New British TV Series for 2024: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Netflix, Disney, Prime Video, Sky

How to Get to Heaven From Belfast

Here’s one we’ve been waiting for – the brilliant Lisa McGee’s follow-up to Derry Girls has been announced and it’s a comedy thriller called How to Get to Heaven From Belfast, coming to Channel 4. It’s the story of three women in their late thirties, who’ve been friends since their schooldays, and who reunite to attend a friend’s wake, which leads them into a dark and twisted mystery. “Not so much a ‘whodunit’,” says he press release, “as a ‘what the hell happened’”. Cast and release schedule is all still to be confirmed, but sign us up!

King and Conqueror

Happy Valley’s James Norton will star in this eight-part BBC historical drama about the events leading up to the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Norton plays Harold, Earl of Wessex, alongside Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) as William, Duke of Normandy, and the series is penned by Michael Robert Johnson, the screenwriter behind Sherlock Holmes and The Frankenstein Chronicles. Filming is taking place in Iceland this year.

Little Disasters

Fans of Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal should keep an eye out for new six-part drama Little Disasters, another adaptation of a Sarah Vaughan novel. This one’s also a psychological thriller, but instead of focusing on power play and sexual assault in the political world, it’s about female friendship, motherhood, suspicion and loyalty. Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds), Jo Joyner (Shakespeare & Hathaway), Shelley Conn (Bridgerton) and Emily Taaffe (The Rising) play Jess, Liz, Charlotte and Mel, four women whose friendship began a decade ago when they all expected babies around the same due date. When a child is injured, accusations fly and rifts are exposed. Expect to see this one on Paramount+ UK & Ireland.

Lions

Richard Gadd (see Baby Reindeer, above) is behind this new six-part BBC drama about a pair of estranged brothers who have a violent reunion at a wedding. Using flashbacks to far back in the siblings’ lives, it tells a story of a relationship fraught by rivalry and pressure while looking at what it means to be a man in a fast-changing world. More details, including cast, to follow.

Lockerbie

In 1988, a bomb exploded on Pan Am Flight 103 as it flew over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing 270 people and becoming the deadliest terror attack on British soil. The BBC and Netflix have joined forces to create a new six-part factual drama telling the story of this infamous tragedy, and the subsequent combined Scottish-US police investigation on both sides of the Atlantic, taking us right up to the most recent developments in 2022. Lockerbie will be written by novelist Jonathan Lee and produced by World Productions (who were also behind factual dramas United and Anne), with filming taking place in Scotland, Malta and Toronto with Connor Swindells, Tony Curran, Peter Mullan, Eddie Marsan and more.

Lord of the Flies

For the first time ever, William Golding’s 1954 novel Lord of The Flies is being adapted for television, becoming a four-part series for the BBC. National Treasure‘s Jack Thorne will be writing the screenplay, telling the famous story about a group of young boys who find themselves stranded on a tropical island, and their disastrous attempts to govern themselves. The series will air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Ludwig

Upstart Crow‘s David Mitchell will star in a genre-bending comedy detective drama for the BBC about a solitary luddite who goes on a quest to find his missing twin brother. Mitchell plays John, a man who enjoys living alone and designing puzzles for a living under the pseudonym ‘Ludwig’, but when his twin brother James – a successful DCI in major crimes – goes missing, John must assume his identity to track him down. Filming on the six hour-long episodes is currently taking place.

Make That Movie

Attention, Taskmaster fans! Australian comic Sam Campbell has been given his own six-part comedy series, coming to Channel 4. Make That Movie will tell the story of a director who scours the UK for everyday people with ideas for feature films. Once found, the team make that person’s movie in a three-day turnaround. Think, the speed of a DIY makeover show but dedicated to the creative imagination. Campbell stars alongside fellow comedians Lara Ricote, Aaron Chen, Helen Bauer and David Hargreaves.

Marlow

This original BritBox drama was commissioned in mid-2021 and is still in development, with The Crown‘s Claire Foy (pictured above) attached to star as the lead. Foy will play Evie Wyatt, whose family has long been at war with the Marlows, a rival clan in the “Edgelands” of the Thames Estuary, for centuries. It’s a revenge, succession-warring story tinged with myth and tragedy that’s described as “a modern epic” in the official press announcement, and comes from Southcliffe and Red Riding’s Tony Grisoni, so has a strong storytelling pedigree.

Mint

Filmmaker Charlotte Regan’s Scrapper, about a young girl whose absent and feckless father suddenly re-enters her life, was one of 2023’s low-key British gems. Now, Regan is behind a new eight-episode series for the BBC about being a member of a criminal family as experienced from the perspective of the children and grandmother. Think Boy Swallows Universe, perhaps? We’ll bring you more details including cast, when they’re confirmed.

Missing You

Bingeing a Harlan Coben thriller on Netflix on New Year’s Day is fast becoming a festive tradition as fixed as overeating and losing the Sellotape. After recent entries in this glossy, twist-filled series of blockbuster book adaptations Stay Close and Fool Me Once, comes Missing You. It’s the story of a detective whose missing fiancé suddenly pops up on a dating app over a decade after he disappeared. As she investigates this weird event, she also digs up long-buried secrets abut her father’s murder and her own past. In other words: the perfect viewing for a post-indulgence sofa bank holiday. Top Boy‘s Ashley Walters and Stay Close‘s James Nesbitt will star alongside Rosalind Eleazar, Jessica Plummer, Richard Armitage, Ashley Walters, Lenny Henry, Steve Pemberton, Samantha Spiro, Lisa Faulkner, Mary Malone and more. Filming began in June 2024.

Mr Loverman

Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo’s 2013 novel Mr Loverman is being adapted into an eight-part BBC drama starring The Walking Dead and Save Me‘s Lennie James. He’ll play the exuberant Barrington Jedidiah Walker – Barry to his friends – a 70-year-old snappy-dressing Hackney personality whose wife of 50 years, Carmel, suspects he’s been cheating on her. As Evaristo’s groundbreaking exploration of Britain’s older Caribbean community uncovers, the reality is he’s been having a decades-long passionate affair with his best friend and soulmate, Morris. The series will explore parenthood, regrets and social expectations about sexual orientation and love – filming took place at the end of 2023, and it’s due to arrive in Autumn 2024.

Nightsleeper

The BBC is producing this real-time thriller set on a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London, in which a government agency desperately tries to intervene in the rapidly-escalating events onboard. The six-part drama will star Alexandra Roach (The Light in the Hall) and Joe Cole (Gangs of London) as two strangers – one on the train, one not – who are working to save the lives of everyone on board. Filming took place in Glasgow and the series will air in early 2024 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

Outrageous

The national obsession with the Mitford sisters is about to be re-sparked by a new six-episode drama series about the aristocrat family for BritBox International and UKTV. Bridgerton‘s Bessie Carter will play novelist Nancy Mitford, with Joanna Vanderham, Shannon Watson, Zoe Brough, Orla Hill and Isobel Jesper Jones as, respectively, Diana (wife of British Union of Fascist leader Oswald Mosley), Unity (a personal friend of Adolf Hitler), Jessica, Deborah and Pamela. It’s based on Mary Lovell’s excellent biography The Mitford Girls and written by Small Island and The Long Song‘s Sarah Williams. Filming began in June 2024, for an expected 2025 debut.

Out There

Martin Clunes is once again teaming up with the team behind the true-crime drama Manhunt (in which he starred back in 2019), this time on a new six-part series Out There, about a widowed farmer who discovers his teenage son has become involved in county lines drug dealing, an increasingly dangerous problem in the UK. The series also stars Mark Lewis Jones (Gangs of London) and Gerran Howell (1917). Filming took place in Wales, and the series will arrive soon on ITV1 and ITVX.

Penance

Based on Eliza Clarke’s crime novel of the same name, Penance is being adapted for TV by bestselling author and Doctor Who podcaster Juno Dawson. The story centres on the brutal murder of a North Yorkshire teenager by three of her school friends on the eve of Brexit, and the events that led up to it, covering social media wars, obsessions with the occult and long-held rivalries. More details will be announced soon.

Playdate

Alex Dahl’s bestselling thriller novel Playdate is being adapted into a twisty five-part series for Disney+. It centres on every parents’ worst nightmare: mum Elisa lets her daughter Lucia go on a sleepover at a new friend’s house, but when she goes to collect her the next day, she discovers the house was a holiday rental and discovers Lucia, her friend Josie and Josie’s mother have vanished. In the urgent manhunt that follows, Elisa and her husband Fred find themselves under public scrutiny, and secrets about their past come to light, which explain the reason Lucia was taken. The cast includes Denise Gough (Andor), Holliday Grainger  (The Capture), Ambika Mod (This Is Going to Hurt), Jim Sturgess (Cloud Atlas) and The Suspect’s Bronagh Waugh.

Playing Nice

Happy Valley star James Norton and Malpractice’s Niamh Algar will lead the cast of this nightmarish psychological thriller – based on JP Delaney’s novel of the same name – about two couples who discover their toddlers were switched at birth. The four-part series will see the couples make the horrifying decision about whether to reclaim their biological child or continue to raise the child they know and love. Playing Nice will air on ITV.

Prime Target

Apple TV+ has lined up a top cast for this eight-part conspiracy thriller from Sherlock and Vienna Blood‘s Steve Thompson. It’s the story of a brilliant maths mind on the brink of an enormous breakthrough that would give him the key to every computer in the world, and the enemy trying to stop him in his tracks. Playing the young genius is One Day and White Lotus‘ Leo Woodall, who’s joined by Quintessa Swindell, Stephen Rea, David Morrissey, Martha Plimpton, Sidse Babbett Knudsen, Jason Flemyng and more. Think twists, action and scary tech.

Protection

Happy Valley‘s Siobhan Finneran and Black Ops‘ Katherine Kelly will star in new six-part ITV thriller Protection, about the dark and murky truth on witness protection, which often involves the morally-grey aspect of protecting criminals as well as innocent witnesses. Based on the experiences of a real long-serving witness protection officer, the drama will see police officer DI Liz Nyles (Finneran) find herself at the heart of a breach in the system, fighting to uncover the corruption in her unit while protecting people who don’t always deserve her help. The series will also star Trigger Point‘s Nadine Marshall, with filming beginning in Liverpool shortly, and a planned release on ITV and ITVX in 2024.

Return To Paradise

ANOTHER Death in Paradise spin-off? Okay then! After Caribbean-set crime series Death in Paradise spawned Cornwall-based spin-off Beyond Paradise last year, Return To Paradise will transport us to the beachside hamlet of Dolphin Cove in Australia. There, Australian ex-pat Mackenzie Clarke will reluctantly return from London’s Met Police to her hometown to solve a murder after getting a reputation for cracking impossible cases. The six-part series will begin filming this year – casting is yet to be announced.

Reunion

Deaf screenwriter William Mager is behind this four-part BBC One series about a deaf ex-con who reunites with his estranged daughter upon his release from prison. Set and filmed around Sheffield and Doncaster, it’s billed as an emotional thriller themed around redemption and vengeance, as well as a crime mystery about why the lead character was sent to prison in the first place. Anne-Marie Duff stars.

Riot Women

Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright has a new BBC drama on the way, hooray! Once again set in Yorkshire, Riot Women (formerly Hot Flush) will centre on five women “of a certain age” who form a punk rock band to enter a talent contest, only to discover that this gives them a new-found voice and a platform to express themselves. But the band leaders Kitty and Beth have a long-buried secret that threatens to tear them apart. The series will be produced by the team behind Doctor Foster, with more details on the way soon.

Rivals

Jilly Cooper’s iconic novel Rivals is being adapted into an eight-part drama by Disney+, and the cast list is incredible. Set in the 1980s, the dramatic storyline focuses on a bitter upper-class battle for a TV franchise between two rivals, with Alex Hassell (The Boys) playing charismatic Tory MP Rupert Cambell-Black and Doctor Who‘s David Tennant taking on the role of the dastardly Lord Tony Baddingham. Other lead cast members include Poldark‘s Aidan Turner as TV presenter Declan O’Hara, Black Lightning‘s Nafessa Wiliams as TV exec Cameron Cook, The IT Crowd‘s Katherin Parkinson as novelist Lizzie Vereker and EastEnders star Danny Dyer as electronics millionaire Freddie Jones. Production has begun, with filming taking place in the UK, and the series will arrive on Disney+ in 2024.

Ruth

Miss Potter star Lucy Boynton will portray Ruth Ellis, the last woman in England to be hanged in 1955, in this compelling new drama for ITV. Told over two parallel timelines, the four-part drama will reveal secrets that have been hidden for decades concerning Ruth Ellis’ murder of her abusive lover David Blakely (played by Mary and George‘s Laurie Davidson), telling the story of her arrest, conviction and the fight to save her from execution. Other cast members confirmed include Toby Jones (The Long Shadow) as Ellis’ solicitor John Bickford, Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who) as Victor Mishcon, Juliet Stevenson (Wolf) as Dr Charity Taylor, plus Happy Valley‘s Joe Armstrong and Mark Stanley. Filming took place in 2023 and the series arrives on ITV this year.

Shuggie Bain

Douglas Stuart is adapting his own Booker Prize-winning novel for this BBC drama, which tells the autobiographically inspired story of young Shuggie and his siblings growing up against a backdrop of poverty and alcohol addiction in 1980s Glasgow. It promises to be a powerful and emotional drama, and was due to film in Scotland during 2023, but casting and release details have yet to be announced.

Summerwater

Another hit novel adaptation here – adapted by John Donnelly from Sarah Moss’ book of the same name, this six-part drama is set on a loch-side Scottish holiday park. The story unfurls as tensions simmer among a group of holidaymakers over the course of a single rainy day. Casting is still tba, but expect a solid ensemble for this character-rich story.

Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes

Stan & Ollie writer Jeff Pope is working with Disney+ to create a true crime drama about the tragic death of Jean Charles de Menezes, an innocent Brazilian national shot dead by police in London after being mistaken for a suspect in the 2005 London terrorist bombings. It’s a highly controversial case, prompting an inquest, IPCC investigations, and the resignation of the Met Police Commissioner, and importantly the Menezes family are serving as consultants for the series. Disney announced the series began filming in October 2023 so we shouldn’t have too long to wait for this one.

Tall Pines

Canadian comedian, Taskmaster contestant and creator of Channel 4 comedy Feel Good Mae Martin is writing and starring in an eight-part thriller, Tall Pines, for Netflix. This intergenerational drama will examine the complex and sometimes twisted relationship between teenagers and adults. Filming has yet to begin.

The Choice

Netflix excels at this kind of glossy political thriller starring chic women in expensive suits who probably smell of Jo Malone fragrances not even bought in the sale. Its latest is The Choice, starring Suranne Jones as the British prime minister, and Julie Delpy as the French President. There’s blackmail, there’s rivalry, there are lives hanging in the balance and a plot threatening more than just their respective political careers… Created by Vigil‘s Isabelle Sieb and Bridge of Lies‘ Matt Charman, it sounds like fun.

The Crow Girl

Erik Axl Sund’s The Crow Girl trilogy is coming to streamer Paramount+, with stars Eve Myles (Torchwood) and Katherine Kelly (The Long Shadow) in the lead roles of a police detective and a psychotherapist hunting a killer. It’s a story of historic abuse and a shocking conspiracy with the ticking clock of a murderer getting closer by the day. Dougray Scott also stars.

The Death of Bunny Munroe

Matt Smith (pictured above in Doctor Who) will star in six-part Sky series The Death of Bunny Munroe, based on Nick Cave’s 2009 novel of the same name, about a sleazy lothario and door-to-door salesman who suddenly finds himself the sole carer for his young son after his wife’s suicide. Smith – who will also executive produce – described the series as an “exploration of love, grief, and chaos”. Filming begins this spring.

The Dream Lands

If you didn’t watch Kayleigh Llewellyn’s excellent comedy-drama In My Skin, about a Welsh teenager struggling to keep up the illusion of living a normal, healthy life while caring for her bipolar mother and abusive father, then get thee to BBC iPlayer and enjoy a powerful story very well told. The Dream Lands is Llewellyn’s next BBC TV series, adapted from the book Dreamland by Rosa Rankin-Gee (and slightly retitled presumably to avoid confusion with Sky’s recent Lily Allen-starring drama of the same name). Set in a dystopian near future, it’s about a young woman struggling for love and survival while the world falls apart around her. More details to follow.

The Feud

A new domestic thriller is coming to Channel 5, starring Jill Halfpenny and Rupert Penry-Jones. Though the premise doesn’t exactly sound thrilling – a couple face objection by neighbours to their planned kitchen extension – we’re sure there’s more to it than there seems to be on the surface. Halfpenny and Penry-Jones play Emma and John Barnett, a couple living an apparently idyllic life with their teenage daughter in a leafy suburb, where good neighbours become good friends… until planning permission rears its ugly head and things kick off. Derry Girls‘ Jamie-Lee O’Donnell, Gavin and Stacey‘s Larry Lamb, Amy Nuttall, James Fleet, Ray Fearon and Tessa Peake-Jones also star.

The Hardacres

Channel 5 loves Yorkshire like bread loves butter, and new period drama The Hardacres is not one to buck that trend. Set in the 1890s, it’s the rags-to-riches story of a Yorkshire family who go from fishing boats to a huge country estate. It will star Claire Cooper, Julie Graham and Liam McMahon, and we’ll bring you more info including a release date, when it’s announced.

The Listeners

Here’s an unusual one: from the producers of Normal People and adapted from Jordan Tannahill’s novel, The Listeners stars Rebecca Hall as Claire, an English teacher mystified as to why nobody around her can hear the same low humming sound she can’t escape. Eventually, Claire discovers a student, and then others, who can hear the sound and her life begins to split apart as she realigns with her new co-listeners. Dealing with conspiracy theories, a search for community in a polarised world, and more, The Listeners promises to provide plenty of food for thought. Tannahill adapts the screenplay with Janicza Bravo directing.

The Ministry of Time

Kailane Bradley’s sci-fi novel The Ministry of Time only came out in May 2024, and already the adaptation is in the works at the BBC. It’s a six-part drama about a mysterious new government department which is using time travel to recruit “expats” from across the centuries and placing them with modern-day “bridges”. How will a 19th century naval officer respond to the world as it is now? (Are we right to think of the history report in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure?) Normal People‘s Alice Birch is adapting, with A24 producing.

The Rapture

Doctor Who‘s Ruth Madeley will star in The Rapture, a five-part drama based on Liz Jensen’s bestselling 2009 novel of the same name. It tells the story of forensic psychologist Gabrielle (Madeley), who is recovering from a car accident that left her paralysed, and begins working at a maximum security juvenile detention centre. She meets 16-year-old inmate Bethany Krall, who was found guilty of brutally murdering her mother, and tells Gabrielle that she has psychic powers that have told her a natural disaster is about to take place. It’s up to Gabrielle to work out whether she’s telling the truth or is just a highly manipulative psychopath. The Rapture will air on BBC One.

The Road Trip

Based on Beth O’Leary’s bestselling novel, this six-part drama will see two sisters embark on an eventful and bumpy road trip to a Spanish wedding, forced to share a creaky campervan with one of their ex-boyfriends, his characterful best mate and a complete stranger called Rodney. Emma Appleton (The Killing Kind) and Isabella Laughland (Foundation) are sisters Addie and Deb, Laurie Davidson (Mary & George) will play Addie’s ex Dylan and David Jonsson (Rye Lane) and Angus Imrie (The Crown) play Dylan’s friend Marcus and the mysterious Rodney. Filming has taken place in Gran Canaria and Bristol and the series arrives on Paramount+ later this year.

The Seven Dials Mystery

Broadchurch-creator and former Doctor Who showrunner Chris Chibnall has adapted Agatha Christie’s 1929 novel “The Seven Dials Mystery” for Netflix. Due to film in summer 2024, Variety has announced that the series cast will be led by How to Have Sex‘s Mia McKenna-Bruce in the role of Lady Eileen Brent, with Helena Bonham Carter playing Lady Caterham, and Martin Freeman playing police officer Superintendent Battle. It all takes place in the aftermath of a country house party where a prank goes horribly wrong. More details to follow.

The Split-Up

Bereft fans of Abi Morgan’s legal drama The Split can dry their tears now that this spin-off from Ursula Rami Sarma has been announced. With brand new characters and a new Manchester setting, it shares The Split‘s premise of a multi-generational family-run law firm that also practises family law. Instead of Defoe’s, this time it’s Kishan Law, an equally acclaimed firm that has wealthy clients, knotty interpersonal cases and a secret of its own to unpick. Cast and other details are yet to be announced.

The Teacher

Coming to Channel 5, this is a follow-up to 2022’s series of the same name but with a brand new cast, new characters and new story (they’re calling it an anthology). Kara Tointon stars alongside Emmett J. Scanlan and Will Mellor in the psychological thriller about an art teacher who becomes entangled with the death of a student, and faces losing everything.

The Undertow

The Tourist and Belfast‘s Jamie Dornan will star in a new crime drama in which he’ll perform Tom Hardy’s Kray brothers trick and play a set of identical twins, alongside Terminator and Black Mirror‘s Mackenzie Davis. Adapted from the Norwegian original series Twin, it’s about a love triangle involving Mackenzie’s character Nicola and Dornan’s characters Adam and Lee. It’s due to film in Scotland later this year and will come to Netflix.

The War Between the Land and the Sea

This Doctor Who spinoff will be a five-part miniseries starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Russell Tovey, alongside returning Doctor Who stars Jemma Redgrave and Alexander Devrient, who play UNIT boss Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and field officer Colonel Ibrahim. It’s about a conflict between underwater creatures known as ‘The Sea Devils’, first seen in Doctor Who in the 1970s, and present-day humanity. It was announced at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, and will air on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and Disney+.

The Witness

If you watched Channel 4 drama Deceit starring Niamh Algar, you’ll be familiar with the true-life case that Netflix is dramatising in The Witness. With the involvement of the Hanscombe family, who were tragically bereaved following the brutal murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992, The Witness will focus on the experience of Nickell’s son, who was two years old at the time of his mother’s killing. It’s coming from the production company behind Criminal Record, and no cast has yet been confirmed.

The Wives

This intriguing and twisty domestic thriller is about a family’s dramatic unravelling during a summer holiday in Malta, where three siblings mourning their recently deceased sister Annabelle discover there’s far more to her death than they could have imagined. Casting details are yet to be announced, but the series will be filmed in Malta this spring and is set to air on Channel 5.

This City is Ours

Missing Gangs of London and Peaky Blinders? This original crime drama from the adaptor of The Lost Kingdom and Shardlake Stephen Butchard might just fit the bill. It’s the Liverpool and Spain-set story of a drug gang crime boss who, inspired by love, wants to go straight but will his family let him? And will his son succeed in his takeover bid? With eight episodes, this one’s being primed for an international market. Filming began in April 2024 and Sean Bean.

Towards Zero

A new Agatha Christie adaptation is coming to the BBC. This three-part murder mystery set in the 1930s stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Invisible Man) as Nevile, and Ella Lily Hyland (Fifteen-Love) as Audrey – a formerly married couple who, despite the presence of Nevile’s new wife, spend a summer at the coastal estate of Nevile’s aunt Lady Tressilian. In starry news, Lady Tressilian is played by Hollywood royalty Anjelica Huston. We Are Lady Parts‘ Anjana Vasan, The Wire‘s Clarke Peters and more will co-star in the drama, which began filming in Devon and Bristol in June 2024.

Toxic Town

Netflix will depict one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals – the Corby poisonings in the late 1980s – in this new four-part true crime drama, with an all-star cast including Jodie Whittaker (pictured above in Doctor Who), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty), Amy Lou Wood (Sex Education), Rory Kinnear (James Bond) and Downton Abbey‘s Brendan Coyle. Toxic Town is being produced by Broke & Bones, the production company of Black Mirror creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, and will centre on three mothers who take on an Erin Brockovich-style fight for justice after toxic waste mismanagement led to a tragically high number of birth defects in the local community of Corby in Northamptonshire. Production began in August 2023.