The best new TV shows to watch in 2026

The small screen is the place to be in 2026, because it’s shaping up to be a blockbuster year for television, with returning favourites and bold new dramas landing across the BBC, Netflix, Sky, Prime Video and more – all coming to Virgin TV.

From Bridgerton season 4 and The Night Manager’s long-awaited return to brand-new originals like Michaela Coel’s First Day On Earth and Russell T Davies’ Tip Toe, there’s something for every kind of TV fan.

Whether you’re craving glossy romance, gripping crime or laugh-out-loud comedy, these are the best new TV shows to add to your watchlist in 2026.

A new BBC comedy created, written and directed by the BAFTA-winning Mackenzie Crook is something to be celebrated. The man behind the glorious Detectorists and the deeply wonderful reimagining of Worzel Gummidge steps into a supporting role this time around as he tells the story of an ordinary DIY store worker (Pearce Quigley) who stumbles across Homunculi – magical prophesying spirits that can predict the future.

Newcomer Lexi Minetree steps into the pink as the iconic Elle Woods in Prime Video’s hotly anticipated prequel to Legally Blonde. Elle follows a teenage Elle in high school as we learn about the life experiences that shaped her into the force of nature we eventually meet at Harvard Law School. Will we get to see the first time she learned about perm maintenance? Or the first time she met her beloved Chihuahua, Bruiser, and realised he was a Gemini? When it drops in the summer, we are all in.

Quiz and Sherwood scribe James Graham brings his Olivier Award-winning play about Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team to BBC One in 2026. Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid’s Tale) plays Southgate, the part he also played on the stage, while Jodie Whittaker (Frauds) takes on the role of the team psychologist, Pippa Grange. Yes, it’s about football, but also about identity and nationality, as well as being a love letter to Southgate’s tenure in the hardest job in football.

BAFTA-winning writer Danny Brocklehurst (Fool Me Once) dishes up a captivating, scandalous romance drama starring Dominic Cooper (Preacher) and Romola Garai (One Life) as two parents who embark upon a passionate and intense love affair that threatens to uproot their whole lives. It promises to raise questions about class, grief and the effects of social media, as it takes us on a rollercoaster story of passion, parenthood and peril. Yes please.

Airing in February on U&GOLD, and featuring contributors such as Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Jessica Barden, Maxine Peake and Michael Ball, this new 90-minute film reflects on the life and legacy of Victoria Wood, one of our country’s greatest comedy legends. It also reveals Wood’s unseen side – the woman who navigated insecurity, anger and self-doubt to make the nation laugh.

This endlessly inventive detective series set in Toronto circa 1900 returns to U&Alibi for series 19 in January. Investigator William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) tackles crimes using cutting-edge (for the era) forensic techniques, rubbing shoulders with historical icons and unravelling mysteries that span murder, science and politics. Think of it as Canada’s answer to Sherlock Holmes.

The wonderfully funny and poignant comedy Derry Girls finished in 2022, and we’ve been waiting to see what its creator, Lisa McGee, would do next ever since. The answer is this eight-episode comedy thriller dropping on Netflix in February. Three lifelong best friends in their 30s embark on a thrilling adventure when they receive an email telling them about the death of the estranged fourth member of their childhood gang. Roísín Gallagher, Sinéad Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne star.

The long-awaited follow-up to mockumentaries Twenty Twelve and W1A sees Hugh Bonneville reprise his role as Ian Fletcher, this time as Director of Integrity as part of an Oversight Team to deliver a seamless football tournament in the USA, Canada and Mexico. What could possibly go wrong? Hugh Skinner (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) is back as the hapless Will Humphries – now Ian’s PA – while David Tennant also returns to narrate proceedings, and look out for some side-splitting celebrity cameos.

Rachel Weisz (The Favourite), Leo Woodall (One Day), John Slattery (Mad Men) and Jessica Henwick (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery) star in this eight-episode limited Netflix series based on the critically acclaimed, bestselling novel by Julia May Jonas. As a professor’s life unravels, she becomes obsessed with her captivating new colleague. Full of sexy secrets, dark humour and complex characters, Vladimir is about what happens when a woman is hell-bent on turning her fantasies into reality.

The last time that Russell T Davies wrote a show for Channel 4, it was called It’s A Sin, and it was one of 2020’s greatest dramas – and maybe one of the defining shows of the decade. In Tip Toe, Davies explores the most corrosive forces facing the LGBTQ+ community today, examining the danger as prejudice creeps back into our lives. Alan Cumming (The Traitors) and David Morrissey (Sherwood) star in a show that returns to Manchester’s Canal Street, 25 years after Davies’ groundbreaking Queer As Folk.

Not a great deal is known about the third season of the show that made stars of the likes of Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney, Jacob Elordi and Hunter Schafer, and has been off our screens for a whopping four years. What we do know is that season 3 will include a time jump to bring the characters out of high school, and it will feature most of the stars that made the series such a hit. Also, we know it’s out in 2026. That’s it. But still, colour us excited.

Most of us read Lord Of The Flies at school. We also probably ended up watching either the 1963 or 1990 movies of the same name. Now the book’s first ever TV adaptation is coming to the BBC, scripted by Adolescence and His Dark Materials super-writer Jack Thorne. It promises to be faithful to the source material, with each of the four episodes titled after a character at the core of the story – Ralph, Piggy, Simon and Jack – offering a subtly different perspective on the boys’ collective plight. We cannot wait.

ITV’s brooding climate-crime thriller returns after a first season that quietly became one of 2024’s most gripping new dramas. Sophie Rundle is back as Joanna Marshall, newly promoted to detective, on the trail of a baffling new murder investigation. As tensions simmer in Waterside, a body is discovered in bizarre circumstances. Jo’s race to stop the killer brings her into direct conflict with powerful and influential forces within the town, ultimately drawing her into an investigation that becomes deeply personal.

Split into two parts, the fourth season of this wild period drama follows the titular clan’s second-eldest sibling, Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson), who meets a mysterious Lady in Silver (Yerin Ha) at Lady Bridgerton’s famed masquerade ball. So begins a titillating new love story as he sets out to uncover the young lady’s identity. But this Lady in Silver might not be the person he thinks she is. Can love truly conquer anything? Find out in January on Netflix.

Everything I Know About Love writer Dolly Alderton teams up with Heartstopper director Euros Lyn for Netflix’s new adaptation of Jane Austen’s greatest love story, and possibly the template for every love story since. Golden Globe winner Emma Corrin (Nosferatu) and BAFTA winner Jack Lowden (Slow Horses) star as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy, while Academy Award winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) is Mrs Bennet. It’s set to drop at some point in 2026.

Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West return in the second series of Channel 4’s funny, ferocious and heartbreakingly honest comedy drama about friendship and bipolar disorder. It’s been a year since Maggie (Coughlan) and Eddie (West) last saw each other, but when they reunite at a wedding, Eddie isn’t alone. Writer Camilla Whitehill continues to mine the messy realities of love, mental health and self-sabotage in one of the boldest things on British TV.

From the producers of The Crown comes a four-part drama based on true events, charting the life of one of the most notorious figures in recent British history: Jane Andrews, former royal dresser to the Duchess of York, convicted of murdering her partner in 2001. BAFTA-winning How To Have Sex breakout Mia McKenna-Bruce will play the former royal aide, while Game Of Thrones star Natalie Dormer plays Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. This looks brilliant.

Returning to Sky in March is everyone’s favourite foul-mouthed teddy bear, Ted (voiced by Seth MacFarlane). Once again, this prequel series finds us in the 90s with Ted living back home in Framingham, Massachusetts with his best friend, 17-year-old John Bennett (Max Burkholder). Expect plenty of 90s references and big laughs in this story of friendship that cemented this unlikely pair as “thunder buddies” for life.

The modern reimagining of the iconic Jersey-set detective drama returns for six new episodes following a much-loved first series. Damien Molony (Brassic) is back as Jim Bergerac, the troubled but brilliant investigator whose personal demons are never far behind the cases he’s trying to solve. Series 2 will find Jim starting to put his life back together, even tentatively dating. But before any love can blossom, Jim is pulled back into his next big case – and maybe his most intricate one yet.

If you’re still reeling from the cliffhanger when a drunken Gordon (Patrick Brammall) delivered one of the cringiest proposals of all time to Ashley (Harriet Dyer), you’re not alone. But the good news is that we won’t have to wait too long to find out what happens next. Will this boozy declaration of love smooth things over for the on-again-off-again couple with the adorable pooch? Almost certainly not.

After it became one of 5’s biggest period drama successes, we’ll be heading back to Hardacre Hall in 2026. Based on CL Skelton’s novels, the series continues to chart the rise of the Hardacre family as newly acquired wealth threatens to both elevate and destroy them. Class conflict, social climbing and simmering resentment remain front and centre. Series 2 is set to explore what happens when aspiration collides with old-money resistance, with all the ambition, friction, and fallout that entails.

If all 2026 achieves is giving us a new drama by the multi-award-winning Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You, Chewing Gum), then we can already call it a success. She plays novelist Henri, who’s feeling stuck. When she’s offered a job in Ghana – her parents’ homeland and where her estranged father lives – she jumps at the chance. But what she finds isn’t like anything she expected. This is set to be one of the TV events of the year: the awards are coming for this one, we can feel it.

Writer Tony Schumacher gave us the raw and unflinching The Responder, which was unlike anything we had seen on TV in years, so we’re all eagerly awaiting his follow-up, which arrives in 2026. The Cage is billed as a high-stakes crime story set within the world of a Liverpool casino. BAFTA winner Sheridan Smith (Cilla) and Michael Socha (The Gallows Pole) play two unforgettable characters set on a collision course with each other, the local gangster they’re stealing from and the police.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb reunite once again for a second run of their sharp, absurdist sketch show, returning to Channel 4 after a well-received first season, and with clips going viral seemingly every day. Expect more surreal takes on modern life, bureaucracy, technology and human awkwardness, delivered with the duo’s trademark mix of intellectual wit and gloriously silly premises, plus a cast of up-and-coming comedy talent, both behind the scenes and on camera.

Following a hugely successful first season in 2024 that won over sceptics, Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the beloved animated series returns. In season 2, Aang (Gordon Cormier), Katara (Kiawentiio) and Sokka (Ian Ousley) set off on a mission to convince the elusive Earth King to aid in their battle against fearsome Fire Lord Ozai (Daniel Dae Kim). Season 2 will also introduce fan favourite character Toph Beifong, a blind Earthbending prodigy played in the live-action reimagining by Miya Cech.

While this year brings another adaptation of Jane Austen’s celebrated 1813 novel that will hew closely to the original source material (see above), this new BBC drama puts Mary Bennet – the oft-overlooked middle sister in Pride And Prejudice – into the spotlight. Based on Janice Hadlow’s acclaimed novel, it stars Ella Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife) as Mary, alongside a cracking ensemble that includes Richard E Grant and Ruth Jones as Mr and Mrs Bennet. Expect a tale of self-discovery and, of course, love.

Launching in April on Prime Video, the fifth and final season of The Boys – a show that never shies away from spectacle and big set pieces – is going to be seismic. With Homelander (Anthony Starr) effectively in charge of the President, Butcher (Karl Urban) is ready to unleash a virus that will wipe all Supes off the map, setting in motion a chain of events that will forever change the world and everyone in it. Pro tip: catch up on the latest series of Gen V now, as it leads directly into this finale.

The 2016 adaptation of John le Carré’s spy thriller starring Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman was one of the best TV shows in recent memory, but it wrapped up the story in quite a neat bow. So, the return of Hiddleson’s former military officer and hotel night manager is quite the surprise, and it’s sure to be one of BBC One’s most-watched shows of 2026. With betrayal at every turn and more exotic locations than a gap year, who can you trust, and how far are you willing to go before it’s too late?

After the overwhelming success of The Celebrity Traitors, it was perhaps inevitable that a few of our favourite formats that usually feature normies would be given a star-studded remake. The Apprentice has done the celebrity thing before – including the two recent Christmas-themed episodes – but never a full series… until now. Can the celebrities curl our toes and backstab in the same way as the regular candidates on the show?

Set 100 years before the events of Game Of Thrones, this new Westeros tale adapts the three George R.R. Martin novellas that were compiled into one volume called A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms – although most fans refer to them as The Tales Of Dunk And Egg. The series follows Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey, Wreck), a wandering hedge knight, and his unlikely young squire Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell, The Hunger Games: The Ballad Of Songbirds And Snakes). Great destinies, powerful foes and dangerous exploits await these two unlikely heroes.

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