TIME
BBC1, coming soon
Sean Bean won a BAFTA for his stunning performance as alcoholic inmate Mark Cobden in the original Time.
Now it’s The Last Of Us star Bella Ramsey and Doctor Who’s Jodie Whittaker who play characters facing jail terms.
They’re cast as Kelsey and Orla (above, left and right), starting their sentences at HMP Carlingford in this hard-edged, three-part series.
The threat of violence is ever present but somehow the pair – and fellow inmate Abi (Tamara Lawrance) – have to find a way to cope.
Providing continuity from the original series is Happy Valley’s Siobhan Finneran, who returns as prison chaplain Marie-Louise.
BREATHTAKING
ITV1, coming soon
A highly-charged three-part drama which stars Liar’s Joanne Froggatt as hospital doctor Abbey Henderson in the early, desperate days of the Covid outbreak before the vaccine arrived.
It’s based on the harrowing 2021 memoir of Dr Rachel Clarke, who has adapted her book for TV with Line Of Duty writer Jed Mercurio and actor Prasanna Puwanarajah, both former doctors themselves.
WILDERNESS
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, 15 September
Liv (played by Victoria star Jenna Coleman) thinks she has the perfect husband – until she discovers Will (Oliver Jackson Cohen) is having an affair.
A road trip which takes Liv and Will to the Grand Canyon and a hedonistic weekend in Las Vegas could provide her with the chance for bloody revenge in this terrific six-part thriller.
Taylor Swift’s song Look What You Made Me Do (Taylor’s version) is the opening title track, hinting at dark deeds to come.
THE CROWN
NETFLIX, November
According to its creator Peter Morgan, this series of The Crown, set between 1997 and 2005, is the final one – at least for now.
It focuses on Tony Blair’s time at Number 10, the death of Princess Diana and the early relationship of William and Kate (Ed McVey and Meg Bellamy).
Imelda Staunton returns as Queen Elizabeth II and Bertie Carvel is Blair.
THE RECKONING
BBC1, November
Jeff Pope, the writer of hits such as The Lost King and Stan & Ollie, says it’s been one of the biggest challenges of his career to bring the story of Jimmy Savile to TV.
‘The challenge to get it right has been very complex,’ says Pope. ‘There’s so much at stake.’
The four-part drama-documentary stars Steve Coogan as the disgraced former BBC presenter and DJ and looks at how Savile enjoyed the support of Britain’s great and good while carrying out horrific abuse.
Four of Savile’s victims will tell their stories on camera in the hope that nobody will ever have to suffer as they did.
DOCTOR WHO
BBC1, November
David Tennant is back as the time traveller in three special episodes – The Star Beast, Wild Blue Yonder and The Giggle – to mark the sci-fi favourite’s 60th anniversary.
David becomes the first actor to play two different incarnations of the doctor – he was the tenth version, now he’s also the 14th – while Catherine Tate returns as his bossy but lovable companion Donna Noble.
Watch out for a guest appearance by Miriam Margolyes and also one from Ncuti Gatwa, who’ll take over control of The TARDIS as the 15th Doctor at Christmas.
THE LONG SHADOW
ITV1, September
Scriptwriter George Kay (Litvinenko) is known for his meticulous research.
For this seven-episode account of the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, Kay used Michael Bilton’s book Wicked Beyond Belief as his source material, as well as case files, interview transcripts and police reports.
Toby Jones, Lee Ingleby (both above) and David Morrissey play officers at the heart of the search for the killer in the late 1970s.
ARCHIE
ITVX, November
Cary Grant was Britain’s suavest export to Hollywood, but he had a troubled past.
Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs undergoes a remarkable physical transformation to play heartthrob Grant, although this fascinating four-part biopic from Jeff Pope is as much about the Grant no one knew, the man born Archibald Leach in Bristol.
A starry supporting cast includes Ian McNeice as Alfred Hitchcock, director of Grant’s most famous movie, North By Northwest.
FRASIER
PARAMOUNT+, 13 October
Pompous radio psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane is back and with a new sidekick played by Only Fools And Horses star Nicholas Lyndhurst.
Nicholas plays Alan Cornwall, an old mate from Frasier’s college days and now a university professor.
The original series ran from 1993-2004 and was set in Seattle, but the revival sees Frasier (Kelsey Grammer) return to Boston, where we first met his character in Cheers.
Toks Olagundoye is Alan’s colleague Olivia (below, with Frasier and Alan), and Brit Jack Cutmore-Scott plays Frasier’s grown-up son Freddy.
LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY
APPLE TV+, 13 October
Elizabeth Zott is a brilliant scientist, but that cuts no ice in 1950s America when she falls pregnant.
Fired from her job in a laboratory, she plots her revenge.
Elizabeth, played by Captain Marvel star Brie Larson, agrees to host television cookery show Supper At Six, using it not only to show her housewife viewers how to make mouthwatering meals on a budget but – to the surprise of her TV bosses – to educate the women of America on the subject of science.
The eight-part series is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Bonnie Garmus.
THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR
CHANNEL 4, November
Eleanor Tomlinson’s character Demelza enjoyed a passionate relationship in Poldark, and there’s no shortage of steamy romance in this six-part thriller either.
Flame-haired Eleanor appears as Evie, who’s tempted into an illicit fling with her neighbour Danny, a traffic cop.
The fallout from their affair is huge.
THE CONTINENTAL
AMAZON PRIME video, 22 September
Mel Gibson is back on TV playing dangerous businessman Cormac in a 1970s-set thriller based on the John Wick movies.
Cormac is on a collision course with a young Winston Scott (played in the movies by Ian McShane), owner of The Continental, a chain of American hotels that Scott has established as a haven for assassins.
The series features Donna Summer songs and Studio 54-style club scenes, plus lots of the stylised fights that the movies are famous for.
THREE LITTLE BIRDS
ITV1, October
Sisters Leah and Chantrelle play Cupid in Sir Lenny Henry’s six-part love letter to the Windrush generation of West Indians who left the Caribbean for a new life in Britain.
The sisters’ UK-based brother Aston is looking for a wife, and asks if his siblings can bring one for him from their home island of Jamaica.
The person the girls have in mind is the virtuous, bible-loving Hosanna who travels to London with Leah and Chantrelle – but it’s far from smooth sailing.
STRICTLY COME DANCING
BBC1, 16 September
We all know Angela Rippon can dance – her high-kicking routine on The Morecambe & Wise Show is one of TV’s classic moments – but can she see off the challenge of younger rivals to land the famous Glitterball trophy?
Angela, 78, is the oldest person ever to compete in the Saturday-night show and is the most high-profile of this year’s contestants.
Others hoping to tango and waltz their way to glory include ex-tennis star Annabel Croft, funnyman Les Dennis, former Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington and Channel 4 news presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy.
PLANET EARTH III
BBC1, October
The BBC has been planning this epic series, the third in a trilogy of ground-breaking examinations of the natural world, since before Planet Earth II arrived on BBC1 in 2016.
The eight-parter, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, uses cutting-edge robotic cameras and computer technology to uncover previously unseen animal behaviours across the globe.
Planet Earth III will draw on the success of sister series Dynasties, which embeds camera operators for months – sometimes years – with families of animals, to tell the stories of their lives in intimate detail.
If this takes your fancy, then also check out Life On Our Planet (Netflix, 25 October). Narrated by Morgan Freeman, it uses state-of-the-art CGI to bring extinct creatures back to life with mind-blowing realism.
RAYMOND BLANC’S ROYAL KITCHEN GARDENS
ITV1 AND ITVX, 23 October
If you want to know where food is sourced for King Charles, Queen Camilla and other members of the Royal Family, then look no further than chef Raymond Blanc’s fascinating ten-part series, in which he visits five royal kitchen gardens, meeting the people who tend them and the chefs who use them.
Highlights include a visit to Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, the family residence of Charles and Camilla, with its famous apple tunnel, as well as the sea spray-scented gardens of the Castle of Mey, the Scottish property lovingly restored by the Queen Mother and used by her as a holiday home.
MAMMA MIA! I HAVE A DREAM
ITV1, October
Two lucky performers will win the chance of a lifetime to star in the West End hit featuring the songs of Abba.
Alan Carr, singer-songwriter Jessie Ware, musical theatre legend Samantha Barks and Glee’s Amber Riley are the judges choosing who’ll play Sophie and Sky – the roles made famous in the Mamma Mia! movie by Amanda Seyfried and Dominic Cooper.
The winners will appear in the 25th anniversary run of the show at the Novello Theatre next spring.
Filmed in the Greek islands and hosted by Zoe Ball, the series will show the wannabes attending lessons in dance, acting and singing before auditioning in front of the judges.
BIG BROTHER
ITV2 and ITVx, October
The most famous reality show of all is back!
Strictly Come Dancing star AJ Odudu and former T4 presenter Will Best will co-host, with what the show’s new owners ITV are calling a group of carefully selected housemates from all walks of life competing for a major cash prize over six weeks.
Off air since 2018, the programme returns with old favourites such as narrator Marcus Bentley, live evictions and the live feed, allowing viewers to watch the contestants at all times of the day and night.
THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF
CHANNEL 4, 26 September
This Morning host Alison Hammond replaces Matt Lucas as Noel Fielding’s co-host as we return to the tent.
A year after the brilliant Syabira Yusoff triumphed with mouthwatering bakes such as Swiss rolls infused with elderflower and Citrus Dreams vol-au-vents, another batch of hopefuls will be striving to impress Bake Off judges Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood and avoid the dreaded soggy bottoms.
CELEBRITY RACE ACROSS THE WORLD
BBC1, 12 September
Weatherman Alex Beresford, McFly drummer Harry Judd, disabled British racing driver Billy Monger and All Saints singer Mel Blatt will attempt to travel 6,000 miles from Morocco to Tromso in Norway in a bid to win the celebrity version of hit series Race Across The World.
No easy task when they can’t use planes, credit cards or the internet – and have close relatives hindering as well as helping their journey.
Harry travels with his mum Emma, Mel with her mum Helene, Billy with his sister Bonny and Alex with his dad Noel.
Watch the sparks fly, especially between Mel and Helene, as they bicker over the best routes to take.
SEX: A BONKERS HISTORY
SKY HISTORY, 18 September
The title of the series might suggest a Carry On-style romp through the centuries, but co-host Amanda Holden says it’s actually Horrible Histories for grown-ups and a serious examination of how sexual behaviour has shaped civilisations.
Amanda, who’s caused controversy with some of the revealing outfits she wears while judging BGT, presents the series with historian Dan Jones.
She says, ‘We go from the first contraceptive in ancient Egypt to swinging in 1970s British suburbia.
‘We also discover what lay behind the prim facade of Georgian Britain and take a look at Cleopatra, for whom every sexual relationship was about gaining a strategic advantage.’
THE SUPER MODELS
APPLE TV+, 20 September
Once, models were blank canvases and it was the designers that made the headlines. Four women helped change all that.
This superbly researched four-part series looks at how Naomi Campbell, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista and Christy Turlington formed a powerful alliance in the 1980s and put the focus as much on themselves as on what they were wearing.
There are exclusive interviews with the quartet as well as previously unseen footage from their catwalk heyday.
SURVIVOR
BBC1, coming soon
A £100,000 prize is up for grabs for whoever can avoid elimination in a battle of cunning, strategy and physical prowess.
Staged amid the palm-fringed beaches and rainforest of the Dominican Republic, the show features Joel Dommett as host as the race to become Sole Survivor begins.
‘Whoever wins will have earned it,’ says Joel.
‘They’re being left with little more than the clothes on their backs and deprived of basic everyday comforts.
‘The contestants will form their own tribal societies and compete in epic challenges of physical and mental power.’
DEAL OR NO DEAL
ITV1, coming soon
Noel Edmonds made this game show a hit for 11 years on Channel 4 – now Stephen Mulhern’s taking over as host.
ITV is sticking pretty much to the original format, with a contestant having to work out which one of 22 boxes contains a big cash prize.
‘I’ve always been a huge fan of the show – it’s utterly compelling,’ says Stephen.
‘Noel’s are big shoes to fill but I’ve been practising at home with cereal boxes as substitutes for the boxes we’ll use in the studio!’
PAUL O’GRADY’S GREAT ELEPHANT ADVENTURE
ITV1, November
A two-part series tinged with tremendous sadness – this is the last documentary filmed by Paul before his death at the age of just 67 in March.
The camera follows Paul as he travels through Thailand and Laos, in south-east Asia, to celebrate the work done by elephant conservationists.
He examines the way they rescue, rehabilitate and protect these majestic but vulnerable animals and, typically, isn’t afraid to roll up his sleeves and muck in to help out at the different rescue centres he visits.
