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.

Tonight it’s an emergency-services evening. Capri: Jewel of the Med opens at 6pm before Car Pound Cops takes the 7pm slot, then three new episodes run back to back: Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts at 8pm, 999: Critical Condition at 9pm and A&E: Crash Scene Emergency at 10pm. Ambulance: Code Red closes out primetime at 11:05pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Wednesday 19 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Wednesday 19 August 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Wednesday runs the channel’s standard weekday timetable. Overnight repeats give way to Milkshake! from 5:35am, carrying the channel through to just after 9am with Paddington, Peppa Pig and the rest of the strand’s usual mix. Jeremy Vine picks up the mid-morning slot at 9:15am and holds it for over two hours, followed by Storm & Alexis at 11:30am ahead of the lunchtime bulletin.

5 News at Lunchtime breaks up the schedule just before 1pm, then Matt Allwright runs the early afternoon. The Body in the Attic takes the 2:20pm hour, Castle repeats at 4pm and a short Love Nature film leads into 5 News with Dan Walker at 5pm. Capri: Jewel of the Med closes out the daytime run at 6pm, just ahead of primetime.

Channel 5 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 5 primetime line-up for tonight, Wednesday 19 August 2026 — four hours running almost entirely on blue-light access documentaries.

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

The travel strand moves on from Gibraltar to the Italian island for episode nine, an early-evening watch rather than appointment viewing.

Car Pound Cops — Channel 5, 7pm

A new episode (series 2, episode 8) follows enforcement officers clamping, towing and reclaiming vehicles left illegally parked or unlicensed. It’s the warm-up act before the night’s heavier factual block.

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

The channel’s longest-running fly-on-the-wall hospital strand returns with a new episode (series 12, episode 2), cameras following patients and staff through an A&E department in real time. This is the one to plan the evening around if you only watch one thing.

999: Critical Condition — Channel 5, 9pm

A new episode (series 6, episode 6) keeps the same access format but shifts to paramedics and call handlers, tracking incidents from the first 999 call through to hospital handover.

A&E: Crash Scene Emergency — Channel 5, 10pm

A new episode (series 1, episode 2) closes out the emergency-services run, this time with a road-traffic-collision focus.

Ambulance: Code Red — Channel 5, 11:05pm

Series 3, episode 9 rounds off the night with more front-line paramedic footage before the schedule moves into repeats.

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 19 August 2026 opens primetime with Capri: Jewel of the Med at 6pm, followed by a new episode of Car Pound Cops at 7pm. New instalments of Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts and 999: Critical Condition follow at 8pm and 9pm, and a new A&E: Crash Scene Emergency takes the 10pm hour. Ambulance: Code Red rounds off 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

Wednesday leans harder into blue-light factual than most nights on this channel. Capri: Jewel of the Med keeps the early evening gentle, then Car Pound Cops hands over to three new episodes in a row: Casualty 24/7: Every Second Counts, 999: Critical Condition and A&E: Crash Scene Emergency. That’s an unusually dense run of first-broadcasts for one evening, and Ambulance: Code Red at 11:05pm makes it four if you count the closer. Anyone who likes the channel’s emergency-services strand has plenty to choose from tonight; anyone after variety may find the back half samey.

Watch

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