By Patrick Cremona

Published: Thursday, 06 January 2022 at 12:00 am

---

The last couple of years have been pretty shoddy on most fronts, but one of the few areas in which they haven’t disappointed is providing us with lots of top-quality television.

A huge variety of superb shows have debuted in recent times – from Russell T Davies’ acclaimed drama It’s A Sin to Netflix’s breakout Korean sensation Squid Game – and 2022 already looks like it’s going to be another bumper year.

From returning favourties and brand-new drama series to highly-anticipated fantasy shows and the latest small-screen offerings from the MCU, these are our picks for some of the best shows to look forward to in the coming 12 months.

Peaky Blinders season 6

Tommy Shelby and co return for what is set to be the final season of Steven Knight’s hit Birmingham gangster drama – before a theatrically released film closes out the saga for good. Cillian Murphy’s character is set to go up against Sam Claflin’s Oswald Mosley once again, while we can also expect the return of Tom Hardy’s Alfie Solomons, with Knight promising that Peaky Blinders will go out with “a bang”.

Coming soon to BBC One

Sanditon season 2

Three years after the first season of this beloved Jane Austen adaptation aired – and following a large fan-led campaign to save it from cancellation – Sanditon will return for a second season this year, although without Theo James, who played the main love interest Sidney Parker in season one. The season will follow Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) as she returns to the titular seaside town of Sanditon and quickly becomes embroiled in another romantic entanglement.

Coming to BritBox in March 2022

Conversations with Friends

The first Sally Rooney adaptation to air on the BBC, Normal People, became one of the biggest TV hits of 2020, and so expectations are sky high for this TV version of the Irish novelist’s debut Conversations with Friends. The cast includes debutant Alison Oliver as 21-year-old college student Frances and American Honey’s Sasha Lane as her best friend Bobbi – as their friendship sours when Frances becomes romantically involved with an older married man.

Coming soon to BBC Three

The Gilded Age

The latest lavish period drama from Downton Abbey scribe Julian Fellowes, The Gilded Age focuses on the boom years of the 1880s in New York City and the conflicts between two wealthy families, in a tale of old versus new money. The all-star cast for the nine-part drama includes Carrie Coon, Taissa Farmiga, Cynthia Nixon, and Christine Baranski – so this certainly seems like a must-watch.

Coming to Sky Atlantic and NOW on 25th January 2022

Happy Valley season 3

Few announcements in the world of TV in 2021 were greeted with as much excitement as the news that Sally Wainwright’s superb drama series Happy Valley would finally be returning for a third run – more than five years after the second season. According to a synopsis, the season will follow a murder mystery that leads Sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) back to her old adversary, Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) while there are new developments in her relationship with her grandson Ryan – who is now 16-years-old.

Release date TBC

Pam & Tommy

Lily James looks unrecognisable in promotional stills for this new eight-part drama, which sees her star as Pamela Anderson during the peak of the Baywatch star’s ’90s fame. Pam & Tommy follows the scandals and leaked sex tape that came to dominate her relationship with Motley Crew drummer Tommy Lee, played here by the MCU’s Sebastian Stan.

Coming to Disney Plus UK on 2nd February 2022

Derry Girls season 3

Lisa McGee’s hugely popular sitcom Derry Girls returns for its third and final season – with star Nicola Coughlan previously teasing that the new run is “a lot more of an epic scale this time.” The series will once again follow 16-year-old Erin and her eccentric friends and family in 1990s Northern Ireland during The Troubles, as they get up to all sorts of escapades and misadventures.

Coming to Channel 4 later in 2022

The Crown season 5

At one point in time, season five was set to be the final season of The Crown – but that’s no longer the case, with the hit royal drama having been renewed for a sixth run. Still, this will mark the beginning of the end as the cast completely changes for the third time in the show’s run – with Imelda Staunton taking over from Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II – focusing on the events that transpired during the early ’90s.

Coming to Netflix in November 2022

This Is Going to Hurt

Based on former junior doctor Adam Kay’s bestselling memoir of the same name, This Is Going to Hurt stars Ben Whishaw as a version of Adam as he deals with the highs, lows and gruelling 97-hour weeks that come with being a junior doctor. Harriet Walter and Alex Jennings are among the supporting cast, while the series also shows the effect that the tough job has on Adam’s home life.

Coming to BBC One in early 2022

Inside Man

A new Steven Moffat series would be exciting regardless of the cast, but the fact that the former Doctor Who showrunner is teaming up with David Tennant for his new show is particular cause for celebrations. The series – which also stars Lydia West, Stanley Tucci, and Dolly Wells – apparently follows a prisoner on death row in the US, a Vicar in a quiet English town, and a maths teacher trapped in a cellar, as they cross paths in the most unexpected way. Sounds intriguing…

Coming to BBC One later in 2022

Litvinenko

As ever, 2022 looks to be a busy year for David Tennant, and as well as starring in season 2 of Good Omens and the aforementioned Inside Man, he takes on the role of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in this ITV true-crime drama from Lupin‘s George Kay. Litvinenko will follow Scotland Yard Officers as they spend 10 years trying to prove who was responsible for the title character’s death.

Coming to ITV later in 2022

I Hate Suzie season 2

Secret Diary of a Call Girl writer Lucy Prebble reteamed with Billie Piper for one of the best new shows of 2020 – and now I Hate Suzie is returning for a second run. The season will pick up following events of the first run – which saw married actress Suzie Pickles deal with unwanted media attention after her phone is hacked and a compromising image is leaked online.

Coming to Sky and NOW in late 2022

The Devil’s Hour

Doctor Who alumni Peter Capaldi and Steven Moffat will reunite for The Devil’s Hour, an intriguing new series for Amazon on which the latter serves as an executive producer. Described as a “mind-bending thriller”, the six-part series follows a woman called Lucy, played by Jessica Raine, who wakes up with terrifying visions every night at exactly 3:33am – in the middle of the so-called Devil’s Hour.

Coming to Amazon Prime Video later in 2022

House of the Dragon

Three years after Game of Thrones ended in now notoriously divisive fashion, we’re heading back to Westeros for this new series, the first of many mooted spin-offs based on George RR Martin’s world. House of the Dragon tells the story of the Targaryen civil war which took place 300 years before the original series – with the impressive cast including Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, and Emma D’Arcy.

Coming to Sky Atlantic later in 2022

Lord of the Rings

It’s been a long time coming, but the highly-anticipated – and stunningly expensive – TV series of Lord of the Rings is finally arriving on Amazon this year. The series will not be telling the same story as the iconic Peter Jackson films from the early ’00s, but rather will delve into an earlier period in JRR Tolkien’s monumentally large universe – with the cast including the likes of Morfydd Clark, Robert Aramayo and Joseph Mawle.

Coming to Amazon Prime Video on Friday 2nd September 2022

His Dark Materials season 3

The first two seasons of the BBC’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s beloved His Dark Materials trilogy have more than lived up to the terrific source material, and so hopes are high that this final season will prove just as successful. Based on The Amber Spyglass, the final novel in the trilogy, the season sees Lyra and Will’s journey go to magical and unpredictable places as they aim to finally work out the secrets of Dust.

Coming to BBC One later in 2022

Gangs of London season 2

Gareth Evans’ gangster series Gangs of London was a huge hit when it arrived on Sky in 2020, and now two years later it’s back for a second run. The original season left on a major cliffhanger, with the fate of lead character Sean (Joe Cole) left unclear, so it will be very intriguing to see if he makes it into the second run alive.

Coming to Sky later in 2022

Bridgerton season 2

Few shows that have debuted in the past couple of years have made as much of a splash as Bridgerton, the romantic period drama romp based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling novels. This time around, the drama will focus on the romance between Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) and his potential bride Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) – with breakout star Regé-Jean Page absent from the cast list.

Coming to Netflix on Friday 25th March 2022

Trigger Point

When you see Jed Mercurio’s name attached to a crime drama, that’s normally a sign that it’s going to be worth watching – and the Line of Duty creator is producing this new ITV series, starring Vicky McClure as an ex-military bomb disposal operative. Trigger Point also stars Adrian Lester and has been described as “nail-biting” – promising to give viewers a real insight into counter-terrorism policing.

Coming to ITV in January 2022

Obi-Wan Kenobi

There have been a few Star Wars series released on Disney Plus in recent years, but none have been quite as exciting as this one – which sees Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor reprise their roles from the prequel films after almost two decades. Obi-Wan Kenobi will follow the title character and Anakin Skywalker 10 years after the events of 2005’s Revenge of the Sith, with producer Kathleen Kennedy promising “the rematch of the century”.

Coming to Disney Plus later in 2022

She-Hulk

2021 gave us four brand new live-action MCU series on Disney Plus, and they just keep on coming this year – with another four new shows set to arrive throughout 2022. The pick of the bunch so far seems to be She-Hulk, which finds Orphan Black favourite Tatiana Maslany starring as Jennifer Walters, whose ordinary life as an accomplished lawyer is turned upside down when she gets an emergency blood transfusion from Bruce Banner.

Coming to Disney Plus later in 2022

The Last of Us

Video game adaptations for both the small screen and the big screen haven’t always had the best reviews, but this new series looks set to be an exception. Boasting an impressive cast including Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey and some great talent behind the camera such as Chernobyl writer Craig Mazin and acclaimed Russian director Kantemir Balagov, everything seems aligned for this adaptation of the post-apocalyptic zombie game to be a mega-hit.

Coming later in 2022

Other shows returning for their latest seasons include Good Omens, The Last Kingdom, McMafia, The Capture, World on Fire, Industry, Euphoria, Killing Eve and Sex Education. 

Meanwhile, other brand new shows include Di Ray, Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities, Without Sin, Inventing Anna, The Dropout, Marriage, The Responder, Life After Life, The Midnight Club, and Rules of the Game.

Looking for something to watch tonight? Check out our TV Guide. 

---