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.

Wednesday’s primetime is stacked with new episodes. Sicily: Jewel of the Med opens the evening at 6pm, then three genuine premieres run back to back: Car Pound Cops at 7pm, Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts at 8pm and 999: Critical Condition at 9pm. Ambulance: Code Red and Cause of Death close out the night. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Wednesday 12 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Wednesday 12 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. Deadly Secrets (2023) is one of five standalone stories screened under that title, each built around betrayal and deception; today’s entry centres on a woman carrying out a string of high-profile burglaries to clear her parents’ debts. 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, Wednesday 12 August 2026.

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

This episode (series 1, episode 6) takes in Mount Etna and the coastline, with the island’s Roman, Greek and Arab layers surfacing in the food and the buildings as much as the scenery. It’s a gentle, postcard-friendly opener before the evening turns to reality and true crime.

Car Pound Cops — Channel 5, 7pm

A new run begins (series 2, episode 7), with cameras given access inside the pounds as well as with the police, councils and other agencies who seize the vehicles in the first place. It’s the paperwork side of motoring enforcement rather than the pursuit side, and the series has built a niche out of that.

Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts — Channel 5, 8pm

The new series opener (series 12, episode 1) is set at Barnsley’s A&E, where an overnight burst pipe forces staff to move patients mid-shift. One case the next day involves a man whose oxygen levels have dropped to a dangerous point, and the strand’s usual pressure builds from there.

999: Critical Condition — Channel 5, 9pm

Series six begins (episode 5) with three cases running in parallel: a collapse that turns critical, a car crash with the threat of permanent injury, and an elderly patient whose chest injuries put him at risk of pneumonia. The format sticks to its formula of paramedics narrating their own footage.

Ambulance: Code Red — Channel 5, 10pm

Series three continues (episode 8) with a driver suffering a suspected cardiac arrest at the wheel, and, in a lighter contrast, a holiday cut short when a guest falls out of a hot tub in a remote log cabin.

Cause of Death — Channel 5, 11:05pm

This episode (series 3, episode 9) reopens the case of a homeless man found dead in temporary accommodation in Blackburn. What looks at first like a routine call turns out to have a more complicated set of circumstances behind it, and the question of whether he was attacked runs through the investigation.

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?

Wednesday 12 August 2026 opens with Sicily: Jewel of the Med at 6pm, then primetime turns over almost entirely to new episodes: Car Pound Cops at 7pm, Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts at 8pm and 999: Critical Condition at 9pm. Ambulance: Code Red takes the 10pm hour, and Cause of Death closes the night from 11:05pm. 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

Wednesday is a heavy night for premieres, even by Channel 5’s standards. Sicily: Jewel of the Med is the settled opener, but the run from 7pm to 9pm is where the channel is putting its effort: Car Pound Cops, Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts and 999: Critical Condition all land new episodes back to back, and that’s an unusually dense stretch of first-run factual for a Wednesday. Ambulance: Code Red and Cause of Death carry the night through to close, sticking to the emergency-services and true-crime territory the schedule is built on.

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