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

Published: 24 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.

Tonight, Tuesday 25 August, 5 News with Dan Walker hands over to Motorhoming with Merton & Webster at 6pm, then a stage of the Vuelta a España condensed into an hour of highlights at 7pm. Motorway Cops opens a new episode at 8pm, before the evening’s biggest item: a fresh, 90-minute Tudors with Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman at 9pm. A cold-case documentary on the Alistair Wilson murder closes the night at 10:30pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Tuesday 25 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Tuesday 25 August 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Milkshake! opens Tuesday’s 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 crime drama: A Killer in the Family fills 2:20pm and Castle repeats at 4pm, before the short strand Love Nature closes out the schedule at 4:55pm, 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, Tuesday 25 August 2026.

Motorhoming with Merton & Webster — Channel 5, 6pm

Motorhoming with Merton & Webster (series 2, episode 2) has settled into a gentle rhythm since it launched: Paul Merton and Suki Webster on the road together, the marriage doing more of the entertaining than the destinations.

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

Tonight’s hour of Vuelta a España highlights covers stage four, a brutal loop that starts and finishes in Andorra la Vella over 104.8km and four categorised climbs. Rebecca Charlton presents; the stage is condensed to under an hour, so nobody needs to have watched it live on TNT Sports to follow it.

Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders — Channel 5, 8pm

A new episode (series 10, episode 5) puts patrols on the M6, where an untaxed car is pulled over and the driver turns out to be 16. What starts as a routine stop unravels into a stolen-goods inquiry with a TK Maxx theft at the other end of it.

The Tudors with Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman — Channel 5, 9pm

Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman’s history strand — the one that gave viewers The Victorians earlier this month — turns to the Tudors for a 90-minute look at 1588 and the Spanish Armada. Rinder tends to follow the figures who shaped events from the top; Goodman goes looking for the people who lived through them without a say in the matter. It’s the biggest commitment of Channel 5’s evening, and the extra half hour suggests the channel rates it.

Murder on the Doorstep: Who Killed Alistair Wilson? — Channel 5, 10:30pm

This documentary returns to a case that has resisted a solution for two decades: Alistair Wilson, a bank manager in Nairn, shot dead on his own doorstep in November 2004 in what still looks like a motiveless killing. No arrest has ever followed, and the film works back through the investigation rather than offering a tidy answer.

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?

Tuesday 25 August 2026 opens primetime at 6pm with Motorhoming with Merton & Webster, followed by Vuelta a España stage four highlights at 7pm. A new Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders takes the 8pm slot and a new, 90-minute Tudors with Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman follows at 9pm, before Murder on the Doorstep: Who Killed Alistair Wilson? closes the night 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

The night belongs to The Tudors at 9pm. Channel 5 has given Rob Rinder and Ruth Goodman’s history strand an extra half hour for the Armada story, which is usually a sign the channel expects it to be the one people remember from the schedule. Motorhoming with Merton & Webster is the softer, easier watch to open with, and the Vuelta highlights at 7pm do their job in under an hour without demanding anyone had followed the stage live. Motorway Cops at 8pm is Channel 5’s factual-crime formula running exactly as expected, and the Alistair Wilson documentary closing the night asks more of viewers who stay that late — a genuine cold case rather than a tidy true-crime wrap-up. Worth building the evening around the 9pm slot rather than watching start to finish.

Watch

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