Full Channel 5 listings for Sunday 1 November 2026, with times in London local time.

Channel 5 hands the night to American football

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

Channel 5 has cleared the whole of Sunday’s primetime end for one thing: the Kansas City Chiefs at the Denver Broncos, live from 9pm and booked for three and a half hours. If the game runs to its slot, Channel 5 is still on the field at half past midnight. That is a long commitment for a channel that spends the rest of its evening on a documentary about a New York hotel and a consumer test of kitchen gadgets, and it tells you where the night’s weight sits.

The pick is the NFL, and the case for it is partly the opposition. At 9pm the rest of the dial offers Gogglebox on 4seven, This City Is Ours on BBC One, Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing on BBC Two and One Born Every Minute on E4. All are familiar Sunday habits. A live game is the one item on that list that loses its point if you wait until tomorrow, and that is its whole advantage over the competition. Four stars, with the caveat that a three-and-a-half-hour sports slot is a commitment only for someone who already cares.

The lead-in is the weaker half

Before kick-off, Channel 5 has two hours to fill. Great Hotels Through Time at 7pm is on The Plaza: New York’s Grand Hotel, and the choice is a sensible one: a New York subject placed ahead of an American sporting night. It faces Strictly Come Dancing on BBC One, which is the harder fight, so the audience here is people who have already decided against Strictly. Three stars, mainly for the coherence of the evening.

Air Fryers vs Microwaves: Which Is Better? at 8pm is the one I would skip. It is an hour of comparison on a question most households have answered with whichever appliance they already own. It runs against Blue Planet III on BBC One and Columbo on 5USA, and it loses to both on any measure of ambition. Two stars.

What the day looked like

Anyone tuning in earlier gets a different channel. The morning opens with Cruising with Jane McDonald: South America: Part One at 9.25, which runs for almost two hours. From 11.20 the schedule becomes a run of Christmas films, a few days into November: The Christmas Spark, An Antique Christmas and My Christmas Wish, each shown in two parts around Entertainment News On 5. The Christmas Spark dates from 2025; the other two are 2026 titles.

The afternoon’s other item worth marking is The Gunpowder Plot: The Countdown to Treason at 4.50pm, two hours long and four days before Bonfire Night. It is the right sort of programme for the date, and it gives Channel 5 a history strand before the evening’s documentaries. Three stars.

Overnight is quieter: George Michael: The Man & The Music at 12.30am, two hours of Must Have Ideas, then Secrets of the Royal Traditions back to back.


Also on TV tonight at 9pm

  • BBC One: This City Is Ours
  • BBC Two: Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
  • ITV1: Adultery
  • Channel 4: New: Bradley Walsh’s Million…
  • BBC Four: Shakespeare: Rise of a Genius
  • ITV2: Big Brother
  • ITV3: Midsomer Murders (from 8pm)
  • ITV4: Under Siege
  • E4: One Born Every Minute
  • More4: 999: On the Front Line

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


Frequently asked questions

What’s on Channel 5 tonight?

On Sunday 1 November 2026, Channel 5 shows Great Hotels Through Time at 7pm, Air Fryers vs Microwaves: Which Is Better? at 8pm and Live: NFL on 5 at 9pm.

Is there a film on Channel 5 tonight?

No. Channel 5 has no films in its evening schedule on Sunday 1 November 2026.

What time does Channel 5’s evening start?

The evening schedule starts with 5 News Weekend at 6.50pm.