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

Published: 29 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, Sunday 30 August, Channel 5’s evening opens with nostalgia rather than a documentary: Britain’s Favourite Ads of the 70s & 80s runs the best part of two hours from 5pm, ahead of 5 News Weekend at 6:50pm and highlights of stage nine of the Vuelta a España at 7pm, a brutal mountain stage finishing at altitude on Alto de Aitana. Inside Four Seasons: Park Lane follows at 8pm and Rich House, Poor House takes 9pm. The Most Embarrassing TV Moments closes the schedule from 10pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Sunday 30 August 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Sunday 30 August 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Sunday’s daytime on Channel 5 is built around children’s programming rather than the factual documentaries a weekday brings. Milkshake! runs from 5:35am to just after 8am, before Animal Care Club brings a new episode at 8:10am, followed by a new instalment of The Smurfs, then The Creature Cases and The Patrick Star Show.

Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun takes 9:10am, and Super Dogs with Extraordinary Jobs fills the next two hours in a pair of episodes. Clifford the Big Red Dog gets two outings either side of the lunchtime news bulletin, before Cruising Islands of the Med with Jane McDonald holds nearly two hours from 1:40pm.

The Great Flood of 1968 takes 3:30pm, before Britain’s Favourite Ads of the 70s & 80s opens the evening at 5pm and runs through to 6:50pm.

Channel 5 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

Here’s the Channel 5 primetime line-up for tonight, Sunday 30 August 2026.

Britain’s Favourite Ads of the 70s & 80s — Channel 5, 5pm

The evening actually starts here, not with the news bulletin that follows it. This 110-minute nostalgia trawl runs from 5pm to 6:50pm, with Jenny Eclair, Lorraine Chase, Hal Cruttenden and Darren Harriott among those picking through decades of jingles and slogans. 5 News Weekend takes the headlines at 6:50pm before the evening’s sport begins.

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

Rebecca Charlton presents highlights of stage nine, a 187.4km mountain test from La Vila Joiosa to a summit finish at Alto de Aitana with close to 5,000 metres of climbing packed in. After a flat stage the day before, this is where the general classification could properly move.

Inside Four Seasons: Park Lane — Channel 5, 8pm

A new instalment of the fly-on-the-wall series set inside the Mayfair hotel, following staff and guests through the daily business of running a five-star operation on Park Lane.

Rich House, Poor House — Channel 5, 9pm

Two households from opposite ends of the income scale swap budgets and living arrangements for a week, the series’ long-running formula for testing what money actually buys.

The Most Embarrassing TV Moments — Channel 5, 10pm

A two-hour-five clip show digging back through decades of on-screen mishaps and mistimed live TV, closing out the schedule rather than opening a new documentary strand.

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?

Sunday 30 August 2026 opens Channel 5’s evening with Britain’s Favourite Ads of the 70s & 80s from 5pm, then highlights of stage nine of the Vuelta a España at 7pm. Inside Four Seasons: Park Lane takes the 8pm slot, and Rich House, Poor House holds 9pm. The Most Embarrassing TV Moments closes the schedule from 10pm. 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

Channel 5’s Sunday is built for easy viewing rather than one big event. Britain’s Favourite Ads of the 70s & 80s is comfortable nostalgia rather than appointment television, but it does hold the whole run-in to primetime. The Vuelta a España highlights at 7pm are worth a look even without following the wider race, since stage nine’s summit finish at Alto de Aitana is the sort of stage that can shuffle the general classification. Inside Four Seasons: Park Lane and Rich House, Poor House are both solid mid-evening factual entertainment rather than must-see. The Most Embarrassing TV Moments closes the night on the lightest note of all, a clip show built for half-attention rather than full focus.

Watch

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