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2024 really is the year of the Difficult Second Series: after wowing us in 2023 and even earlier, shows like The Tourist, Extraordinary, The Rig, Suspect and Bad Sisters are on the way back for another helping this year, but the question is: will they live up to series one?
In among this, a trio of behemoth shows coming back: Doctor Who will return for series 14, or season one as it’s being styled, the first with Fifteenth Doctor Ncuti Gatwa, Wolf Hall is returning after nine years to cover the late Hilary Mantel’s final book in the trilogy, The Mirror and The Light, and dystopian anthology series Black Mirror will return to Netflix for its seventh series. There’s even talk of a prequel series to Red Dwarf, if that comes off.
This is our round-up of the British TV shows we’re most excited to see returning for new series in 2024. If it’s brand-new British TV shows you’re looking for, see our big preview here. Keep checking back – we’ll update this list as new details are announced.
JANUARY
The Tourist Series 2 (January 1st, BBC One)
The first series of The Tourist was the most-watched drama of 2022, with over 11 million viewers tuning in to watch Jamie Dornan (The Fall) as a man with amnesia who wakes up in an Australian hospital and has to race to piece together his identity before his past catches up with him. Dornan is back for more nail-biting discoveries in series two alongside Danielle MacDonald (Unbelievable) as Constable Helen Chambers, and this time they’re visiting Ireland to find out more about his character’s murky past. New cast members for the second series include Industry‘s Conor MacNeill, Justice League‘s Francis Magee and The Northman‘s Olwen Fouéré. Filming took place in Dublin last year, and the new series arrived on BBC One and iPlayer on New Year’s Day.
Trigger Point Series 2
Over 10 million of us tuned in to the explosive (ahem) first series of Trigger Point – the gripping ITV bomb squad drama from Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio – when it debuted in January 2022, so it’s no surprise that the show’s back for more. Vicky McClure will reprise her role as bomb disposal expert Lana Washington, alongside most of her crew from series one, including Mark Stanley (Happy Valley), Unforgotten‘s Nabil Elouahabi and After Life‘s Kerry Godliman. Filming wrapped in May 2023, and the teaser above suggests it’s going to be another watch-it-through-your-fingers tensefest when the series returns to ITV in January.
DATES TBC
Around The World in 80 Days Series 2
It’s been over two years since a second series was confirmed (before the first series had even finished airing, no less), but we sadly seem no closer to news on filming or release date just yet. Considering the first season of Around the World in 80 Days came out around Christmas we could be in luck for the tail-end of 2024. David Tennant, Leonie Benesch and Ibrahim Home are almost certain to reprise their starring roles, and we’ll bring you news of other cast announcements as they arrive.
Bad Sisters Series 2
We know it’s not British, but this Irish dark comedy has such a huge global fanbase we couldn’t leave its second series confirmation uncelebrated. It was no surprise, really – series one (which saw the five Garvey sisters on a mission to kill their abusive brother-in-law) was one of the most popular AppleTV+ series of 2022, and went on to win a BAFTA for Best Drama Series. Creator Sharon Horgan will reprise her lead role – production was delayed due to the 2023 strikes, but we hope Bad Sisters to return in 2024.
Black Mirror Series 7
After series six became a Top 10 Netflix hit in June 2023, fans of Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones’ darkly satirical dystopian anthology series Black Mirror will be pleased to hear it’s coming back to haunt our nightmares for a seventh series. After series six featured a woman discovering her life had been turned into a CGI-based TV show and a haunting take on true-crime tourism, goodness knows what horrors series seven will bring, but we’ll let you know more as we hear it.
Blue Lights Series 2
This Belfast-set police drama was an antidote to all the TV stories about corrupt cops creaming off criminal profits and covering up their own wrongdoing. Its story of three new recruits struggling in the job gave the police a human face – namely, those of Sian Brooke, Catherine Devlin and Nathan Braniff, playing a trio of decent people in a very difficult job. Written by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, whose The Salisbury Poisonings retold a tragic true life story with responsibility and a real sense of character, Blue Lights was one of 2023’s most exceptional dramas. Filming on the second series began in autumn 2023, so we might hope to see this one back late in 2024.
Bridgerton Series 3
We knew we were getting a third (and fourth!) series of Bridgerton even before the second series was released in March 2022, and filming started in July of that year, but the WGA and SAG strikes pushed the release date back to 2024. So far, we know Jonathan Bailey and Simone Ashley are returning as the heads of the Bridgerton household, and Hannah New will be joining the cast as Lady Tilley Arnold. The plot will centre around the developing love story between Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and will be based on the fourth book in the Bridgerton series. The first-look photos make it look as dreamy as ever.
Doctor Who Series 14
We finally got our first episode of Ncuti Gatwa as the Fifteenth Doctor on Christmas Day, and series 14 will follow in May, packed with exciting things like guest Broadway stars Jinkx Monsoon and Jonathan Groff (musical special episode, anyone?!), a Beatles-themed swinging sixties episode, and an ex-Torchwood actor returning to play the mysterious “Duchess”. Bring it on!
Extraordinary Series 2
When Extraordinary first launched on Disney in early 2023 – telling the story of Jen, one of the few adults in the world who doesn’t have a superpower – fans instantly fell for this grown-up comedy’s filthy sense of humour. Series two will pick up where season one spectacularly left off, with Máiréad Tyers reprising the lead role, and Luke Rollason back as the excellently named shapeshifter Jizzlord. Disney has confirmed the series returns in 2024.
Gangs of London Series 3
The brutal, gripping and unforgiving second series of Gangs of London aired in autumn 2022, and thankfully we didn’t have to wait long for Sky to confirm series three was on the way, with Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù and Joe Cole resuming their lead roles. Filming began in September 2023 and new cast members will include Blue Lights’ Richard Dormer and EastEnders’ Phil Daniels when the show returns for its third series in 2024 – in the meantime, we’ve rounded up what the explosive season two finale might mean for what’s in store in the show’s future.
Heartstopper Series 3
The cult following of Netflix’s heartwarming LGBT teen drama Heartstopper showed no sign of losing enthusiasm when series two aired in 2023, so it’s a good job series three was already confirmed. Creator Alice Oseman (who has adapted the show from her graphic novel and webcomic series) has teased that series three will continue exploring some of the mental health themes covered in the second series, and newcomer Darragh Hand has also been confirmed as playing a new character, speed skater Michael Holden.
Industry Series 3
Game of Thrones star Kit Harington is joining the cast of Industry for its third season, which began filming in April 2023. This gripping high finance drama follows a group of young bankers making their way in the intense, high-pressure, sex-and-drugs-fuelled environment of international bank Pierpoint & Co. Harington will play Henry Muck, the CEO and Founder of Lumi, an new green tech energy company that Pierpoint will become embroiled with in series three when it arrives on BBC Two and HBO in summer 2024.
Karen Pirie Series 2
Vigil‘s Lauren Lyle will return to her title role in the second series of Karen Pirie, ITV’s crime drama based on the popular series of Val McDermid novels. The first series, in which the fearless Scottish investigator looked into a cold case for the death of a barmaid, was one of ITV’s most-watched dramas of 2022, and series two will see Pirie reopen the investigation into the unsolved kidnap of a wealthy young heiress and her baby son back in 1985. Karen Pirie will once again be produced by the team behind Line of Duty and written by The Curse‘s Emer Kenny – filming is due to commence in Scotland very soon.
SAS Rogue Heroes Series 2
The first series of SAS: Rogue Heroes – the real-life story of the formation of the SAS in World War Two – exploded onto our screens in autumn 2022, attracting over 9 million viewers, and the series concluded with the teasing caption ‘TO BE CONTINUED’. The BBC has confirmed filming for series two began in May 2023, and will rejoin series one’s lead characters David Stirling (Connor Swindells) and Paddy Mayne (Jack O’Connell) in spring 1943, with other returning cast including Sofia Boutella as Eve Mansour and Dominic West as Dudley Clarke.
Sherwood Series 2
Screenwriter and playwright James Graham’s Dear England is currently making waves at the National Theatre, and in 2024, a second series of his Nottingham-set community BBC drama Sherwood will doubtless do the same. The first series was a modern-day murder mystery rooted in local conflicts that grew out of political unrest during the 1980s Miners’ Strikes, and the second promises two new families enacting old rivalries across generations. The cast looks top notch too, with David Harewood, Monica Dolan, Robert Lindsay and more joining returnees David Morrissey, Lesley Manville and co. Filming began in July 2023, so fingers crossed there’s not too long a wait for this one.
Showtrial Series 2
The story of Celine Buckens’ love-to-hate rich girl Talitha’s murder trial having wrapped up by the end of series one, Showtrial will return as an anthology format with a brand new cast and story in 2024. As the title suggests, it’s another high-profile, media-buzz court case going under the microscope – but will justice be served? This time, Adeel Akhtar (Fool Me Once) and Michael Socha (The Gallows Pole) play a solicitor and police officer respectively, leading a cast to tell the story of a hit-and-run that resulted in the death of a climate activist. Filming began in and around Belfast in late 2023, so don’t expect this one until the end of the year.
Slow Horses Series 4
The third series of Apple TV spy thriller Slow Horses only premiered in December 2023, but they filmed series three and four together, so we shouldn’t have long to wait for more MI5 shenanigans from the brilliantly funny Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour) and his team of exiled spooks. In fact, the series four trailer will air at the end of the series three finale, and it looks as explosive, comical, twisty and ruthless as ever. Bring it on. And even better – series five is already confirmed to be in the pipeline.
Taskmaster Series 17
Very few shows remain entertaining and well-loved enough to last for 17 series, but Taskmaster makes it look easy – and there are at least three more series to go, as Alex Horne and Greg Davies’ delightfully silly show (in which five comedians are set a series of fiendish and funny tasks) was renewed for six more series around the time that series 14 was airing. The series 17 line-up has big shoes to fill after series 16’s superb alumni, including weird and wonderful Lucy Beaumont and Sam Campbell, but our hopes are already high.
The Devil’s Hour Series 2
There’s hopefully not much longer to wait for series two of this dark and twisty Amazon Prime thriller after the first series aired in late 2022. The Devil’s Hour stars Jessica Raine (Call The Midwife) as a troubled mum caught up in a hunt for a serial killer alongside Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who) as sinister criminal Gideon Shepherd, and after series one received critical acclaim the show was renewed for not one but two extra series. Filming for series two began early in 2023 and we expect it to arrive on Amazon Prime in the first half of 2024.
The Gold Series 2
True-crime drama The Gold told the story of the infamous 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, in which a group of criminals stumbled upon £26 million in gold bullion, committing the largest heist in history, before spending the next decade evading capture by the police and rival gang members. Being that it’s largely based on true events, it wasn’t an obvious contender for a second series – that is, until a shocking discovery at the end of series one revealed we only had half of the story. Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Charlotte Spencer (Sanditon) and Emun Elliott (Guilt) will all return as the crime-fighting trio trying to solve the case – production will commence shortly so we can expect this one towards the end of 2024 at the earliest.
The Responder Series 2
Ex-copper Tony Schumacher’s solo screenwriting debut was a massive hit for BBC One, so the crime drama will be making a welcome return. Sherlock and The Hobbit‘s Martin Freeman stars as Chris Carson, a Liverpool officer working at the end of his tether to police the streets. When a dangerous local dealer loses thousands of pounds’ worth of cocaine, Chris takes pity on the hapless addict who took it, and things get complicated from there. Exciting, emotional, funny and carrying a powerful social message, this was one of the best shows of 2022.
The Rig Series 2
Prime Video’s supernatural thriller The Rig gave us literal chills when it was released in January 2023, and the good news is there’s a series two officially on the way. The first series starred Line of Duty‘s Martin Compston as part of a crew aboard a Scottish oil rig which becomes cut off from all communications and is surrounded by a mysterious, ominous fog, before crew members start having strange visions. After the explosive finale, it’s been confirmed that Compston will return alongside Game of Thrones‘ Iain Glen and Schitt’s Creek‘s Emily Hampshire, with series two taking place in a ‘bold new location’. Filming began in Scotland in June 2023 so this should be released during 2024.
Wolf Hall Series 2
It’s been nine years since Bafta and Golden Globe-winning Wolf Hall first aired, with series one adapting the first two novels in Hilary Mantel’s historical trilogy of the same name, and now we’re finally going to see the end of the story. The third novel in the trilogy, The Mirror and The Light, was released in 2020, and will be the subject of Wolf Hall’s second series, tracing the final four years of Cromwell’s life as he becomes one of the most feared, influential figures of his time. The all-star cast will see the return of Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies) as Cromwell alongside Damian Lewis (Homeland) as King Henry VIII, Jonathan Pryce (Slow Horses) as Cardinal Wolsey and Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders) as Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour, as well as new cast members including Succession‘s Harriet Walter, The Sixth Commandment‘s Timothy Spall and The Crown’s Alex Jennings. Production is now underway.
Other Shows Returning in 2024
Am I Being Unreasonable Series 2
Bloods Series 3
Beyond Paradise Series 2
Black Ops Series 2
Call The Midwife Series 13
Colin From Accounts Series 2
Death in Paradise Series 13
Everyone Else Burns Series 2
Finding Alice Series 2
Funny Woman Series 2
Grace Series 4
Grantchester Series 8
Malpractice Series 2
Our Flag Means Death Series 2 (UK air date TBC)
Ridley Series 2
Save Me Series 3 (in development)
Suspect Series 2
Taboo Series 2
The Bay Series 5
The Horne Section TV Show Series 2
The Madame Blanc Mysteries (January 4th)
The Suspect Series 2
The Tower Series 3
The Undeclared War Series 2
The Wreck Series 2
Unforgotten Series 6
Wreck Series 2
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