Brilliant BBC dramas we can't wait to watch
Line of Duty, The Split, Everything I Know About Love, Normal People, This is Going to Hurt – it's fair to say we're a nation who love a good TV drama, especially when the BBC are behind the camera. But what about the best new BBC dramas, out now and coming soon?
Well, 2023 was an amazing year for BBC dramas, from the third and final season of BAFTA-winning Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire as the iconic Sergeant Catherine Cawood to the second season of Time about life in a British women’s prison, led by The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker and The Long Song's Tamara Lawrance. Not to mention the return of political thriller Vigil, starring Suranne Jones.
The good news is that there are plenty of exciting new TV dramas coming to the BBC in 2024, with Rebecca Hall leading an adaptation of Jordan Tannahill's haunting novel, The Listeners, and Keeley Hawes' star-studded drama, Miss Austen.
The BBC has also announced new eight-part period drama King & Conqueror, with an all-star cast featuring Clémence Poésy and James Norton. Meanwhile, fans of 2016 smash hit The Night Manager will be pleased to hear that Tom Hiddleston will soon be reprising his role as Jonathan Pine in a second series.
As well as this, the BBC has announced an exciting two-part special of hit legal drama The Split, starring Nicola Walker and Annabel Scholey – who will also lead new psychological thriller Dead and Buried later this year.
Plus, following the huge success of 2020's I May Destroy You, multi-award winner Michaela Coel will soon be back with a new BBC drama, First Day on Earth. Meanwhile, the BBC has just announced a new four-part drama, The Guest, centred on the toxic relationship between a successful business owner and the woman who works for her. There's also Riot Women, the latest drama from award-winning Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright (see more below).
And period drama fans will be thrilled to hear that a new series, centred on the most unassuming of the Bennet sisters in Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice, has just been announced by the BBC. Read more about The Other Bennet Sister – based on the hit novel of the same name – below.
From true crime thrillers and lavish period dramas to the return of old favourites, we've rounded up the best new dramas coming to the BBC soon. Find out more about each show below, and prepare to never leave your sofa again...
The Split two-part special
Release date: Later in 2024
Fans of The Split, rejoice. The hit legal drama is set to return to our screens after all, although not for a full series – instead, the BBC has announced a new two-part special, coming later this year.
Created and written by multi-award winner Abi Morgan, the action will take place during a wedding weekend in Spain, two years after we said goodbye to Hannah Defoe (Nicola Walker) and her family at the end of the hugely popular third season.
New characters set to join the Defoe clan for the special include Toby Stephens as hot-shot family lawyer Archie Moore, while returning cast members confirmed to join Nicola Walker's Hannah include fellow Defoe sisters Nina (Annabel Scholey) and Rose (Fiona Button), as well as Hannah's ex Nathan (Stephen Mangan).
Abi Morgan said in a release: "In a world of brutal break-ups and tantalising make ups, the Defoe family are invited to a destination wedding of their own, promising all that audiences have grown to love about The Split. Problematic prenups, scandalous wedding crashers, and low flying marriage proposals, as rom com meets gone wrong, in a chaotic and riotous weekend that guarantees to crack open the heart, before the last of the guests have gone home."
We really can't wait for this.
The Other Bennet Sister
Release date: TBC
Period drama fans, rejoice, because the BBC has just announced a new series based on the story of one of Jane Austen's most unassuming characters, Mary Bennet. Often thought of as the forgotten Bennet sister in Austen's timeless classic Pride and Prejudice, Mary will take centre stage in the new series, based on hit novel The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow.
The BBC says in a release: "The Other Bennet Sister is a fresh spin around the ballroom for one of Jane Austen’s most unassuming characters: Mary Bennet – the seemingly unremarkable and overlooked middle sister in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The series takes as its premise that – when it comes to the Bennet sisters – while we dream of being Lizzy, in reality most us are more like Mary...
"Unlike her sisters, Mary isn’t your typical period drama heroine. She is awkward, anxious, preachy, full of facts, a terrible singer… overlooked by her mother and seemingly destined to an empty dance card for the rest of her life… until Mary takes matters into her own hands.
"The Other Bennet Sister gives Mary Bennet the epic love story nobody predicted for her, taking her from her family home in Meryton to the soirees of Regency London and the peaks and vales of the Lake District – all in search of independence, romance and, most elusive of all, self-love and acceptance."
Screenwriter Sarah Quintrell (The Power) has been commissioned to create the 10-part series. "I’m thrilled to be telling the story of Mary – the other Bennet sister – exploring what it is to come of age when you’re the odd one out," she says. "It’s a joy to be adapting Janice Hadlow’s brilliant take on such a beloved classic with the team at Bad Wolf, and to have found our home at the BBC. I grew up (an awkward, anxious teen, getting everything wrong...) watching the BBC's wonderful Austen adaptations. It’s the stuff every writer dreams of and I can’t wait to bring this beautiful story to screen – not least, for all the Marys out there."
Further details, including casting information, have yet to be revealed but we're excited for this one already.
Riot Women
Release date: TBC
The BBC has announced the cast for new drama Riot Women, written by award-winning Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright.
In the upcoming drama, we'll meet five women coming together to create a make-shift punk rock band in order to win a local talent contest.
The cast (and band) will be led by Joanna Scanlan (The Thick of It) as Beth, Rosalie Craig (Serpent Queen) as Kitty, Tamsin Greig (Sexy Beast) as Holly, Lorraine Ashbourne (Sherwood) as Jess, and Amelia Bullmore (The Buccaneers) as Yvonne.
The BBC release says: "As they juggle demanding jobs, grown-up children, complicated parents, husbands who’ve buggered off, and disastrous dates and relationships, the band becomes a catalyst for change in their lives, and it’s going to make them question everything.
"The six-part series is a testament to the power of friendship, music, and the resilience of women who refuse to be silenced by age or expectation. As the story (set in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire) progresses, it’s more than music that binds them; a deeply potent, long-buried secret begins to surface – one that unexpectedly entangles Kitty and Beth, the two unlikely creative masterminds behind the band, in a complex triangle – and threatens to tear everything apart."
Sally Wainwright adds: "I think I am more excited about this than anything else I have ever written. Ever. Oh my God. We have five of the most fabulous actresses on the planet playing the Riot Women. It's scarily exciting."
We can't wait for this one.
The Guest
Release date: TBC
The BBC has just announced The Guest, a new four-part drama that will be filmed in and around Cardiff. Eve Myles (Keeping Faith; Broadchurch) and Gabrielle Creevy (Three Women) will lead the fast-paced thriller, centred on the toxic relationship between successful business owner Fran and her employee, Ria.
The BBC said in a release: "Ria has never had the time or opportunity to think about what she might actually want from the world. So, when she starts cleaning for Fran, she’s intoxicated by this confident and self-assured woman who encourages her to take control of her life and, when Ria flourishes, an intense friendship is forged.
"However, when Fran’s advice leads to a shocking event, the lives of these two very different women become intertwined by shared secrets and dangerous plots. What follows is a compelling and manipulative game of cat-and-mouse. But just who is playing who?"
We're intrigued already.
First Day on Earth
Release date: TBC
The BBC has finally announced the highly anticipated new drama from multi-award-winning I May Destroy You star Michaela Coel. Coel will write, star and serve as an executive producer on the 10-part series, First Day on Earth.
"British novelist Henri (Michaela Coel) is stuck," says the BBC in a release. "Work has dried up, her relationship is going nowhere. So when she's offered a job on a film in Ghana, West Africa – her parents' homeland, where her estranged father lives – she can't resist the chance to reconnect with him and the country of her heritage.
"But when she arrives neither the job nor her father turn out the way she expected, and soon Henri has to deal with danger and hypocrisy, form new friendships, lose her illusions, and create a new sense of identity – one that might leave her stronger, but could also break her."
Speaking about the new drama series, Michaela Coel says: "I am delighted to be working with VAL, the BBC and HBO again, and to partner with A24; thanks to all of their combined taste, care and expertise, I feel our show is in great hands. The process of creating FDOE thus far has been a beautifully intimate experience, and I am excited to embark on the next phase to eventually offer this as another televisual gift for anyone willing to accompany Henri on what will be a wild odyssey!”
We really can't wait for this.
Ludwig
Release date: Autumn 2024 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
New images have just been released of David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin's new six-part detective drama Ludwig – and we can't wait for it to drop this autumn. The new show promises to reinvent the genre, as a "'case-of-the-week' crime comedy-drama", according to the BBC.
The BBC says: "When John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor’s (David Mitchell) identical twin, James, disappears off the face of the earth, John takes over his brother’s identity in a quest to discover his whereabouts. John has never married, never had a family and never really ventured further than his own front door. Without a computer, mobile phone or even a television, he lives in quiet solitude, designing puzzles for a living, under the nom-de-plume of ‘Ludwig’.
"However, filling the shoes of your identical twin is one thing - when your twin also happens to be a successful DCI leading Cambridge’s busy inner-city major crimes team the stakes are much higher. John may be a master of all things cryptic, but can he crack the biggest puzzle of his life?"
Motherland's Anna Maxwell Martin plays Lucy Betts-Taylor, John’s sister-in-law and wife of his missing brother James.
Industry season 3
Release date: TBC on BBC
Finance drama Industry is set to return to our TV screens this summer for its third instalment. What's more, this season has a stellar list of brand new faces joining the cast, including Game of Thrones star Kit Harington.
The BBC says: "The high-octane drama gives an insider’s view of the blackbox of high finance following a group of young bankers as they forge their identities within the pressure cooker environment and sex and drug-fueled blitz of international bank Pierpoint & Co’s London office."
Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Gunpowder) will join the cast as Henry Muck, the CEO and Founder of Lumi, an exciting green tech energy company about to go public. "In series three, as Pierpoint looks to the future and takes a big bet on ethical investing, the desk find themselves front and centre in the splashy IPO of Lumi, a green tech energy company – in a story that runs all the way to the very top of finance, media and government."
Vienna Blood Series 4
Release date: 4 August on BBC Two and iPlayer
The fourth series of crime drama Vienna Blood, written by Steve Thompson, will come to BBC Two and iPlayer this summer. Based on the Liebermann novels by Frank Tallis, it tells the story of 'Mephisto Waltz' across two episodes.
The BBC says: "It’s Vienna, 1909 and the double murder of an arms dealer in police custody and a senior public official has shaken Vienna to its core. Doctor Max Liebermann has only just returned from a lecture tour when Inspector Rheinhardt asks for help in what could be the most dangerous case of their career. Oskar and Max discover a conspiracy that leads to the heart of government. Can the Freudian psychoanalyst and detective do enough to stop a seditious mole known as ‘Mephisto’ from bringing the Austro-Hungarian Empire to destruction? And will their lives ever be the same again?"
Sherwood Series 2
Release date: Later this year
BBC crime drama Sherwood will return for a second series later in 2024 and images giving a first look at the show have now been released.
Cast members including Lorraine Ashbourne, David Harewood and Robert Lindsay will reprise their roles in the new series.
The drama was inspired by two real-life Nottinghamshire murders and the subsequent man hunt of Robert Boyer and Terry Rodgers in 2004.
The BBC says: "The second series further explores the powerful themes that made the first so resonant to audiences across the UK. Set in the present day it introduces two new families that find themselves entangled with the Sparrows, entering a complex web of local gangs, old rivalries, revenge, and betrayal. Meanwhile, a newly appointed Sheriff of Nottingham is passionately fighting against a proposed new mine for the area, which brings the promise of much needed jobs and prosperity but also unwelcome reminders of the legacy that has mired the community for so long."
Dear England
Release date: TBC
The BBC has announced a four-part TV adaptation of Dear England, based on the National Theatre play of the same name.
The new series, about Gareth Southgate's time as manager of the England football team, will star Joseph Fiennes as Southgate. It will be written by James Graham, the playwright behind the hit play.
The BBC says: "It’s time to change the game. The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t the England team win at their own game? With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land."
Dead and Buried
Release date: Autumn 2024 on BBC One Northern Ireland and BBC iPlayer
The BBC has released first look images of upcoming new psychological drama Dead and Buried, starring The Split's Annabel Scholey.
The four-part thriller, filmed in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland earlier this year, also stars Colin Morgan (Humans, Belfast, Merlin).
The BBC synopsis reads: "Outside a supermarket with her young son, Cathy (Annabel Scholey) encounters Michael (Colin Morgan) – the man convicted of the brutal murder of her brother, 20 years earlier. Ignoring the advice of her best friend, Cathy takes to social media, uncovering the successful career and family life Michael has forged for himself since his early release from prison, while she grieved for her brother.
"Re-traumatised by her past, Cathy instigates a clandestine relationship with the man she despises, embarking on a campaign of harassment and deceit. As Cathy’s obsession grows, dark fantasies of revenge and reality blur as she sets out on a campaign of psychological warfare to destroy Michael’s life."
Reunion
Release date: TBC
Filming has now started in Yorkshire on new BBC revenge thriller Reunion, starring Bad Sisters' Anne-Marie Duff. The four-part series marks an important milestone in inclusive storytelling, with the majority of cast and many members of the crew being deaf or using British Sign Language (BSL), the BBC has shared.
Written by Sheffield-born deaf writer William Mager, Reunion is described as "an emotional thriller of revenge and redemption following the journey of Daniel Brennan, a deaf man determined to right his wrongs, while unravelling the truth behind the events that led him to prison".
Anne-Marie Duff said in the release: “I am genuinely thrilled to be a part of this very exciting production. It is rare to witness a narrative where the audience is taken on a journey with a very different set of senses. It’s about our need to acknowledge each other’s truths - both inside our own families and beyond. The team is so extraordinary. I feel very honoured to be rubbing shoulders with them."
The Night Manager season 2
Release date: TBC
Fans of the BBC's smash hit 2016 adaptation of John le Carré's The Night Manager will be thrilled to hear that two new seasons are in the pipeline, as confirmed by Deadline.
Tom Hiddleston is set to reprise his role as Jonathan Pine in the hugely popular thriller, which will air on the BBC and Amazon Prime. The original series featured an all-star cast, including Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander and Elizabeth Debicki.
The new series will pick up eight years after the first season's dramatic conclusion, and filming is set to start later this year. We can't wait for this.
King & Conqueror
Release date: TBC
Period drama fans, rejoice because the BBC has announced a new eight-part series, with an all-star cast, including Clémence Poésy, James Norton and Juliet Stevenson.
King & Conqueror from Sherlock Holmes writer Michael Robert Johnson, is based on the iconic 11th century figures Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy.
The BBC says in a release: "King & Conqueror is the story of a clash that defined the future of a country – and a continent – for a thousand years, the roots of which stretch back decades and extend out through a pair of interconnected family dynasties, struggling for power across two countries and a raging sea.
"Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no design on the British throne, who found themselves forced by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for possession of its crown."
Filming has already started in Iceland but there's no word yet on when the new period drama will be released.
The Listeners
Release date: Later in 2024
Based on the novel by Jordan Tannahill, who has also written the adaption, The Listeners stars Rebecca Hall (The Town, Vicky Christine Barcelona)as Claire, a popular English teacher who begins to hear a low humming sound that no one else around her can hear.
Slowly but surely, this seemingly innocuous noise upsets the balance of her life, increasing tension with her husband and daughter. But despite seeing multiple doctors, no obvious source or medical cause can be found. Claire eventually connects with a disparate group of neighbours led by charismatic couple Jo and Omar, who claim they can also hear 'The Hum' and believe it may be a gift, heard only by a 'chosen few'.
The BBC says: "Enigmatic, provocative, and haunting, The Listeners explores the seduction of the wild and unknowable, the human search for the transcendent, the rise of conspiracy culture in the West, and the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarised times."
Nightsleeper
Release date: Later in 2024
This upcoming real-time thriller about the hacking of a sleeper train travelling from Glasgow to London stars Alexandra Roach and Joe Cole in the lead roles.
The BBC says: "Can two people who’ve never met, one on the train and one not, work together to save the lives of its disparate group of passengers as the Heart of Britain overnight service hurtles towards what might quite literally be its final destination?
"Alexandra plays Abby Aysgarth, the Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, who’s finally about to take a well-earned holiday when she receives a phone call that will change everything – the UK railway network is under attack. Joe Cole plays Joe Roag, an off-duty cop onboard and hoping for a quiet night. However, over the next six rollercoaster hours, Joe’s about to get anything but, as he and Abby battle both their own distrust and the unpredictable behaviour of the person or persons now in control, desperate to try and stop the Heart of Britain from reaching the end of the line, in more ways than one…"
Miss Austen
Release date: TBC
Jane Austen fans, take note. A new four-part drama starring Keeley Hawes and Rose Leslie is coming soon to the BBC. The star-studded series is an adaptation of Gill Hornby's bestseller, Miss Austen.
The BBC says: "Miss Austen takes a literary mystery – Cassandra Austen notoriously burning her famous sister Jane’s letters – and reimagines it as a fascinating, witty and heart-breaking story of sisterly love, while creating in Cassandra a character as captivating as any Austen heroine."
Sue Deeks, Head of BBC Programme Acquisition, says of the drama: "Miss Austen is the perfect blend of intriguing mystery, vivid and engaging characters and beguiling period charm – BBC viewers certainly have a treat in store."
We can't wait for this.
Moonflower Murders
Release date: TBC
First look images from upcoming drama Moonflower Murders, which is based on Anthony Horowitz's bestselling novel of the same name.
The sequel to 2023's Magpie Murders, the six-part series will star Lesley Manville and Timothy McMullan in their lead roles as book editor turned sleuth Susan Ryeland and acclaimed literary detective Atticus Pünd.
The BBC says: "Susan has left publishing and is living in Crete with her long-time boyfriend, Andreas. But her idyll is disturbed by the shadow of a murder committed at a British country hotel eight years ago. Alan Conway visited the hotel and wrote a novel based on what happened there. Cecily Treherne, the young woman who helps run the hotel, read the book and believed the wrong man had been arrested. Now she has disappeared. Can Susan uncover the secret hidden in the book and find Cecily before it is too late?"
Daddy Issues
Release date: TBC
Starring David Morrissey and Sex Education's Aimee Lou Wood, this new BBC series is described as a "classic odd couple comedy about two funny, deeply flawed characters who just happen to be father and daughter".
From the team behind The Inbetweeners, the next six-part series promises to be comedy gold.
The BBC says: "The show follows Gemma (Aimee Lou Wood), who lives for the weekend when she can get blasted and party hard in Stockport, Manchester. But after joining the mile high club with a random hook-up on her way back from a holiday to Portugal, she's pregnant, and it couldn't come at a worse time.
"The only person Gemma has left in her life is her dad Malcolm (David Morrissey), who is kind hearted but useless – he can't load a washing machine, boil an egg or change the Wi-Fi password. Malcolm is suffering from the collapse of his family and living in a bedsit for divorced men.
"Which is how Gemma and her dad end up living in Gemma's flat. She needs support at a critical time in a woman's life, he needs help microwaving rice without it exploding."
Granite Harbour Season 2
Release date: TBC
Granite Harbour will return for a second three-part series filming in Aberdeen and locations across Scotland.
Centring on the story of RMP Sergeant Davis Lindo (Romario Simpson) who arrived in Aberdeen as a new recruit to Police Scotland working alongside DS Lara ‘Bart’ Bartlett (Hannah Donaldson), the first series of Granite Harbour was a BBC iPlayer favourite in 2022 with 7.6million streams.
The second series will see Lindo and Bart called to the harbour to investigate the origins of a new crime wave sweeping the city, and will be written by Rob Fraser (River City, Tin Star), Ciara Conway (River City, Holby City) and Writers Guild of Great Britain award-winner Jillian Mannion (River City, Death in Paradise).
Shuggie Bain
Release date: TBC
American Scottish author, Douglas Stuart (pictured), won the 2020 Booker Prizer award in 2020 with his gritty novel, Shuggie Bain.
The book follow Shuggie Bain who lives on a Glaswegian council estate in the 1980s, where he struggles to fit in, and his mother has a similar struggle with alcholism, so much so that Shuggie starts to care for her. The story was inspired by Stuart's own life, growing up in Glasgow during the Thatcher years.
There's yet to be an announcement on the cast, but we do know it will be filmed in Scotland.
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