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

Published: 22 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.

Wednesday 23 September 2026 swaps the crime-drama slots for a consumer and factual run: The Big Steam Train Adventure opens at 6pm, then new episodes of The Secrets of Your Phone: They Don’t Want You to Know and Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up! dig into phone security and High Court enforcement at 7pm and 8pm. The murder-mystery drama Forever Home continues at 9pm, and new instalments of A&E: Crash Scene Emergency and Ambulance: Code Red close out the night from 10pm. Full times are in the table below.

Channel 5 Schedule: Wednesday 23 September 2026 (Full Listings)

Here is the complete Channel 5 schedule for Wednesday 23 September 2026, on Freeview 5.

Overnight

Breakfast

Morning

Afternoon

Early evening

Primetime

Late night

What’s on Channel 5 today — the daytime schedule

Overnight opens with an hour of Cruise TV with LoveitBookit shopping content just after 1am, then Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles revisits an earlier trip at 2am. An episode of Castle and a The King’s Guard: Serving the Crown double bill carry the small hours, before Milkshake! takes over from 5:25am for a three-hour run of pre-school programming.

Milo breaks up the Milkshake! run at 8:25am, and Jeremy Vine‘s talk show follows at 9:15am. Storm & Alexis fills the back end of the morning from 11:30am, then 5 News at Lunchtime hands over to Matt Allwright‘s consumer show. A Good Friday to Die runs from 2:20pm, followed by another episode of Castle and the wildlife filler Love Nature, 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, Wednesday 23 September 2026.

The Big Steam Train Adventure — Channel 5, 6pm

John, Peter and Paul continue their journey from Peterborough towards York in episode two of the series.

The Secrets of Your Phone: They Don’t Want You to Know — Channel 5, 7pm

A new episode sees Alexis Conran run a live experiment into how much a smartphone can give away without its owner realising, testing surveillance claims that sound far-fetched until they aren’t.

Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up! — Channel 5, 8pm

Series four continues with High Court enforcement agents recovering unpaid housing charges, one of the harder debt categories the series covers because the money involved often can’t simply be found.

Forever Home — Channel 5, 9pm

The murder-mystery drama, adapted from Graham Norton’s novel and led by Amy Nuttall, Douglas Henshall, Denise Welch and Kevin Whately, continues: a body buried in a family cellar has left a woman wondering whether the husband who never wanted to sell the house had something to hide.

A&E: Crash Scene Emergency — Channel 5, 10pm

A new episode follows trauma teams at work, including a hand-separation surgery among tonight’s cases.

Ambulance: Code Red — Channel 5, 11:05pm

Critical care crews respond to a run of emergencies as the series closes out the night.

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?

Wednesday 23 September 2026 runs a consumer and factual evening: The Big Steam Train Adventure opens at 6pm, then new episodes of The Secrets of Your Phone: They Don’t Want You to Know at 7pm and Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up! at 8pm. The drama Forever Home continues at 9pm, and new episodes of A&E: Crash Scene Emergency and Ambulance: Code Red 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

Wednesday swaps out the crime-drama pairing for something more varied. The Secrets of Your Phone: They Don’t Want You to Know at 7pm and Call the Bailiffs: Time to Pay Up! at 8pm both dig into real financial and digital vulnerability, which suits Channel 5’s factual strengths better than most nights manage. Forever Home at 9pm is worth noting if you haven’t caught the earlier episodes: a slow-burn mystery rather than a procedural, better started from the beginning than dropped into episode six cold. A&E: Crash Scene Emergency and Ambulance: Code Red close out the night from 10pm, both doing what they always do without much need for introduction. The Big Steam Train Adventure at 6pm is comfortable lead-in viewing before any of that starts.

Watch

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