“From terrifying thrillers to swoony period dramas, these will be the best TV dramas of 2026”

I’ve only very recently watched series one of The Night Manager, and I’m wondering what took me so long. The six-part series based on John le Carré’s novel is slick, high-stakes and replete with horrible rich people being bad – some of my favourite things. 

Perhaps I accidentally did something smart by taking so long to watch the show, as it meant I didn’t have to wait ten years for its return, unlike those early adopters. The new season picks up with Jonathan Pine (Tom Hiddleston) quietly working for MI6, after being recruited by Angela Burr (Olivia Colman, who also returns). But he’s soon drawn back into the fray, this time in Colombia, after he spots one of his former enemies’ mercenaries.   

Watch now, BBC One 

Set in the dizzying world of investment banking, this show gets better and better, as its leads get more powerful and underhanded. 

Harper (Myha’la) and Yasmin (Marisa Abela) are back, but the power dynamics have shifted. Harper is pulling strings from the outside trying to finally be in a place of control while Lady Yasmin is now truly entangled with tech founder Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington), and their friendship gets pushed to its limits. Add in a new executive, played by Max Minghella, and you’re set for a season less about taking home a mega bonus and more about surviving the fallout.

Watch now, BBC One

For two centuries, Mary Bennet has been nothing more than the plain and pious sister of Elizabeth in Jane Austen’s Pride And Prejudice. But no longer. 

Based on Janice Hadlow’s bestselling novel, this drama finally gives Mary Bennet her redemption arc, moving her out of her sisters’ shadows and into her own journey of self-discovery in Regency London. Justice for overlooked sisters everywhere!

Date tbc, BBC One

Why just have one drama about sisters when you can have two? Drawing from Marian Keyes’s beloved Rachel’s Holiday and Anybody Out There, this six-part series brings the chaotic, loud and loving Walsh sisters to life. Derry Girls’s Louisa Harland is the troubled Anna, Extraordinary breakout star Máiréad Tyers takes on the sharp-tongued Helen, while newcomer Caroline Menton is Rachel, who’s navigating addiction and rehab. Expect warmth, wit and the best type of family dysfunction.

Watch later this month, BBC One

If, like me, you’re still mourning the end of The Split, this expansion of the high-stakes divorce universe will help. 

Created by Ursula Rani Sarma (with the show’s original creator, Abi Morgan, as executive producer), this spin-off introduces us to Kishan Law, a powerhouse British South Asian family firm headed up by Dhruv (Sanjeev Bhaskar, Unforgotten). His daughter Aria (Ritu Arya, The Umbrella Academy) is the heir apparent, but after the death of her mother, Druv isn’t sure if she can handle the pressure. Aria also has her wedding coming up, and that doesn’t look like smooth sailing either.

 Hope she’s got a watertight pre-nup in place. 

Date tbc, BBC One 

In a world where AI is advancing exponentially, The Capture can feel more like a documentary than a drama. But it doesn’t make it any less thrilling. 

Holliday Grainger returns as DI Rachel Carey, and it’s been a year since she broadcast a deepfake of a government minister to the nation to expose the UK intelligence’s video manipulation programme, aka Correction. 

Now the acting head of counter terrorism, she wants the public to regain their trust in surveillance technology, but an act of terror causes a geopolitical crisis that threatens everything Carey has been working to achieve. 

Date tbc, BBC One 

The difficult road to parenthood and the trauma of babyloss are the centre of this new drama. 

Siobhán Cullen (Bodkin) and Paapa Essiedu (The Capture) play a couple in their 30s who endure multiple miscarriages while trying to have a baby. It’s a deeply human story and will be directed by Stefan Golaszewski, the creator of Marriage and Mum.

Date tbc, BBC One 

Ruth Madeley (Doctor Who) takes the lead in this new thriller based on a novel by Liz Jensen. She plays forensic psychologist Gabs Fox, who starts a new job where she meets a patient, Bethany (India Amarteifio, Queen Charlotte), convicted of murdering her mother. 

Bethany, also the daughter of a cult leader, says she is innocent and that she can predict the future. But will anyone believe her?

Date tbc, BBC One 

Based on James Graham’s award-winning play, which was in turn based on real-life, we follow Gareth Southgate (Joseph Fiennes) and his England team, who have a lot to prove after a series of big losses.  

Blending psychological insight with key squad moments it’s a portrait of a team, and country, in flux, and examines how vulnerability, leadership and collective belief can rewrite history. Jodie Whittaker and Jason Watkins round out the cast of the four-part series. 

Date tbc, BBC One 

After twisting our brains with Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd is back with a series about trauma, family bonds and what it means to be a man today. 

Across four decades, it follows estranged ‘brothers’ Ruben (Jamie Bell) and Niall (Gadd) from gobby teenagers to angry adults, as they fall apart and come together. 

Date tbc, BBC One

A stylish off‑beat crime‑family drama told through the eyes of Shannon (Emma Lard). She’s a naive young woman trying to carve out her own identity and find love amid her clan’s chaotic inner workings and criminal way of life.  

Date tbc, BBC One 

It’s been far too long since we’ve had a Michaela Coel series to sink our teeth into, so this new drama that she writes, directs and stars in is very welcome. 

She plays Henri, a British novelist who travels to Ghana to reconnect with her estranged father and rediscover her sense of self. But what starts as an emotional homecoming quickly becomes a fraught journey through identity, betrayal and reinvention.

Date tbc, BBC One 

Harlan Coben has nailed the art of the thriller-comfort TV fusion, and Run Away is a case in point.

James Nesbitt plays Simon, whose idyllic life falls apart with the disappearance of daughter Paige (Ellie de Lange). And when he tries to save her, her uncovers a very dangerous underworld that could cause even more damage. Ruth Jones, Minnie Driver and Alfred Enoch also star.

Watch now, Netflix 

Mia McKenna-Bruce is set for a huge few years, and kicks off 2026 in this witty period drama. Written by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall, it also stars Helena Bonham-Carter, Nabhaan Rizwan and Corey Mylchreest. 

McKenna-Bruce plays Lady Eileen ‘Bundle’ Brent, who turns sleuth when a prank at a party at her family estate goes very wrong and changes everything. 

Watch now, Netflix 

It’s eldest brother Benedict Bridgerton’s turn for romance, as Julia Quinn’s An Offer From A Gentleman gets its adaptation.

Lisa McGee, the creator of Derry Girls, is finally back, with the gift of a new series about friendship and memory laced with humour. But this time she’s swapped the school uniforms and Take That posters for something darker and more grown-up. 

The series follows childhood friends played by Roísín Gallagher (The Dry), Sinéad Keenan (Unforgotten) and Caoilfhionn Dunne (Industry), who are reunited by the death of the fourth member of their gang. But what starts as a wake for their friend soon spirals into a mystery that takes them on a trip across Ireland. 

Watch on 12 February, Netflix 

After the success of series one starring Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, the anthology returns with a fresh feud, this time set in the high‑pressure world of a luxury country club. 

When a young couple sees their boss and his wife in a violent row, a chain of favours and coercion spirals into chaos. With Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny leading the cast, expect class commentary, high-energy and the same levels of stress that made series one such a phenomenon.

Watch on 16 April, Netflix 

Following the knockout punch of the first season, dive back into the perilous world of illegal boxing in 1880s Victorian London, this time with even higher stakes. 

Mary (Erin Doherty) is bringing the Forty Elephants back together, Sugar (Stephen Graham) is reckoning with his acts of violence in the ring against his brother, while Hezekiah (Malachi Kirby) is out for revenge after the death of his best friend. 

Watch now, Disney+

Ryan Murphy is back, and after that reaction to All’s Fair, we’re intrigued about this new thriller.  

Set in the world of high fashion and inspired by the rise of new weight loss drugs, it centres on a group of supermodels who begin to die in gruesome ways. Ashton Kutcher, Rebecca Hall, Evan Peters, Anthony Ramos and Bella Hadid star.

Watch now, Disney+

I called episode seven of this thriller the best hour of telly I’d seen so far [last] year, so I have high hopes for series two. 

Season one ended after (spoilers coming…) Xavier Collins (Sterling K Brown), a secret service agent, discovered that Paradise, the seemingly idyllic community in which he was living, was actually a bunker created by rich billionaires to escape the climate crisis. He also discovered who killed the president (James Marsden), the secrets the president was hiding, and that his wife, whom he thought was dead, might actually be alive.

So, plenty going on then…

Watch on 23 February on Disney+

The long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale shifts the focus to a new generation of girls raised inside Gilead’s indoctrination machine.

The story is told from three perspectives: Ann Dowd’s formidable Aunt Lydia, Agnes/Hannah (Chase Infiniti), the daughter of June and Daisy (Lucy Halliday), who discovers a terrifying connection to the regime. And we follow as they uncover buried truths and fight for autonomy.

Watch on 8 April, Disney+

We return to the horniest county in the UK, Rutshire, for series two of the adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1988 novel. 

The smack that Tony Baddingham (David Tennant) took to his head from Cameron (Nafessa Williams) in season one doesn’t seem to have caused lasting damage. And he’s ready to do battle as the franchise war between Corinium and rivals Venturer, set up by Declan O’Hara (Aidan Turner) and Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), reaches a boiling point. And things are heating up elsewhere, too, for Rupert, thanks to his forbidden flirtation with Declan’s daughter, Taggie (Bella Maclean). 

There are also new characters joining the returning cast (which includes Danny Dyer, Emily Atack and Katherine Parkinson): Hayley Atwell plays Rupert’s icy ex-wife, Helen, alongside Rupert Everett as her new husband (and Rupert’s former mentor). 

Watch on 15 May, Disney+

Apparently, when you’re referring to the sport at the centre of this wildly spicy and compelling drama, you should call it hockey, not ice hockey! But that’s literally all you need to know about the sport, as we’re all really tuning in for the tender, yearning and horny relationship between rivals Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) and Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams). 

Watch now on Sky and Now 

Set a century before Game Of Thrones, this prequel offers something different to House Of The Dragon. It follows Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey), a naive but brave knight, and his tiny, bald squire, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell). 

Based on George RR Martin’s beloved novellas, it promises an odyssey around Westeros that swaps world-ending stakes, confusing family trees and angry dragons for intimate, character-driven storytelling with an unlikely hero at its heart. 

Watch now, Sky and Now 

Euphoria returns with a significant time jump as the all-star cast are navigating the messy realities of early adulthood.

Rue (Zendaya) is in Mexico, trying to pay off her debts, while Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) is engaged to Nate (Jacob Elordi), but is jealous of the life everyone else seems to be living on social media. 

Elsewhere, Jules (Hunter Schafer) is at art school, Maddy (Alexa Demie) works in Hollywood for a talent agent and Lexi (Maude Apatow) is an assistant to a showrunner (played by Sharon Stone). 

Bring on the chaos.  

Date TBC 

This high-stakes thriller sees Shaun Evans as John Hughes, an intelligence officer whose life unravels after a hunch about a terror plot goes wrong, leaving him fighting to save his career and his marriage to Claire (the brilliant Romola Garai). And as John tries to stop a possible attack, the line between enemy and ally blurs. Just the sort of stressful way we like to start our years…

Watch on 8 February, ITV

I’m intrigued by the premise of this spy thriller, which comes from the mind of someone who delivers the news every day. 

Adapted from ITV News anchor Tom Bradby’s novel, Gemma Arterton leads the charge as Kate Henderson, a senior MI6 officer on the Russia Desk who uncovers a terrifying secret: a high-ranking British politician is a Russian mole. Digging into the paranoia of modern politics, it will ask the (very pertinent) question: how well do we know the people running the country?

Date tbc, ITV

Elizabeth Day’s 2017 novel is the focus of this new series about power, politics and money – aka all the good stuff. 

Luke Evans plays Martin, a journalist, whose life is defined by his friendship (and obsession) with Ben, a charismatic and wealthy politician, since meeting at boarding school. When Ben announces his intention to run for prime minister, it threatens to uncover some shocking secrets from their past. 

Date tbc, ITV

This Channel 4 drama brings together two of the most compelling actors on British television, Bella Ramsey and Daisy Haggard for a story that promises to be equal parts dark, funny and unsettling. 

They play a mother and daughter who, when their lives are in danger, are forced to leave London and enter a witness protection programme in Scotland. They take on new identities but can’t escape the trauma they’ve been through, especially when it seems a figure from their past with unfinished business is closing in on them. 

Date tbc, Channel 4

Five years after the seminal It’s A Sin, Russell T Davies is back, with another powerful drama that sheds light on the LGBTQ+ experience in the UK today. 

Alan Cumming is Leo, an outgoing bar owner in Manchester’s Gay Village, who lives next door to the troubled Clive (David Morrissey), whose simmering hostility escalates into something far more dangerous, as the world around them grows more tense. 

Date tbc, on Channel 4 

Posy Sterling (a revelation in Lollipop) stars alongside David Thewlis, Jason Watkins and Asim Chaudhry in this important factual drama based on a decade-long investigation into England’s water companies. 

Thewlis plays a former police detective who joins forces with his neighbour (Watkins) to investigate why the fish in their local river are dying as they discover raw, untreated sewage being dumped into local waterways with fatal results.

Date tbc, Channel 4 

Falling is Jack Thorne’s (the Adolescence co-creator) first love story. And the six-part series sees him channelling his trademark emotional depth into a bold, forbidden romance between a devoted nun and a Catholic priest. Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu lead the cast as Anna and David, who are wrestling with faith, desire and the cost of choosing love over their vows. 

Date tbc, Channel 4

After it shattered our hearts in 2024,  series two of Big Mood promises another sharp, funny and full-throttled dive into Maggie (Nicola Coughlan) and Eddie’s (Lydia West) beautifully messy friendship. Picking up a year after their emotional rupture, the new chapter brings the pair back together for the first time at a wedding – but Eddie is alone. Enter Whitney, an upbeat spiritual healer whose presence forces Maggie to confront where she fits in. 

Date tbc, Channel 4

Sophie Turner takes the lead in this new heist thriller. She plays Zara, an office worker at a pension fund, when a group of thieves demand that Zara and friend Luke (Archie Madekwe) carry out their demands, dropping her into the centre of the drama. 

Watch now, Prime Video 

This stylish psychological thriller, based on Araminta Hall’s novel, follows a decades‑long friendship ruptured by a shocking crime. Elisabeth Moss and Kerry Washington – who also executive‑produce – lead an ensemble cast in an exploration of guilt and retribution, love and betrayal and how, sometimes, even our closest friendships aren’t what they seem. 

Watch on 18 March, Apple TV 

Big Little Lies showrunner David E Kelley is behind this adaptation of Rufi Thorpe’s novel. Elle Fanning is Margo, a broke single mum and aspiring writer who joins OnlyFans to try to make some cash with some unexpected help from her dad, former wrestler Jinx Millet, played by Nick Offerman.

Watch on 15 April, Apple TV

At long last, HBO’s real‑time medical drama is arriving in the UK, and it lands with a serious pedigree and a scalpel-sharp take on US healthcare. 

Season one won big Stateside, with awards buzz and breakneck, hour‑by‑hour storytelling set across a single 15‑hour ER shift, with Noah Wyle’s whip‑smart Dr Robby anchoring the chaos. 

Date tbc, HBO Max