BBC

Halifax is the Lourdes for lesbians,” said producer-director and former Chair of RTS Yorkshire Fiona Thompson at “Celebrating Gentleman Jack: Changing lives”.

Not a sentence many would have anticipated hearing, but this is only one of the consequences of the so-called “Gentleman Jack effect”.

Anne Lister, Sally Wainwright’s eponymous Gentleman Jack, born in 1791, was a Halifax industrialist, landowner, diarist and self-assured lesbian, and hero of possibly the most important TV drama of recent times.

Last October, the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union chose Liverpool – standing in for war-torn Ukraine, the 2022 winners – to host this year’s Eurovision Song Contest.

UK entry Sam Ryder, singing Space Man, came a strong second last year. Without the sympathy votes cast for Ukraine’s admittedly decent song, the long-haired Essex lad may even have won.

Children’s TV hasn’t been the same without Grange Hill, Phil Redmond’s seminal series, but the new kid on the block, Phoenix Rise, is taking up the baton for teen drama.

It’s singularly British: realistic and gritty, but also laugh-out-loud funny – and never patronising. With an urban soundtrack and a diverse cast, American high-school glamour thankfully feels a world away.

As Matt Evans, co-creator of the 20-part BBC iPlayer series, admits, “There has been a Grange Hill-shaped hole in the schedule.”

The sitcom, fronted by Brendan O’Carroll (All Round to Mrs Brown’s), saw runaway success due to its unusual fourth wall-breaking comedy style.

Although the series itself ran for only 3 series between 2011 and 2013, Agatha Brown and her collection of family and friends have made their return every year for Christmas specials, which the BBC has commissioned up to 2026.

Focused on a powerful love between mother and daughter, Rain Dogs is a wild ride into the chaotic lives of single mother Costello Jones, played by Daisy May Cooper (This Country), and daughter Iris, played by Fleur Tashjian in her breakout role.

Carraway claims Rain Dogs “isn’t autobiographical”, but there are strong shades of some of her earlier work. Skint Estate, Carraway’s acclaimed debut memoir, chronicled her experiences as a single mum living through poverty and the destructive austerity programme of the 2010s.

Survivor has been off the UK screens since 2002, but has been having a huge amount of success overseas, with the US version airing its 44^th season in March 2023.

The revived Survivor will follow a similar format to the US show, with the competitors forming tribal groups. The contestants will catch and hunt their food, build their own shelter, and navigate life on the island in their tribes.

Shown through the youngest son, Sam’s (Jude Collie) camcorder, Here We Go details the lives of the Jessop family, played by Jim Howick (Ghosts), Alison Steadman (Gavin and Stacey), Katherine Parkinson (IT Crowd), and headed and written by Tom Basden (After Life).

The all-star cast also includes Freya Parks (The School of Good and Evil), Jude Collie (Terminator – Dark Fate), Mica Ricketts (As Dead as it Gets), and Tori Allen-Martin (London Kills).

As Call the Midwife still has the nation crying happy tears, the BBC has commissioned two further series.

It means that the heart-warming period drama, which is nearing the end of its 12^th series, will air on the BBC until 2026.

Celebrating the announcement, Heidi Thomas, creator and writer of the series, said: “I’m overjoyed by the news that the doors of Nonnatus House will be open for a few more years! Call the Midwife is the pride and joy of all who work on it, but it’s our fantastic, loyal audience that matters most.

The BBC has announced a release date for new detective comedy drama Beyond Paradise, reviving Death in Paradise character and fan favourite DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall).

The new series explores DI Humphrey's life back in the UK with another familiar face from the original show, Martha Lloyd (Sally Bretton). Martha and Humphrey are now engaged to be married following the emotional climax between the two in Death in Paradise series six.