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

Published: 11 September 2026

5USA is Channel 5’s home for imported American crime and legal drama, the channel that keeps NCIS 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, Saturday 12 September 2026, is a single eight-episode NCIS: Los Angeles run stretched across the afternoon and into primetime, with the last four episodes filling 6pm to 9pm wall to wall, before two closing episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit take the 10pm and 11pm hours.

5USA Schedule: Saturday 12 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Saturday 12 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 to just before 3am, then Wild Cards takes the 2:50am slot and a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin airs at 3:45am ahead of two hours of Teleshopping. Ideal World Shopping fills the breakfast run from 6am to 9am, then Cops has a short slot before two Blue Bloods episodes and three Bull episodes carry the schedule from mid-morning into early afternoon. NCIS: Los Angeles then begins its long afternoon run at 2:05pm, the first four of eight episodes running through to 6pm.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 12 September 2026.

NCIS: Los Angeles — 5USA, 6pm-9pm

The back half of today’s eight-episode NCIS: Los Angeles run fills the whole of early primetime, four episodes back to back from 6pm to 9pm (series 6, episodes 17 to 20).

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

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit takes over at 10pm with series 21, episode 19.

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

A second Special Victims Unit episode closes the night at 11pm (series 21, episode 20). The listed title is complete; only the synopsis is cut short, and it covers Carisi’s trial of Sir Toby Moore.

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.

Overnight legal drama and the Columbo archive

Tonight’s overnight hours go to three Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes running from midnight to just before 3am, then Wild Cards, the newer NCIS spin-off, takes the 2:50am slot. When the Columbo archive turns up overnight, it tends to fill several daytime or early-evening hours back to back rather than a lone late slot, drawn from across Peter Falk’s original run rather than any one series. The exact overnight mix rotates week to week between NCIS spin-offs, Law & Order eras and older US legal drama.

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, running four episodes back to back from 6pm to 9pm. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit then 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

Tonight sticks to the channel’s default template, just stretched further than usual: NCIS: Los Angeles runs eight episodes from early afternoon, and the last four of them carry the evening from 6pm to 9pm without a break. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit closes out the night with two episodes at 10pm and 11pm. Nothing here demands you catch it live rather than mid-repeat, which is exactly what 5USA is for.

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