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

Channel 5 is the UK’s third commercial terrestrial broadcaster, free to air and funded by advertising, and it streams live and on demand through My5. Below: tonight’s full schedule, the shows the channel is built on, its channel numbers on every platform, and how to watch online.

Tuesday’s primetime is built around two new-episode premieres. Corfu: Jewel of the Med and The Yorkshire Vet open the evening from 6pm, before Inside Longleat and The Romans with Rob Rinder & Ruth Goodman take the 8pm and 9pm hours. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Tuesday 11 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Tuesday 11 August 2026, on Freeview 5.

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Milkshake! runs through the morning on its usual pre-school rotation of Paddington, Peppa Pig and PAW Patrol, before Jeremy Vine takes the mid-morning slot at 9:15am. Storm & Alexis follows at 11:30am, and Matt Allwright picks up from the lunchtime news bulletin at 12:50pm.

The afternoon is a single film-length slot rather than a run of series. Danger Rocks the Cradle (2022) is one of five standalone stories of betrayal and deception under that banner; this instalment follows a teacher who fears a pregnant student has been taken against her will after she disappears. Castle and Love Nature fill the run-in to 5 News with Dan Walker at 5pm, which closes out the daytime schedule before primetime begins.

Channel 5 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 5 primetime line-up for tonight, Tuesday 11 August 2026.

Corfu: Jewel of the Med — Channel 5, 6pm

Joanna Lumley narrates this look at Corfu’s olive oil trade, its history and its scenery, taking in Achilleion Palace and the village of Gastouri. It’s a gentler opener than the crime and enforcement titles that usually fill this slot.

The Yorkshire Vet: At Home with the Greens — Channel 5, 7pm

Peter Wright examines Jean’s elderly cat, Peanut, Sarah works towards her driving test, and the family visit a wildlife park to hand-feed an endangered Amur tiger. Familiar Skeldale faces, this time away from the surgery.

Inside Longleat — Channel 5, 8pm

A new episode. By night, a bat conservation team and a ghost tour group get the run of the estate; by day, keepers deal with an unexpected hazard in the lion enclosure. Safari-park access television, done with a light touch.

The Romans with Rob Rinder & Ruth Goodman — Channel 5, 9pm

A new episode. Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman head to 122 AD, when Emperor Hadrian’s visit to Roman Britain reshaped fortunes for rich and poor alike. The pairing of a barrister and a historian keeps the format from feeling like a straight lecture.

The Bomb on the Boat: The Murder of Lord Mountbatten — Channel 5, 10:30pm

Surviving family members recall the 1979 IRA bombing off the Irish coast that killed Lord Mountbatten while he was on holiday. It’s a sober note to close the evening on, and a change of pace from the documentary that preceded it.

Popular shows on Channel 5

Drama

The Fortune is the channel’s newest drama, a four-part psychological thriller with Eleanor Tomlinson. The Madame Blanc Mysteries is the long-runner to track if cosy crime is more your thing: Sally Lindsay plays an antiques dealer turned amateur sleuth, with the whole thing set in the south of France.

Factual and documentary

The Yorkshire Vet has run for well over fifteen series since 2015. It follows the team at Skeldale Veterinary Centre in Thirsk, and Peter Wright has been the anchor throughout, though by now the supporting cast of vets is familiar enough that it watches more like an ensemble drama than a documentary.

Police Interceptors has aired without a break since 2008, riding along with specialist road traffic units, cameras in the cars and helicopters overhead. Motorway Cops and the other road-policing titles follow the same format.

The countryside strand is the channel’s calling card. Reuben Owen: Life in the Dales and A Yorkshire Farm rotate through the schedule across the year rather than every night, so which one is on depends on the week. Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly with Graeme Hall rounds out the animal side.

Daytime favourites

Milkshake! has held its spot every morning for over twenty years, surviving more than one change of ownership in the process. Jeremy Vine inherited the mid-morning slot from The Wright Stuff and has not let go of it since.

How to watch Channel 5

Channel numbers

My5 — watch online for free

Channel 5 streams live and on demand through My5 at channel5.com and the My5 app, which runs on smart TVs, phones, tablets and the usual streaming boxes. There’s no subscription, though you’ll see adverts. A free account unlocks catch-up, where most shows stay up for 30 days and a few longer as boxsets. My5 also carries the wider Paramount stable, so Comedy Central, MTV, BET and CBS titles sit alongside the Channel 5 stream.

The Channel 5 family of channels

Four sister channels run alongside the main service, all free to air on Freeview and carried on Sky and Virgin:

5Star is the entertainment sibling, heavy on reality and acquired US shows. Freeview 32, Sky 128.

5USA runs American drama, crime and procedurals. Freeview 21, Sky 141.

5Action is the home for films, action drama and motorsport. Freeview 33, Sky 150.

5Select is the odd one out, a grab-bag of factual, documentary and lifestyle that doesn’t fit the main channel’s primetime. Freeview 50, Sky 153.

All four live inside My5 too, so streamers get the whole family in one place.

Frequently asked questions

What channel number is Channel 5 on Freeview?

Channel 5 is on channel 5 on Freeview. If you have a Freeview HD receiver or an HD-capable television with a built-in Freeview HD tuner, Channel 5 HD is on channel 105. Both carry the same national broadcast.

What channel is Channel 5 on Sky?

Channel 5 is on channel 105 on Sky, which applies to Sky Q, Sky Stream and Sky Glass. As of March 2026, the SD version of Channel 5 on satellite has been removed. Channel 105 is the only place to find it on Sky, and it broadcasts in HD.

What channel is Channel 5 on Virgin Media?

Channel 5 is on channel 105 on Virgin Media. It is included as standard on all Virgin TV packages and carries advertising.

What channel is Channel 5 on Freesat?

Channel 5 is on channel 105 on Freesat. The SD version was removed in March 2026, so the channel is HD-only on satellite.

What kind of shows is Channel 5 known for?

Channel 5’s schedule is built on British factual and countryside television: The Yorkshire Vet and its Dales farming series, true-crime documentaries and daytime entertainment such as Jeremy Vine. Alongside that sits a growing slate of original British drama, and every morning opens with children’s programming under the Milkshake! banner.

What’s on Channel 5 tonight?

Tuesday 11 August 2026 opens with Corfu: Jewel of the Med at 6pm and The Yorkshire Vet: At Home with the Greens at 7pm, before two new episodes take primetime: Inside Longleat at 8pm and The Romans with Rob Rinder & Ruth Goodman at 9pm. The Bomb on the Boat: The Murder of Lord Mountbatten closes the night from 10:30pm. Full times are in the schedule table above.

Can I watch Channel 5 online for free?

Yes. Channel 5 streams live and free on My5 at channel5.com and via the My5 app. No subscription is needed, though the service carries advertising. A free account registration is required for catch-up and on-demand content.

Is Channel 5 free?

Yes. Channel 5 is a free-to-air commercial broadcaster. There is no subscription or pay-TV requirement to watch it on Freeview, Freesat, Sky or Virgin Media, and My5 online is also free. The channel is funded by advertising.

Verdict

Tuesday’s schedule leans away from Channel 5’s usual patrol-car staples and into factual and history programming instead. Corfu and The Yorkshire Vet are comfortable, familiar territory, but the two new episodes either side of 8pm are the real draw: Inside Longleat has a genuine hazard to resolve in the lion enclosure, and Rinder and Goodman’s Roman Britain outing benefits from having two presenters with different strengths rather than one generalist. The Mountbatten documentary at 10:30pm is a heavier way to close the night than the channel’s usual crime-doc sign-off, but it earns the slot.

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Related: What’s On TV Tonight | Channel 5 Schedule | My5 Streaming Guide | Films on TV This Week