Channel 5 was launched in 30th March 1997, becoming the fifth national "terrestrial" channel in the United Kingdom. The channel started broadcasting from 6:00pm, featuring the Spice Girls singing Manfred Mann's hit "5-4-3-2-1", with lyrics changed to "1-2-3-4-5" for the channel! Other programming on the channel included the premiere of Beyond Fear, which featured Sylvester McCoy playing Michael Sams.

It was originally operated by Channel 5 Broadcasting, who won the licence in 1995 after a couple of years of compaigns by various companies (such as Time Warner and UKTV); initial difficulties with the channel were down to its transmission frequency range, which had originally been used for VHS video recorders (introduced into the UK domestic market well over a decade and a half before). There were further issues owing to accessibility of the frequency in parts of the UK - problems of which were overcome through other platforms such as cable and satellite, and the move to digital broadcasts.

The channel was taken over by the RTL Group in 2002, where it was rebranded as simply Five. It was then purchased by Richard Desmond in 2010, whereupon the name was restored to Channel 5 in February 2011. On the 1st May 2014 the channel was acquired by Viacom.

As a commerical station in the United Kingdom, the channel doesn't have much to do with Doctor Who as a television series, but it has shown the two Aaru movies starring Peter Cushing as Dr. Who.