Watch this space: the best TV of 2016
From Benedict Cumberbatch’s Richard III to the new Top Gear, Ben Lawrence picks the most exciting shows of the year ahead
1 The Crown (Netflix)
At a cost of £100 million, Peter Morgan’s drama about the Queen, spanning from 1947 to the present day, is the most expensive ever made. Sixty episodes will unfurl over six series, and the cast for Series 1 includes Claire Foy as Princess Elizabeth, Matt Smith as Prince Philip and, tantalisingly, John Lithgow as Winston Churchill.
2 The Hollow Crown: Wars of the Roses (BBC Two) It’s nearly four years since the BBC began its largely successful adaptation of the first half of Shakespeare’s history cycle. Now, in the 400th anniversary year of the Bard’s death, comes the concluding part – and it’s a tougher sell. There is all of Henry VI to wade through (featuring Tom Sturridge as the mentally unstable monarch) before you get to the juicy prospect of Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III.
3 Happy Valley (BBC One)
One of the most acclaimed British dramas of recent years returns for a second series. Sarah Lancashire will reprise her role as police sergeant Catherine Cawood, as will James Norton his role as Tommy Lee Royce, who is now behind bars. New to the cast is Shirley Henderson, who’ll play a woman infatuated with the killer.
4 Line of Duty (BBC Two)
Another returning hit – the police corruption drama is back for a third series. Daniel Mays stars as Sergeant Waldron, a highly respected member of the Armed Response Unit who finds himself under the gimlet-eyed scrutiny of DS Steve Arnott and DC Kate Fleming (Martin Compston and Vicky McClure) when he puts his colleagues in danger.
5 American Crime Story (Fox) Likely to be the most talked about TV show of 2016 is Ryan Murphy’s (Glee, American Horror Story) true crime anthology series. The first season will focus on the trial of OJ Simpson, with the peerless Cuba Gooding Jr as the former American footballer and John Travolta as lawyer Robert Shapiro.
6 The X Files (Channel 5)
This reboot of the hit Nineties series reunites David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as Mulder and Scully in pursuit of the paranormal. The last attempt at a revival (the 2008 film I
Want to Believe) is best forgotten, but a rapturous reception for the new series at industry shindig Mipcom suggests a return to form.
7 Doctor Thorne (ITV) Following the demise of Downton
Abbey, Julian Fellowes has turned his hand to literary adaptation with Trollope’s tale of illegitimacy, alcoholism and social mobility (all tackled with varying degrees of success in Downton). Tom Hollander stars in the title role and there’s a part for Prince Harry’s ex, Cressida Bonas, too.
8 Top Gear (BBC Two)/ Untitled Jeremy Clarkson show (Amazon Prime) Expect many column inches to be taken up with a perpetuated (and possibly fabricated) rivalry between Chris Evans and Jeremy Clarkson, as viewers are given the luxury of two testosterone-fuelled motoring shows. The recent appointments of presenters Chris Harris and Sabine Schmitz suggest a rather less aggressive direction for the BBC’s flagship series.
9 Love, Nina (BBC One)
Nina Stibbe’s witty, semifictionalised account of a Leicestershire lass whose life radically changes when she becomes a nanny to the children of a fearsome literary lioness
(London Review of Books editor Mary-Kay Wilmers) has been adapted by Nick Hornby – though the names have been changed. Helena Bonham Carter will play the Wilmers character, and don’t miss Jason Watkins doing his best Alan Bennett impersonation as local author Malcolm Tanner.
10 The Night Manager (BBC One) It’s 29 years since the corporation last took on John le Carré, and this six-parter – directed by Susanne Bier – has much to live up to. It stars Tom Hiddleston as Jonathan Pine, a former British soldier who is recruited as a spy and must infiltrate the secret arms trade in alliance with the intelligence community. Hugh Laurie and Tom Hollander co-star.
11 Obama (BBC Two)
In a year that will see America’s first black president bow out comes a four-part series from the great documentary maker Norma Percy, which will assess the president’s successes (healthcare reforms) and failures (not managing to overhaul gun laws).
12 Victoria (ITV)
Jenna Coleman’s first project after leaving Doctor Who is this glossy miniseries from Daisy Goodwin about the early part of Queen Victoria’s reign. Rufus Sewell stars as prime minister Lord Melbourne, with Tom Hughes as Prince Albert.
13 Morning Has Broken (Channel 4) Julia Davis makes a long-awaited return to terrestrial TV and she’s back on darkly comic form as Gail Sinclair, the queen of daytime TV whose reign is threatened by falling ratings.
Friends star David Schwimmer will play the American TV executive brought in to try to reverse the show’s fortunes.
14 Big Little Lies (Sky Atlantic)
Liane Moriarty’s sharp novel about domestic abuse gets the HBO treatment, with Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon as two middle-class mothers whose lives enter freefall.
15 Maigret (ITV)
More than half a century after Rupert Davies made George Simenon’s pipe-smoking French detective a TV hit come two featurelength adaptations. Whether or not Rowan Atkinson can keep his expressive face under control in the title role remains to be seen.
16 The Secret Agent (BBC Two)
TV does not have a good history when it comes to adaptations of Joseph Conrad (remember the unpalatable
Nostromo with Colin Firth?). This one, about anarchism in Victorian London, does at least have actors of the pedigree of Toby Jones and Vicky McClure – and, in Tony Marchant, one of television’s most criminally underused scriptwriters.
17 Vinyl (Sky Atlantic)
Martin Scorsese directs and Mick Jagger co-produces this drama about the music industry in Seventies New York. Bobby Cannavale is the ambitious record producer trying to promote his outlandish new band, who bear more than a passing resemblance to the New York Dolls.
18 The Shakespeare Show (BBC)
In collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company, on the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death (April 23), the BBC will broadcast a star-studded event celebrating the Bard’s legacy across all the arts, from dance to rap to opera.
19 Mum (BBC Two)
The superb Lesley Manville’s late-flowering career owes much to her work with Mike Leigh, and Leigh’s influence is marked in this suburban comedy series about a middle-aged woman who is trying to readjust to life after the death of her husband.
20 Attenborough’s 90th (BBC One) David Attenborough reaches his 10th decade and the BBC will pay tribute to his knowledge and passion with programmes that will raid the BBC’s Natural History Unit and draw on his extraordinary life both behind and in front of the camera.
Exact broadcast dates are uncomfirmed