The Witness
If you watched Channel 4 drama Deceit starring Niamh Algar, you’ll be familiar with the true-life case that Netflix is dramatising in The Witness. With the involvement of the Hanscombe family, who were tragically bereaved following the brutal murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992, The Witness will focus on the experience of Nickell’s son, who was two years old at the time of his mother’s killing. It’s coming from the production company behind Criminal Record, and no cast has yet been confirmed.
This City is Ours
Missing Gangs of London and Peaky Blinders? This original crime drama from the adaptor of The Lost Kingdom and Shardlake Stephen Butchard might just fit the bill. It’s the Liverpool and Spain-set story of a drug gang crime boss who, inspired by love, wants to go straight but will his family let him? And will his son succeed in his takeover bid? With eight episodes, this one’s being primed for an international market. Filming began in April 2024 and Sean Bean is part of the cast.
Towards Zero
A new Agatha Christie adaptation is coming to the BBC. This three-part murder mystery set in the 1930s stars Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Invisible Man) as Nevile, and Ella Lily Hyland (Fifteen-Love) as Audrey – a formerly married couple who, despite the presence of Nevile’s new wife, spend a summer at the coastal estate of Nevile’s aunt Lady Tressilian. In starry news, Lady Tressilian is played by Hollywood royalty Anjelica Huston. We Are Lady Parts‘ Anjana Vasan, The Wire‘s Clarke Peters and more will co-star in the drama, which began filming in Devon and Bristol in June 2024.
Toxic Town
Netflix will depict one of the UK’s biggest environmental scandals – the Corby poisonings in the late 1980s – in this new four-part true crime drama, with an all-star cast including Jodie Whittaker (pictured above in Doctor Who), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty), Amy Lou Wood (Sex Education), Rory Kinnear (James Bond) and Downton Abbey‘s Brendan Coyle. Toxic Town is being produced by Broke & Bones, the production company of Black Mirror creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, and will centre on three mothers who take on an Erin Brockovich-style fight for justice after toxic waste mismanagement led to a tragically high number of birth defects in the local community of Corby in Northamptonshire. Production began in August 2023.
Train
This popular Korean drama is being remade by Firebird Pictures, a BBC Studios Production label, for the UK. Train tells the story of a detective who investigates a case that leads him to a world divided into two parallel universes, and while his love is dead in one world, she’s very much alive in the other. While tracking down the truth behind his love’s death, he simultaneously tries to protect her in the other, uncovering the connection between the two universes.
Trespasses
Announced in August 2024, this four-part drama set in 1970s Belfast won’t be on screen for a while, but it sounds worth keeping an eye out for when it arrives. Adapted from Louise Kennedy’s acclaimed novel of the same name, Trespasses stars Gillian Anderson, Tom Cullen and Lola Pettigrew and tells the story of a young Catholic teacher who’s drawn towards an illicit affair with an older Protestant man. Adult Behaviour‘s Dawn Shadforth directs.
Tuva
EastEnders’ Rose Ayling-Ellis will star in a six-part returning crime drama based on Will Dean’s series of novels about deaf investigative journalist Tuva Moodyson. The first series adapt Dean’s novel Dark Pines, where Tuva is working for her hometown newspaper, desperate for a headline-breaking scoop, before discovering a serial killer who has been dormant for 20 years has begun to kill again. The series is produced by the team behind Death In Paradise, and more casting and details will be released in due course
Under Salt Marsh
As reported by Variety, Kelly Reilly, a star of US hit series Yellowstone, will lead a new Welsh-set crime thriller coming to Sky. Under Salt Marsh is about an ex-detective (Reilly), now a teacher, who finds the body of a drowned child. The discovery digs up old wounds in the community and reheats the cold case of a missing child from years earlier. Filming took place in Wales in late 2024 so don’t expect to see this one on screens for a little while yet.
Untitled Guy Ritchie Project
Guy Ritchie has lined up a very decent cast for his as-yet-untitled next project, coming to Paramount+. Joining Tom Hardy and Dame Helen Mirren in the global crime series will be Paddy Considine, Joanne Froggatt, Lara Pulver, Madeep Dhillon and Jasmine Jobson. It’s the story of two warring London-based families whose criminal empires stretch across the globe.
Untitled Jimmy McGovern Drama
Time and Broken creator Jimmy McGovern has written a new feature-length single drama for BBC One. It’s currently without an official title, but will be set in and around Liverpool and tell the story of a family dealing with the aftermath of an act of sexual abuse committed by one of their family members after their release from prison. The cast is led by Anna Friel, who’s joined by Anna Maxwell Martin, David Threlfall, Mark Womack and Bobby Schofield. We’ll bring you more info as it arrives.
Virdee
Wolf star Sacha Dhawan was originally slated to lead the BBC’s new detective series Virdee, based on AA Dhand’s bestselling crime novels about Detective Harry Virdee, but he had to pull out and the role has since been recast with Staz Nair. It’s the story of a Bradford cop who has to investigate the kidnap of a local MP’s daughter. The case will force him to reunite with certain unsavoury members of his estranged family in order to save his kidnapping victim, putting him at great personal risk, with some very difficult choices to make. Filming began in Bradford in February 2024.
Wahala
Coming to the BBC, this one’s being billed as “Big Little Lies meets Girlfriends meets Peckham“. It’s adapted from Nikki May’s debut novel of the same name, which tells the story of Simi, Ronke and Boo, three London-based thirtysomething Anglo-Nigerian women whose lives are rocked by the arrival of the mysterious Isobel…
We Go Again
This six-part comedy drama about a family of young siblings trying to keep things going after a serious loss is coming to BBC Three. Created by screenwriter and playwright Janice Okoh (Sanditon), it’s inspired by her stage play Three Birds and is being billed as “…a celebration of black joy; of council estates and corner shops. Of working class living and working class dreams.” We Go Again is the working title, and the cast has been announced as including newcomers Chenée Taylor, Kaydrah Walker-Wilkie and Akins Subair, alongside appearances from Romola Garai, Sam Buchanan, Ivanno Jeremiah, Jamelia, Talitha Wing and Jennifer Metcalfe.
Welcome to Glorious Tuga
As reported by Variety in August 2024, this one’s only in its infancy but worth a mention all the same. The production company behind Netflix’s Heartstopper has optioned Francesca Segal’s new novel Welcome to Glorious Tuga for television. It’s about a London-based vet who moves to a remote island to study endangered tortoises, and who begins to piece together a mystery about her own life at the same time. It’s very early days on this one, so no casting or further details are available as yet.
What It Feels Like For a Girl
Paris Lees‘ acclaimed memoir is being adapted into an eight-part drama for BBC Three, telling the story of how – as a disenfranchised teenager – she managed to escape a dead-end town in the Midlands into Nottingham’s kinetic underworld, befriending podium dancer Lady Die and being adopted into her makeshift family of chaotic troublemakers, “The Fallen Divas”. Their rollercoaster hedonist lifestyle takes Lees on a journey of self-discovery that will change her life forever. The Tourist‘s Chris Sweeney will direct and filming is only due to begin this year, so we’ve got a while to wait for this one.
Wild Cherry
From Nicôle Lecky, the creator of 2022 BBC Three drama Mood, comes a new drama for the BBC: Wild Cherry. It’s the story of two wealthy, privileged women living in an upmarket gated community whose dream life is threatened when their teenage daughters become involved in a scandal at their private school. The cast is led by House of the Dragon‘s Eve Best, and True Detective‘s Carmen Ejogo, alongside Sophie Winkleman and Lecky herself. Filming began in October 2024.
