Full Channel 5 listings for Wednesday 28 October 2026, with times in London local time.

Channel 5 saves its new series for the end of a four-hour factual run

See also: What's on tonight across all channels | Wednesday's TV guide

Channel 5 spends Wednesday night on documentary after documentary, and the one worth waiting for comes last. A&E After Dark starts its seventh series at 10pm, and it is the only programme on the evening that is opening something rather than filling a slot. If you only have an hour for Channel 5, make it that hour.

The case for it is partly about what it is up against. At 10pm the BBC has the news, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is on 5USA, and Max Payne is mid-way through on 5Star. A&E After Dark runs 65 minutes, five minutes longer than any other primetime hour, which tells you the channel expects people to stay put. The late slot also suits the title. A health documentary after dark is a different proposition to the same material at teatime, and a series opener is the one place a returning format gets to make its case from scratch.

Before that, the evening is a procession of hour-long factual shows with very little to separate them. Murder Scene: The Incident Room is the strongest of the lead-in. It goes out at 8pm in its third series, the fifth episode of it, and it is a programme Channel 5 clearly likes: it turns up on the schedule again and again. Its rivals at that time are Celebrity Race Across the World on BBC One and The Repair Shop on BBC Two, so this is a choice for viewers who want something darker than either. It is solid and unfussy.

Cause of Death at 9pm is the same shape of evening one hour on: a documentary with a medical label, in its fourth series. It faces Who Do You Think You Are? on BBC One, which is a much gentler watch, and the Max Payne film on 5Star. I would call it a reasonable bridge between the 8pm and 10pm programmes and not a destination.

Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law opens primetime at 7pm. It is a reality-and-law hour that sits against The One Show and NCIS, and it has aired more than once recently. That is why it gets the lowest mark here.

The early evening has a better idea than any of that. Portugal with Michael Portillo is on at 6pm with the Algarve, the third in the series, and it is on twice in the day, with Braga and Ponte de Lima at 3am. If you want something that is not a crime or a hospital, this is where the channel changes pace. Anyone who wants to catch up on the series can find the earlier episode in the overnight hours.

Elsewhere the day is the usual Channel 5 mix: a long morning of chat from Jeremy Vine, Storm & Alexis and Matt Allwright, a 2pm thriller called The Kept Mistress Killer, and Bargain-Loving Brits in the Sun at 4pm. Children’s animation fills the mornings until nine. At 11.05pm Ambulance: Code Red follows A&E After Dark, which means the channel’s night closes on a second hospital documentary right after the first. Those who like that kind of thing can stay up for both.


Also on TV tonight at 9pm

  • BBC One: Who Do You Think You Are?
  • BBC Two: Spotlight
  • ITV1: Carabao Cup: Liverpool v Chelsea (from 7.30pm)
  • Channel 4: Grand Designs
  • BBC Four: The Planets
  • ITV2: Big Brother
  • ITV3: Midsomer Murders (from 8pm)
  • ITV4: Sharpe (from 7.20pm)
  • E4: Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares USA
  • More4: Our Tiny Islands

Every channel tonight, side by side · Films on TV tonight · Tomorrow’s TV


Frequently asked questions

What’s on Channel 5 tonight?

On Wednesday 28 October 2026, Channel 5 shows Fare Dodgers: At War With The Law at 7pm, Murder Scene: The Incident Room at 8pm, Cause of Death at 9pm and A&E After Dark at 10pm.

Is there a film on Channel 5 tonight?

No. Channel 5 has no films in its evening schedule on Wednesday 28 October 2026.

What’s on Channel 5 late tonight?

After 11pm, Channel 5 has Ambulance: Code Red at 11.05pm.

What time does Channel 5’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with Portugal with Michael Portillo at 6pm.