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.

Thursday’s primetime is built around three back-to-back premieres. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Thursday 13 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Thursday 13 August 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

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. The Replacement Daughter (2024) takes the 2:20pm hour, one of a run of stand-alone dramas about betrayal and deception; this one has a woman offering to care for a girl whose mother is in a coma, with far from good intentions. 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, Thursday 13 August 2026.

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

The opener in this travelogue series settles into Crete for its first episode, the presenter working through the island’s coastline, hill towns and the odd tourist trap along the way.

Around the World in First Class — Channel 5, 7pm

A lighter look at luxury travel follows, with this instalment tracking premium cabins and five-star stopovers rather than the usual budget-airline grumbling that fills most travel telly.

The Yorkshire Vet Special: Peter’s Dream — Channel 5, 8pm

A new episode, and a change of pace for the long-running favourite. Peter Wright steps away from routine surgery to pursue a project close to home: creating spaces where owners can remember pets they’ve lost. It’s a softer, more personal hour than the usual clinic rounds.

Benidorm is Murder — Channel 5, 9pm

New tonight. The morning after a hen do, a member of the group turns up dead, and Rosa’s inquiries start pulling at grudges the holiday resort would rather keep buried. Third of six.

Killer at the Crime Scene — Channel 5, 10pm

New tonight. A blast at a beauty spa in California kills the owner and leaves three customers seriously hurt; forensic investigators trace it back to a motive built on fixation rather than money.

The Body in the Thames — Channel 5, 11:05pm

The series opener revisits the 2001 case of “Adam”, the boy whose remains were pulled from the river and whose identity took investigators into ritual killing networks spanning continents.

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?

Thursday 13 August 2026 opens with Crete: Jewel of the Med at 6pm and Around the World in First Class at 7pm, then primetime turns over to three new episodes: The Yorkshire Vet Special: Peter’s Dream at 8pm, Benidorm is Murder at 9pm and Killer at the Crime Scene at 10pm. The Body in the Thames 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

Three fresh episodes in a row from 8pm makes Thursday a busy night for the channel. The Yorkshire Vet Special breaks from the usual clinic format to follow Peter Wright’s personal project, then Benidorm is Murder and Killer at the Crime Scene keep the true-crime run going into the late slot. The Body in the Thames closes things out with older, harder material: a genuine cold case rather than a dramatised one.

Watch

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