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

Published: 16 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.

Thursday 17 September 2026 opens with Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles at 6pm, where Nick Knowles tours Romania and takes in Bran Castle. Steve Backshall’s bee documentary The Secret Life of Bees follows at 7pm, then new episodes of The Yorkshire Vet and All Creatures Great and Small run back to back from 8pm. A two-part true-crime documentary, Child Snatcher: Who Took Lynda & Dawn?, closes the night from 10:05pm, revisiting the 1980s Narborough murders. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Thursday 17 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Thursday 17 September 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Thursday’s overnight run opens with A&E After Dark just after midnight, then Cruise TV with LoveitBookit, an episode of Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles and a Castle repeat carry the small hours. The Highland Vet and The Wonderful World of Chocolate, both carrying the Visually Signed access service, follow from 3:35am, and a fresh Wonderful World of Chocolate edition leads into the day’s first Entertainment News on 5 bulletin before Milkshake! takes over from 5:25am.

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 drama Married to a Stranger. 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, Thursday 17 September 2026.

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

Nick Knowles heads to Romania this evening, taking in Bran Castle and one of the region’s salt mines (series 2, episode 3).

The Secret Life of Bees — Channel 5, 7pm

Steve Backshall turns his attention to bees, working through a slice of the roughly 270 species found in the UK, from honeybees to bumblebees. This is the first of two parts.

The Yorkshire Vet — Channel 5, 8pm

A new episode has Peter Wright treating an injured owl and a poorly calf, while colleague Shona Searson takes on a case involving shire horses. It’s a fresh instalment of a long-running series rather than a launch (series 23, episode 6).

All Creatures Great and Small — Channel 5, 9pm

Series seven continues in 1946, where a new vet arriving at Skeldale House unsettles the practice’s established order, and an unusual feline illness gives the team a case to puzzle over.

Child Snatcher: Who Took Lynda & Dawn? — Channel 5, 10:05pm

The first half of a two-part true-crime documentary looks back at the 1983 and 1986 Narborough murders of Lynda Mann and Dawn Ashworth in Leicestershire. This opening part covers the crimes themselves.

Child Snatcher: Who Took Lynda & Dawn? — Channel 5, 11:05pm

Part two follows the investigation, which became the world’s first murder case solved using DNA fingerprinting after a mass screening of local men led detectives to Colin Pitchfork.

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?

Thursday 17 September 2026 opens with Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles at 6pm, followed by The Secret Life of Bees at 7pm. New episodes of The Yorkshire Vet and All Creatures Great and Small run from 8pm, and the two-part documentary Child Snatcher: Who Took Lynda & Dawn? closes the night from 10:05pm. 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

Thursday’s line-up leans on the channel’s two dependable countryside strands before a change of tone. The Yorkshire Vet and All Creatures Great and Small at 8pm and 9pm are exactly what regular viewers expect, gentle and well made without needing to try hard. The real weight of the evening sits with Child Snatcher: Who Took Lynda & Dawn? from 10:05pm, a sober retelling of a genuinely historic case rather than the channel’s usual true-crime filler — the Narborough murders were the first to be solved by DNA fingerprinting, and the two-part structure gives the story room to breathe instead of rushing it into an hour.

Watch

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