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

Published: 14 September 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.

Tuesday 15 September 2026 reshuffles the early evening: Amazing Railway Journeys with Nick Knowles opens at 6pm and Police Interceptors moves an hour earlier than its usual slot into 7pm. New episodes of Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders and Forever Home follow at 8pm and 9pm, then two true-crime titles, Killed by My Daughter: Murdered in Paradise and Buried Secrets: The Body in the Carpet, close out the night from 10pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Tuesday 15 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Tuesday 15 September 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Tuesday’s overnight run opens with Cruise TV with LoveitBookit at 1am, then an episode of Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles and a Castle repeat carry the small hours. A Cruising with Susan Calman edition, carrying the Visually Signed access service, follows at 3:40am, and a Wonderful World of Chocolate double bill from 4:30am leads into a fresh Entertainment News on 5 bulletin before Milkshake! takes over from 5:35am with PAW Patrol, Peppa Pig and Tweedy & Fluff among its line-up.

Breakfast stays with children’s programming — Milo, then a second Milkshake! block featuring Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, running through to 9:15am.

Jeremy Vine takes the late-morning slot, and Storm & Alexis fills the run-up to lunchtime. 5 News at Lunchtime opens the afternoon, followed by Matt Allwright and the true-crime film Lies and Ex-Wives: Secrets on Maple Street. A repeat of Castle and a short Love Nature segment close out the afternoon ahead of the 5pm news and tonight’s line-up.

Channel 5 tonight — primetime and the evening schedule

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

Amazing Railway Journeys with Nick Knowles — Channel 5, 6pm

Nick Knowles opens the evening with a European leg (series 2, episode 1), tracing rail lines through Prague, Bratislava and Budapest rather than the UK branch lines the format usually favours.

Police Interceptors — Channel 5, 7pm

The long-running road-policing strand shifts an hour earlier than its usual 8pm berth tonight (series 22, episode 1). Officers pursue a car running with obscured plates, the kind of stop that opens most episodes but rarely ends the way the driver hopes.

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

A new episode (series 10, episode 8) takes the slot Police Interceptors has vacated. Officers Lucy Pond and Nick James back up a chase involving a Renault Megane whose driver won’t pull over, ending with the car crashing into parked vehicles, while a separate crew works the M6 looking for a Skoda tied to a drugs case.

Forever Home — Channel 5, 9pm

Douglas Henshall and Amy Nuttall’s psychological drama continues with a second instalment (series 1, episode 2). A shocking turn leaves Carol shaken as Robert’s behaviour grows harder to explain away.

Killed by My Daughter: Murdered in Paradise — Channel 5, 10pm

A true-crime feature built around a family trip to Bali that ended, unusually for the format’s title, in a killing rather than a disappearance.

Buried Secrets: The Body in the Carpet — Channel 5, 11:20pm

The series returns to the case of Karen Price, the 15-year-old whose murder went unsolved for decades until detective work finally closed it (series 1, episode 3).

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 15 September 2026 opens with Amazing Railway Journeys with Nick Knowles at 6pm. Police Interceptors moves an hour earlier than its usual slot into 7pm, then new episodes of Motorway Cops: Catching Britain’s Speeders and Forever Home take the 8pm and 9pm hours. Killed by My Daughter: Murdered in Paradise and Buried Secrets: The Body in the Carpet close the night 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

Tuesday’s reshuffle works in the schedule’s favour. Forever Home at 9pm is the pick: Douglas Henshall and Amy Nuttall are carrying a slow-building drama that earns its hour rather than padding it out, and episode two raises the stakes without tipping into melodrama. Motorway Cops ahead of it at 8pm does the job the road-policing format always does, competently and without surprises, and Police Interceptors an hour earlier covers similar ground with a longer track record behind it. The two true-crime titles closing the night, Killed by My Daughter and Buried Secrets, sit well back to back rather than fighting each other for attention.

Watch

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