It’s almost the end of 2025. Where did the days go? Suddenly, it’s time to start making hasty New Year’s resolutions and pondering what the year ahead promises.
But if that seems a bit too depressing a prospect, fortunately, the next 12 months promise plenty of great TV to get excited about. From the fantastical world of Westeros to the equally depressing one of the Lord of the Flies, here’s what to look out for.
Stranger Things Season 5: the finale
It does feel a bit like cheating to add this one to the list, seeing as it comes out on New Year’s Eve in the US – but still, it’s out at 1am in the UK, which officially makes this the first must-watch show of 2026. The Duffer Brothers have a lot of tying-up of loose ends to do: there’s the monstrous Vecna to defeat, Will suddenly has superpowers and also the US military is on the loose. Chances that at least one of the 12 main cast members will die is decent.
Netflix, January 1 at 1am
The Night Manager Season 2
Nearly ten years after the first Night Manager took the UK by storm, it’s finally back for a second season – which presumably means more guns, more sex and more quasi-James Bond exploits. Tom Hiddleston returns (albeit with a receding hairline) to play Jonathan Pine, the hotel night manager of the first season who also managed to bring down international weapons dealer Richard Roper (Hugh Laurie). And while we don’t know much about the new threat he’ll be facing, at least Olivia Colman’s eminently capable Angela Burr is back to manage things from the Foreign Office.
(Ian West/PA)
PA Wire
Has Claudia Winkleman reached National Treasure status yet? She’s certainly most of the way there – the Celebrity Traitors was a massive hit, and the BBC is following that up on New Year’s Day with the first episode of season four. It’s just Joe Public battling it out for the cash prize this time, but on the flipside, they’ll be willing to play dirtier than the celebs were. The perfect way to start 2026.
BBC One, January 1 at 8pm
Is Industry the most underrated show on television? Quite possibly, which means now is the perfect time to binge a few seasons before the latest airs. Now both free of Pierpont, things aren’t any better for frenemies Yasmin (Marisa Abela) and Harper (Myha’la): Yasmin is stuck in a miserable marriage to Lord Henry Muck (Kit Harington) and Harper is drawn into the orbit of a splashy fintech darling. The end result? Explosive.
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
While the decision to adapt one of George RR Martin’s novellas into a feature length series does smack slightly of barrel-scraping, there’s no denying it’ll be a treat to dive back into the Game of Thrones universe. Whilst previous shows have focussed on the weighty subject of kingship (and fighting over said kingship), this promises to be far lighter in tone – namely, telling the story of hedge knight Ser Duncan the Tall () and his squire Egg () as they attempt to seek glory in a jousting tournament.
HBO/ Sky Atlantic, January 18
How to Get to Heaven From Belfast
Christopher Barr/Netflix
Derry Girls’ Lisa McGee is once again working on a TV series – which of course means we’re extremely seated. The premise of this one is still slightly vague, but it stars Roisin Gallagher, Sinéad Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne as three old school friends who attend the wake of an old classmate, only to uncover a dark mystery. Though not too dark: this being McGee, there’s doubtless be a lot of wry humour woven in too.
The Boys has been alternately entertaining and horrifying us since season one came out in 2019; now, the rollercoaster ride is finally coming to an end. Before that happens, though, expect gobbets of insanity to be thrown in our faces like chunks of exploded body. In this trailer alone, we’ve got Homelander firing his laser-eyes into space, the Vought/ fascism machine in full swing and an unexpected Supernatural reunion as Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki return to the small screen together. In other words, fasten those seatbelts.
Channel 4
Put Nicola Coughlan and Lydia West in a show together and turns out the combination is dynamite. That’s certainly the case for Big Mood, in which the pair played long-term (ever so slightly toxic) friends Maggie and Eddie, who have stuck with each other through thick and thin. Until, that is, Maggie’s bipolar starts affecting her behaviour: cue some insane slapstick, and some heartbreaking sadness. And now, it’s back for season two.
Channel 4
Bella Ramsey is of course excellent in anything they do, which makes tuning into this new show something of a necessity. They play Maya, who, along with mum Anna (Daisy Haggard), is forced to flee into witness protection, abandoning Anna’s parents for a life in Scotland. Unfortunately, danger is still on their trail – two hitmen are tracking them down, while the charming and terrifying Bobby (Tobias Menzies) looks to be closing in too. The synopsis promises this will be “darkly comic”: it doesn’t sound it, but we’re sold regardless.
Prime Video
Who could turn down the chance to see Catherine Zeta Jones in what feels like her first starring role in years? The answer is nobody, especially when that role casts her as a former international drug smuggler turned glamorous art dealer. She’s put her life of crime behind her (naturally), but trouble surfaces once more when a squad of the world’s most terrifying assassins, the Seven Demons, mark her as their next victim. The first images promise us something ultra-glossy and ultra-silly: perfect for bingeing.
BBC/Eleven/J Redza
A prospect to haunt the dreams of anybody who was forced to study this for GCSE English (hello). But at least it looks like it’ll be good: prolific writer Jack Thorne has penned the script, the first-look images promise plenty of grimness and the entire thing was apparently shot in Malaysia. For those who can stomach a return to William Golding’s world of shipwrecked boys going savage, this is one for you.
ITV
What if James Bond was married and had to go to couple’s counselling? Is the basic premise of ITV’s upcoming thriller series. Shaun Evans is the blandly named John Hughes, an MI5 officer who’s struggling to balance the demands of his job with those of his personal life – namely, marriage to Romola Garai’s partner Clare, who is struggling to trust her very secretive partner. Factor in a new spy conspiracy and things start to fall apart.
Sky / Little Door
Time for a good old dose of Welsh noir. Sky’s upcoming crime drama takes us into a remote community by the seaside that’s hiding a lot grief underneath its surface – such as a three year old cold case unexpectedly reopened by former copper Jackie Ellis (Kelly Reilly) after she makes a fresh discovery. Her original investigation cost her both her family and career, but soon enough she’s reuniting with former partner Eric Bull (Rafe Spall) to solve it once and for all.
BBC/Left Bank
Didn’t get the chance to see James Graham’s hit football drama on stage? Good news: it’s been turned into a four-part TV series starring Joseph Fiennes and Jodie Whittaker. For those unfamiliar, it takes us through England’s woeful years in the wilderness as a national team that’s lost it’s way. But what’s this? Here comes Gareth Southgate, former England player himself, who has a chip on his shoulder and a mission in his heart. Can he end all those years of hurt? Spoiler alert: no he can’t (that’s the job of the women’s team), but he does manage to take them to the Euro 2024 semis, and, if the show is anything like the play, it’ll be a heartwarming watch.
We didn’t ask for a Legally Blonde prequel, but we’re getting one anyway. Cast from your mind the frankly terrible sequel and straight-to-DVD threequel; this is a glossy, high-end production financed by Amazon and presided over by the original Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon herself. We don’t know too much yet, but we do know that this is a look at high-school Elle’s life, and the first images tease Lexi Minetree as the titular blonde, wearing all-pink. Naturally.