, 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: Los Angeles holds the first half of the evening, with three series 6 episodes running back to back from 6pm to 8pm. A standalone NCIS episode, a separate show from the LA spin-off, takes 9pm, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit closes out the night with two episodes 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

Saturday keeps things simple on 5USA, and honestly that’s the whole story: three consecutive NCIS: Los Angeles episodes through 6pm to 8pm, a standalone NCIS case at 9pm, and two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes closing the night at 10pm and 11pm. No film, no live sport. It’s straightforward crime-drama scheduling rather than an event evening, but the back-to-back format makes it easy to drop in at any point.

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