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The Best TV Shows on Channel 5

Every Channel 5 Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Channel 5’s extensive portfolio includes more than 20 shows, spanning the years from 1977 to 2021. Our curated list, current as of December 2024, showcases over 20 of Channel 5’s highest-rated series. Among Channel 5’s finest offerings are The World's Strongest Man and Thomas & Friends, which debuted in 1977 and 1984, respectively.

  • Mayday
    Mayday (2003)8.2

    Major real-life air disasters are depicted in this series. Each episode features a detailed dramatized reconstruction of the incident based on cockpit voice recorders and air traffic control transcripts, as well as eyewitnesses recounts and interviews with aviation experts.

  • All Creatures Great & Small
    All Creatures Great & Small (2020)8.1

    The heartwarming and humorous adventures of a young country vet in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s. A remake of the 1978 series.

  • Police Interceptors
    Police Interceptors (2008)7.8

    Documentary series profiling the work of high-speed police units across Britain.

  • Banged Up Abroad
    Banged Up Abroad (2007)7.7

    Documentary series where viewers are taken inside accounts of capture, incarceration, and terror far away from home with intimate personal interviews and dramatic reenactments.

  • Inside the World's Toughest Prisons
    Inside the World's Toughest Prisons (2016)7.1

    Crime journalist Raphael Rowe goes behind the bars of some of the world’s most notorious and toughest prisons. Immersing himself in maximum security facilities around the world to live as a prisoner, he encounters the inmates locked up for their crimes and meets the men and women on the right side of law tasked with keeping the criminals behind bars.

  • Thomas & Friends
    Thomas & Friends (1984)6.7

    Thomas & Friends is a British children's television series, which had its first broadcast on the ITV network on 4 September 1984. It is based on The Railway Series of books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry. These books deal with the adventures of a group of anthropomorphised locomotives and road vehicles who live on the fictional Island of Sodor. The books were based on stories Wilbert told to entertain his son, Christopher during his recovery from measles. From Series one to four, many of the stories are based on events from Awdry's personal experience.

  • The Tribe
    The Tribe (1999)6.7

    The Tribe is a New Zealand/British post-apocalyptic fictional TV series primarily aimed at teenagers. It is set in a near-future in which all adults have been wiped out by a deadly virus, leaving the children of the world to fend for themselves. The show's focus is on an unnamed city inhabited by tribes of children and teenagers. It was primarily filmed in and around Wellington, New Zealand. The series was created by Raymond Thompson and Harry Duffin and was developed and produced by the Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group in conjunction with the UK's Channel 5. It has aired on over 40 broadcast networks around the world.

  • Peppa Pig
    Peppa Pig (2004)6.6

    Peppa Pig is an energetic piggy who lives with Mummy, Daddy, and little brother George. She loves to jump in mud puddles and make loud snorting noises.

  • The Gadget Show
    The Gadget Show (2004)6.6

    The Gadget Show is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5 is currently presented by Jason Bradbury and Rachel Riley with Jon Bentley and Pollyanna Woodward. Originally a thirty-minute show, it was extended to forty-five minutes, then later to sixty minutes. Repeats have also aired on the digital channel 5*, syndicated broadcasts on Discovery Science and Dave, and Channel 5's Internet on-demand service Demand 5. In Australia, it is aired on The Lifestyle Channel.

  • Dalgliesh
    Dalgliesh (2021)6.4

    A recent widower and acclaimed poet, enigmatic Inspector Adam Dalgliesh employs his exceptional empathy and insight to plumb the darker depths of the human psyche while investigating complex crimes in 1970s England.

  • Fireman Sam
    Fireman Sam (1987)6.2

    Follow the adventures of fireman Sam and his colleagues as they protect the citizens of the Welsh town of Pontypandy. Whenever the alarm sounds, brave Sam and his co-workers can be counted on to jump into a fire engine, hop onto a helicopter, or even launch an inflatable lifeboat to battle blazes, mount rescue missions, or provide medical attention to those in need.

  • The Yorkshire Vet
    The Yorkshire Vet (2015)5.7

    Documentary about Yorkshire vet Julian Norton, his business partner Peter Wright and their team as they administer modern-day medical and surgical aid to creatures great and small. From bulldogs to bullocks, there are no creatures too large or too small for these vets.

  • The Mr. Men Show
    The Mr. Men Show (2008)5.5

    The Mr. Men Show was an animated television series based on the original Mr. Men and Little Miss books created in the 1970s, 80s and 90s by British author Roger Hargreaves and his son Adam Hargreaves. Adapted from the published source material into a television variety program, The Mr. Men Show features comedy sketches, pantomimes, dance numbers and music videos. The TV series is directed by Mark Risley and executive produced by Eryk Casemiro & Kate Boutilier. Original score and songs are composed by Jared Faber. Season 1 first aired on February 4, 2008 and Season 2 aired on September 8, 2009.

  • Fifth Gear
    Fifth Gear (2002)5.2

    Getting viewers up to speed on all the latest automotive information, with new car reviews, second hand bargains and industry tidbits being the focus of this magazine show.

  • A Girl's Guide to 21st Century Sex
    A Girl's Guide to 21st Century Sex (2006)5.2

    A Girl's Guide to 21st Century Sex is a documentary TV series about sex, which ran in eight episodes on Channel 5 and was presented by Dr. Catherine Hood. The 45-minute long episodes were broadcast on Monday nights. The series started on 30 October 2006, with the final programme broadcast on 18 December 2006. Each episode explained a sex position and covered a sexually transmitted disease. Additionally, the following topics were discussed: sex among handicapped and overweight people, penis enlargement devices, penis enlargement surgery, sexual violence against men and penis removal, tantric sex, the g-spot, erectile dysfunction, sex reassignment surgery, cosmetic surgery of the vagina, swinging, lichen sclerosus, the use of recreational drugs during sex, male homosexual sex in public toilets, full body plastic wrap bondage, and sex dolls. The programme included close shots of the male and female body as well as footage of sexual intercourse and ejaculation filmed with an internal camera placed inside the vagina. These scenes were filmed using Australian-born pornographic actress Elizabeth Lawrence and English-born pornographic actor Stefan Hard.

  • Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom
    Ben & Holly's Little Kingdom (2009)5.2

    The friendship between fairy princess Holly and Ben Elf in an enchanted magical kingdom of elves and fairies.

  • Celebrity Big Brother
    Celebrity Big Brother (2001)4.7

    Celebrity Big Brother is a British reality television game show in which a number of celebrity contestants live in an isolated house trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize being donated to the winner's nominated charity at the end of the run.

  • Big Brother
    Big Brother (2000)3.9

    A British reality television game show in which a number of contestants live in an isolated house for several weeks, trying to avoid being evicted by the public with the aim of winning a large cash prize at the end of the run.

  • Family Affairs
    Family Affairs (1997)2.8

    Focuses on the lives of residents in the fictional London suburb of Charnham.

  • The World's Strongest Man
    The World's Strongest Man (1977)N/A

    Athletes compete for a place in the World Finals.