Channel 5 TV Guide: Listings, Schedule & What’s On Channel 5 Tonight

Published: 23 August 2026

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.

It’s a Monday, so 5 News with Dan Walker hands over to a full weeknight primetime run: Motorhoming with Merton & Webster at 6pm, Vuelta a España stage three highlights at 7pm, then a run of factual-crime titles through the back half of the evening — Street Cops: Catching the Yobs at 8pm, Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law at 9pm, Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs at 10pm and Traffic Cops closing the night at 11:05pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Monday 24 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Monday 24 August 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Milkshake! opens the Monday schedule at 5:35am and runs through breakfast, cycling through PAW Patrol, The Adventures of Paddington, Peppa Pig, Tweedy & Fluff, Thomas & Friends and Fireman Sam before closing out with Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom and a first outing for The Real Pup Squad at 9:05am.

Jeremy Vine takes over at 9:15am for two and a quarter hours, the channel’s longest-running weekday strand, before Storm & Alexis picks up the mid-morning slot at 11:30am. 5 News at Lunchtime breaks in at 12:45pm ahead of Matt Allwright, who spends ninety minutes from 12:50pm on consumer complaints and money-saving advice.

The afternoon turns to drama: A View to Kill For‘s thriller anthology fills 2:20pm and Castle repeats at 4pm, before the short strand Love Nature closes out the schedule at 4:55pm with a piece on hand-harvested Anglesey sea salt, ahead of 5 News with Dan Walker at 5pm.

Channel 5 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 5 primetime line-up for tonight, Monday 24 August 2026.

Motorhoming with Merton & Webster — Channel 5, 6pm

Paul Merton and his wife Suki Webster open the second series of their motorhome format with a trip to Cornwall, taking in sea views, seal-watching and a vineyard visit for a birthday. The pull here is the married-couple banter rather than the vehicle itself.

Cycling: Vuelta a Espana 2026 — Channel 5, 7pm

Rebecca Charlton talks viewers through an edited hour from the Vuelta’s third stage, a 174-kilometre ride through medium mountains that starts on the coast at Gruissan and ends on the climb into Font-Romeu. This is a highlights package rather than coverage as it happens, and a different route from the Monaco-to-Manosque stage shown the previous night.

Street Cops: Catching the Yobs — Channel 5, 8pm

Officers respond after a bank customer turns violent towards police on a high street, while a separate team follows what looks like a drug handover in a nearby park. Series 2, episode 5.

Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law — Channel 5, 9pm

TfL investigators pursue a suspected serial fare evader accused of dodging around £2,000 in Elizabeth line fares, while undercover officers on the tram network deal with a passenger known for aggression. Series 3, episode 4.

Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs — Channel 5, 10pm

Officers pool intelligence gathered from 23 police forces around the country while chasing a man with alleged organised-crime links, connected to an estimated £78,000 of stolen goods. This is a separate run from the Police Interceptors episodes airing on 5Action earlier tonight.

Traffic Cops — Channel 5, 11:05pm

Series 12 returns to North Yorkshire, where officers guard lorry drivers and their loads from organised gangs targeting HGVs; one crew responds to a hijack involving roughly £1 million worth of goods. 5Star’s daytime repeats are drawn from the earlier series 11, so don’t expect the same case files.

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?

Monday 24 August 2026 opens primetime at 6pm with Motorhoming with Merton & Webster, followed by Vuelta a España stage three highlights at 7pm. Street Cops: Catching the Yobs takes the 8pm slot and Fare Dodgers: At War with the Law follows at 9pm, before Police Interceptors: Taking Down the Shoplifting Gangs at 10pm and Traffic Cops closing 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

Tonight’s strongest pull is the opener: Motorhoming with Merton & Webster trades on Paul Merton and Suki Webster’s marriage more than their tour of Cornwall, and it sets a warmer tone than the rest of the evening. From 8pm the schedule settles into Channel 5’s well-worn factual-crime lane, with Street Cops, Fare Dodgers and Police Interceptors run back to back, each built around a different arm of law enforcement and real operational footage. The Vuelta highlights at 7pm work as a change of pace between the two moods, condensing a mountain stage into an hour without needing to be watched as it happens. None of it is essential, but Motorhoming is worth setting time aside for; the crime hour after it is easy enough to dip in and out of.

Watch

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