Looking forward: the best TV shows of 2024

The Tourist, series 2, BBC One

Writerly brothers Harry and Jack Williams are prolific in their TV work, which includes The Missing, Baptiste, and The Widow. But it’s rare for one of their series to follow so quickly after another. Shortly after their Coen Brothers-like thriller Boat Story concludes, their formerly Australia-based amnesia caper The Tourist will return. And instead of the sun-soaked vistas of the Outback, Jamie Dornan will be running across the rural landscapes of Ireland for series two.

Still befuddled by his own identity, Elliott Stanley (Dornan) continues his pursuit of filling the gaps in his memory. He’s joined again by Aussie police officer Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald), and their search for the truth drags them into a local family feud – filled with shocks and laughs.

Photo: BBC

Harlan Coben's Fool Me Once, Netflix

Netflix and crime author Harlan Coben have enjoyed a profitable marriage, and they show no signs of slowing down. If you need a silly, bingeable mystery drama, any of their collaborations will satiate that urge. Fool Me Once, based on Coben’s 2016 novel, is the latest effort – kicking off 2024 with a story of truth, murder and nanny-cams.

Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) is still recovering from the murder of her husband, Joe (Richard Armitage), while also raising a baby daughter. She has a camera installed to keep an eye on the latter. But when Maya looks over the footage, she’s shocked to see her supposedly dead husband walking around the house. Also stars Adeel Akhtar and Joanna Lumley.

Photo: Netflix

True Detective: Night Country, Sky Atlantic / NOW

Cold air, biting breezes, and heaps of snow are perfect backdrops for blood, fear and inhumanity. The Terror investigates phantoms in the Arctic and Dexter: New Blood tracks a serial killer hiding in an icy community in upstate New York. After a five-year hiatus, True Detective looks to follow those frozen footsteps into an Alaskan setting for a new, strange and scary case.

Jodie Foster stars as detective Liz Danvers, alongside Kali Reis as her Native partner Evangeline Navarro. They investigate a local mystery where eight members of the Tsalal Arctic Research Station have disappeared. This takes place over a very long night between 17 December and the New Year, when dawn doesn't break in that part of the world. The rational rubs against the spiritual, on top of other frictions like historic racism, mental health issues, and climate change. Also stars Fiona Shaw and Christopher Eccleston.

Photo: Sky / HBO

Expats, Prime Video

The Farewell put filmmaker Lulu Wang at the forefront of a new narrative wave that detailed the first- and second-generation immigrant experience – joining the esteemed company of Minari, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Pachinko. In her new series Expats, Wang extends her ambitions to the fascinating and politically contentious city of Hong Kong around the time of the 2014 Umbrella Revolution.

The six-part drama follows three expatriates within the city: the white American Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Korean-American woman Mercy (Yoo Ji-young), and the Indian-American Hilary (Sarayu Blue). Margaret’s son goes missing, and Mercy blames herself. Meanwhile, Hilary – Margaret’s neighbour – struggles in her marriage after being unable to conceive a child.

Photo: Amazon

Masters of the Air, AppleTV+

After collaborating on Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks teamed up again for the eternally lauded 2001 war drama Band of Brothers – starring many future screen legends like Damian Lewis, Stephen Graham, and Michael Fassbender. You sense a similar vibe to Hanks and Spielberg’s latest exec-produced WWII series Masters of the Air, which features the likes of Austin Butler (Elvis), Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) and the new Doctor himself Ncuti Gatwa.

Penned by Band of Brothers writer John Orloff, this series focuses on the real-life 100^th Bomb Group of the Eighth Air Force: responsible for bombing raids over Nazi Germany. They were key to dismantling the Third Reich, but not without physical and psychological tolls.

Photo: Apple

Mr & Mrs Smith, Prime Video

Remember the Mr & Mrs Smith movie, starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as assassins who worked for competing agencies? No surprise if you don’t – it was nearly 20 years ago with no sequels to speak of. But clearly, Amazon see promise in the concept: given their new series remake with Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. Glover also writes and creates the series with his Atlanta scribe Francesca Sloane.

Although the project is promising, it’s hard to ignore the exit of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. She was initially attached to co-create and star alongside Glover, but left due to creative differences (‘some marriages don’t work out'). Regardless, Glover is a unique televisual talent, so we should have faith. Differently from the 2005 film, the series follows two spies assigned to marry for an undercover operation. But as they complete their missions, they also develop real feelings for each other.

Photo: Amazon

The New Look, Apple TV+

Christian Dior changed fashion in 1947 with his ‘New Look’, a collection that celebrated ‘ultra-femininity’ – in direct rebellion against the styles of the 20s and 30s. As a result, he’s one of the most important creative figures of the 20^th century.

No surprise, then, that Apple TV+ commissioned a 10-part series about the fashion designer’s life – penned by The Sopranos writer Todd A Kessler. Specifically, The New Look covers his rivalry with Coco Chanel (played by Juliette Binoche) in the years after the Nazi Occupation of Paris. Ben Mendelsohn plays Christian Dior, alongside Maisie Williams as Christian’s sister Catherine, John Malkovich as Lucien Lelong, Emily Mortimer as Elsa Lombardi and Claes Bang as Hans von Dincklage.

Photo: Apple

Fallout, Prime Video

After The Last of Us became a commercial and critical success, video-game adaptations ascended to a new level of respect. It was a revelation: they can be good. For years, Bethesda game director Todd Howard had resisted pitches for a screen version of his post-apocalyptic RPG Fallout… until now. Maybe the culture's changing.

It puts a lot of faith and pressure on showrunners Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, who previously created the sci-fi hit Westworld. Imagining a retro-futurist vision of the USA flattened by a nuclear holocaust, the Fallout games put the player into specially built ‘vaults’ for humans to live safely. Likewise, Lucy (Ella Purnell) – the main character of the series – escapes her vault to explore the dangerous wasteland, spilling over with oversized cockroaches and violent factions. Also stars Walton Goggins and Kyle MacLachlan.

Photo: Amazon

Renegade Nell, Disney+

After concluding the raw and brutal cop drama Happy Valley, it’s understandable that writer/creator Sally Wainwright would want to tackle something light. Renegade Nell, in sharp contrast, plunges into a fantastical 18th-century England bursting with magic. And good news for fans of Derry Girls: the titular character is played by Louisa Harland (aka Orla).

A witty and courageous woman, Nell is framed for murder and becomes the most notorious highwaywoman in the country. But when Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed appears to her as the spirit Billy Blind, Nell realises she has a much bigger part to play in the world. Also stars Adrian Lester (Trigger Point).

Photo: Disney

House of the Dragon, season 2, Sky Atlantic / NOW

Although House of the Dragon pales in comparison to Game of Thrones (especially at the latter’s height), the ambition in this vicious prequel should be admired. Season one was obsessed with many time-hops, eradicating the potential continuance of actor Milly Alcock as the young Rhaenyra Targaryen. But Emma D’Arcy as the older Rhaenyra and Olivia Cooke as her former friend/step-mother Alicent simmer with a rivalrous chemistry that’s sure to continue in season two.

Plot details are scarce, but Rhaenyra and Alicent are now each other’s villains after the latter’s son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) becomes king and the former starts a civil war alongside her uncle/husband Daemon (Matt Smith).

Read our review of season one.

Photo: Sky

The Regime, Sky Atlantic / NOW

Pitch-black satires of the rich and powerful are in vogue, especially after the denouement of Succession this year. A collection of writers from Jesse Armstrong’s series even remade Dead Ringers. Another Succession alumnus, Will Tracy, branched out to co-write culinary horror The Menu. But Tracy’s biggest year is yet to come with The Regime, a new political satire about an authoritarian country in Europe ruled by Kate Winslet.

Few plot details have emerged, only that the series tells the story of one year behind the walls of this regime as it begins to unravel. The trailer sees Winslet as this ruler: staring daggers into the eyes of other leaders, taking ice baths, and snapping selfies with cocktails. Hugh Grant also stars, and Stephen Frears (Quiz) directs.

Photo: Sky

Bridgerton, season 3, Netflix

Okay, this hasn't yet been confirmed yet, but haven't we waited long enough for Bridgerton season three? It has to come in 2024 or Netflix subscribers will riot. Whereas seasons one and two adapted the first two volumes in Julia Quinn’s novel series – The Duke & I and The Viscount Who Loved Me – season three bypasses the third book (An Offer from a Gentleman) and moves straight to the fourth (Romancing Mr Bridgerton). But it’s for a good reason: Romancing Mr Bridgerton focuses on Penelope Featherington and her long-unrequited love, Colin Bridgerton.

In season three, Penelope (Nicola Coughlan) abandons her crush on Colin (Luke Newton) after overhearing his hurtful comments at the end of season two. She decides, instead, to focus her energy on bagging a husband. The man in question must provide Pen with enough independence to continue her double life as the elusive and epistolary Lady Whistledown, writing secretly about the ton. But when she tries to court potential lovers, her lack of self-confidence scuppers her chances.

Photo: Netflix