As we enter another year in the streaming era, there’s more content than ever to sift through and increasingly variable quality control. So here are the new and returning shows you’ll want to bookmark, including comedies, genre shows and a surprisingly poignant drama about the England men’s football team.
Returning TV shows in 2024
The Traitors season three
Release date: January 1
Where to watch: BBC One and iPlayer
Starring: Claudia Winkleman
The Traitors‘ first two seasons slayed on social media, so producers will be throwing everything at the Scottish castle walls to make it go viral again. We’ve already had an early shock and some hilarious name spellings in the first few episodes so far, but expect more statement knitwear from Claudia Winkleman, melodramatic covers of Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter songs and a strong female player who’ll end up on the @loveofhuns Instagram account. But can anything top Diane’s funeral?
Severance season two
Release date: January 17
Where to watch: Apple TV+
Starring: Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Christopher Walken
The dystopian drama returns for a 10-episode second season that’s apparently even “darker” than the first. Season one ended with the “Innies” – office drones whose consciousness only exists at work – finally experiencing life on the outside. You can bet your last pay cheque they’ll get serious repercussions from their corporate overlords.
The White Lotus season three
Release date: February 17
Where to watch: Sky and NOW TV
Starring: Leslie Bibb, Aimee Lou Wood, Lalisa Manobal
The third season of Mike White’s scathing social satire follows a new cohort of (probably) awful rich people holidaying in Thailand. Natasha Rothwell reprises her season one role as spa manager Belinda, while Lalisa Manobal – aka BLACKPINK‘s Lisa – plays a “health mentor” called Mook. With new episodes launching weekly, meme-makers will be kept busy.
You season five
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Netflix
Starring: Penn Badgley, Charlotte Ritchie, Madeline Brewer
After seducing Charlotte Ritchie’s mega-wealthy heiress in London, horribly charming serial killer Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) returns to New York for You‘s final season. Badgley told NME in 2023 that showrunners had already pitched him a potential ending – one that hinges on the question: “What is justice for Joe?” Well, surely he can’t get away with it – any of it.
Andor season two
Release date: April 22
Where to watch: Disney+
Starring: Diego Luna, Kyle Soller, Adria Arjona
The darkest Star Wars series so far was designed as a two-season story that ends with Diego Luna’s scavenger walking onto the first scene of 2016’s Rogue One. But before that, there’s a rumoured $290million production budget to burn through. If creator Tony Gilroy sets the dial to shadowy and spectacular, you won’t want to miss it.
The Last Of Us season two
Release date: April
Where to watch: Sky and NOW TV
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Gabriel Luna
Season two of the zombie thriller is set five years after the first, which raised the bar for video game adaptations with its devastating third episode ‘Long Long Time’. New cast members Kaitlyn Dever, Jeffrey Wright and Catherine O’Hara – yes, really – should help to secure its event TV status. That and Pedro Pascal’s ongoing reign as “the internet’s daddy”, of course.
Black Mirror season seven
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Netflix
Starring: Awkwafina, Emma Corrin, Issa Rae
Creator Charlie Brooker has promised an “OG Black Mirror” feel to these six new episodes. We know that two are feature-length and one is a sequel to 2017’s twisted sci-fi romp ‘USS Callister’. Beyond this, it seems a safe bet that Brooker’s dystopian satire will find a truly terrifying way to riff on the rise of AI.
Wednesday season two
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Netflix
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Hunter Doohan, Catherine Zeta-Jones
Released in September 2022, Tim Burton’s zingy Addams Family spin-off became Netflix’s third most-watched series ever. This somewhat tardy second season has a lot to live up to – not least that viral dance scene – but early signs are promising. They’ve even cast Lady Gaga, whose dark-pop shtick fits this show like a (disembodied) hand in glove.
The Bear season four
Release date: June (TBC)
Where to watch: Disney+
Starring: Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Season three of The Bear ended with the future of Carmy’s dream restaurant looking precarious because the Chicago Tribune‘s crucial review seemed mixed at best. Let’s hope showrunners Christopher Storer and Joanna Calo use this juicy cliffhanger to improve on season three’s slightly less popular recipe, which some thought lacked the secret sauce of earlier episodes.
Stranger Things season five
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Netflix
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder
After being delayed by the writers’ strike, Stranger Things returns for its fifth and final season. Creators the Duffer Brothers are giving absolutely nothing away, but Maya Hawke (who plays Robin) has revealed that the concluding episodes are “basically eight movies” in length. So, steel yourself for Stranger Things turned right up to Eleven.
New TV shows in 2024
A Thousand Blows
Release date: February 21
Where to watch: Disney+
Starring: Malachi Kirby, Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty
Created by Peaky Blinders‘ Steven Knight, this gritty drama digs into Victorian London’s illegal boxing scene. Malachi Kirby and Francis Lovehall play Jamaican besties finding their feet in the cutthroat East End, while Erin Doherty portrays the boss of an all-female shoplifting squad. With Top Boy‘s Ashley Walters directing several episodes, A Thousand Blows won’t pull any punches.
Too Much
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Netflix
Starring: Megan Stalter, Will Sharpe, Andrew Rannells
This series from Girls creator Lena Dunham and her musician husband Luis Felber is a London-set rom-com. Hacks‘ Megan Stalter plays a heartbroken New Yorker who finds herself drawn to her new and somewhat chaotic UK flatmate (The White Lotus‘ Will Sharpe). The premise may sound conventional, but expect Dunham’s scripts to be a lot saltier than Notting Hill.
The Death Of Bunny Munro
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Sky and NOW TV
Starring: Matt Smith, Sarah Greene, Lindsay Duncan
House Of The Dragon‘s Matt Smith stars in this six-part adaptation of Nick Cave‘s deliciously dark novel. He plays the eponymous antihero, a coke-snorting travelling salesman who takes his son on a very messy road trip following his wife’s suicide. This is pitch-black stuff – don’t anticipate any kind of hokey redemption arc.
Prime Target
Release date: January 22
Where to watch: Apple TV+
Starring: Leo Woodall, Quintessa Swindell, Martha Plimpton
Leo Woodall (One Day, The White Lotus) stars in this cerebral thriller from Top Boy director Brady Hood. He plays a gifted mathematician who’s on the verge of a major breakthrough until an invisible adversary throws a ghost in the machine. Can a savvy NSA agent (Black Adam‘s Quintessa Swindell) help him crack their identity? Apple bosses will be hoping for big numbers to rival Slow Horses.
The Studio
Release date: March 26
Where to watch: Apple TV+
Starring: Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara, Kathryn Hahn
Seth Rogen plays a beleaguered studio boss in this movie industry comedy he’s co-created with his Superbad partner Evan Goldberg. The satire will need real bite not to feel smug and in-jokey, but there’s no doubting his pulling power: everyone from Charlize Theron to Zac Efron and Martin Scorsese (!) have filmed cameos as themselves.
It: Welcome To Derry
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Sky and NOW TV
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo
Not an It x Derry Girls crossover, sadly, but a prequel series set in Derry, Maine, the fictional town terrorised by Pennywise. Bill Skarsgård is back as the shapeshifting clown and so is Andy Muschietti, director of the recent It movies. HBO have ordered nine episodes of this intriguing origin story set in the 1960s, so no one involved is clowning around (sorry).
Dear England
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: BBC One and iPlayer
Starring: Joseph Fiennes
James Graham (Sherwood, Quiz) adapts his own play about Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team. Joseph Fiennes reprises his stage role as Southgate, a former sporting pariah whose management job gives him a shot at redemption. Graham’s writing is so insightful that it’s worth putting yourself through the agony and the ecstasy all over again.
First Day On Earth
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: BBC One and iPlayer
Starring: Michaela Coel
The last series created by Michaela Coel, 2021’s savage revenge drama I May Destroy You, deservedly swept the board at the BAFTAs. So expectations are high for Coel’s follow-up, in which she plays a British novelist who heads to Ghana to work on a film and reconnect with her father. Further casting has yet to be announced, but really, what actor would say no?
How To Kill Your Family
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: Netflix
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy
This adaptation of Bella Mackie’s bestselling novel is being steered by Emma Moran, creator of the Gen Z superhero comedy Extraordinary. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Grace Bernard, the illegitimate daughter of a dodgy billionaire, who picks off her rich relatives one by one after they reject her. You’ll be cheering her on against your better judgement as she makes a dent in the one per cent.
Film Club
Release date: TBC
Where to watch: BBC Three
Starring: Aimee Lou Wood, Ralph Davis, Nabhaan Rizwan
This Brit romcom has a charming premise. Aimee Lou Wood and Ralph Davis, who also wrote the show, play friends who meet every week to watch a film together in an enjoyably extra way – think spaceship decor if they’re screening Alien. But they’re also secretly in love with one another. It’s been commissioned by BBC Three, who also gave us Gavin And Stacey back in the day. Just saying, obviously.