We know. You’re up-to-date. You’ve watched all the TV there is and have a completely blank TV-watching slate for the months ahead. Blank, blank, blank. An endless vista of nothing but open space just waiting to be tidily filled in with precisely the correct number of hours of viewing that won’t overwhelm you or give you stomach ulcers due to the fear that life is passing you by and you haven’t even started Breaking Bad yet, let alone Better Call Saul. We’re in exactly the same position. Utterly up-to-date. With everything. Life’s working out Goldilocks-right, isn’t it?
To be helpful then, in addition to these exciting-looking new British dramas, and this little lot of similarly exciting-looking new US commissions, here are the returning British TV shows that you no doubt watched in full last time around.
Back series 2
Channel 4 has ordered a second run of Simon Blackwell’s excellent sitcom Back, the first series of which aired in autumn 2017. Back reunites Peep Show’s David Mitchell and Robert Webb as Stephen and Andrew, two erstwhile foster brothers whose neurotic rivalry boils up in the wake of Stephen’s father’s death. Louise Brealey also stars in the squirming, tragicomic delight.
Britannia series 2
Playwright Jez Butterworth and showrunner James Richardson brought their trippy vision of warring Celts, mystical druids and invading Romans to Sky Atlantic in January 2018, and were quickly rewarded by a second series renewal. Filming on the historical drama kicked off in July 2018 and the new series is expected to land early this year, welcoming back David Morrissey, Mackenzie Crook and co. for more bonkers ancient history.
The Crown series 3
Olivia Colman takes over from Clare Foy as HRH Elizabeth II in The Crown series three. The time jump will see Matt Smith replaced by Tobias Menzies as Prince Philip and Helena Bonham-Carter taking the reins from Vanessa Kirby as Princess Anne, and Gillian Anderson playing Margaret Thatcher. Expect it to arrive Netflix in 2019.
Derry Girls series 2
Lisa McGee’s 90s-set Northern Irish comedy returns with a new series about the lives of secondary school students Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle and James. Set in the 1990s, Derry Girls is a coming-of-age nostalgia-flood with characters to love and jokes to spare, in which crushes and friendship fall-outs are dealt with in the same breath as dangerous political turmoil. A new six-episode series is due on Channel 4 very soon.
Doctor Who series 12
Following the New Year’s Day special Resolution, in which Team TARDIS battled an ancient Dalek while Ryan dealt with his tricky relationship with dad Aaron, the Doctor is taking a year off our screens before returning for series 12. As you might expect, details are very thin on the ground at present, but we know the drill by now: monsters, fast-talking, Sonics and two loudly beating hearts.
Fleabag series 2
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s filthy comedy returns to BBC One and BBC Three on Monday the 4th of March, with six new episodes featuring new characters played by Andrew Scott, Fiona Shaw and Kristin Scott-Thomas. The first series told a (somehow) very funny story of guilt, grief and loneliness in a family to which the only possible answer to being asked ‘are you okay?’ is ‘yes, fine.’ Fleabag (Waller-Bridge), her sister (Sian Clifford), dad (Bill Paterson) and hideous godmother (Olivia Colman) are not fine.
Gameface series 2
Roisin Conaty’s Gameface is one of the most inventive, reflective and funniest comedies on air. Using surreal cutaways and flashbacks, it tells an honest but very entertaining story about heartbreak and failure to thrive. Creator and writer Conaty plays Marcella, a struggling actor with a broken engagement, a broken heart and an addict brother. Damien Molony, Karl Theobold, Pauline McLynn and Caroline Ginty co-star.
Harlots series 3
Series two of the Hulu/ITV co-production Harlots starring Samantha Morton, Lesley Manville and Jessica Brown-Findlay as warring 18th century brothel madams is currently available on Amazon streaming service StarzPlay (after its UK channel ITV Encore became on-demand only). Hulu renewed it for a third series last autumn, so expect that to land over here in early 2020.
Happy Valley series 3
We’re jumping the gun here, as there’s no official, official confirmation that the excellent BBC One crime drama will definitely return for another run. That said, creator Sally Wainwright has publicly said that she intends to return to Sgt Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) for a third and final series, just as soon as she has time between other projects.
Inside No. 9 series 5
Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton continue to produce excellence in their inventive, ambitious comedy-drama anthology series Inside No. 9, and there’s no reason to expect any less from its fifth run. Six new half-hour episodes, in which Shearsmith and Pemberton are joined by a raft of co-stars including David Morrissey and Jenna Coleman, is currently filming and will air on BBC Two in 2019.
Jamestown series 3
From the makers of Downton Abbey, this historical Sky drama follows the plight of English colonialists starting again in the early seventeenth century New World. Two eight-episode series aired in 2017 and 2018, and a third will join them on Sky One in 2019.
Keeping Faith series 2
This BBC Wales crime drama took everyone by surprise when it became a huge word-of-mouth hit in 2018, crossing over first to BBC iPlayer and then to BBC One. A second series was quickly commissioned, and will see lead Eve Myles back as lawyer Faith Howells in her yellow anorak dealing with another crime mystery.
Liar series 2
ITV rewarded this Jack and Harry Williams psychological thriller starring Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt and Horatio Hornblower’s Ioan Gruffudd with a second series renewal in 2018. Expect more twists, turns and talking points.
Line Of Duty series 5
In December 2018, filming wrapped on the new six-episode Line Of Duty series written by series creator Jed Mercurio and starring Vicky McClure, Martin Compston and Adrian Dunbar as bent-copper-hunters AC-12. Stephen Graham (This Is England, Boardwalk Empire) is the high-profile addition to the cast this time around.
Marcella series 3
ITV’s Marcella, co-created by The Killing’s Hans Rosenfeldt and starring Anna Friel, went out in a blaze of bonkers glory in 2018. Series two marked a turning point for the detective show, which went from domestic crime drama to full-blown comic-book spy thriller, complete with faked deaths, conspiracy, and secret investigative units. Where series three will go (aside from ITV later this year) is genuinely anybody’s guess.
McMafia series 2
Starring James Norton as the conflicted British son of a Russian mob boss, McMafia was BBC One’s big, glamorous New Year drama for 2018, following in the footsteps of The Night Manager. It’s been renewed for another eight episode season, in which we can expect more double-crossing and high-stakes violence set against the backdrop of gangland London.
Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing series 2
A fishing show may seem like a strange choice for this list of mostly high-profile dramas, but Gone Fishing deserves as much celebration as any of them. That’s thanks to Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse’s natural chemistry as two long-time friends, both of whom have been forced to contemplate their mortality in recent years due to serious heart problems. It’s fishing, yes, but it’s also chat, and silliness, and genuine human warmth.
Mum series 3
Another top BBC comedy, Mum comes from Him & Her creator Stefan Golaszewski and stars Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan as Cathy and Michael, lifelong friends struggling to manage a burgeoning relationship following the death of Cathy’s husband, Michael’s best friend. It’s warm and clever and affecting, tempering enjoyable cartoonish silliness with genuinely moving emotion. Expect series three, reported to be the show’s final run, in early 2019.
Peaky Blinders series 5
Peaky Blinders, Steven Knight’s BBC Two crime saga following the ascendancy of Birmingham’s Shelby family in post-World War One England, is definitely returning for three more series, which should, if all goes to plan, take us all the way up to the outbreak of World War II. Series five began filming late last year, with Sam Claflin, Anna Taylor-Joy, Emmett Scanlan, Neil Maskell Kate Dickie and more joining the cast.
Poldark series 5
Poldark series five will be BBC One’s final visit to Nampara. While there are still plenty of Winston Graham’s books to be getting on with, the actors and creator Anne Dudley have decided to move on (avoiding the complicating time jump that would require no small amount of ageing up for Eleanor Tomlinson and co.). Expect eight new episodes of clifftop gazing to arrive in summer 2019.
Red Dwarf series XIII
While there’s been no official confirmation from Dave that the boys from the Dwarf will definitely be back for a thirteenth series, creator Doug Naylor and almost all of the main cast have said publicly that it’s pretty much a cert and just a case of working out the complex scheduling required to get everybody in the same place at the same time. As soon as anything more firm arrives news-wise, we’ll be sure to pass it on.
Riviera series 2
Sky Atlantic’s glamorous billionaires-on-yachts-doing-morally-dubious-things drama starring Julia Stiles will be returning for a second series, starting on the 23rd of May 2019.
Save Me series 2
Written by and starring The Walking Dead and Line Of Duty’s Lennie James, Sky Atlantic’s Save Me was one of 2018’s top shows. The crime drama set in a South London estate among a cast of lived-in characters played by the likes of Suranne Jones, Jason Flemyng, Susan Lynch and Stephen Graham, was such a critical success, a second series commission arrived hot on the finale’s heels.
The End Of The F***ing World series 2
The second series renewal for The End Of The F***ing World was surprising in that the Charles Forsman comic book source material has already been exhausted, and unsurprising in that the first run was a gloriously dark joy with real style and excellent, funny and affecting performances. We know nothing about the new run yet, but expect Jessica Barden, Alex Lawther, Wunmi Mosaku, Steve Oram, Gemma Wheelan and the rest of the cast to return.
Strike series 4: Lethal White
Lethal White is the fourth book in JK Rowling/Robert Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series of detective novels, and is set for the same BBC One adaptation treatment as the previous three, Cuckoo’s Calling, The Silkworm and Career Of Evil. Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger will star as the titular detective and his assistant Robin Ellacott in the new four-part series.
The Split series 2
Abi Morgan’s legal family drama starring Nicola Walker (Unforgotten, Last Tango In Halifax) will return for another six episode series, most likely in summer 2019 though no details have yet been announced.
Taboo series 2
From Steven Knight, creator of the excellent Peaky Blinders, in collaboration with star Tom Hardy, Taboo presents a very different vision of Regency England to the traditional Jane Austen world of assembly balls and etiquette faux pas. It’s about James Delaney, an almost invincible, little bit magic, highly mysterious thorn in the side of the East India Company. Series one aired in early 2017, and Knight was writing the scripts for this second run back in May of that year.
Taskmaster series 8
Joining the Taskmaster and little Alex Horne for series eight of Dave’s excellent Taskmaster will be The Inbetweeners and Fresh Meat’s Joe Thomas, Lou Sanders, Sian Gibson, Paul “Sinnerman” Sinha and Iain Stirling. The series was trailed in February 2019 as “Coming Soon”, so there shouldn’t be long to wait.
This Country series 3
Following 2018’s one-off special, the Mucklowes will be returning to the BBC for a third series of mockumentary comedy This Country in 2019. That’s another six episodes on their way from creator-siblings Daisy May and Charlie Cooper, who’ll be back starring as feckless cousins Kerry and Kurtan in the “typical Cotswolds village” they call home.
Trust Me series 2
Dan Sefton’s Trust Me, which starred Jodie Whittaker as an identity-stealing nurse, is due to return for a second series, not starring Jodie Whittaker as anything. There’s going to be an entirely new story and new cast for the next instalment of the hospital-set series.
Unforgotten series 4
Cassie and Sunny (played by Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar) return for a fourth series of ITV’s excellent cold case crime drama Unforgotten. What makes Chris Lang’s detective series stand out is its empathy—for its characters, for the victims, and often, for the killers themselves. The new series will take another decades-old case as its starting point, and no doubt tell another engrossing, affecting story led by excellent performances.
Victoria series 3
Jenna Coleman returns as the Queen of England in the third series of this historical drama. Filming began on the new eight episodes in May 2018, so we can expect to enjoy seeing Queenie work her way through multiple prime ministers and battles personal and political in spring/summer 2019.
Not officially, officially renewed yet (but we’re keeping our fingers crossed): Humans series 4