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

Published: 17 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, Friday 18 September 2026, is a repeats night from start to finish: Law & Order closes out the early evening at 5pm, three NCIS episodes run back to back from 6pm to 8pm, then two Beauty and the Beast episodes hold 9pm and 10pm before a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit repeat closes the night at 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Friday 18 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Friday 18 September 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Friday’s overnight run opens with a single Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode at 12:55am, then two Prodigal Son episodes back to back from 1:55am, a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 3:45am, and two hours of Teleshopping from 4am. Ideal World Shopping fills the whole breakfast run from 6am to 9am, then a brief news update leads into three NCIS episodes running from 9:10am to midday. Law & Order then takes over, running six consecutive episodes from midday through to 5pm, when NCIS returns to open the evening.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Friday 18 September 2026.

NCIS — 5USA, 6pm to 8pm

Three episodes run back to back to open the night: a missing survivalist case that leaves Abby minding a child while the team hunts the youngster’s father, an escaped psychiatric patient whose file hides more than first appears, and an investigation into a Marine found dead near a mosque, handled with more religious sensitivity than the team’s cases usually get. All three come from an earlier season, well behind 5USA’s current point in the US run.

Beauty and the Beast — 5USA, 9pm and 10pm

Cat, Tess and Tori are held by criminals chasing a valuable necklace at 9pm, then a stranger claiming to know the truth about Vincent’s hidden past turns up at 10pm as Vincent and Cat work to free JT.

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

An activist’s fear that her sister has been taken by a hate group draws the unit into a kidnapping case, the one hour tonight that isn’t part of a back-to-back block.

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 open with a single Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode at 12:55am, then two Prodigal Son episodes carry the schedule through to about 3:45am. When the Columbo archive turns up, 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, though it doesn’t feature in every day’s schedule. 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?

Law & Order closes the early evening at 5pm, then three NCIS repeats run back to back from 6pm to 8pm. Two Beauty and the Beast repeats hold the 9pm and 10pm hours, and a Law & Order: Special Victims Unit repeat closes out the schedule at 11pm. There is no new episode anywhere in tonight’s primetime.

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 runs to the channel’s default template with nothing new anywhere in it: six Law & Order repeats carry the daytime into 5pm, three NCIS repeats fill 6pm to 8pm, two Beauty and the Beast repeats hold 9pm and 10pm, and a Special Victims Unit repeat sees the night out at 11pm. Little here demands you catch it live rather than mid-repeat, which is usually exactly what the channel is for.

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