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

Published: 5 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 Columbo reruns 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, Sunday 6 September 2026, is a Columbo double bill: Make Me a Perfect Murder from 6:05pm and Columbo Likes the Nightlife from 8:10pm, before two episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit close the night at 10pm and 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Sunday 6 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Sunday 6 September 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Sunday’s schedule opens with two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes running from midnight, then two NCIS: Los Angeles episodes at 1:55am and 2:50am and an Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 3:45am. Teleshopping fills two hours from 4am, and Ideal World Shopping takes the breakfast slot from 6am to 9am. Three Blue Bloods episodes run from 9:10am, split by an Entertainment News bulletin either side, taking the schedule to noon. Three Columbo films then carry the afternoon back to back — Columbo and the Murder of a Rock Star from 12:05pm, Columbo: Murder, Smoke and Shadows from 2:05pm and Columbo: Columbo Goes to College from 4:05pm — before the same detective returns for tonight’s evening double bill.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 6 September 2026.

Columbo: Make Me a Perfect Murder — 5USA, 6:05pm

Peter Falk’s rumpled detective works out how a killer thinks before he ever proves it, and the format still holds up: the audience sees the murder in the opening minutes, then watches Columbo circle in. No NCIS or Law & Order tonight, just two films back to back from the same run.

Columbo: Columbo Likes the Nightlife — 5USA, 8:10pm

Series 10, episode 14 continues straight after, running to 10pm.

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

Two consecutive episodes close out the night, series 21’s seventh and eighth outings.

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 drama and the Columbo archive

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, three episodes running from 9:10am. Columbo fills the rest of the daytime and tonight’s early primetime with three films back to back this afternoon and two more this evening, drawn from across Peter Falk’s original run rather than any one series. The exact line-up rotates week to week between NCIS spin-offs, Law & Order eras and the Columbo archive.

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?

Columbo holds the first half of the evening, with two films running back to back from 6:05pm to 10pm. 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

Sunday swaps the usual NCIS rotation for two Columbo films back to back, which suits the channel better than it might sound: Falk’s detective is built for exactly this kind of unhurried, two-hour slot. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit closes the night with two episodes from 10pm. No film beyond Columbo, no live sport, and nothing that demands you catch it live rather than mid-repeat.

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