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.

Saturday’s schedule is a royal double bill either side of the 5 News Weekend bulletin at 6:55pm. Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast returns with a new episode at 7pm, Princess Anne: Royal Rule Breaker takes the 8pm hour, and Royal Heirs and Spares: Rivalry & Resentment follows at 9:30pm. When Live TV Goes Horribly Wrong closes out the night at 11:05pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Saturday 15 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Saturday 15 August 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Saturday mornings belong to the children’s audience rather than the weekday presenter line-up. Milkshake! runs from before 6am, working through Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go!, Fireman Sam, Tim Rex in Space and Peppa Pig before the strand’s own film slot, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, fills the 7:35am hour outright. Entertainment News on 5 signs off the children’s run at 9:05am.

From there the schedule turns to Channel 5’s house style of property, royalty and travel factual. Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun Cutdowns and Secrets of the Royal Palaces run back to back mid-morning, then Yorkshire’s Poshest Hotel: Grantley Hall gets a double bill through to lunchtime, moving from a Tennessee couple’s wedding to the hotel’s Christmas preparations. The new episode of The Royals: Uncensored takes the 12:40pm slot, and two more instalments of Coastal Adventures with Helen, Jules & JB cover the afternoon before a feature-length The Yorkshire Vet: A Decade in the Moors & Dales marks ten years of the Skeldale team at 3:35pm. Ken Dodd: 60 Years of Laughter closes the daytime run at 5pm, ahead of the 6:55pm news.

Channel 5 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 5 primetime line-up for tonight, Saturday 15 August 2026.

5 News Weekend — Channel 5, 6:55pm

5 News Weekend opens the evening at 6:55pm with the day’s headlines before the primetime schedule gets under way.

Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast — Channel 5, 7pm

Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast returns at 7pm for a fourth episode. This instalment follows the repair of an old piano inside Brighton’s Royal Pavilion and takes in conservation work under way at Chichester Cathedral, two very different projects that both rest on skills passed down over generations.

Princess Anne: Royal Rule Breaker — Channel 5, 8pm

The 8pm hour is given over to Princess Anne: Royal Rule Breaker, a full profile of the one royal who has spent decades quietly ignoring the playbook the rest of the family sticks to. People who worked alongside her, plus a run of royal-watchers, build the picture of someone who chose duty over image and never much cared how that looked from outside. It’s a rare chance to see her get the feature-length treatment usually reserved for her siblings and children.

Royal Heirs and Spares: Rivalry & Resentment — Channel 5, 9:30pm

Royal Heirs and Spares: Rivalry & Resentment follows at 9:30pm, tracing a pattern that keeps repeating across the monarchy: two siblings, one destined for the throne and one not, and the friction that grows out of that imbalance. The film ranges back over a hundred years rather than sticking to the present-day comparisons most royal documentaries reach for first.

When Live TV Goes Horribly Wrong — Channel 5, 11:05pm

Late night belongs to When Live TV Goes Horribly Wrong at 11:05pm, a clip compilation of broadcasts that fell apart on air, presented by Richard Arnold.

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?

Saturday 15 August 2026 opens with 5 News Weekend at 6:55pm, then a new episode of Sussex: Jewel of the South Coast at 7pm. Princess Anne: Royal Rule Breaker takes the 8pm hour and Royal Heirs and Spares: Rivalry & Resentment follows at 9:30pm. When Live TV Goes Horribly Wrong closes the night at 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

Saturday commits fully to the royal documentary strand, pairing a rare deep dive into Princess Anne’s life with a wider look at how royal siblings end up at odds with one another. There’s no drama or big entertainment format in the mix, just an hour and a half of biography followed by an hour and a half of history, before the mood lightens for the clip show that closes the night. It’s a schedule for viewers who came for the royals angle specifically, rather than anyone hunting for a Saturday-night spectacle.

Watch

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