DramaQuarterly: Series to Watch: 2025
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
From: UK
Original broadcaster: ITV, BritBox International
Producer: Silverprint
Distributor: ITV Studios
Starring: Lucy Boynton, Toby Jones, Laurie Davidson, Mark Stanley, Joe Armstrong, Arthur Darvill, Juliet Stevenson, Toby Stephens and Nigel Havers
Launch date: Early 2025
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story stars Boynton as the titular nightclub manageress and convicted murderer who was the last woman to be hanged in the UK. Jones plays her solicitor, John Bickford, who gradually realises the extent of Ruth’s abuse at the hands of David Blakely and who takes on the fight to make the case for provocation. Meanwhile, Davidson is Ruth’s abusive lover and victim Blakely, and Stanley plays Desmond Cussen, Ruth’s devoted admirer and sometime lover who is a regular at the Little Club and becomes caught up in Ruth’s toxic love triangle alongside Blakely.
A Thousand Blows
From: UK
Original broadcasters: Disney+, Hulu (US)
Producers: Matriarch Productions, The Story Collective and Water & Power Productions
Starring: Malachi Kirby, Erin Doherty, Stephen Graham, Francis Lovehall, Jason Tobin, James Nelson-Joyce, Hannah Walters, Darci Shaw, NadiaAlbina, Morgan Hilaire, Jemma Carlton, Caoilfhionn Dunne, Susan Lynch, Daniel Mays, Adam Nagaitis, Gary Lewis, Tom Davis and Robert Glenister
Launch date: 2025
From creator Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) comes this series set in the perilous world of illegal boxing in 1880s Victorian London. Kirby plays Hezekiah Moscow, who arrives from Jamaica and finds himself thrust into the vibrant and violent melting pot of post-industrial revolution London’s East End. Drawn into the criminal underbelly of the thriving boxing scene, he meets Mary Carr (Doherty), leader of The Forty Elephants – the notorious all-female London gang – as they battle for survival on the streets. As Hezekiah sharpens his new skills, he comes up against Sugar Goodson (Graham), a seasoned and dangerous boxer, and the two are soon locked into an intense rivalry that spills out way beyond the ring.
Adolescence
From: UK
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producers: Warp Films, Matriarch Productions and Plan B
Starring: Stephen Graham, Ashley Walters, Erin Doherty, Owen Cooper, Faye Marsay, Christine Tremarco, Mark Stanley, Jo Hartley and Amélie Pease
Launch date: 2025
Created and written by Graham and Jack Thorne (His Dark Materials), with each episode filmed in one continuous shot by director Philip Barantini (Boiling Point), Adolescence tells the story of how a family’s world is turned upside down when 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Cooper) is arrested for the murder of a teenage girl who goes to his school. Graham will play Jamie’s father and ‘appropriate adult’ Eddie Miller, Walters stars as Detective Inspector Luke Bascombe, and Doherty is Briony Ariston, the clinical psychologist assigned to Jamie’s case.
Alien: Earth
From: US
Original broadcasters: FX on Hulu (US), Disney+
Producer: FX Productions
Starring: Sydney Chandler, Alex Lawther, Timothy Olyphant, Essie Davis, Samuel Blenkin, Babou Ceesay, David Rysdahl, Adrian Edmondson, Adarsh Gourav, Jonathan Ajayi, Erana James, Lily Newmark, Diem Camille and Moe Bar-El
Launch date: 2025
A spin-off from the Alien film franchise. When a mysterious space vessel crash-lands on Earth, a young woman and a ragtag group of tactical soldiers make a fateful discovery that puts them face-to-face with the planet’s greatest threat. As members of the crash recovery crew search for survivors among the wreckage, they encounter predatory life forms more terrifying than they could have ever imagined. With this new threat unlocked, the search crew must fight for survival – and what they choose to do with this discovery could change planet Earth as they know it. The series comes from Fargo creator Noah Hawley, with Alien director Ridley Scott as executive producer.
An t-Eilean (The Island)
From: UK
Original broadcasters: BBC Alba, BBC iPlayer and BBC Four
Producer: Black Camel Pictures
Distributor: All3Media International
Starring: Sorcha Groundsell, Sagar Radia, Iain Macrae, Elspeth Turner, Sinéad MacInnes, Andrew Macinnes, Meredith Brook, Sam James Smith, Daibhidh Walker, Sharyn Ferguson, Carina MacLeod, Tormod Macleòid, MJ Deans, Iain ‘Spanish’ Mackay and Julia Taudevin
Launch date: Early 2025
The Island is the first high-end Gaelic-language drama. Filmed against the backdrop of the Western Isles of Scotland, it sees young family liaison officer Kat Crichton (Groundsell) assigned to investigate the brutal murder of a local tycoon’s wife at a remote island mansion. The murder investigation unravels on the island of Lewis and Harris, from where Kat mysteriously fled 10 years previously.
Berlin ER
From: Germany
Original broadcasters: ZDFneo (Germany), Apple TV+
Producer: Violet Pictures and Real Film Berlin
Distributor: Beta Film
Starring: Haley Louise Jones, Slavko Popadić, Şafak Şengül, Aram Tafreshian, Samirah Breuer, Bernhard Schütz, Peter Lohmeyer and Benjamin Radjaipour
Launch date: February 26 (Apple TV+)
Managing a chaotic emergency room in the toughest and most overcrowded hospital in Berlin is no small task for the young Dr Parker (Jones), who is seeking a fresh start in the big city following the implosion of her private life in Munich. When she tries to implement necessary reforms, Parker is confronted with resistance from the underpaid, ill-equipped and chronically fatigued hospital staff who only survive with an indispensable dose of black humour. But in the face of an increasingly merciless healthcare system, the battered team must put aside their differences and pull together to save lives.
Blind Spot
From: Sweden
Original broadcaster: Prime Video Nordics
Producer: Nordic Drama Queens
Distributor: Fifth Season
Starring: Ida Engvoll and Pål Sverre Hagen
Launch date: 2025
In this show based on Anne Holt’s novel 1222, detective Hanne Wilhelmson (Engvoll) steps up to solve the mysterious deaths among a group of strangers stranded together after their train from Stockholm to Narvik is suddenly halted by an avalanche. Despite the fact she is temporarily suspended from the police, Hanne begins to uncover what may have happened with the help of Magnus (Hagen), a doctor whose main goal is protecting his teenage daughter and her friends.
Generationer (Generations)
From: Denmark
Original broadcaster: DR
Producer: DR Drama
Distributor: DR Sales
Starring: Ulla Henningsen, Anette Støvelbæk and Alice Bier
Launch date: Spring 2025
Generations is described as a captivating drama series that intertwines crime and mystery, unfolding the complex tale of a family across multiple generations. It is told through the lens of a crime plot infused with subtle mysterious elements, exploring themes of guilt, shame and transformation. The story begins with the discovery of a mummified infant’s body during the renovation of a Frederiksberg apartment building. Martha, an 87-year-old resident, unexpectedly confesses to the crime, triggering a journey into family secrets long buried.
I, Jack Wright
From: UK
Original broadcaster: U&Alibi
Additional broadcasters: BritBox International, RTBF (Belgium), SVT (Sweden), RUV (Iceland), NRK (Norway), DR (Denmark) and YLE (Finland)
Producer: Federation Stories
Distributor: Federation Studios
Starring: Nikki Amuka-Bird, John Simm, Gemma Jones, Harry Lloyd, Trevor Eve and Daniel Rigby
Launch date: 2025
Described as Succession meets Knives Out, and from the writer behind Unforgotten, this murder and mystery family drama follows the implosion of a wealthy British family in the wake of their patriarch’s shocking suicide. But did he really take his own life?
IT: Welcome to Derry
From: US
Original broadcasters: HBO, Max
Producer: Warner Bros Television
Starring: Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, James Remar, Stephen Rider, Madeleine Stowe, Rudy Mancuso and Bill Skarsgård
Launch date: 2025
Set in Stephen King’s IT universe, IT: Welcome to Derry is based on King’s IT novel about a small town terrorised by a supernatural evil clown and expands the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the feature films IT and IT Chapter Two.
King & Conqueror
From: UK, US, Iceland
Original broadcaster: BBC
Producer: The Development Partnership, Rabbit Track Pictures, Shepherd Content, RVK Studios and CBS Studios, in association with the BBC
Distributor: Paramount Global Content Distribution
Starring: James Norton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emily Beecham, Clémence Poésey, Eddie Marsan, Jean-Marc Barr, Luther Ford, Geoff Bell, Elliott Cowan, Bo Bragason, Bjarne Henriksen, Oliver Masucci, Clare Holman, Elander Moore, Indy Lewis, Jason Forbes, Ingvar Sigurdsson, Ines Asserson, Sveinn Ólafur Gunnarsson and Léo Legrand
Launch date: 2025
King & Conqueror is the story of a clash that defined the future of a country – and a continent – for a thousand years, the roots of which stretch back decades and extend out through a pair of interconnected family dynasties, struggling for power across two countries and a raging sea. Harold of Wessex and William of Normandy were two men destined to meet at the Battle of Hastings in 1066; two allies with no design on the British throne, who found themselves forced by circumstance and personal obsession into a war for possession of its crown.
La Vida Breve (The Shortest Reign)
From: Spain
Original broadcaster: Movistar+
Producer: Zeta Studios
Distributor: Movistar+
Starring: Javier Gutiérrez, Leonor Watling, Carlos Scholz and Alicia Armenteros
Launch date: February
Like any young man, Luis is about to experience major changes. He is being married off to an unknown cousin and is about to inherit the throne of Spain. In the midst of the 18th century, this would be a joyful episode in the life of any prince – but things won’t be easy for Luis. With a rebellious wife, Luisa of Orléans (Armenteros), a deranged father, Philip V (Gutiérrez), and a scheming stepmother, Isabel de Farnesio (Watling), Luis I (Scholz) must begin his reign. Fortunately for him, the problems will come to an end soon.
Out There
From: UK
Original broadcaster: ITV
Producer: Buffalo Pictures
Distributor: All3Media International
Starring: Martin Clunes, Mark Lewis Jones, Natalia Kostrzewa, Carly-Sophia Davies and Gerran Howell
Launch date: January 2025
Out There stars Clunes as a farmer confronted with dark forces seeping into his rural community as his livelihood, homestead and family life are threatened by local county lines drugs dealers, who are essentially urban gangs using the British countryside as a field of operations and moving drugs and money between their inner-city hubs and provincial areas.
Outrageous
From: UK
Original broadcasters: U&Drama (UK), BritBox International (North America)
Producer: Firebird Pictures
Distributor: BBC Studios
Starring: Bessie Carter, Joanna Vanderham, Anna Chancellor and James Purefoy
Launch date: 2025
The story of the six aristocratic Mitford sisters who refused to play by the rules, their often-scandalous lives making headlines around the world. Set against the gathering storm clouds of the 1930s, masked by the decadence, frivolity and lavishness of British high society, Outrageous will bring the full, uncensored story of the Mitford sisters to the screen for the first time – a story of family bonds and betrayals, public scandal, political extremism, love, heartache and even imprisonment. The show explores how and why these women, unwilling to conform, were so ahead of their time – and what drove them to take their very different, complex and often dangerous paths. .
Protection
From: UK
Original broadcaster: ITV
Producer: New Pictures
Distributor: All3Media International
Starring: Siobhan Finneran, Nadine Marshall and Katherine Kelly
Launch date: Early 2025
Based on the first-hand experiences of a long-serving witness protection officer, Protection is about what happens when the system breaks down. It centres on Detective Inspector Liz Nyles (Finneran), who finds herself at the heart of such a breach; personally compromised by an affair with a colleague, but determined to fight back and uncover the true source of corruption within her unit; to redeem herself and the reputation of her lover and to keep her witnesses safe – even if they don’t always deserve it.
Su Majestad
From: Spain
Original broadcaster: Prime Video
Producers: The Mediapro Studio, Sayaka Producciones
Starring: Anna Castillo, Ernesto Alterio, Pablo Derqui, Ramón Barea, Ana María Vidal, Lucía Díez, Pablo Vázquez and Freddie Dennis
Launch date: 2025
Spain, 2024. Pilar (Castillo) is a young princess and future Queen of Spain who, suddenly and hastily, is forced to lead the monarchy after a scandal involving her father King Alfonso XIV takes him out of the public eye for a few months. Pilar must prove to the country that she is not the irresponsible, insolent, lazy and useless woman that everyone believes her to be. But the thing is, they might be right.
The Death of Bunny Munro
From: UK
Original broadcaster: Sky
Producers: Clerkenwell Films in association with Sky Studios
Distributor: NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution
Starring: Matt Smith, Rafael Mathé, Sarah Greene, Johann Myers, Robert Glenister, Alice Feetham, David Threlfall, Lindsay Duncan and Elizabeth Berrington
Launch date: 2025
Nick Cave’s novel comes to television, telling the story of sex-addicted door-to-door beauty product salesman and self-professed lothario Bunny Munro who, following his wife Libby’s suicide, finds himself saddled with a young son and only a loose concept of parenting. Together with nine-year-old Bunny Junior, he embarks on an epic and increasingly out-of-control road trip across Southern England as the two struggle to contain their grief in very different ways.
The Walsh Sisters
From: Ireland
Original broadcaster: RTÉ
Additional broadcaster: BBC
Producers: Cuba Pictures, Metropolitan Films International
Distributor: Cineflix Rights
Starring: TBC
Launch date: 2025
The Walsh Sisters revolves around characters from five of the novels by Marian Keyes (pictured), one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time, including Rachel’s Holiday and Anybody Out There. Set in their Dublin hometown, it follows the lives of Anna, Rachel, Maggie, Claire and Helen as they navigate the peaks and troughs of their late 20s and 30s. This is a sisterhood full of in-jokes, hand-me-down resentments and more than a few old wounds. But their DNA, history and shared love of power ballads keep the Walsh sisters together in the face of heartbreak, grief, addiction and parenthood. It is due to shoot in early 2025 and air later in the year, first on RTÉ and then on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Your Friends & Neighbors
From: US
Original broadcaster: Apple TV+
Producers: Apple Studios and Tropper Ink
Starring: Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet, Olivia Munn, Hoon Lee, Mark Tallman, Lena Hall, Aimee Carrero, Eunice Bae, Isabel Marie Gravitt and Donovan Colan
Launch date: April 11
Handed a season two renewal before its debut, this series introduces Andrew ‘Coop’ Cooper (Hamm), a hedge fund manager still grappling with his recent divorce. After being fired in disgrace, Coop resorts to stealing from the homes of his neighbours in the exceedingly affluent Westmont Village, only to discover that the secrets and affairs hidden behind those wealthy facades might be more dangerous than he ever imagined.
Zero Day
From: US
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producers: Grand Electric, Panoramic Media
Starring: Robert De Niro, Angela Bassett, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, Joan Allen, Connie Britton, Matthew Modine, Dan Stevens, Bill Camp, Gaby Hoffmann and Clark Gregg
Launch date: February 20
Zero Day (also pictured top) stars De Niro as respected former US president George Mullen who, as head of the Zero Day Commission, is charged with finding the perpetrators of a devastating cyber-attack that has caused chaos around the country and thousands of fatalities. As disinformation runs rampant and the personal ambitions of power brokers in technology, Wall Street and government collide, Mullen’s unwavering search for the truth forces him to confront his own dark secrets while risking all he holds dear.