Educating Yorkshire
Remember how 16-year-old Musharaf overcame his stammer with the help of inspirational English teacher Mr Burton? Ten years ago, the viewing nation and awards judges alike fell in love with the students and staff at Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury. Now it’s opening its doors to cameras again. Mr Burton has stepped up to become head teacher. It’s an insight into how things have changed over the past decade: from the teen anxiety epidemic to exam pressure, slashed budgets, a teacher recruitment crisis, falling attendance numbers and the impact of smartphones and social media. An engrossing snapshot of modern Britain, viewed through the lens of one state secondary school.
Channel 4, 31 August
Stranded on Honeymoon Island
Meet your new reality obsession. From the team behind Married at First Sight, this adventurous dating show sees 12 singletons paired up by experts and sent straight on honeymoon, with no phones and no contact with the outside world. Can they fend for themselves on a remote desert island and, in the process, find love? Hosted by Davina McCall, undisputed queen of TV matchmaking, it’s like Love Is Blind meets Survivor. First broadcast in Belgium and exported worldwide, it’s a bold format but will it work in the UK?
BBC One, 3 September
Wednesday
Need another fix of ghoulish teen angst? A month after the first part dropped, season two of Tim Burton’s freaky phenomenon returns. Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) fights to prevent the death of her werewolf roommate Enid Sinclair (Emma Myers) after macabre psychic visions. The star signing for these four episodes? No less than Lady Gaga, whose music helped the debut series go viral. She plays Nevermore Academy teacher Rosaline Rotwood and will unleash the spooky new song Dead Dance, destined to be this year’s Halloween hit.
Netflix, 3 September
Mitchell And Webb Are Not Helping
A huge moment for Peep Show fans: almost a decade after their last series together, David Mitchell and Robert Webb are finally reunited and back at it in a new sketch show. With fresh help from rising comedy stars – Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Lara Ricote, Stevie Martin and Krystal Evans – they send up everything from airport security lines to bad therapy sessions and the arrival of flushing toilets in Georgian England. Ridiculously silly fun.
Channel 4, 5 September
The Paper
Part of the OCU (Office Cinematic Universe), Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant executive produce this sequel to the hit US mockumentary series. Domnhall Gleeson is Ned Sampson, the excitable new editor of failing Midwestern newspaper the Toledo Truth Teller, which shares its office with a loo roll company. His bored and useless team is played by an ace cast including Tim Key, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Oscar Nunez (who has left Dunder Mifflin and is now the paper’s exasperated accountant). Will he be able to inspire them? Not without plenty of cringe comedy moments.
Sky Max/Now, 5 September
Only Murders in the Building
Someone call the city council because there sure are a lot of homicides happening at the Arconia apartment block. Season five of the joyous comedy whodunnit sees podcasting sleuths Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short investigating the suspicious death of beloved doorman Lester. Joining the crime-cracking cast this time around are Keegan-Michael Key, Beanie Feldstein, Logan Lerman and Renée Zellweger. Yep, Bridget Jones herself is in the building!
Disney+, 9 September
AKA Charlie Sheen
“The stuff that I plan on sharing I had made a sacred vow to only reveal to a therapist.” Never let anyone accuse Charlie Sheen of being publicity-shy. His upcoming tell-all documentary covers the years he went from the highest-paid TV star of all time to a drug-fuelled meltdown where he infamously referred to himself as a “warlock” with “Adonis DNA”. Testimony comes from friends, enemies, family, his dealer and, most importantly, himself.
Netflix, 10 September
The Girlfriend
Gone Girl: the mother-in-law remix. Robin Wright, who also directs, faces off with Olivia Cooke in this bingeable six-part psychological thriller adapted from Michelle Frances’s bestselling novel (tagline: “She loves your son. She wants your life”). A wealthy woman doubts the motivations of her son’s new girlfriend – expect tension, twists and a glossy guilty pleasure. Is she being justifiably protective or wildly paranoid?
Prime Video, 10 September
Black Rabbit
Forget The Bear – Netflix has cooked up the hot new restaurant drama of the season. Black Rabbit opens with a stick ’em up at a swanky party in the eponymous New York eatery, then never lets up. Jude Law and Jason Bateman star as chancer brothers Jake and Vince Friedken, whose lives unravel at speed. It’s a wild ride, packed with arson, blackjack, embezzlement … and the world’s fanciest hot dogs.
Netflix, 18 September
The Lowdown
In 2011, citizen journalist and self-styled “truthstorian” Lee Roy Chapman published an incendiary exposé of the founder of Tulsa’s secret connections with the Ku Klux Klan, forcing the city in Oklahoma to rethink its past. Ethan Hawke now stars as “the man who knew too much” in a stylishly gritty fictionalisation. Even more mouthwateringly, this knotty neo-noir has been created by Native American film-maker Sterlin Harjo, the prodigiously talented co-creator of trailblazing teen-com Reservation Dogs.
Disney+, 23 September
Slow Horses
When deluded “sex god” Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung) gets honeytrapped, it sets off a chain of events for the Slough House spies that almost brings down MI5. We’ve reached the fifth season of the espionage drama that has become a TV juggernaut, and there’s plenty to look forward to, from Kristin Scott Thomas’s Diana throwing shade in every scene to Jack Lowden’s River trying to look normal in a techno club, death by a can of pink paint and, of course, closeups of Jackson Lamb’s foul feet. Praise be to Gary Oldman for giving this heroically slovenly role his all.
Apple TV+, 24 September
House of Guinness
Time to split the G with Steven Knight’s new Guinness dynasty drama. It’s 1868 and Sir Benjamin Guinness has just died – but who will take over his incredibly successful brewery? Enter his four adult children – Arthur, Edward, Anne and Ben – who will need to battle it out, Succession-style. The show is set between Dublin and New York, and has a promising cast including James Norton, Anthony Boyle, Dervla Kirwan and Jack Gleeson.
Netflix, 25 September
Wayward
Mae Martin has spent years specialising in charmingly confessional standup and pushed boundaries with romcom Feel Good, whose queer love story delved into trauma and addiction while never failing to be gloriously deadpan. So obviously, their next step is chilling viewers to the bone by creating a thriller set in a correctional institute for teens. Toni Collette stars as the facility’s leader and, judging by her hair-raising vibe in the trailer, expect to start sleeping with the lights on.
Netflix, 25 September
The Savant
Oscar-winning actor Jessica Chastain stars in this new series based on a fascinating Cosmopolitan article from 2019. It follows a secretive profiler working for the FBI to identify the men plotting mass killings online, with such an uncanny ability to tell the difference between serious threats and those who fetishise violence that she’s known as the Savant. Given the alarming rise in incels, pickup artists, far-right misogynists and the red pill community, this feels like essential viewing.
Apple TV+, 26 September
Blue Lights
Sirens wailing and stab vests on, the Belfast police drama comes nee-nawing back for its third series – and, word has it, it’s the best yet. Two years into their jobs as response officers, our rookie “peelers” are accustomed to life under those flashing bulbs. Now they venture into the shady white-collar world of the money men and lawyers who facilitate organised crime. Danger comes closer to home than ever and results in tragedy. Michael Smiley and Cathy Tyson join the superlative cast.
BBC One, 29 September
Chad Powers
NFL superstar Eli Manning made a YouTube skit where he donned a disguise and showed up college jocks with his football skills. Now the real-life prank gets the full Ted Lasso treatment, fleshed out into a big-hearted sports comedy. Glen Powell stars as a disgraced quarterback who dons a wig and tache to go undercover as the titular Powers, joining a struggling team to revive their fortunes – and, in the process, his own career. Steve Zahn steals scenes as his coach.
Disney+, 30 September
Task
Mare of Easttown mastermind Brad Ingelsby has created another addictive, drug-laced crime drama. His latest HBO miniseries stars Mark Ruffalo as a silver fox FBI agent put in charge of a taskforce of tyros, investigating a string of disturbingly violent home invasions in suburban Philly. It soon becomes a battle of wits between two troubled men, as Ruffalo hunts down Ozark’s Tom Pelphrey, the seemingly unassuming family man who leads the masked, armed gang.
Sky Atlantic/Now, September
Nobody Wants This
Everybody wants the second season of last year’s hit romcom. The chemistry between agnostic sex podcaster Joanne (Kristen Bell) and hot rabbi Noah (Adam Brody) was so strong that it overcame a case of the Ick. But can the pair really make it if Joanne isn’t Jewish? We’ll find out along with Joanne’s razor-tongued sister Morgan (Justine Jupe) and Noah’s dopey brother Sasha (Timothy Simons) – who may or may not be about to have an affair. Plus, Brody’s wife Leighton Meester joins the cast.
Netflix, 23 October
Down Cemetery Road
The combo of Mick Herron’s books and Apple’s budget has already paid dividends with the smash-hit spy drama Slow Horses. Now comes a starry adaptation of Herron’s other novel series, following private detective Zöe Boehm. When a house explodes in a sleepy Oxford suburb and a young girl disappears, neighbour Sarah (Ruth Wilson) becomes fixated with finding her. She enlists the help of Boehm (Emma Thompson) and the pair find themselves drawn into a deadly conspiracy.
Apple TV+, 29 October
Celebrity Traitors
The most anticipated reality show of the year, with a lineup that includes (shock horror) some names you’ve actually heard of. Who will Claudia pick to be the inaugural berobed baddie celebs – Stephen Fry? Charlotte Church? David Olusoga? Jonathan Ross? Clare Balding? The only show you’re likely to hear Olympic diver/chief knitter Tom Daley say he’s planning to “fight to the death!” Bring on the banishments.
BBC, October
How Are You? It’s Alan (Partridge)
After a weirdly long gestation – it was first announced in early 2024, and wrapped back in January – the greatest comedy character ever produced by the UK returns. In How Are You?, Partridge flies back to the UK after a 12-month trip to Saudi Arabia and realises that he isn’t as happy as he thinks. What follows is a state-of-the-nation mental health documentary, presented by a man with one eye on his career. This cannot come quickly enough.
BBC, October
It: Welcome to Derry
Nothing to do with Derry Girls, sadly, or Sister Michael would surely defeat the evil entity. This prequel to Stephen King’s seminal horror follows a Black family as they move into a cursed white suburb in Maine circa 1962. Racist neighbours aren’t the only lurking threat, as we finally learn the origin story of Pennywise the clown (Bill Skarsgård). Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the sewers …
Sky Atlantic/Now, October
Pluribus
Fans have been eagerly waiting for show runner Vince Gilligan to venture outside the New Mexico milieu he conjured up so unforgettably in Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Well, unlucky. His new project is also set in Albuquerque – albeit a starkly contrasting one. In this darkly comic, genre-straddling sci-fi series, Rhea Seehorn (AKA Better Call Saul’s Kim Wexler) stars as “the most miserable person on Earth” who “must save the world from happiness”. Hopes are high for a Severance-style mind-bender. As Gilligan says: “There’s no crime, no methamphetamine. It’s going to be fun and different.”
Apple TV+, 7 November
The Beast in Me
Homeland fans, assemble! It’s always a delight to get Claire Danes back on our screens, and here she reunites with Homeland showrunner Howard Gordon for a thriller about a woman who was a hit novelist until her young son died. But when a man notorious for his wife’s disappearance (played by Matthew Rhys) moves in next door, she becomes obsessed. Looks like she may have found the subject of her next book.
Netflix, 13 November
Riot Women
Sally Wainwright’s comedy drama about a group of menopausal women who start a punk band in West Yorkshire. Need we say more? Lorraine Ashbourne, Joanna Scanlan, Amelia Bullmore, Tamsin Greig and Rosalie Craig are our riotous rockers with plenty to shout about. With Wainwright saying it’s the most exciting thing she’s worked on to date, it’s set to be an absolute hoot.
Netflix, 13 November
The Beatles Anthology
Thirty years after it first aired on British television, The Beatles Anthology series – known as the definitive documentary on the Fab Four – has been remastered by Peter Jackson’s production company. It also has previously unseen material in a brand new ninth episode, with behind-the-scenes footage showing Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr coming together for the release of the original show. And for the superfans, it will be accompanied by an album boxset with session outtakes and demos.
Disney+, 26 November
Stranger Things
The end of Stranger Things is likely to be the television event of the year, which might explain why Netflix is eking it out so slowly. The first four episodes drop in November, with three more following on Christmas Day and the finale on New Year’s Eve. Details are scant, but expect a maximalist spectacle as the Upside Down comes for Hawkins itself; more action, more characters, more monsters and more runtime than ever before.
Netflix, 26 November
All’s Fair
It’s a bold move: casting Kim Kardashian as a lead role in a drama boasting Naomi Watts, Glenn Close and Sarah Paulson. Then again, this is a Ryan Murphy production. It follows a group of female divorce lawyers who open their own practice … and any man served papers should fear them. Expect sex, scandals and – who knows? – a surprising turn from Kardashian.
Disney+, November
Fallout
This super-fun and stupidly violent video game adaptation about survival in a post-apocalyptic world was a blast to watch last year. In the second season, Lucy (Ella Purnell) tracks her father to New Vegas, accompanied by unlikely ally the Ghoul (Walton Goggins). With Macaulay Culkin and Justin Theroux joining the cast and juicy backstories to discover, buckle up for one hell of a ride.
Prime Video, 17 December
All Her Fault
Succession’s Sarah Snook acts in and executive produces this Andrea Mara adaptation, about a woman who discovers that her son is missing. Maybe one person took him, but maybe the entire community is implicated. Snook leads an outrageously starry cast, with Dakota Fanning, Abby Elliott and Michael Peña all taking supporting roles.
Sky/Now, date TBC
Amadeus
Mozart was the rock star of his day, and Will Sharpe (The White Lotus, Too Much) is the man to capture this in a fresh take on Peter Shaffer’s award-winning stage play about the composer. When the 25-year-old arrives in Vienna ready for superstardom, his radical talent sends religious court composer Antonio Salieri (Paul Bettany) into a tailspin – and he vows to bring Mozart down. With Black Doves and Giri/Haji creator Joe Barton at the helm, it’s set to be a symphony of high drama.
Sky/Now, date TBC
Dreaming Whilst Black
The first series of this Bafta-winning sitcom announced the arrival of one of the freshest, most distinctive voices in British comedy in years. Adjani Salmon’s tale of a struggling Black film-maker trying to make it in the industry was surreal, hilarious and packed with so many barbs at the privilege endemic to the world of TV it’s amazing it ever got made. And now it’s back for a second attempt at ripping up the rulebook. This time round, its lead is producing period dramas in an era when production companies supposedly champion diversity – except things aren’t quite like that …
BBC, date TBC
Film Club
She’s already had a stellar 2025 with The White Lotus and Toxic Town. Aimee Lou Wood continues her golden year by co-creating and co-starring in this romantic comedy-drama. For Evie, Friday movie nights with best mate Noa (Nabhaan Rizwan) are a weekly escape from her mental health wobbles. When Noa lands his dream job on the other side of the country, the pair must decide whether they’re more than just friends. Suranne Jones plays Evie’s eccentric mother, with Adolescence’s Owen Cooper as an annoying neighbour. Witty and emotional, it’s an impressive screenwriting debut from the multitalented Wood.
BBC Three, date TBC
Frauds
With Hostage dropping on Netflix and Film Club on the BBC, it’s a busy autumn for Suranne Jones. She now teams up with Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker for this six-part heist thriller. Having spent the past 10 years in a Spanish prison, skilled confidence trickster Jones is released on compassionate grounds after a cancer diagnosis and reunites with former criminal sidekick Whittaker for one last job – a multimillion-pound art theft. A zippy tale of crime capers and complex female friendship, set in the picturesque mountains of southern Spain.
ITV1, date TBC
Malice
Based on talent alone, Malice should be enough to make you pay attention. Written by James Wood (of the deathlessly wonderful Rev), this is a psychological thriller about a male nanny who infiltrates a rich family with bad intentions. The parents are played by David Duchovny and Carice van Houten, and the nanny – wait for it – by Jack Whitehall. Malice represents an intriguing turn to drama for Whitehall. If he can stick the landing, this should be great.
Prime Video, date TBC
Mr Scorsese
After decades making documentaries and movies about other people, Martin Scorsese gets a series all about himself. This definitive five-part portrait covers his life and work from his student years to the present day. Director Rebecca Miller was granted “unrestricted access” to Scorsese’s personal archives and describes the project as “one of the defining experiences of my life as a film-maker”. The call sheet of interviewees – Sharon Stone, Jodie Foster, Margot Robbie, Cate Blanchett, Robert De Niro, Mick Jagger, Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio – couldn’t be any more A-list.
Apple TV+, date TBC
Small Prophets
Following Detectorists and Worzel Gummidge comes Mackenzie Crook’s intriguing new comedy. A Manchester man with a missing girlfriend is given a recipe for a potion that allows him to tell the future. Given Crook’s fondness for folky pastoral textures, Small Prophets – which features animated sequences and a rare yet welcome acting turn from Michael Palin – sounds like it could end up being extremely charming and special.
BBC, date TBC
The Beauty
Prolific show runner Ryan Murphy takes a break from true crime and camp horror to adapt a graphic novel into a Black Mirror-ish conspiracy drama. An STI dubbed “The Beauty” makes those infected more physically attractive but eventually kills them. Is it part of a sinister government plot? Why are the detective duo investigating the disease’s origins being targeted by federal agents, corrupt politicians and a ruthless assassin? Evan Peters, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Pope and Anthony Ramos star, while Ashton Kutcher appears as a tech billionaire.
Disney+, date TBC
The Chair Company
Expect this comedy from multiple Emmy-winning comedian Tim Robinson to vibrate with the same hilariously awkward energy as his sketch show I Think You Should Leave. It follows an employee who undergoes an embarrassing workplace incident, only to end up investigating a far-reaching conspiracy. Which sounds a lot like the setup for an ITYSL sketch – unsurprising given the show is co-created by Zach Kanin, the other co-writer of the Netflix hit. Brace yourself for an entire series of brilliant cringe comedy.
Sky/Now, date TBC
The Death of Bunny Munro
If you can remember how flat-out incredible Channel 4’s Somewhere Boy was, then be doubly prepped for excellence here. That show’s writer, Pete Jackson, has adapted Nick Cave’s darkly tender 2009 novel into a six-part series, about a sex-addicted travelling salesman who travels around East Sussex with his son under the shadow of an approaching serial killer. Matt Smith stars too, if you needed any further convincing.
Sky Atlantic/Now, date TBC
The Guest
An irresistible four-part psychological thriller set in Wales traces the toxic relationship between a successful business owner (Eve Myles) and her impressionable cleaner (Gabrielle Creevy). An intense mentor/protege friendship is forged – until a shock event means that the pair’s lives become dangerously intertwined. As a game of cat and mouse unfolds, who is manipulating who? Propulsive and twist-packed, it will have you watching through your fingers.
BBC One, date TBC
The Hack
Toby Jones and David Tennant star as the Guardian journalists who broke the phone-hacking scandal that ended up shutting down the News of the World in a drama that goes behind the headlines. But alongside that, it weaves in the story of Daniel Morgan, the private investigator found murdered by axe in a pub car park in 1987. Writer Jack Thorne describes it as “a fight for the truth” that matters so much in our “age where the truth seems more in danger than ever”. Given that it’s created by the team behind Mr Bates vs the Post Office, we expect nothing less.
ITV1, date TBC
The Iris Affair
Luther proved that Neil Cross is at his very best when he’s serving us heightened genre thrills, which is exactly what The Iris Affair sounds like. An “unapologetically exciting” chase thriller set in Italy, it pits Niamh Algar’s enigmatic genius against Tom Hollander’s wealthy tech entrepreneur. Cross promises that Iris is “a lead character the like of which I don’t think we’ve ever met before on TV,” but, even if we have, at least it’ll be pretty to look at.
Sky/Now, date TBC
The Night Manager
Nine years have elapsed since this adaptation of John le Carré’s novel gripped the UK. Tom Hiddleston’s return as the army-trained luxury hotelier turned informant makes this second series (and an upcoming third) a tantalising prospect, despite no longer being based on Le Carré’s writing. The latter shouldn’t matter a jot, though, if it can recapture the most captivating watercooler moment of its first outing. We’re talking, of course, about the infamous sex scene that became known as “Hiddlebum”.
BBC, date TBC
The Seven Dials Mystery
Almost a century on from its original publication, Agatha Christie’s detective novel has been granted a lavish Netflix adaptation. Adapted by Chris Chibnall, the series will count Martin Freeman and Helena Bonham-Carter among its cast. Less celebrated than other Christie works, the book has been adapted for screen before – John Gielgud starred in a 1981 ITV film – but hopefully this relative obscurity will help the show escape the trap of familiarity.
Netflix, date TBC
The Witches of Essex
Presenting, acting, DJing, interviewing – Rylan has done it all. Now the toothsome TV treasure turns his hand to historical investigation, teaming up with Prof Alice Roberts to dig into the most intense spate of witch hunts in British history. The 16th and 17th century witch trials in his home county saw thousands of vulnerable women persecuted for sorcery. Many were burnt at the stake. Made by Louis Theroux’s production company, this three-parter should be grimly fascinating.
Sky History, date TBC
Trinity
While the world patiently waits for more Line of Duty, Jed Mercurio has been cooking up something else entirely. Trinity is a big Netflix conspiracy drama about a naval officer who becomes involved with the secretary of defense. Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays the officer, Richard Madden plays the minister and, if previous Mercurio shows have been any indication, the series will play out in a blast of rattling accelerating tension.
Netflix, date TBC
Trespasses
Rising star Lola Petticrew was Bafta nominated for last year’s IRA drama Say Nothing. Now Petticrew stars in another brilliantly evocative series set during the Troubles. In Belfast in 1975, a young Catholic schoolteacher falls for an older married Protestant man (Tom Cullen). He also happens to be a controversial barrister who often defends IRA suspects. Gillian Anderson lends high-class support as Petticrew’s gin-soaked, acid-tongued mother. Adapted by Ailbhe Keogan (Bad Sisters) from Louise Kennedy’s acclaimed novel, this is forbidden love with potentially lethal consequences.
Channel 4, date TBC
Victoria Beckham
We already got up close and personal with David Beckham in his Emmy-winning, record-breaking 2023 series. Now Mrs B tries her hand at a tell-all documentary. Cameras follow Victoria as she juggles her career and family life. Promising intimate footage of domestic bliss chez Beckham, as well as behind-the-scenes access to her business empire, it chronicles her evolution from pouting Posh Spice in the 90s to today’s fashion titan. Will there be bombshells? Will estranged son Brooklyn and his wife, Nicola Peltz Beckham, pop up? Will there be viral moments such as Victoria’s admission that her “very working-class” dad drove her to school in a Rolls-Royce?
Netflix, date TBC
