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

Updated: 20 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, Sunday 20 September 2026, is a Columbo evening: Murder by the Book airs at 6:45pm and Old Fashioned Murder follows at 8:20pm, before two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit repeats close out the night at 10pm and 11pm.

5USA Schedule: Sunday 20 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete 5USA schedule for Sunday 20 September 2026, on Freeview 21.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on 5USA today

Sunday’s overnight run opens with two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes back to back from midnight, then two NCIS: Los Angeles episodes at 1:55am and 2:55am, a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin at 3:50am, and two hours of Teleshopping from 4am. Ideal World Shopping fills the whole breakfast run from 6am to 9am, then a short Entertainment News on 5 update and Cops lead into five Blue Bloods episodes running from 9:35am to 2:10pm. The Columbo archive takes over from there, running four films back to back through the afternoon and into the early evening.

5USA tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the 5USA primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 20 September 2026.

Columbo: Murder by the Book — 5USA, 6:45pm

The very first Columbo film, and the one that set the template for every case since: the audience sees the killer commit the crime in the opening minutes, then watches Lieutenant Columbo work backwards to prove it (series 1, episode 1).

Columbo: Old Fashioned Murder — 5USA, 8:20pm

A later entry in the run, built on the same inverted-mystery structure that made the format last: a confident culprit, an apparently airtight plan, and a rumpled detective who spots the one detail that doesn’t fit (series 6, episode 2).

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

Two episodes close out the night, continuing the franchise’s long-running focus on the Manhattan Special Victims Unit’s detectives as they build cases from the crime scene through to trial (series 22, episodes 15 and 16).

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 two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes back to back from midnight, then two NCIS: Los Angeles episodes and a short Entertainment News on 5 bulletin carry the schedule through to about 4am. 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?

Columbo: Murder by the Book airs at 6:45pm and Columbo: Old Fashioned Murder follows at 8:20pm. Two Law & Order: Special Victims Unit repeats close out the schedule at 10pm and 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: five Blue Bloods repeats carry the late morning into the afternoon, a run of Columbo films fills the rest of the day into primetime, and two Special Victims Unit repeats see the night out at 10pm and 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 | What Films Are on Tonight