Channel 4

Celebrating the best of Britain’s visionaries, eccentrics and proud-to-be different homeowners, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen will bring his distinctly flamboyant interior design nous as he explores some extraordinary properties.

The four-part series will see LLB meet people who value originality when fearlessly decorating their homes with outlandish vision. Visiting properties across the UK with wild, wonderful and outrageous domestic décor, the host aims to discover why the homeowners dare to be so different with their designs, how they did it, and how much it all cost.

The Dog Academy will follow some of Britain’s most uncontrollable and unruly dogs and their stressed-out owners. 

Britain’s top specialist dog trainers will pass on their knowledge of dog management skills and dog psychology to desperate owners looking to manage their dogs and build positive, happy relationships with them.

The dogs and their owners will be given separate training before coming back together to see if they can learn to live together harmoniously with the new skills they’ve learnt. 

The eight-part series will pit 11 experienced and passionate hairstylists against each other to showcase their creative talent in a series of extravagant and dramatic hair challenges. 

Each episode will follow the stylists as they take part in two creative challenges that will push them to the limit. 

For the first challenge they will need to impress real clients with specific styling demands against the clock, before letting their imagination run wild to produce sensational, gravity-defying creations in the ‘Masterpiece’ challenge.

Everyone has opinions on how our politicians run the country, and comments are often made that we could do a better job. However, who really has what it takes to run the country and get people to stay loyal to you as you rise to the top?

In the six-part series, 12 ordinary people with strong opinions that span across the political spectrum will put their skills to the test to see if they can survive in the vicious world of politics.

There are around 10 million people in the UK scared of the dark, a phobia known as Nyctophobia. Channel 4 will team up with a group of celebrities to see if they can control their primal fears and bond as a group without the normal social cues. 

The six-part series will follow famous faces as they enter a pitch-black reality space for seven days, living in complete darkness and managing the challenges of light deprivation. 

The partnership is part of Channel 4’s mission to become a digital first broadcaster for younger audiences. 

The deal will mean that hundreds of hours of Channel 4 and E4 hit shows such as 8 Out Of 10 Cats, SAS: Who Dares Wins and The Dog House will be available on YouTube.            

Channel 4 will also be able to sell its own advertising around the shows, allowing an increase in new revenue streams.

As a long-time fan of Christie, Carr is off to discover the places that inspired one of the best-selling novelists of all time.

His journey will celebrate Christie’s novels that are uniquely British in a way that is hard to find in modern Britain today. 

Full of adventures, glamour, twists and turns, Carr escaped into Christie’s novels while growing up in Northampton in the 1980s. 

No one can take their eyes off Olivia Colman, fabulous in a black tuxedo and thick eyeliner. I’m at the Bafta Television Craft Awards with my colleague Ngozi Ubaka. I spot Sophie Willan, and can’t resist telling her what a fan I am of the RTS-award-winning Alma’s Not Normal. Gratifyingly, she says she loves Grayson’s Art Club.

I catch a word with Jack Thorne, and Ruth Madeley, so brilliant in the recent Then Barbara Met Alan. We discuss the exciting project she and I are working on together, which I can’t yet reveal.

During lockdown many people picked up new hobbies and gave more attention to old ones to keep them busy and active. 

The four-part series Hobby Man will follow Brooker as he partners up with some famous faces, including comedian, writer and actor Joe Wilkinson, TV personality Scarlett Moffat, Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas and celebrity chef Andi Oliver. 

Every episode will see Brooker and his celebrity friend try to master three hobbies, from the traditional to the more obscure.