The Serpent

BBC One

Release Date: New Year’s Day

The seventies-set international crime thriller The Serpent follows the true story of global efforts to capture Interpol’s most wanted man, the murderer Charles Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim, A Prophet).

Sobhraj was wanted as the lead suspect in a series of murder cases involving the deaths of young Western travellers across the ‘Hippie Trail’ spanning India, Thailand and Nepal.

Jenna Coleman (Victoria) stars as Sobhraj’s partner Marie-Andrée Leclerc, who helps him escape arrest warrants on three separate continents.

When a junior Dutch diplomat, Herman Knippenberg (Billy Howle, On Chesil Beach), falls into Sobhraj’s complex web of criminality, he sets off an extraordinary chain of events in his efforts to bring the murderer to justice. 

Line of Duty series six

BBC One

Release Date: early 2021

Jed Mercurio’s gripping police procedural is returning to BBC One, with Superintendent Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), DI Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) and DS Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) once again cracking down on bent coppers through their anti-corruption unit AC-12.

The upcoming sixth series will see Kelly Macdonald (Giri/Haji) star as DCI Joanne Davidson, AC-12’s new inscrutable adversary. The drama will pick up a year and a half after the closure of Operation Pear Tree, with Ted Hastings exonerated from his suspension.  

It’s A Sin

Channel 4

Release Date: TBC

Written by Russell T Davies (Queer as Folk), It’s a Sin follows a group of queer men in 1980s London as the AIDS crisis wreaks devastation, yet goes largely ignored by those in power.

Years and Years singer Olly Alexander (The Riot Club) leads the series as Ritchie, an 18-year-old youngster who has recently left home to make the big move to London.

There he meets the party boy Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and the unassuming Colin (Callum Scott Howells) and the trio form a close friendship which only grows stronger as they lose friends, are ostracised by their families and face painful rejection and discrimination for trying to exist as their authentic selves.

The series will also star Lydia West (Years and Years), Nathaniel Curtis, Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard), Stephen Fry and Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother). 

It’s here. The unmissable trailer for #ItsASin, a brand new drama from Russell T Davies.

Coming soon to All 4 and Channel 4. pic.twitter.com/sjJKLDsvoj

— Channel 4 (@Channel4) December 17, 2020

The Pursuit of Love

BBC One

Release Date: TBC

Nancy Mitford’s renowned 1945 novel The Pursuit of Love is the latest period novel to get a star-studded adaptation for BBC One.

The series, written and directed by Emily Mortimer (Mary Poppins Returns), is a romantic comedy-drama set in Europe between the two World Wars.

Lily James leads the cast as the captivating and courageous Linda Radlett, who along with her best friend and cousin Fanny Logan (Emily Beecham, Little Joe) is on the hunt for the perfect husband. As Fanny chooses to settle for a stable life, her friendship with Linda comes under strain when Linda chooses a wilder and more adventurous route for the pursuit of love.

Dominic West (The Wire), Andrew Scott (Fleabag), Dolly Wells (Dracula), Emily Mortimer and Beattie Johnson (Josh) also star.

This is Going To Hurt

BBC Two

Release Date: TBC

Former doctor turned writer Adam Kay made waves when his memoir This Is Going To Hurt, about his experiences working in the NHS, was first published in 2017 to rapturous acclaim.

Now Ben Whishaw (A Very English Scandal) will play Kay in this BBC Two adaptation, looking at the dizzying highs and crushing lows of spending 97-hour work weeks on a hospital ward.

Equal parts hilarious and heart-breaking, This Is Going to Hurt will explore the struggle to be a good doctor in a system failing to cope with insurmountable pressure from all angles.

Sex Education series three

Netflix

Release Date: TBC

With filming for series three currently underway in Wales, fans of Sex Education are waiting in excited anticipation for the return of their favourite frisky teens from Moordale High School.

While their lunchtime sex therapy scheme may have come to a grinding halt, the upcoming series is sure to further explore the burgeoning relationship of Otis (Asa Butterfield) and Maeve (Emma Mackey).

After Adam (Connor Swindells) finally plucked up the courage to admit his feelings to Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) in front of the entire school in last series’ dramatic finale, series three will reveal more about their complicated relationship.

The new series will see Girls star Jemima Kirke star as Moordale’s new headmistress, Hope, who will take over from Mr Groff (Alistair Petrie). Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter) will also be joining the cast as Mr Groff’s cocky and more successful brother, Peter Groff.

Landscapers

Sky Atlantic

Release Date: TBC

Olivia Colman will lead this four-part series following the true crime story of the seemingly harmless couple Susan (Colman) and Christopher Edwards, who murdered Susan’s parents and buried them in their garden in Mansfield.

The black comedy series, written by Ed Sinclair, will offer a mischievous portrayal of the bizarre murder case which saw Susan’s parents remain undiscovered for over a decade.

Landscapers will be directed by the Academy Award-winning director Alexander Payne (The Descendants). Created by Sister Productions, the team behind the hugely successful Chernobyl, the series will be yet another collaboration for Sky and HBO.

Riches

ITV

Release Date: TBC

Written by Abby Ajayi (How To Get Away With Murder), this witty new ITV drama gives a peek behind the curtain of an incredibly rich family running a multi-million pound cosmetics empire.

Riches follows the hyper-successful Stephen Richards, who has the Midas touch; everything in life has seemingly gone his way and everything he touches turns to gold.

Having abandoned his first wife and two older children, Nina and Simon, Stephen has been living the high life with his new wife Nina and their children Alesha, Gus and Wanda.

Despite their father’s cruelty, Nina and Simon have climbed the ranks of New York’s business world. But when their father suffers a life-threatening stroke, the lives of all of his children violently collide, with secrets and lies threatening to topple Stephen’s hard-earned empire.

Conversations with Friends

BBC Three

Release Date: TBC

After the storming success of Normal People in 2020, fans are eagerly awaiting the next Sally Rooney adaptation.

Rooney’s debut novel Conversations with Friends will be adapted for BBC Three and Hulu. The series follows two intellectual Trinity College students, Frances and Bobbi, who are best friends and former lovers. While on their summer break, the pair meet an enigmatic older couple: Melissa, a photographer, and Nick, a charming actor.

The quartet begin an intertwined affair, with the series tracking Frances through romance, love and heartbreak over her seven-month relationship with Nick.

The series will once again be produced by Lenny Abrahamson, Ed Guiney and Hettie Macdonald of Elemental Pictures in collaboration with Sally Rooney, with Alice Birch writing several episodes of the 12-part series.