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The 31 Most Anticipated TV Shows of 2024
DECEMBER 19, 2023 7:55 PM EST
Following a predictable trend, more than half of the shows on this list are based on pre-existing intellectual property, or IP: novels old and new, like Monsieur Spade (The Maltese Falcon by Samuel Dashiell Hammett) and Expats (The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee); nonfiction books, like Masters of the Air (Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller) and Franklin (A Great Improvisation by Stacy Schiff); movies, like Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith); TV shows, like Parish (2014’s The Driver) and Avatar: The Last Airbender; video game franchises, like Fallout; and comic books, like The Penguin (characters created for DC).
And then there are the shows inspired by existing history, textbook or onscreen: Griselda, Genius: MLK/X, The New Look. With so much TV based on IP, there is less room for original ideas brainstormed by creative screenwriters. But 2024 will see a few original series break through, including The Brothers Sun, Death and Other Details, and The Regime. As the delightfully inventive Curb Your Enthusiasm draws to a close after 12 beloved seasons, one must wonder: Is it setting a precedent?
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Here are the TV shows we’re most looking forward to in 2024.
New Releases
The Brothers Sun
Jan. 4 on Netflix
BRANDED CONTENTBuilding Trust in New TechnologiesBY SOMPO HOLDINGS
Bruce (Sam Song Li) is just a normal guy in California—or at least he wants to be. That hope is thwarted, though, with the abrupt arrival of his brother, Charles (Justin Chien), from Taipei. Charles brings with him the shocking revelations that their father is a Taiwanese triad kingpin, and their mother, Eileen (Michelle Yeoh), had moved to the U.S. to escape that life, but now ruthless gangsters have followed Charles and are coming for the Sun family.
Echo
Jan. 10 on Disney+ and Hulu
Maya Lopez, or Echo (Alaqua Cox), entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2021 miniseries Hawkeye. Then, she was the head of the criminal gang Tracksuit Mafia, working under the crime lord Wilson Fisk, or Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). Now, Echo, who is deaf, has returned to her Oklahoma hometown. She’s reckoning with her past—which heavily involves Kingpin, her adoptive uncle, who is responsible for her father’s death—and reconnecting with her Native American roots.
Monsieur Spade
Jan. 14 on AMC
Based on the 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett—Monsieur Spade picks up where The Maltese Falcon left off. The private investigator Sam Spade (Clive Owen) is dragged out of tranquil retirement in the south of France to look into the brutal murders of a half a dozen nuns at the local convent. Their deaths, it seems, are mysteriously linked to a child that everyone is chasing, who is believed to have great powers.
Death and Other Details
Jan. 16 on Hulu
Caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, and suddenly Imogene Scott (Violett Beane) is the primary suspect in a locked-room murder. The room in question is on a sumptuous, restored Mediterranean ocean liner. But to prove her innocence and solve the crime, Imogene has to team up with Rufus Coteworth (Mandy Patinkin), the world’s greatest detective, who she just so happens to hate.
Griselda
Jan. 25 on Netflix
This crime drama, “from the creative minds that brought you Narcos,” dramatizes the life story of Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco (Sofía Vergara.) She is framed as a jack-of-all-trades “queenpin, innovator, mother, and killer,” although the real-life Griselda was ruthlessly violent. Griselda follows its titular character from Medellín, where she shot and killed her husband, to Miami, where she established a massive, bloody cocaine empire.
Masters of the Air
Jan. 26 on Apple TV+
Based on Donald L. Miller’s 2007 book Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany, this war drama traces the history of the 100th Bomb Group of the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II. Austin Butler stars as Major Gale Cleven, with Callum Turner as Major John Egan, Barry Keoghan as Lt. Curtis Biddick, and Ncuti Gatwa as 2nd Lt. Robert Daniels. The companion miniseries to Band of Brothers tells another WWII story from producers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg.
Expats
Jan. 26 on Prime Video
Based on Janice Y. K. Lee’s 2016 novel The Expatriates, this drama, created by Lulu Wang, follows the intricate, interconnected lives of those living abroad in Hong Kong. The American architect Margaret (Nicole Kidman), the Korean American college grad Mercy (Ji-young Yoo), and the British expat Hilary, who desperately wants a baby (Sarayu Blue), are knit together by friendships both strong and necessarily temporary through the bumps of adult life: marriage, parenting, careers, and loss.
Genius: MLK/X
Feb. 1 on National Geographic/Feb. 2 on Disney+ and Hulu
So far, the National Geographic biographical anthology franchise Genius has covered Albert Einstein, Pablo Picasso, and Aretha Franklin. Now, its fourth season, MLK/X is the first to compare and contrast two historical figures: Martin Luther King Jr. (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) and Malcolm X (Aaron Pierre). The work of these two giants was constantly in conversation, and their legacies are inextricable.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Feb. 2 on Prime Video
This iteration of Mr. & Mrs. Smith is based on the titular characters from the 2005 action-comedy film by the name (starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). But in this version, Donald Glover plays the Mr. in question and Maya Erskine plays the Mrs. Their marriage is a cover story, staged by the mysterious spy agency that both individuals work for. But can they keep up the pretense under the pressure of weekly high-risk missions? And what happens if false feelings turn real?
The New Look
Feb. 14 on Apple TV+
In the wake of the World War II Nazi occupation of Paris, the fashion designer Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) is poised to launch his new fashion collection, the “New Look.” But as Dior’s star rises, Coco Chanel’s (Juliette Binoche) is at risk of waning. A star-studded ensemble—Maisie Williams as Catherine Dior, John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong, Emily Mortimer as Eva Colozzi, Claes Bang as Hans Von Dincklage—rounds out a historical drama about the launch of modern fashion.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Feb. 22 on Netflix
The beloved animated series gets a live-action remake—and hopefully it’s a fresh take on the movie version. The premise remains the same: Siblings Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) of the Southern Water Tribe discover Ang (Gordon Cormier), a 12-year-old airbender, frozen in ice, where he has been for the last hundred years. They revive him, and the three of them (and Ang’s beloved sky bison, Appa) embark on a quest to help Ang become the Avatar, the master of all four elements.
Shōgun
Feb. 27 on FX/Hulu
Based on the 1975 novel by the same name by James Clavell, Shōgun is a period drama set in feudal Japan. Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) is a daimyo, a feudal lord, who is cunning and powerful but surrounded by enemies. He is juxtaposed against John Blackthorne (Cosmo Jarvis), a British sailor who winds up shipwrecked in Japan, facing a culture completely foreign to his own. And Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai) joins the fray as a mysterious female samurai with plenty to prove.
Apples Never Fall
March on Peacock
Based on the 2021 novel by Liane Moriarty, who also wrote Big Little Lies and Nine Perfect Strangers, Apples Never Fall is a twisty mystery about the Delany family. Joy (Annette Bening) and Stan (Sam Neill) and their four grown children—Amy (Alison Bri), Troy (Jake Lacy), Logan (Conor Merrigan-Turner), and Brooke (Essie Randles)—are hoping to spend time together after the parents sold their tennis academy. But when an injured young woman shows up at their door, the golden family’s secrets start to surface.
Palm Royale
March 20 on Apple TV+
This show’s ingredients are scrumptious: It’s a 1969 period drama and a comedy; it stars Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern, and Ricky Martin; and it’s set in Palm Springs, billed as the most “exclusive, fashionable, and treacherous” ledge of America’s high society. Based on Juliet McDaniel’s 2018 novel Mr. & Mrs. American Pie, in Palm Royale, one ambitious woman, Maxime Simmons (Wiig), is more of a have-not than a have, but she’s scrambling toward the towering top.
3 Body Problem
March 21 on Netflix
In physics, a three-body problem takes the positions and velocities of three point masses and solves for their subsequent motion. In this story, the three bodies in question are three sun-like stars, which means, you guessed it, alien civilization. Based on Liu Cixin’s 2008 sci-fi novel by the same name, in 3 Body Problem, the astrophysicist Ye Wenjie (Rosalind Chao) makes a decision in the ‘60s that will cause massive ripple effects for scientists in the present day.
Fallout
April 12 on Prime Video
Based on the role-playing video game franchise by the same name, and starring Ella Purnell as a young Vault Dweller named Lucy, Fallout is set in an alternate history. In this world, after World War II, nuclear technology continued to evolve until a massive nuclear war created the Wasteland, or anything outside of the Vaults. Now, 200 years later, Lucy sets out from these secure underground bunkers, where survivors of the war have proliferated, into the bizarre, brutal, retrofuturistic realities outside.
The Regime
Spring on HBO
Kate Winslet is back with another singular accent. This time, the subtle drawl belongs to a fictional Central European autocracy, where she is the chancellor in charge. This sharp political satire spans a year inside the palace of this contemporary European regime, as cracks show and it begins to crumble. Guillaume Gallienne plays the chancellor’s husband, Andrea Riseborough is her palace manager, Martha Plimpton is the U.S. Secretary of State, and Hugh Grant is the leader of the opposition.
Franklin
TBD on Apple TV+
Based on the 2005 book A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy Schiff, Franklin recounts the founding father’s 8-year-long mission to France. During the Revolutionary War, while pushing 70, Franklin helped craft the 1778 Franco-American alliance. Then, in 1783, he did again in the final Treaty of Paris with England. All the while, he was navigating, dodging, and out-maneuvering French informants, British spies, and his own colleagues.
Parish
TBD on AMC
Based on the BBC One series The Driver, Parish stars Giancarlo Esposito as Garcián “Gray” Parish, a taxi driver whose life takes a sharp turn after he picks up an unusual passenger. Gray has a dark past, and thinks it is all far behind him—until now. The sudden, brutal murder of his son sends him on a spiraling quest that reawakens old habits.
The Boroughs
TBD on Netflix
The Duffer brothers, who brought us Stranger Things, are the executive producers behind a different supernatural series. This one is on the opposite end of the age spectrum, set in a retirement community in New Mexico. And the shadowy villain this time around is an extraterrestrial being who craves their most valuable resource: time.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: The Hedge Knight
TBD on Max
This show is based on George R. R. Martin’s 2015 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which compiles the first three prequel novellas to A Song of Ice and Fire: “The Hedge Knight,” “The Sworn Sword,” and “The Mystery Knight.” A hedge knight is a wandering knight without a master, and the knight in question is Ser Duncan the Tall, or Dunk for short. 80 years after House of the Dragon and 90 years before Game of Thrones, Dunk and his squire, Egg, wander through Westeros.
The Sympathizer
TBD on HBO
Based on the 2015 novel of the same name by Viet Thanh Nguyen, which won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, The Sympathizer, a black A24 comedy, tells the tale of the Captain (Hoa Xuande), a North Vietnamese plant in the South Vietnamese army during the Vietnam War. When the war ends, the Captain must flee to the U.S. There, he keeps spying on South Vietnamese refugees and reporting back to the Viet Cong. But how long can he keep up the charade?
Ripley
TBD on Netflix
Tom Ripley has had a few other iterations before this: While this specific story is based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 crime novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, that book also inspired 1960’s Purple Noon, starring Alain Delon, and 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon. Now, Ripley is played to unnerving perfection by Andrew Scott, opposite Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf and Dakota Fanning as Marge Sherwood. He’s a grifter, hired by a wealthy man to convince his son, Johnny, to come back from ‘60s Italy.
The Penguin
TBD on Max
Based on characters created for DC by Bob Kane with Bill Finger, The Penguin revisits a classic villain. Colin Farell reprises his role as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, a.k.a. The Penguin, after 2022’s The Batman. The Penguin is a disfigured crime lord who had served as chief lieutenant to Carmine Falcone, who was killed by The Riddler. Now, The Penguin is vying with Falcone’s daughter Sofia (Cristin Milioti) for power over Gotham City’s criminal underbelly.
Returning Shows
True Detective: Night Country (Season 4)
Jan. 14 on Max
Jodie Foster the investigator is back. After starring as FBI trainee Clarice Starling in 1991’s The Silence of the Lambs, now she’s playing detective Liz Danvers in the fourth season of the anthology crime drama True Detective. “Night Country” refers to the fictional town of Ennis, Alaska during the winter, when darkness lasts for 24 hours. She begrudgingly reunites with her former partner, Evangeline Navarro (Kali Reis), to solve a string of disappearances that end with a pile of bodies on ice—literally.
Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (Season 2)
Jan. 31 on FX/Feb. 1 on Hulu
Based on Laurence Leamer’s 2021 book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era, Capote vs. The Swans marks the second installment of Feud, a docudrama series created by Ryan Murphy. Tom Hollander plays the writer Truman Capote, who ingratiates himself with a flock of swans, beautiful women from ‘70s New York high society—until he shatters their trust by publishing their secrets. (The swans include Barbara “Babe” Paley (Naomi Watts), Slim Keith (Diane Lane), C.Z. Guest (Chloë Sevigny), and Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart.))
Bridgerton: Season 3
May 16 (Part 1) and June 13 (Part 2) on Netflix
Based on the fourth novel in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, Romancing Mister Bridgerton, the third season of this smash hit will focus on the burgeoning friends-to-lover romance between Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). And there is, of course, the tantalizing subplot of Lady Whistledown, the mystery author of a wildly popular scandal sheet that circulates Regency-era London. At the tail end of Season 2, remember, Eloise Bridgerton (Claudia Jessie), Penelope’s best friend and Colin’s sister, realized Penelope was Whistledown the whole time.
House of the Dragon: Season 2
Summer on HBO
Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) are at war. In this prequel series set roughly 200 years before Game of Thrones, and based on George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood, House Targaryen has splintered. King Viserys Targaryen (Paddy Considine) has died, and his daughter Rhaenyra is supposed to succeed him. But on his deathbed, he muttered part of a prophet that Alicent, his wife, mistook to believe that their son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) should be his heir.
The Jinx – Part 2
TBD on HBO
Eight years after The Jinx, and in the wake of Robert Durst’s 2022 death, we’re getting six more docuseries episodes about the convicted murderer and New York real estate heir. The Jinx digs deep into three murders: Durst’s wife Kathie in 1982, the writer Susan Berman in 2000, and Durst’s neighbor Morris Black in 2001. (Durst was suspected of involvement in the first two incidents and confessed to killing Black—though he was acquitted at trial.) And the day before the Season 1 finale, Durst was arrested on first-degree murder charges for the death of Berman.
The Bear: Season 3
TBD on FX/Hulu
Season 3 of this frenetic, chaotic, beautiful show has been confirmed, and filming will resume this winter. In Season 2, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri)—alongside a dedicated crew of family and friends—raced against the clock to create and open their new restaurant, The Bear. In the finale, Carmy may have accidentally locked himself in the walk-in refrigerator, but opening night ultimately went well, thanks to Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), Natalie (Abby Elliott), and Marcus (Lionel Boyce).
Final Seasons
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 12
Feb. 4 on Max
All good things must come to an end. Since 2000, this beloved sitcom, starring Larry David as a fictionalized version of himself, has followed his life as a semi-retired TV writer and producer in L.A. Regulars Cheryl Hines, J.B. Smoove, Jeff Garlin, and Susie Essman return, and we would bet on many satisfying guest appearances, if history is any indication.
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The 35 must-see TV shows to look forward to in 2023
A hardy period drama from Shane Meadows, a Frasier reboot and the fourth series of Succession – here’s a rundown of all the new year’s unmissable telly
by Stuart Heritage and Kate AbbottWed 28 Dec 2022 06.00 GMT
Atlanta
Donald Glover’s thrillingly experimental and always groundbreaking show bows out on a high with perhaps the most trippy adventures for Earn and the gang. As usual, there are standalone episodes – a standout being a mockumentary about an animator who accidentally takes over Disney and wants to make “the Blackest movie of all time”. But Earn, Van, Al and Darius are back in Atlanta for this final season, being stalked and shot at when they’re just trying to eat some Popeyes chicken, or go for a session in a sensory deprivation tank. Will it all end up being a dream?
Disney+, out now
Happy Valley
Sgt Catherine Cawood is happier than ever, and has just bought a Jeep so she can drive to the Himalayas when she retires. But she’s got seven months to go on the force till then – and the evil Tommy Lee Royce is back on the scene. Things couldn’t possibly take a downturn, could they? It’s been six years since the last series of Sally Wainwright’s state-of-the-nation masterwork, and this is confirmed as its last. Brace yourself for a brutal final innings.
BBC, 1 January
The Last of Us
The video game The Last of Us, about two human survivors suffering through a zombie plague, was an immediate all-time classic, thanks to its heavy emphasis on interpersonal relationships over the instant gratification of a quick kill. The television adaptation is being handled by Craig Mazin, who worked absolute wonders with Chernobyl. Let’s hope he does the same here.
Sky Atlantic, January
Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World
Executive-produced by Chuck D, Fight the Power might just be the definitive history of hip-hop as a force for cultural change. A mix of first-hand accounts from rap pioneers, such as Ice-T and Run DMC, and archive footage of what will be remembered as a keystone era of race relations in US history, this could well be the best evidence yet that, for a while, rap really was “the Black CNN”.
BBC Two, January
Extraordinary
Imagine a world in which everyone has a superpower bar you. At the age of 18, everyone starts being able to walk through walls, commune with the dead, morph into a cat, or trigger an orgasm with a single touch. This fresh, witty comedy from first-time TV writer Emma Moran, and created by Killing Eve’s producers, introduces us to Jen, who remains powerless at the age of 25 and is desperate to discover her gift, at any cost.
Disney+, January
Pamela, A Love Story
From Playboy star to Baywatch queen and tabloid fodder, it’s been a wild ride for Pamela Anderson. And though we lapped up the drama Pam & Tommy, the revelation that Pammy did not consent to the show in any way did leave a foul taste in the mouth. Now, this intimate documentary made with her full permission – and featuring frank interviews – is her chance to share her own story. Bring it on.
Netflix, January
Shrinking
The cynical way to sell Shrinking would be “Indiana Jones does Ted Lasso”, since it stars Harrison Ford and is created by Lasso’s Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein (along with Jason Segel). The premise – a therapist has an epiphany and starts telling patients what he really thinks of them – might not seem the most original, but the sheer talent of all involved should make up for that.
Apple TV+, January
Fleishman Is in Trouble
This ace adaptation of the hit novel is part thriller about a man whose wife goes off to a yoga camp then mysteriously ditches him and their kids, part sad and searching look at the harrowing tedium of middle age and suburbia. Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody, it’s propulsive and very funny – the Manhattan trust fund parents pitying Toby Fleishman for being just a doctor is spot on. People of a certain age will never have felt so seen.
Disney+, February
Nolly
Russell T Davies’s three-part drama is based on the life of Noele Gordon, who played Meg Mortimer on the soap opera Crossroads for 17 years. That may not sound particularly compelling, but Helena Bonham Carter is playing Gordon, and Davies very rarely misfires.
ITVX, February
Big Brother
We thought it was dead. Then it moved to Channel 5. Then we thought it was dead again. But now, finally, Big Brother is returning, this time on ITV. Big Brother is now such a mainstay that everyone knows what to expect of it – housemates, evictions, diary rooms, fighting, sex, occasional explicit acts with wine bottles – but by this point that’s all part of its charm.
ITV, March
Frasier
Now that every third new release is a spin-off of an earlier show, there’s something refreshing about the return of Frasier. After all, it was one of the first to prove that a peripheral character from one series had the capacity to make a far better one. The big question: can Frasier do it twice? Not much is known about his return – only that none of the supporting cast are returning – but we should all cross everything.
Paramount+
The Power
Based on Naomi Alderman’s novel, The Power is a series in which Toni Collette’s progressive politician battles through a world in which (brace yourself) all teenage girls have been mysteriously equipped with the ability to electrocute people at will. It might be the most bizarre premise of the year, but that just makes The Power all the more exciting.
Prime Video
Beef
Netflix
Lee Sung Jin has written on plenty of amazing comedies, from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia to Tuca & Bertie, and now he has created this A24 series. The show follows “two people who find themselves involved in a road rage incident that begins to consume every thought and action of their lives”. It stars Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, which is always a great sign.
Netflix
The Gold
With his impressively taut thriller Guilt, Neil Forsyth proved that he is one of the UK’s most gifted writers. He follows it up with The Gold, a bigger and brasher drama about the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery in which £26m of gold bullion was swiped from a London depot. Hugh Bonneville, Jack Lowden, Dominic Cooper and Charlotte Spencer star.
BBC
Queenie
Candice Carty-Williams’s debut novel – about a young British-Jamaican woman lurching between bad decisions following a breakup – was an instant sensation upon its release in 2019, winning the British book of the year. Now, Carty-Williams has adapted her own book for the screen. Queenie’s many fans will be thrilled.
Channel 4
Best Interests
No amount of preparation will fully insulate you against Best Interests. Written by Jack Thorne, this is a four-part drama about a couple who decide to attempt to keep their daughter alive against all medical advice. The couple are played by Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen, and the whole thing seems destined to rip you apart.
BBC
Fifteen-Love
Fifteen-Love is made by World Productions, responsible for gaspingly tense dramas such as Vigil and Line of Duty. However, it is set in the world of professional tennis. The story concerns a former player who makes an explosive accusation about her former coach, played by Aidan Turner. God, it’s going to be another nailbiter, isn’t it?
Prime Video
The Change
A “comedy about a menopausal mother of two looking to reclaim her identity”, there are lots of reasons to be excited about The Change. It stars (and is written by) Bridget Christie, and concerns a 50-year-old woman who sacks off a life of invisible work in favour of riding motorbikes around the Forest of Dean. Brilliant.
Channel 4
The Idol
Sam Levinson is responsible for Euphoria, the sex-and-drugs teen drama best described as: “What if it were Skins, but much more?” The Idol – Levinson’s follow-up, co-created with The Weeknd – sounds even more outrageous. There’s the same focus on sex and drugs, but this time set against the backdrop of a self-help guru’s cult. Plus it stars Lily-Rose Depp. Expect lots of maximalist thrills.
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Squid Game: The Challenge
Squid Game was a landmark drama for Netflix, in terms of cultural penetration and in the normalisation of subtitled television for English speakers. A second series is still some way off, so Netflix’s potentially dodgy plan B is to stage the show for real, with actual people (but, hopefully, much less death). Potentially the car crash of the year.
Netflix
This Town
The sheer speed at which Steven Knight can turn out fully formed films and TV shows is staggering. Most other writers would still be basking in the glory of SAS Rogue Heroes, but not Knight. Instead, he’s written a six-part drama series about the ska movement that swept through the Midlands in the 1970s. It is apparently also a “high-octane thriller”. Who knew?
BBC
Three Women
Lisa Taddeo’s 2019 book is a work of nonfiction, but parts read like a steamy potboiler. It covers the lives of, you guessed it, three women, each going through their own sex-related crisis. (One is a teenage rape survivor, one had an affair with a teacher, one has sex with people while her husband watches). Now, inevitably, it is a drama series. Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise and Betty Gilpin star.
Paramount+
Masters of the Air
The completion of a trilogy two decades in the making, Steven Spielberg’s Masters of the Air follows the blockbuster double-bill of Band of Brothers and The Pacific. Like those shows, this is an ambitious, soaring second world war drama – this time about the air force – with a sprawling cast filled with people who will one day become household names. Hopes are sky high for this one.
Apple TV+
Three Little Birds
Lenny Henry makes his showrunner debut with this six-part Windrush drama, inspired in part by the life of his mother, who immigrated to Dudley from Jamaica before he was born. “I hope the show will make you laugh and cry and understand how it was for those men and women to swap the sun and the sea for the rain and the cold,” Henry has said. If there was ever a time for Three Little Birds, it is now.
ITV
Succession
When it arrives in spring, Succession’s fourth season is pretty much guaranteed to be the biggest thing on television. We left the Roys in an even more dismal state of disarray than usual, and there is bound to be blood on the boardroom floor. Let’s just hope Tom Wambsgans makes it out alive.
Sky Atlantic, spring
The Gallows Pole
If the phrase “Shane Meadows period drama” gives you vertigo, brace yourself. Meadows has adapted Benjamin Myers’s novel about a huge worker-led fraud that took place at the dawn of the industrial revolution. Expect all the things Meadows does well – social commentary, unvarnished drama – but with much worse teeth.
BBC
Champion
A second new show by Queenie’s Candice Carty-Williams, Champion has been described as “a love letter to Black British music set in south London” and, if it maintains the writer’s precise eye for detail, has the potential to be absolutely brilliant.
BBC
You & Me
Before he upped and ran back to Doctor Who, Russell T Davies executive-produced this three-part drama. ITV describes it as “a quintessentially modern love story shot through with the twists, turns and surprises of a gripping thriller”. It isn’t written by Davies – that role goes to Casualty actor Jamie Davis – but it stars Harry Lawtey of Industry fame and sounds like it has ambition by the truckload.
ITVX
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story
Bridgerton has been such a soaraway success for Netflix that a Bridgerton Extended Universe was inevitable. Its first branching out is Queen Charlotte, a prequel about the rise of (that’s right) Queen Charlotte. If it works, expect many, many more similar shows in the coming years.
Netflix
Supacell
The world needs more superheroes like it needs to be kicked in the face by a horse, but Supacell might just be the exception. It’s a show (created by Rapman, creator of YouTube’s Blue Story and its subsequent movie) about various Black people from south London adjusting to the fact that they suddenly have superpowers. Think Heroes meets Misfits and you’re on the right lines.
Netflix
Rain Dogs
Cash Carraway, writer of 2020’s Skint Estate: Notes from the Poverty Line, has now written Rain Dogs, a “wild and punky tale of a mother’s love for her daughter, of deep-rooted and passionate friendships, and of brilliance thwarted by poverty and prejudice”. It’s got Daisy May Cooper in it, too, which is promising.
BBC
Truelove
From Clerkenwell Films, responsible for the staggering Somewhere Boy, comes Truelove. Julie Walters plays a retired police officer who meets old flame Clarke Peters at a funeral. Which sounds sweet, except it turns out that Truelove is actually a drama about the reality of assisted suicide. Channel 4 promises that it is “darkly funny”, which should lighten the load somewhat.
Channel 4
Feud
The previous season of Feud, about the toxic relationship between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, was a hoot and a half. Season two, which concerns Truman Capote’s unfinished novel Answered Prayers and how it dropped a bomb on New York society by mockingly dishing the dirt on his friends, looks likely to be the same. Tom Hollander, Calista Flockhart, Diane Lane, Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny and Demi Moore star.
Disney+
Get Millie Black
Acclaimed author Marlon James’s first television series follows a police officer who is forced out of her job at Scotland Yard and ends up working with the Jamaican Police Force investigating missing people. One of her investigations, however, brings her right back to London. Potentially one of the shows of the year.
Channel 4
Kaos
The easiest sell in the entire history of television, Kaos is a show where Jeff Goldblum plays Zeus. There’s more to it than that – there are humans and an ancient prophecy, and what sounds like strong thematic links to Simon Rich’s criminally underwatched Miracle Workers – but mainly Jeff Goldblum plays Zeus. You’re already in. Stop fighting it.
Netflix
The original BBC adaptation (pictured) was a huge hit in the 1970s and 1980s. The stories followed the lives of a group of vets in a Yorkshire village. Now the much-loved books are being filmed again, this time for Channel 5. The series is being made to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the publication of the first of the books, If Only They Could Talk.
Armando Iannucci, who brought us Veep and The Thick of It, now explores space in Avenue 5. Set 40 years in the future it stars Hugh Laurie as the captain of a space cruise ship. The cast also includes Josh Gad and Nikki Amuka-Bird. A fire at Leavesden Studios in Hertfordshire destroyed one of the main sets during filming, but the series was still completed on schedule.
Expected 22 January.
Set in the coastal town of Morecambe, series two of the crime drama sees Detective Sergeant Lisa Armstrong (Morven Christie) continuing her police work still bruised from the events of series one. Armstrong who’s a family liaison officer is drawn into the events of a shocking murder. Daniel Ryan (Detective Inspector Tony Manning) and Lindsey Coulson (Penny Armstrong) also return for the new series
The series starts in 1981, and follows the experiences of three young men and their best friend Jill. As the years pass, their lives and those around them begin to be affected by Aids. Olly Alexander from music group Years & Years plays the drama’s central character Ritchie. It’s written by Russell T Davies, whose first big success was Channel Four’s Queer As Folk.
Doctor Who (BBC One)
Jodie Whittaker returns for her second series as the Time Lord, and the pre-publicity is also promising the return of a number of classic Doctor Who villains. BBC One will have been delighted with the last series’ high viewing figures, but also concerned at the way they decreased throughout almost all the 10-episode run. This year’s series opening is certainly a step up in terms of pace and energy.
Goes out on 1 January.
The stylish female-led thriller has swiftly become a favourite with audiences and with awards bodies. In the past year its stars Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh have been honoured by Bafta, the Emmys and the Golden Globes. And the series’s creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge has also been recognised for her work. Its success has made the third series one of the most anticipated of 2020.
The series five finale was the most watched TV show of 2019, so expectation is naturally high for the sixth series of Jed Mercurio’s police drama. Few details are known at this stage, but it’s likely to continue the search for a corrupt high-level officer in the police force. All three of the show’s main cast – Martin Compston, Vicky McClure and Adrian Dunbar – will be returning. They’ll be joined by Kelly Macdonald as Detective Chief Inspector Joanne Davidson.
For many, this Star Wars spin-off is the thing they’re most excited about on the new Disney streaming service. Although the series, which is already airing in the US, has the mysterious bounty hunter as its lead character, much attention has been focused on another (slightly spoliery) appearance. With more Star Wars films on the way after The Rise of Skywalker, fans are also keen to see how this series might fit into the wider movie universe.
Expected 31 March.
Star Trek: Picard (Amazon Video)
Sir Patrick Stewart returns to the Star Trek universe, reprising the role of Jean-Luc Picard, who first appeared in the franchise in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Few details have been released about the conspiracies and alien foes he might encounter. But he’ll be joined on screen by old favourites Jonathan Frakes as his one-time first officer Will Riker, Brent Spiner’s artificial life form Data, and Jeri Ryan’s former Borg Seven of Nine.
Out from 24 January.
Succession (Sky Atlantic)
The story of the dysfunctional Roy family, trying to deal with the fallout as their ageing father Logan (Brian Cox) steps back from the media conglomerate they control has captivated viewers for two series now. It’s not been confirmed when the eagerly awaited third series will air, but filming is expected to begin in early 2020 for transmission in the summer.
Expected 2020.
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