Quick mention for 2 shows that I have thoroughly enjoyed.
1. Poker Face. What's not to like? A former pro poker player turns detective, as she can always tell when someone is lying. Surprisingly, the stories pay homage to Columbo, as we know whodunnit, and the fun is working out how she works it out
2. The Traitors. There is a certain level of snobbery attached to "Reality" TV. Whereas, like all other genres, a lot is rubbish and some of it is brilliant. If you've not seen it, watch the 1st 2 episodes of either Series 1 or Series 2. When you will be hooked.
Quick mention for 2 shows that I have thoroughly enjoyed.
1. Poker Face. What's not to like? A former pro poker player turns detective, as she can always tell when someone is lying. Surprisingly, the stories pay homage to Columbo, as we know whodunnit, and the fun is working out how she works it out
2. The Traitors. There is a certain level of snobbery attached to "Reality" TV. Whereas, like all other genres, a lot is rubbish and some of it is brilliant. If you've not seen it, watch the 1st 2 episodes of either Series 1 or Series 2. When you will be hooked.
Just finished watching True Detectives.
True Detective renewed for season 5 from Night Country showrunner
Line of Duty, The Split, Everything I Know About Love, Normal People, This is Going to Hurt – it's fair to say we're a nation who love a good TV drama, especially when the BBC are behind the camera. But what about the best new BBC dramas, out now and coming soon?
Well, 2023 was an amazing year for BBC dramas, from the third and final season of BAFTA-winning Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire as the iconic Sergeant Catherine Cawood to the second season of Time about life in a British women’s prison, led by The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker and The Long Song's Tamara Lawrance. Not to mention the return of political thriller Vigil, starring Suranne Jones.
The good news is that there are plenty of exciting new TV dramas coming to the BBC in 2024, with Michelle Dockery starring in a new drama from Steven Knight. And there's more to look forward to in the coming months, from Keeley Hawes' star-studded drama Miss Austen to new detective thriller The Jetty, starring Jenna Coleman (see the first look image below).
From true crime thrillers and lavish period dramas to the return of old favourites, we've rounded up the best new dramas coming to the BBC. Find out more about each show below, and prepare to never leave your sofa again...
Michelle Dockery stars alongside Nicholas Pinnock (Marcella) and David Dawson (My Policeman, The Last Kingdom) in This Town, the new drama from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.The six-part series follows an extended family and four young people with a love for ska and two-tone music, which was popular in Coventry and Birmingham in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
Knight says: "This is a project very close to my heart. It’s about an era I lived through and know well and it involves characters who I feel I grew up with. It’s a love letter to Birmingham and Coventry but I hope people from all over the world will relate to it."
This upcoming real-time thriller about the hacking of a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London stars Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole in the lead roles.
The BBC says: "Can two people who’ve never met, one on the train and one not, work together to save the lives of its disparate group of passengers as the Heart of Britain overnight service hurtles towards what might quite literally be its final destination?
"Alexandra plays Abby Aysgarth, the Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, who’s finally about to take a well-earned holiday when she receives a phone call that will change everything – the UK railway network is under attack. Joe Cole plays Joe Roag, an off-duty cop onboard and hoping for a quiet night. However, over the next six rollercoaster hours, Joe’s about to get anything but, as he and Abby battle both their own distrust and the unpredictable behaviour of the person or persons now in control, desperate to try and stop the Heart of Britain from reaching the end of the line, in more ways than one…"
The BBC has released a first look image of Jenna Coleman starring in upcoming drama The Jetty.
Jenna Coleman will play rookie detective Ember Manning in The Jetty, a new thriller coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The four-part series is described as a "coming-of-age-story" as well as a detective thriller.
The BBC says: "A fire tears through a holiday home in a scenic Lancashire lake town. Detective Ember Manning must work out how it connects to a podcast journalist investigating a missing persons cold case and an illicit ‘love’ triangle between a man in his twenties and two underage girls. But as Ember gets close to the truth, it threatens to destroy her life – forcing her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about her past, present and the town she’s always called home.
"As much a coming-of-age story as a detective thriller, The Jetty asks big questions about sexual morality, identity and memory, in the places that Me Too has left behind."
Filming has now started on David Mitchell's new six-part detective drama Ludwig – and it promises to reinvent the genre, as a "'case-of-the-week' crime comedy-drama", according to the BBC.
The BBC says: "When John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s (David Mitchell) identical twin, James, disappears off the face of the earth, John takes over his brother’s identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts. John has never married, never had a family and never really ventured further than his own front door. Without a computer, mobile phone or even a television, he lives in quiet solitude, designing puzzles for a living, under the nom-de-plume of ‘Ludwig’. "However, filling the shoes of your identical twin is one thing - when your twin also happens to be a successful DCI leading Cambridge’s busy inner-city major crimes team the stakes are much higher. John may be a master of all things cryptic, but can he crack the biggest puzzle of his life?" Joining Mitchell in the new BBC One show will be Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, Line of Duty), as Lucy Betts-Taylor, John’s sister-in-law and wife of his missing brother James.
American Scottish author, Douglas Stuart (pictured), won the 2020 Booker Prizer award in 2020 with his gritty novel, Shuggie Bain.
The book follow Shuggie Bain who lives on a Glaswegian council estate in the 1980s, where he struggles to fit in, and his mother has a similar struggle with alcholism, so much so that Shuggie starts to care for her. The story was inspired by Stuart's own life, growing up in Glasgow during the Thatcher years.
There's yet to be an announcement on the cast, but we do know it will be filmed in Scotland.
Granite Harbour will return for a second three-part series filming in Aberdeen and locations across Scotland.
Centring on the story of RMP Sergeant Davis Lindo (Romario Simpson) who arrived in Aberdeen as a new recruit to Police Scotland working alongside DS Lara ‘Bart’ Bartlett (Hannah Donaldson), the first series of Granite Harbour was a BBC iPlayer favourite in 2022 with 7.6million streams.
The second series will see Lindo and Bart called to the harbour to investigate the origins of a new crime wave sweeping the city, and will be written by Rob Fraser (River City, Tin Star), Ciara Conway (River City, Holby City) and Writers Guild of Great Britain award-winner Jillian Mannion (River City, Death in Paradise).
BBC crime drama Sherwood will return for a second series.
The drama was inspired by two real-life Nottinghamshire murders and the subsequent man hunt of Robert Boyer and Terry Rodgers in 2004.
"I've been so deeply moved by the response to Sherwood," writer James Graham said in a statement. "These stories come from my home, and I want to specifically express gratitude to my community for whom I know these subjects can be difficult, but – I hope – important ones to explore.
"The East Midlands and former Red Wall areas like it are never just one thing, politically or culturally, and it's been the honour of my life to give voice and character to a place I love. It's a county of great stories and legends, past and present, and I can't wait to show audiences more."
The series stars Lesley Manville, Liar's Joanne Froggatt, David Morrissey, Robert Glenister, Philip Jackson, and Lorraine Ashbourne and — despite being based on true events — is a fictional dramatic portrayal.
Anna Maxwell is set to start in new BBC drama series A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. The six-part series was wrapped filming in the South West of England at the end of 2023, and will air on BBC Three and iPlayer. Anna will be joined by Gary Beadle, Mathew Baynton, Emma Myers and Zain Iqbal.
The BBC says: "Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend Sal Singh. Case closed. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But smart and single-minded Pip Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure and she’s determined to prove it. And if Sal Singh isn’t a murderer and the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?"
Another BBC production is in the works with the award-winning creator of I May Destroy You, Michael Coel.
While we don't have any specific details just yet, Piers Wenger, head of BBC drama commissioning, has said that another project is being planned with the "unequalled" star and that "more news about that to follow in due course".
Wenger revealed more details in an interview with Deadline, sharing what Coel's upcoming BBC series might entail and links it might have to her previous projects:
"It’s truly in Michaela’s head and it’s not for me to second guess that too much at this point. It’s at relatively early stages, but I wanted to let the fans of I May Destroy You know that there is a new show coming along."
Adding: "What relationship that show will have with the original series, [is for Michaela to decide]. There’s a relationship between Chewing Gum and I May Destroy You. There’s a through line to her thinking. I suspect there may be elements [of I May Destroy You] but it’s really too early to say anything specific."
We could not be more excited to see what the star has in store for us next...
Street Legal Season 1 A revival of the second longest-running one-hour scripted drama in the history of Canadian television, Street Legal follows the professional and private lives of a group of ambitious lawyers at a start-up firm in Toronto. Together, they vigorously fight for their clients while testing the limits of their relationships inside and outside of the courts.
Street Legal is a Canadian legal drama television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1994 before returning with six new episodes starting March 4, 2019.[1] Street Legal was the longest-running one-hour scripted drama in the history of Canadian television, holding the record for twenty years before being surpassed by Heartland's 139th episode on March 29, 2015.[2]
Quick mention for 2 shows that I have thoroughly enjoyed.
1. Poker Face. What's not to like? A former pro poker player turns detective, as she can always tell when someone is lying. Surprisingly, the stories pay homage to Columbo, as we know whodunnit, and the fun is working out how she works it out 2. The Traitors. There is a certain level of snobbery attached to "Reality" TV. Whereas, like all other genres, a lot is rubbish and some of it is brilliant. If you've not seen it, watch the 1st 2 episodes of either Series 1 or Series 2. When you will be hooked.
Do you watch all of them Phil, or just the UK version.
All of them. But the British one has been best. I would recommend starting with UK Series 1. And fast forwarding past some of the challenges. Here is a sentence I never thought I'd write:-
Claudia Winkleman is superb in this.
Series 2 is the best thing on TV so far this year. Though Series 4 of True Detective is a close 2nd.
Comments
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/true-detective-renewed-for-season-5-from-night-country-showrunner/ar-BB1iIUgn?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=ed7dd56877414e7186bc2e52f5660359&ei=17
Boy Swallows Universe | Official Trailer | Netflix
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/bbc-s-the-split-to-get-a-brand-new-spin-off/ar-BB1iHvUF?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=e2e91b0f2f054bc5b0fe747a14142b1d&ei=29
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/grey-s-anatomy-star-s-irish-detective-drama-will-be-available-on-bbc-iplayer/ar-BB1iLNr9?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=e2e91b0f2f054bc5b0fe747a14142b1d&ei=169
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/7-best-shows-like-true-detective-to-watch-right-now/ar-BB1iDL4L?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=96d8db9559e747888c974759b6cfc9d3&ei=15
Bryan Brown was in it as was The Mentalist guy, and the Without A Trace guy.
Good so far.
CH4 app.
Pandora
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/ian-mcshane-on-deadwood-social-media-and-the-demise-of-american-gods-i-was-getting-bored-with-it/ar-BB1iQl8n?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=348b4bb8e80849ec9d3c22567799769f&ei=84
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/true-detective-renewed-for-season-5-as-night-country-smashes-10-year-viewership-history/ar-BB1iOR1d?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=348b4bb8e80849ec9d3c22567799769f&ei=104
Line of Duty, The Split, Everything I Know About Love, Normal People, This is Going to Hurt – it's fair to say we're a nation who love a good TV drama, especially when the BBC are behind the camera. But what about the best new BBC dramas, out now and coming soon?
Well, 2023 was an amazing year for BBC dramas, from the third and final season of BAFTA-winning Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire as the iconic Sergeant Catherine Cawood to the second season of Time about life in a British women’s prison, led by The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker and The Long Song's Tamara Lawrance. Not to mention the return of political thriller Vigil, starring Suranne Jones.
The good news is that there are plenty of exciting new TV dramas coming to the BBC in 2024, with Michelle Dockery starring in a new drama from Steven Knight. And there's more to look forward to in the coming months, from Keeley Hawes' star-studded drama Miss Austen to new detective thriller The Jetty, starring Jenna Coleman (see the first look image below).
From true crime thrillers and lavish period dramas to the return of old favourites, we've rounded up the best new dramas coming to the BBC. Find out more about each show below, and prepare to never leave your sofa again...
This Town
©Robert Viglasky - BBC
Release date: Spring 2024
Michelle Dockery stars alongside Nicholas Pinnock (Marcella) and David Dawson (My Policeman, The Last Kingdom) in This Town, the new drama from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight.The six-part series follows an extended family and four young people with a love for ska and two-tone music, which was popular in Coventry and Birmingham in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
Knight says: "This is a project very close to my heart. It’s about an era I lived through and know well and it involves characters who I feel I grew up with. It’s a love letter to Birmingham and Coventry but I hope people from all over the world will relate to it."
Nightsleeper
©Sam Taylor
Release date: Early 2024
This upcoming real-time thriller about the hacking of a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London stars Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole in the lead roles.
The BBC says: "Can two people who’ve never met, one on the train and one not, work together to save the lives of its disparate group of passengers as the Heart of Britain overnight service hurtles towards what might quite literally be its final destination?
"Alexandra plays Abby Aysgarth, the Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, who’s finally about to take a well-earned holiday when she receives a phone call that will change everything – the UK railway network is under attack. Joe Cole plays Joe Roag, an off-duty cop onboard and hoping for a quiet night. However, over the next six rollercoaster hours, Joe’s about to get anything but, as he and Abby battle both their own distrust and the unpredictable behaviour of the person or persons now in control, desperate to try and stop the Heart of Britain from reaching the end of the line, in more ways than one…"
The Jetty
©Ben Blackall - BBC
Release date: TBC
The BBC has released a first look image of Jenna Coleman starring in upcoming drama The Jetty.
Jenna Coleman will play rookie detective Ember Manning in The Jetty, a new thriller coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The four-part series is described as a "coming-of-age-story" as well as a detective thriller.
The BBC says: "A fire tears through a holiday home in a scenic Lancashire lake town. Detective Ember Manning must work out how it connects to a podcast journalist investigating a missing persons cold case and an illicit ‘love’ triangle between a man in his twenties and two underage girls. But as Ember gets close to the truth, it threatens to destroy her life – forcing her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about her past, present and the town she’s always called home.
"As much a coming-of-age story as a detective thriller, The Jetty asks big questions about sexual morality, identity and memory, in the places that Me Too has left behind."
Ludwig
©Colin Hutton - BBC
Release date: TBC
Filming has now started on David Mitchell's new six-part detective drama Ludwig – and it promises to reinvent the genre, as a "'case-of-the-week' crime comedy-drama", according to the BBC.
The BBC says: "When John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s (David Mitchell) identical twin, James, disappears off the face of the earth, John takes over his brother’s identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts. John has never married, never had a family and never really ventured further than his own front door. Without a computer, mobile phone or even a television, he lives in quiet solitude, designing puzzles for a living, under the nom-de-plume of ‘Ludwig’.
"However, filling the shoes of your identical twin is one thing - when your twin also happens to be a successful DCI leading Cambridge’s busy inner-city major crimes team the stakes are much higher. John may be a master of all things cryptic, but can he crack the biggest puzzle of his life?"
Joining Mitchell in the new BBC One show will be Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland, Line of Duty), as Lucy Betts-Taylor, John’s sister-in-law and wife of his missing brother James.
Shuggie Bain
©BBC Studios
Release date: TBC
American Scottish author, Douglas Stuart (pictured), won the 2020 Booker Prizer award in 2020 with his gritty novel, Shuggie Bain.
The book follow Shuggie Bain who lives on a Glaswegian council estate in the 1980s, where he struggles to fit in, and his mother has a similar struggle with alcholism, so much so that Shuggie starts to care for her. The story was inspired by Stuart's own life, growing up in Glasgow during the Thatcher years.
There's yet to be an announcement on the cast, but we do know it will be filmed in Scotland.
Granite Harbour Season 2
©BBC
Release date: TBC
Granite Harbour will return for a second three-part series filming in Aberdeen and locations across Scotland.
Centring on the story of RMP Sergeant Davis Lindo (Romario Simpson) who arrived in Aberdeen as a new recruit to Police Scotland working alongside DS Lara ‘Bart’ Bartlett (Hannah Donaldson), the first series of Granite Harbour was a BBC iPlayer favourite in 2022 with 7.6million streams.
The second series will see Lindo and Bart called to the harbour to investigate the origins of a new crime wave sweeping the city, and will be written by Rob Fraser (River City, Tin Star), Ciara Conway (River City, Holby City) and Writers Guild of Great Britain award-winner Jillian Mannion (River City, Death in Paradise).
Sherwood
©BBC
Release date: TBC
BBC crime drama Sherwood will return for a second series.
The drama was inspired by two real-life Nottinghamshire murders and the subsequent man hunt of Robert Boyer and Terry Rodgers in 2004.
"I've been so deeply moved by the response to Sherwood," writer James Graham said in a statement. "These stories come from my home, and I want to specifically express gratitude to my community for whom I know these subjects can be difficult, but – I hope – important ones to explore.
"The East Midlands and former Red Wall areas like it are never just one thing, politically or culturally, and it's been the honour of my life to give voice and character to a place I love. It's a county of great stories and legends, past and present, and I can't wait to show audiences more."
The series stars Lesley Manville, Liar's Joanne Froggatt, David Morrissey, Robert Glenister, Philip Jackson, and Lorraine Ashbourne and — despite being based on true events — is a fictional dramatic portrayal.
A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder
©Hoda Davaine/BAFTA - Getty Images
Release date: TBC
Anna Maxwell is set to start in new BBC drama series A Good Girl’s Guide To Murder. The six-part series was wrapped filming in the South West of England at the end of 2023, and will air on BBC Three and iPlayer. Anna will be joined by Gary Beadle, Mathew Baynton, Emma Myers and Zain Iqbal.
The BBC says: "Five years ago, schoolgirl Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend Sal Singh. Case closed. The police know he did it. Everyone in town knows he did it. But smart and single-minded Pip Fitz-Amobi isn't so sure and she’s determined to prove it. And if Sal Singh isn’t a murderer and the real killer is still out there, how far will they go to keep Pip from the truth?"
Michaela Coel's new project
©Karwai Tang - Getty Images
Release date: TBC
Another BBC production is in the works with the award-winning creator of I May Destroy You, Michael Coel.
While we don't have any specific details just yet, Piers Wenger, head of BBC drama commissioning, has said that another project is being planned with the "unequalled" star and that "more news about that to follow in due course".
Wenger revealed more details in an interview with Deadline, sharing what Coel's upcoming BBC series might entail and links it might have to her previous projects:
"It’s truly in Michaela’s head and it’s not for me to second guess that too much at this point. It’s at relatively early stages, but I wanted to let the fans of I May Destroy You know that there is a new show coming along."
Adding: "What relationship that show will have with the original series, [is for Michaela to decide]. There’s a relationship between Chewing Gum and I May Destroy You. There’s a through line to her thinking. I suspect there may be elements [of I May Destroy You] but it’s really too early to say anything specific."
We could not be more excited to see what the star has in store for us next...
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/news/brilliant-bbc-dramas-we-can-t-wait-to-watch/ss-AA14A0lb?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=1b821121cad74ca5a3a830b4922c738f&ei=102#image=1
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment/tv/the-new-tv-shows-coming-to-sky-in-2024-including-robert-downey-jr-thriller-and-kate-winslet-drama/ar-BB1iUonO?ocid=msedgntp&pc=NMTS&cvid=1b821121cad74ca5a3a830b4922c738f&ei=178
Street Legal - Official Trailer
Street Legal
Season 1
A revival of the second longest-running one-hour scripted drama in the history of Canadian television, Street Legal follows the professional and private lives of a group of ambitious lawyers at a start-up firm in Toronto. Together, they vigorously fight for their clients while testing the limits of their relationships inside and outside of the courts.
Street Legal is a Canadian legal drama television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1994 before returning with six new episodes starting March 4, 2019.[1] Street Legal was the longest-running one-hour scripted drama in the history of Canadian television, holding the record for twenty years before being surpassed by Heartland's 139th episode on March 29, 2015.[2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_Legal_(Canadian_TV_series)