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.

Friday’s primetime is a run of travel and factual programming rather than drama. Ibiza: Jewel of the Med opens the evening at 6pm and Tom Read Wilson’s Grand Tour follows at 7pm, before Alexander Armstrong in Sri Lanka and The Big Drought of 1975 take the 8pm and 9pm hours. Piers Morgan Uncensored: Dumps Air Force One? closes the night with a new episode at 10:30pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Friday 14 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Friday 14 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. My Husband’s Seven Wives (2024) takes the 2:20pm hour, part of Channel 5’s regular strand of one-off dramas built around deception within marriage; here two women who discover they share a husband join forces to expose the rest of his secret lives. 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, Friday 14 August 2026.

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

Episode five of the travelogue moves past the club scene the island is famous for and spends its hour on what actually keeps Ibiza standing the rest of the year: the old town, the farming villages and the fishing families who were there long before the superclubs arrived.

Tom Read Wilson’s Grand Tour — Channel 5, 7pm

Tom Read Wilson takes his second outing up Italy’s Lake Como before pushing on to Venice by hot air balloon for the carnival. A boat ride out to Villa Balbianello and a diversion into royal gossip along the way keep it from feeling like a straight scenery tour.

Alexander Armstrong in Sri Lanka — Channel 5, 8pm

Armstrong opens his new series on the island’s south coast, taking in Galle’s old fort walls and an elephant sanctuary inland. It’s a gentler brief than his quiz-show day job, and the presenting style suits it.

The Big Drought of 1975 — Channel 5, 9pm

A documentary look back at the heatwave that left much of Britain queuing at standpipes and rationing bathwater. The 1975 dry spell reshaped how the country planned for water shortages, and this hour traces that shift through archive footage and the people who lived through it.

Piers Morgan Uncensored: Dumps Air Force One? — Channel 5, 10:30pm

Trump says a catering container was his way off Air Force One during a security scare; this instalment picks that claim apart and asks who might have been endangered by it. Typical territory for the strand: a striking story tested rather than repeated at face value.

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?

Friday 14 August 2026 opens with Ibiza: Jewel of the Med at 6pm and Tom Read Wilson’s Grand Tour at 7pm, then Alexander Armstrong in Sri Lanka and The Big Drought of 1975 take the 8pm and 9pm hours. Piers Morgan Uncensored: Dumps Air Force One? closes the night with a new episode at 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

Friday leans on travel and factual programming rather than the channel’s usual crime staples. Two travelogues open the evening before The Big Drought of 1975 gives the schedule some substance at 9pm, and Piers Morgan Uncensored closes the night questioning Donald Trump’s claimed Air Force One escape. Nothing here is essential viewing, but it’s a solid enough alternative to the soaps running elsewhere at 8pm and 8:30pm.

Watch

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