All the exciting TV dramas and thrillers coming soon
With so many exciting TV dramas arriving this summer and beyond, we can't wait to settle on the sofa for some entertaining escapism starring some of our favourite actors over the coming months.
Highlights include Helena Bonham Carter starring as TV icon Noelle Gordon in Russell T Davies' feminist three-parter Nolly, and real-life husband and wife Matthew Macfayden and Keeley Hawes teaming up for Stonehouse, inspired by extraordinary true events.
Downton's Hugh Bonneville will lead true crime heist drama The Gold, and prepare for the new Peaky Blinders with Shane Meadows series Gallows Pole, about gangs and conmen set during the industrial revolution in 18th century Yorkshire.
Here's a look at the gripping series set to launch on the BBC, ITV and Sky later this year, from adaptations of popular novels to brand-new stories, featuring stellar acting talent...
The Suspect
Poldark's Aidan Turner stars in ITV's psychological thriller The Suspect, co-starring Anjli Mohindra and Shaun Parkes.
Turner stars as Doctor Joseph O’Loughlin, a man who appears to have the perfect life – a beautiful wife, a loving daughter and a successful career as a clinical psychologist.
ITV's synopsis reads: "But nothing can be taken for granted. Even the most flawless existence is only a loose thread away from unravelling. All it takes is a murder victim, a troubled young patient and the biggest lie of his life. Caught in an increasingly complex web of deceit, Joseph risks everything as he embarks on a journey that will take him into the darkest recesses of the human mind."
Additional cast members include Camilla Beeput (Save Me, Sick Note), Adam James (Vigil, Doctor Foster), Bobby Schofield (Time, Anthony) and Sian Clifford (Fleabag, Quiz).
The Suspect comes to ITV in August.
The Tourist Series 2
Jamie Dornan will return to lead series two of this mystery six-part thriller from BBC and HBO Max and the producers of hit series The Missing and Liar.
Set in the Australian Outback, Dornan played an enigmatic British man who was pursued by a vast tank truck trying to drive him off the road. The synopsis read: "An epic cat and mouse chase unfolds and The Man later wakes in hospital, hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is. With merciless figures from his past pursuing him, The Man’s search for answers propels him through the vast and unforgiving outback."
The full cast of series two has yet to be confirmed but we're hoping for the return of Dumplin' star Daniella Macdonald as constable Helen Chambers.
The Tourist series 2 will will launch on BBC One soon.
The Gold
Hugh Bonneville and Dominic Cooper star in The Gold, a retelling of the iconic true story of the Brink's-Mat robbery and the decades-long chain of events that followed.
Described as the 'crime of the Century', the drama will follow the events of 26th November 1983, when six armed men broke into the Brink's-Mat security depot near London's Heathrow Airport, and inadvertently stumbled across gold bullion worth £26m.
The BBC says: "What started as 'a typical Old Kent Road armed robbery' according to detectives at the time, became a seminal event in British criminal history, remarkable not only for the scale of the theft, at the time the biggest in world history, but for its wider legacy.
"The disposal of the bullion caused the birth of large-scale international money laundering, provided the dirty money that helped fuel the London Docklands property boom, united blue and white collar criminals and left controversy and murder in its wake. "
The cast also includes Jack Lowden (Small Axe: Mangrove, Slow Horses), Dominic Cooper (The Preacher, The Devil’s Double), Charlotte Spencer (The Duke, Cinderella), Tom Cullen (Becoming Elizabeth, Black Mirror), Emun Elliott (Guilt, Old), Sean Harris (Southcliffe, Mission: Impossible), Ellora Torchia (Ali and Ava, Midsommar) and Stefanie Martini.
The Gold will launch on BBC One.
The Tower II: The Death Message
Gentleman Jack's Gemma Whelan will reprise her role as Sergeant Sarah Collins in series two of crime thriller The Tower.
The Tower II: Death Messageis based on the second book in Kate London’s Metropolitan series of novels, and is adapted by screenwriter Patrick Harbinson (Homeland, Fearless, 24, ER) and produced by his company Windhover Films and leading production company, Mammoth Screen.
ITV recently confirmed that Tamzin Outhwaite will join the cast as Cathy Teel, Niamh Cusack (The Virtues) will play Claire Mills, and Ella Smith (The Nevers) takes the role of DC Elaine Lucas.
Patrick Harbinson said in a statement: "It's a tribute to the quality of Kate's novels and her complex female characters that we have been able to attract these three brilliant actresses to The Tower."
Returning cast members include Tahirah Sharif be back as PC Lizzie Adama, Jimmy Akingbola as DC Steve Bradshaw, and Emmett J Scanlan as DI Kieran Shaw. Stuart McQuarrie (28 Days Later) also joins the cast in the role of Sarah's new boss, DCI Jim Fedden.
The Tower II will return to ITV soon.
The English
Emily Blunt will star in a "high-octane epic Western" from the BBC, set in the mythic mid-American landscape in the year of 1890.
The Quiet Place actor plays Cornelia Locke, an Englishwoman who arrives into the new and wild landscape of the West to wreak revenge on the man she sees as responsible for the death of her son.
BBC's synopsis reads: "Upon meeting Eli Whipp (Chaske Spencer), an ex-cavalry scout and member of the Pawnee Nation by birth, they join together and discover a shared history which must be defeated at all costs, if either of them are to survive."
The English will launch on BBC One.
Stonehouse
Matthew Macfadyen will star as disgraced Labour minister John Stonehouse in ITV's drama inspired by his attempt to fake his own death, alongside Keeley Hawes, as Stonehouse's wife Barabra.
The three-part drama relates how Stonehouse, a high-flying member of Harold Wilson’s Government, vanished from the beach of a large luxury hotel in Florida in November 1974, leaving a neatly folded pile of clothes as he swam into the sea, intent on faking his own death.
The Succession actor said in a statement: "What happened to John Stonehouse is the stuff of legend. I’ve always been intrigued by what motivated him to fake his own death, and leave behind the family he loved and doted upon and a promising political career. John Preston's script truly captures the man and his colourful life and I’m looking forward to taking on his character."
The drama will also star Emer Heatley (Showtrial) as Stonehouse's mistress Sheila Buckley, Kevin R McNally (The Crown, Unforgotten) as Harold Wilson, Dorothy Atkinson (All Creatures Great and Small, Mum) as Betty Boothroyd and Igor Grabuzov (Voskresenskiy, No Looking Back).
Stonehouse will launch on BritBox and ITV.
Maternal
Six-part medical drama, Maternal follows three female doctors returning to post-pandemic frontline medicine after maternity leave and having to heroically balance the intense demands of the NHS and motherhood.
The drama will star leading actresses Parminder Nagra (DI Ray, Blacklist), Lara Pulver (The Split, The Alienist) and Lisa McGrillis (King Gary, Mum).
ITV says: "Maternal explores working motherhood with wit, warmth and humour and offers a unique perspective on our beloved, overstretched NHS, and the people who hold it together. Sometimes."
The drama will be written in her first television work by Jacqui Honess-Martin, an experienced director and theatre writer.
Jacqui Honess-Martin said in a statement: "I am thrilled to bring this funny, warm and quietly political story to ITV. It’s been humbling to have the opportunity to hear the stories of so many brave and brilliant female doctors working in the NHS over the past two years and I know the incredible team working on this show will do them proud."
Nolly
Helena Bonham-Carter stars as TV legend Noelle Gordon in It's a Sin's Russell T Davies' anticipated drama, Nolly.
ITV says: "Noele (or Nolly to her friends) was a legend in her own lifetime. As flame-haired widow Meg Richardson in the long-running soap opera Crossroads, she was one of the most famous people in Britain. Then in 1981, at the height of the show’s success and the peak of Nolly’s fame, she was axed without ceremony, without warning and with no explanation. With the boss's words 'all good things must come to an end' ringing in her ears, Noele Gordon found herself thrown out of the show that was her life for over 18 years.
"Nolly brings the true Noele Gordon once more into the spotlight. The Queen of the Midlands, a star who could be tough, haughty and imperious, grandly sweeping into rehearsals from her Rolls Royce, but also a hard-working actress who was fiercely loyal and loved by cast and crew alike. And at last, the biggest question of all can be answered – why was she sacked? Nolly reveals the truth, the consequences, and the legacy of that terrible day."
Augustus Prew (The Morning Show, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) joins the cast as Tony Adams, Nolly's Crossroads co-star, devoted friend, confidante, and her occasional chauffer. Mark Gatiss (Sherlock, League of Gentleman, Doctor Who) joins as inimitable entertainer Larry Grayson, who also shared a close and enduring friendship with Gordon.
Nolly will launch on ITV's streaming service ITVX and ITV soon.
Malpractice
Niamh Algar stars in medical drama Malpracitce as Dr Lucinda Edwards, a hardened doctor who endures a nightmare shift that ends in the death of an opioid overdose victim, Edith Owusu.
ITV says: "Despite the support of her medical supervisor, Dr Leo Harris, played by James Purefoy (A Discovery of Witches, Pennyworth, Sex Education), Edith’s grieving father Sir Anthony Owusu, played by Brian Bovell (Crime, Strike), demands an enquiry into Lucinda’s actions on the fateful night.
"Through the cat and mouse thriller of the medical investigation, Malpractice tells the story of a damaged doctor caught up in a dangerous conspiracy."
The drama is written by former NHS doctor Grace Ofori-Attah, who said in a statement: "I'd worked as an NHS doctor for over a decade when I first came to World with an idea that would become Malpractice.
"It explores the inevitable pressure-cooker created when doctors under investigation are forced to second-guess their clinical decisions, justify their every action but carry on with the day job as normal. It has been an absolute joy and privilege creating Malpractice with the team at World, who are well-versed in creating drama that’s endlessly entertaining and surprising, and I can’t wait to see it on screen."
Malpractice will air on ITV soon.
The Gallows Pole
This is England creator Shane Meadows is adapting the novel of the same title by Benjamin Myers, which tells the extraordinary true story of the rise and fall of David Hartley and the Cragg Vale Coiners.
Set against the backdrop of the coming industrial revolution in 18th century Yorkshire, the compelling drama follows the enigmatic David Hartley, played by Michael Socha, as he assembles a gang of weavers and land-workers to embark upon a revolutionary criminal enterprise that will capsize the economy and become the biggest fraud in British history.
The cast includes Michael Socha (This Is England), Thomas Turgoose (This Is England, Looted), George MacKay (1917, Captain Fantastic), Tom Burke (Mank, The Souvenir), Sophie McShera (Cinderella, Downton Abbey) and Cara Theobold (Downton Abbey, Crazyhead).
Meadows said in a statement: "Putting this cast together, with the undying support of Shaheen Baig and her amazing team, has been an absolute joy. To be working with actors I’ve grown up with and/or have been desperate to work with, alongside oodles of incredible 'as yet' undiscovered Yorkshire-based talent, is an absolute honour and I’ve not been this passionate about shooting a project in years!"
The Gallows Pole will air on BBC One soon.
The Capture series two
Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You, The Lazarus Project) stars as Isaac Turner MP, a young rising star politician with ambitions for the very top, alongside Holliday Grainger (Strike) who reprises her role as DCI Rachel Carey in series two of surveillance thriller, The Capture.
BBC says: "The new series will again question if we can really believe what we see. Britain is under siege: hacked news feeds, manipulated media, and interference in politics. Entrenched in the UK’s own ‘Correction’ unit, DCI Rachel Carey (Grainger) finds herself in the middle of a new conspiracy - with a new target. But how can she solve this case when she can’t even trust her closest colleagues?"
The Capture launches on BBC One on 28th August.
Industry season two
Critically-acclaimed banking drama Industry returns to BBC One for season two, with Myha'la Herrold back as Harper, a young and ambitious New Yorker Harper as she and her colleagues navigate life post-pandemic.
The high-octane drama offers an exhilarating dive into the world of international finance, as seen through the eyes of ambitious twenty-somethings struggling to secure their futures.
Season two’s latest recruits are Jay Duplass (The Chair), who will play Jesse Boom, a reputable hedge fund manager who has just emigrated to the UK, Sonny Poon Tip (Anatomy of a Scandal) as Leo Bloom, the wayward son of a reputable hedge fund manager and Katrine De Candole (The Ipcress File) as Celeste Pacquet, a multilingual wealth manager who works in Peirpoint’s Private Wealth Management division.
Returning cast members include Marisa Abela (Cobra), Harry Lawtey(The Pale Blue Eye), David Jonsson (Deep State), Conor MacNeill (Belfast) and Ken Leung (Old).
Industry will arrive on BBC Two in the autumn.
Wilderness
Jenna Coleman stars in Prime Video's adaptation of B.E. Jones' novel of the same name, Wilderness.
The drama follows British couple Liv (Coleman) and Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who seem to have it all: a rock-solid marriage; a glamorous new life in New York thousands of miles from their provincial hometown; and still young enough to feel that their whole lives are ahead of them. Until Liv learns about Will's affair.
Prime Video says: "Heartbreak is swiftly followed by another emotion: fury. Revenge is her only option, and when Will proposes a trip around America’s epic National Parks to give their relationship a fresh start, Liv knows just how to get it... Wilderness is a twisted love story, where a dream holiday and a supposedly 'happily-ever-after' quickly turns into a living nightmare."
Additional casting includes; Crystal Balint (The Fall of the House of Usher) as Liana, Natalie Sharp (The Flash) as Marissa, Geoff Gustafson (A Christmas Proposal) as Zach and Jake Foy (Designated Survivor) as Anton.
Wilderness will launch on Prime Video soon.
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