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Vanished (2026 series)
Glamorous missing boyfriend thriller, starring Sam Claflin and Kaley Cuoco
Year: 2026
Certificate: 18
Glamorous locations, two good-looking stars and a puzzling mystery when the man (Sam Claflin) goes missing and the woman (Kaley Cuoco) can't figure out what happened. Right from the start, you feel like there's plenty they don't know about each other, although one imagines that's part of the bargain in a long-distance 'relationship' in which the two people in question only meet up once in a while in fancy European hotels.
Funnily enough, Tom (Claflin) goes missing right after the moment when Alice (Cuoco) proposes a more permanent relationship situation. What are the odds? Luckily Alice is an archaeologist and well versed in digging into other people's lives, so she sets off on a daring journey to figure out what's going on. Did Tom really work in refugee aid? The locations make for nice scenery for us while she follows the clues, and it's a refreshing change that the missing person is a man for once. (Four episodes)
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Bridgerton (Series 4)
Benedict unknowingly falls for a maid in this Bridgerton Cinderella story
Year: 2026
Certificate: 15
This fourth run of Shonda Rhimes's romance is also a surprisingly good place to start if you've never seen the show before, and is now available in its entirety.
Series four is a simple Cinderella story that follows 'notorious rake' Benedict Bridgerton, who is a man in want of a wife even if he doesn't know it yet. That knowledge hits him like a hammer during the first event of the season, when he falls for a lady in silver at a masquerade ball, only for her to vanish without revealing her name.
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There's an upstairs-downstairs shock in store, as his elusive lady is actually (gasp!) a maid called Sophie, living under the thumb of a wicked stepmother figure (Harry Potter's Katie Leung). Australian actress Yerin Ha is a strong addition as Sophie, a soulful sort who's become used to hiding her considerable depths, while Luke Thompson is like a jollier Colin Firth as Benedict.
Their path to love isn't smooth and doesn't resolve in the first half of this series, but it's a lovely way to spend a rainy afternoon – and don't miss the lake scene, either. It's the original book, too (An Offer From A Gentleman), but it's a bit different here.
The second half of the series opens in the wake of Benedict's insensitive offer and the return of the stepmother. Both of those should provide ample drama... (Eight episodes)
I Swear I Can't Help It
Documentary insight into the life of John Davidson
Year: 2009
Certificate: 15
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Long before the furore surrounding his involuntary tics at the BAFTAs, John Davidson became known to UK audiences through the QED documentary John's Not Mad, which followed his life with Tourettes as a 16-year-old.
Shown on BBC1 in 1989, it educated a lot of us about the condition and was followed in 2002 with The Boy Can't Help It and again in 2009 by this film. Originally titled Tourettes: I Swear I Can't Help It, this documentary – also made for the BBC – catches us up both with John's life as an adult and that of others with the condition.
Running at just under an hour, it's a strong insight into difficult lives lived with grace, particularly that of Davidson, who has tirelessly campaigned for better public understanding of Tourettes. If you want to know more, seek out the biopic I Swear, which is the movie Davidson was at the Baftas for – it stars an award-winning Robert Aramayo as him, and is currently available to rent before arriving on Netflix on March 10. (59 minutes)
Paul McCartney: Man On The Run
Documentary following the founding of Wings with Paul and his wife Linda
Year: 2026
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Certificate: 15
'The Beatles had been my whole life, really. When we split up I thought, "I'll never write another note of music ever".' Of course that wasn't what happened to Paul McCartney – Wings came next with his wife Linda and, despite the group being 'a dud when it first came out' (in Paul's words), they endured for a decade, producing seven studio albums including the UK number ones Band On The Run and Venus And Mars.
Still, when people look back on 20th-century music, Paul is best known for the Fab Four and this documentary, directed by Morgan Neville – who won an Oscar for his brilliant background singers documentary 20 Feet From Stardom – seems designed to shift the balance of that perception towards Wings.
While it features rare unreleased music and footage that will be a lure to many, the chief distinguishing factor of Neville's film is that it's a whole lot of fun to watch. For Paul, Wings was 'about freedom' and Man On The Run certainly captures that feeling. (115 minutes)
Formula 1: Drive To Survive
The dramas behind the engines of Formula 1, now back for series eight
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Year: 2019-
Certificate: 15
Drive To Survive is one of the great success stories of Netflix documentaries. The series introduced a whole new layer of fans to the sport, using beautifully shot and edited films and incredible behind-the-scenes access to bring Formula 1's drivers and support staff to vivid, combative, soap-opera life.
The first series arrived in 2019 and tracked the 2018 racing season, with a new series every year after that following the same pattern, interviewing the drivers and bringing off-track rivalries of this intense sport to life. Series five followed the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen – who, that time around, allowed himself to be interviewed for the first time on the show. Series six focuses on the 2023 season, taking in the relative fortunes of Red Bull, Aston Martin and Mercedes. It's just as good as the previous series if not better, as you can actually feel how the level of access the show gets has improved – Drive To Survive is quite the institution in Formula 1 now, after all.
The latest eighth series takes us through the races and rivalries of the 2025 season, and the treatment feels a little less over-dramatic than it did last time around. Episode two is a standout. (Eight series)
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The Lady
How Sarah Ferguson's former dresser became a murderer
Year: 2026
Certificate: 12
This four-part drama tries to get to the heart of Jane Andrews, the woman who murdered her lover Thomas 'Tommy' Cressman in 2000, but whose notoriety was sealed by her connections to Sarah Ferguson, then the Duchess of York, for whom she worked as dresser and personal aide from 1988 to 1997. Jane was an ordinary girl from Grimsby who wanted to better herself, and it's a rags-to-riches tale in that sense, but Jane is also intense and volatile and, as her story progresses, a clear path is made to her becoming a killer.
Without her connections to the Firm, it's unlikely Jane's story would have made the front pages or earned itself a TV dramatisation, and a significant portion of the first two episodes is spent establishing the depth of her connection to Fergie (Natalie Dormer), as well as skipping through some of the key events in that period of the former Duchess's life. It's only at the end of the second episode that we are introduced to Jane's victim, Tommy, and from there we start to understand the nature of the relationship that would end in murder.
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There are some notable names on the cast, primarily Mia McKenna-Bruce – a rising star who impressed in Agatha Christie's Seven Dials – as Jane, as well as Ophelia Lovibond, Philip Glenister, and Downton's Ed Speleers as Tommy. (Four episodes)
Dirty Business
Two unlikely citizen detectives fight to bring big water to account
Year: 2026
Certificate: 12
There is a balance to be drawn in telling factual stories of an enraging scandal such as this one. Avoid sensationalism, stick to the facts, but do that without being boring so that viewers don't switch off. This three-parter exposing Britain's sewage pollution strikes that balance perfectly.
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The facts will fill you with rage. The eight-year-old girl who dies after contracting E coli from a contaminated beach in Devon. The billions in profit made by the hedge funds that buy and sell our water companies while running them into the ground. The obfuscation and denial from those running the water companies and the regulator. It's a relentless list of outrages that not only kills our rivers and taints our seas but puts our lives at risk. Watching all that, even in a well-acted drama, would be an unbearable ordeal.
The show avoids all that by having a strong double act at the helm. David Thewlis and Jason Watkins play Ash Smith and Peter Hammond, who are no ordinary champions, but a retired police anti-corruption officer and a retired professor of computational biology, expertise that means Hammond can interpret torrents of raw data on the water companies' failings.
This hard-working, well-thought-out series, in drawing together all the facts, also highlights the farce and absurdist elements of the big picture. You think you know the story, but watching this it will become clearer to you just how seismic the failure of our water infrastructure really is – Ash likens the scandal to 'organised crime'. (Three episodes)
Scrubs
Hospital-set sitcom starring Zach Braff as an unorthodox doctor, now back for a new series
Year: 2001-
Certificate: 15
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Playful and silly, bittersweet and slapstick-filled, and as full of ludicrous fantasy sequences as it is of moments of unexpected tragedy, Scrubs is an underrated sitcom great.
Created by Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso) and running for nine series during its initial incarnation from 2001 to 2010 – before being successfully resurrected in 2026 – it's the story of John 'JD' Dorian (Zach Braff) and his fellow interns as they make their way through the early days of their medical careers. A proper ensemble show, Scrubs fills the fictional Sacred Heart Hospital in California with a fantastic collection of oddballs, from the tyrannical Dr Kelso to emotionally battered lawyer Ted to the building's psychotically strange janitor.
The regular cast are all great – especially John C McGinley as JD's permanently furious mentor Dr Cox – but the roster of guest stars over the years demonstrates the show's quality, with Brendan Fraser, Courteney Cox, Heather Graham, Michael J Fox and Elizabeth Banks among those who popped up.
The latest tenth series wastes no time reuniting Braff's with original cast members Donald Faison (JD's best friend Turk), Sarah Chalke (his now ex, Elliot) and McGinley's Cox, who now calls him 'oldie' instead of 'newbie'. JD is now a suburban medic while the rest of them are feeling the grind of still working at Sacred Heart – surely, the return of JD is the only solution to that?
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A line-up of new trainee doctors, including a Brit played by Jacob Dudman (The Stranger), add to the pleasingly familiar and occasionally hilarious comedy mix as it all unfolds. (Ten series)
The Zero Line: Inside Russia's War
Disturbing documentary insight into the brutal Russian frontline
Year: 2026
Certificate: 18
Filming for this powerful and disturbing documentary, which took place throughout 2025, was conducted in strict secrecy. The Russian soldiers and civilians who agreed to speak were risking arrest – or worse.
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Vladimir Putin has crushed all criticism of the war in Ukraine and some of those speaking out here are witnesses to the brutality dished out to dissidents. For soldiers on the front line, that means commanders using torture and summary executions to ensure their men obey orders to advance. For the civilians at home, speaking out means arrest by Russian police, and detention also often means torture.
The film paints a chilling picture of an escalation of repression in Russia, with new laws suppressing freedom of speech, and thousands of arrests used to stifle any opposition to Putin's rule. (60 minutes)
Dead Of Winter
Emma Thompson plays a loner trying to save a young woman in this icy thriller
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
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Emma Thompson seems to be shooting for a Liam Neeson-style, later-life action career with Dead Of Winter, a lean and persuasive thriller set in the Minnesota wilderness. Here though, it's not so much about being a woman with a 'particular set of skills', but about not being able to stand by when bad things are happening.
Thompson plays Barb, a widowed but perky loner about to scatter her husband's ashes on a remote lake when she stumbles on a young woman held captive in a cabin. Who is holding her, and why? Barb decides she must act and, in between flashbacks to her old life with her husband, she does just that.
It's a film with long stretches of quiet powered by Thompon's facial expressions and is, at its heart, a portrait of marriage at extremes, especially as we meet the couple behind it all (the wife of which is played by the excellent Judy Greer).
Keep an ear out for Thompson's Fargo-style accent, and expect to be gripped by tension and emotion rather than action, although Dead Of Winter does have its moments in that regard, too. (98 minutes)
The Stolen Girl
Exciting missing child thriller starring Denise Gough and Holliday Grainger
Year: 2025
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Certificate: 15
If you're a parent and have ever experienced misplacing a child, even for a moment – in the supermarket, at soft play or, heaven forbid, on holiday – then prepare to empathise with this high-tension, five-part British drama about a child who goes missing in the most horribly understandable of circumstances.
Based on the novel Playdate by Norwegian novelist Alex Dahl, it stars Andor's Denise Gough as a mother who also works as a high-end flight attendant. One day, her daughter winds up on a playdate with a new schoolfriend whose mother (Holliday Grainger) seems very nice indeed, if a bit touchy about photographs.
Then the unthinkable happens and a Europe-wide hunt for the child begins. Gough is a dynamic actress who delivers the emotion of her part with mesmerising subtlety and power, and her scenes with the enigmatic Grainger here at the start are extremely charged and leave you wanting more. Then, the mystery of why the child has been taken comes into focus, just as an ambitious and spiky journalist (Ambika Mod) enters the story. So, who is hiding what and what will be the consequences of it all? There's only way to find out and, even if the results aren't quite up to the standard of Harlan Coben thrillers – to which The Stolen Girl certainly owes a debt – it's an enjoyable enough ride. (Five episodes)
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The Walsh Sisters
Novelist Marian Keyes' five chaotic Irish sisters arrive on the screen
Year: 2025
Certificate: 12
Based on characters created by bestselling author Marian Keyes in a series of seven novels, this six-part drama follows the dysfunctional Walsh family of five sisters, Claire, Maggie, Rachel, Anna and Helen. Plus their mammy Mary and their dad Jack who, surrounded by so much female energy, remains remarkably sane, if a little bemused.
Originally set in the 1990s, the stories have been updated to the present day, not that the decade matters. This is a show that's all about the warmth and love that powers this family, no matter how chaotic and fractious things get.
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Because it's no fluffy or sentimental dose of pure sweetness and light. There is addiction, heartbreak and plenty to worry about – having children, not having them, divorce, marriage, careers, money and depression. The show's overall reassurance happens because whatever life throws at the Walsh sisters, they always have each other.
And life throws a fair few surprises their way, testing their resilience at frequent intervals. Mostly, the show weaves in and out of the sisters' lives – and it can be hard to orient yourself if you're not familiar with them from the books – but as events unfold, they each start to show their unique, individual strengths. A must-watch for fans of Keyes' novels that should also bring more into the fold. (Six episodes)
Paradise (Series 2)
The return of this gripping drama set in a forever-changed US
Year: 2026
Certificate: 15
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If you haven't seen series one of Paradise, read no further than these words and come back when you have. OK? If you have, then here we go. The world of TV apocalyptic dramas is full of misery (The Walking Dead, The Last Of Us) that offer tiny glimpses of humanity, but Paradise is way, way more than that.
Series one opened in an unsettlingly perfect, white picket fence town in which the US President was assassinated. Apparently a murder mystery, that eight-part opening run also turned out to be set in a bunker in the wake of an apocalypse. What set Paradise apart, apart from that considerable twist – and the twists that were to follow – was the way you steadily came to understand what motivated each character, especially the 'baddie', Sinatra (Julianne Nicholson), and that it was just so much darn fun to watch.
That is still just as true in series two, which opens on another US institution of a location – Graceland, once home to Elvis Presley. There we meet a tour guide, Annie (Big Little Lies' Shailene Woodley), and set in motion a storyline that may seem irrelevant at first but won't for long. The first three episodes also catch up with noble Secret Service agent Xavier Collins (Sterling K Brown) and the situation back in the bunker after he left, and remind you how much more enjoyable and uplifting this show is to watch than The Last Of Us. After each episode ends, you'll find it hard not to watch the next. (Eight episodes)
LS Lowry: The Unheard Tapes
A treasure trove of audio tapes recorded with the artist during his final years
Certificate: pg
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LS Lowry created 'artwork for everybody', and his matchstick men and women and working-class industrial scenes of Salford and Greater Manchester are famous around the world. Some of his last words, recorded in taped conversations with a fan from 1972 (he died in 1976), are heard here for the first time, lip-synced by Sir Ian McKellen, who wears the role so well, in lovingly recreated period scenes that add great life and vitality to the programme, setting it apart from similar artist documentaries with their still images and talking heads.
There are talking heads here too, as experts adding background, but the real draw are the conversations themselves, which are all the more remarkable because Lowry's young interviewer, Angela Barratt, was no professional journalist, just a devoted, if nervous, fan. She does a rather fantastic job, and Lowry opens up to her about his personal life and his formative years, and describes in illuminating detail the landscapes and communities he saw around him and that inspired his celebrated work. Fantastic. (60 minutes)
Being Gordon Ramsay
Inside the six-month creation of a high-stakes restaurant project in London
Year: 2026
Certificate: 15
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If you've ever wondered what it takes to open a new restaurant, let alone one containing 'five culinary experiences in one of London's tallest buildings' and backed by a famously fiery chef, then Netflix has just the series for you. Over six episodes we follow Gordon Ramsay as he swears his way through the creation of this quintet of experiences at 22 Bishopsgate, a six-month project he says is personally costing him £20 million.
It's a stressful situation. The man swears at least seven times in the trailer alone so you may run out of numbers if you attempt to keep track of how much he does it across the whole show. We hear from his wife Tana and family about the softer side of Gordon as the project rolls onward, a process that also leads the globally famous chef to reflect how far he's come from growing up on a council estate in Daventry, with holes in his second-hand school trousers. You can't imagine any of his employees here turning up for work with holes in their uniform. Imagine the swearing. (Six episodes)
Reality Check: Inside America's Next Top Model
Behind-the-scenes look at the wildly un-PC modelling contest
Year: 2026
Certificate: 15
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Reality TV has always had a colourful reputation, but few shows have earned it as much as America's Next Top Model. A series so determined to stand out that it even had its own name for 'season' (cycle). ANTM was a talent search like no other, driven from the centre by its fierce creator/host/producer/chief judge/mentor and surrogate mother figure Tyra Banks, the supermodel who had elevated the 'smize' (aka smile with your eyes) to the level of an art form.
During each 'cycle' between 2003 and 2018, her aspiring models – most of whom were still really quite young – lived and fought together and embarked on a series of wild challenges, including modelling on catwalks wearing blindfolds, walking down the sides of building in harnesses, and a photoshoot in which they switched races.
It was wild and utterly addictive television, which created a feedback loop that pushed the show further and further. 'It was very, very intense, but you guys were demanding it,' reflects Tyra in this similarly addictive three-parter on the behind-the-scenes fissures. 'So, we kept pushing, more and more.' And so they did. Tyra's main lieutenants, catwalk coach J Alexander and creative director Jay Manuel, also weigh in here, with the latter looking visibly uncomfortable when the blackface photoshoot comes up.
It says a lot about the show that it's taken close to a decade for this documentary to surface, and whether or not you watched the original, it's a snapshot of an extraordinary time in TV history. (Three episodes)
The Dyers' Caravan Park
Danny Dyer sinks his own money into a caravan park on the Isle of Sheppey
Year: 2026
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Would you stay at a caravan park backed by Danny Dyer and his daughter Dani? Once you watch this six-parter about his foray into this very British type of holiday, you'd certainly be intrigued. Dyer has fond memories of such sites from the 1980s and the sense of community they can foster, and has put his money where his north and south is by investing in Priory Hill on the Isle of Sheppey.
The site has 400 caravans and chalets and has seen better days, but, after a ropey start when he doesn't turn up for opening day – something that genuinely seems to put people's backs up (he was hosting the Brits) – Dyer wades into the nitty gritty of the guests' requests to start making things better. He and Dani get stuck in from that point, with her cleaning a caravan that 'hasn't seen a sponge since West Ham won the league'.
Hopefully with this level of commitment, the father-and-daughter team can put the 'great' back into the great British caravan holiday. (Six episodes)
How To Get To Heaven From Belfast
Mix of murder mystery and dark comedy from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee
Year: 2026
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Certificate: 15
When three Belfast women receive the news that Greta, a school friend they'd lost contact with, has died, it's the catalyst to bring them back together to confront a traumatic event from their past. That's the set-up for this eight-part mix of mystery, drama and sharp dark comedy from Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee, which stars Roisin Gallagher (The Dry) as grumpy TV writer Saoirse, Sinead Keenan (Unforgotten) as harassed mum Robyn and Caoilfhionn Dunne (Saint Maud) as impressionable goofball Dara.
All three are playing very different characters, and there's a lot of fun to be had simply watching them bounce off one another here. On top of that, though, there are two mysteries to keep you watching – first, what actually happened to Greta and, second, what happened in that fire when they were children that we keep being shown in flashbacks.
Those flashbacks are used very neatly, too. This isn't a 'two weeks earlier' kind of show – it's very much about comparing their past selves with the present, which is helped along by the soundtrack's liberal use of songs that would have been big in cheesy dance clubs when the women were young (C'est La Vie, Gotta Get Thru This, Sound Of The Underground to name just three).
Also fun to watch are the supporting cast of oddballs back home in the country where the funeral is taking place, including an eccentric hotelier (Ardal O'Hanlon) and Greta's unsettling family (including Michelle Fairley and Emmett J Scanlan). Lots to enjoy, in short. (Eight episodes)
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Lord Of The Flies (2026 series)
Schoolboys stranded on a tropical island fight to survive in this striking adaptation of William Golding's classic novel
Year: 2026
Certificate: 15
William Golding's 1954 novel might be incredibly well known, but this is the first time it has been adapted for television. There was the superb 1963 film of course, and a 1990 US film version, but there are strong arguments for revisiting it again. The most compelling being that it is a gripping story, one that resonates deeply through the generations.
Stranded on a tropical island, a group of 30 schoolboys (aged from six to 14) must try to survive on their own, and while it is in small part a Robinson Crusoe adventure, its most important themes explore not surviving the lack of food, water, shelter and the wild 'beastie', but surviving the enemies within.
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The series keeps the original 1950s setting, which is more significant than it might seem. Conveyed through music and dialogue more so than by other period trappings that are absent on a desert island, the aim is to hark back to a time of greater innocence, and to retain the connections to civility and morality so key to Golding's original work.
It's beautifully shot in Malaysia, with some arresting images, but its success is mainly down to the largely untrained cast, even the very young 'littluns', while the core 'biguns' – Ralph, Jack, Simon and Piggy (poor Piggy) – carry the whole thing on broad, confident shoulders. (Four episodes)
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