{"id":257907,"date":"2026-01-22T12:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/257907\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T12:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T12:18:10","slug":"patrick-freynes-top-14-shows-to-look-out-for-in-2026-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/257907\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Freyne\u2019s top 14 shows to look out for in 2026 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beef <\/p>\n

I watched the first series<\/a> of this thinking it would be about the delicious foodstuff namechecked by the title. It was, in fact, an enjoyably dark and deranged comedy about two characters, played by Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who, after a road-rage incident, spiral into an obsessive feud, aka what elderly millennials call \u201ca beef\u201d. The next series stars a whole new cast, fronted by Carey Mulligan<\/a> and Oscar Isaac<\/a>. Succulent bovine meats have not been ruled out. Netflix, from Thursday, April 16th<\/p>\n

The Boys from Brazil<\/p>\n

Tired of royals, the creator of The Crown<\/a>, Peter Morgan, pivots to Nazis in this adaptation of Ira Levin\u2019s bestselling 1970s novel about a Nazi plan to clone Hitler. Ooh, those Nazis are always up to something! Beaten to the punch somewhat by the Trump administration (just stick a black square on Stephen Miller\u2019s upper lip to see what I mean), this adaptation will surely be considered dangerous hate speech against Nazis by the new wave of Nazis by the time it comes out, later this year. Netflix <\/p>\n

The Pitt\"TheThe Pitt: Noah Wyle as Dr Michael Robinavitch. Photograph: HBO <\/p>\n

A medical drama starring Noah Wyle, famous for playing a dreamy clinician (Dr Sextopholous P Sexdoctor or Prof Erotico Hunkstable or something) in another long-running medical drama (Ooh Err, I think it was called). The Pitt<\/a> has been lauded for its realism but has not been available on this side of the roiling sea just yet, possibly because of tariffs. The first and second series will apparently be on over here later in 2026, depending, I guess, on what happens in Greenland. Sky Atlantic<\/p>\n

Rivals<\/p>\n

Riding. Posh people. Bums. Class satire. Bums. 1980s costumery. Mickeys. Genteel Thatcherism. Ireland\u2019s own Victoria Smurfit. Bums. Ireland\u2019s own Aidan Turner. Danny Dyer\u2019s bum. More riding. Originally from the pen of the late great Jilly Cooper, this adaptation is filth<\/a>. Pure filth. It\u2019s back later this year. I\u2019ll keep you posted so you can, um, avoid it. Disney+<\/p>\n

Wonder Man\"WonderWonder Man: Ben Kingsley as Trevor Slattery and Yahya Adbul-Mateen II as Simon Williams\/Wonder Man. Photograph: Suzanne Tenner\/Marvel\/Disney+ <\/p>\n

Marvel: \u201cFinally, someone is making a TV series about the beloved superhero Wonder Man.\u201d<\/p>\n

You: \u201cWho?\u201d<\/p>\n

Marvel: \u201cWonder Man! You know, Wonder Man. We all love Wonder Man. I talk about him all the time. With the thing and the stuff and the yokes?\u201d<\/p>\n

You: \u201cI\u2019ve never heard of him. And I\u2019ve never heard you talk about him.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marvel: \u201cI talk about him all the time!\u201d [Whispering] \u201cLook, I\u2019m going to be straight with you: I have no idea who Wonder Man is either.\u201d<\/p>\n

You: \u201cRight. And yet you\u2019re making it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marvel: \u201cLate capitalism, baby!\u201d [high-fives a passing executive].<\/p>\n

You: \u201cI thought late capitalism indicated systemic overextension, decadence and collapse?\u201d<\/p>\n

Marvel: \u201cNo, silly. \u2018Late capitalism, baby!\u2019 is Wonder Man\u2019s catchphrase!\u201d <\/p>\n

Disney+, from Wednesday, January 28th<\/p>\n

Euphoria<\/p>\n

With the name-poor superstar Zendaya<\/a>, the alliterative culture-war icon Sydney Sweeney<\/a>, the lanky exclamatory scamp Jacob \u201cOh Lordy\u201d Elordi<\/a> and, probably, Dame Judi Dench<\/a>, all playing teenagers, Euphoria<\/a> was beginning to stretch credibility. It\u2019s probably good that this third series jumps a few years. Euphoria exists in the same slightly hallucinatory, fantastical teenage netherworld that the UK show Skins existed in. Often beautifully scripted, filmed and acted, it was also disturbingly voyeuristic in how it treated its young stars. So I\u2019m not sure what to expect now that the characters are older and the stars are superstars. Sky Atlantic, from Monday, April 13th<\/p>\n

Pride and Prejudice\"PridePride and Prejudice: Emma Corrin, Freya Mavor, Oliva Colman, Hopey Parish and Hollie Avery. Photograph: Ludovic Robert\/Netflix <\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a streamer in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a good prestige drama.\u201d And so it is that Netflix hires the novelist Dolly Alderton and the Heartstopper director Euros Lyn to adapt Jane Austen. I mean, why not? You think Euphoria is edgy, with its explicit sex and drug taking? Pshaw. \u2019Tis but a story for babies. How about a show in which a mother pimps out her kids to wealthy neighbours so that the family doesn\u2019t starve? That\u2019s drama. (They should really do a Mrs Bennett spin-off about the anti-heroic legend she actually is.) Netflix<\/p>\n

How to Get to Heaven from Belfast\"HowHow to Get to Heaven from Belfast: Sin\u00e9ad Keenan, Caoilfhionn Dunne and R\u00f3is\u00edn Gallagher. Photograph: Christopher Barr\/Netflix <\/p>\n

The excellent Lisa McGee helms a post-Derry Girls<\/a> mystery romp about a group of young women investigating a murder. Its excellent cast includes R\u00f3is\u00edn Gallagher, Sin\u00e9ad Keenan and Caoilfhionn Dunne. Rather controversially, her heroes are from Belfast this time, not Derry. This is potentially the most divisive thing to happen to the Six Counties since Brexit. Netflix, from Thursday, February 12th<\/p>\n

The Dry<\/p>\n

They should have shown the new series<\/a> of Nancy Harris\u2019s very entertaining funny\/sad show, featuring R\u00f3is\u00edn Gallagher<\/a>, in January, in order to make a promotional meal of Dry January. Sadly, nobody listens to me, because I\u2019m too handsome. RT\u00c9 One\/ITVX<\/p>\n

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Sunnydale<\/p>\n

The original Buffy series was a television revolution, blending comedy, genre horror and teen drama while innovating with silent and musical episodes. It\u2019s hard to tell what this sequel will look like, given that the original showrunner, Joss Whedon, won\u2019t be involved (he has been cancelled for allegedly toxic behaviour) and given that many of the show\u2019s innovations are now cliches of US telly (we\u2019re drowning in preternaturally wise, pop-culture-referencing teenagers). On the plus side, its original star, Sarah Michelle Gellar (now in her 80s) has returned, and Nora and Lilla Zuckerman are executive-producing. (Lilla Zuckerman was showrunner of the excellent Poker Face). Disney+<\/p>\n

Falling\"Falling:Falling: Keeley Hawes and Paapa Essiedu as Anna and David. Photograph: Robert Viglasky\/Channel 4 <\/p>\n

With the success of the forbidden-love drama Heated Rivalry<\/a>, I have a good feeling (this is not a euphemism) about Jack Thorne\u2019s Falling. Keeley Hawes plays a nun, Paapa Essiedu plays a priest, and they fall in love. Sacrilicious! Channel 4 <\/p>\n

And if that wasn\u2019t enough from the excellent Adolescence showrunner, he\u2019s also adapting …<\/p>\n

Lord of the Flies\"LordLord of the Flies: David McKenna as Piggy and Winston Sawyers as Ralph. Photograph: J Redza\/Eleven\/BBC <\/p>\n

Aka my nephews on a good day. William Golding\u2019s disturbing tale of shipwrecked schoolboys torn between order and murderous chaos is just a night babysitting for me. But it might also be a metaphor that\u2019s a bit too on the nose given the state of the political class. With luck the empathy Thorne has shown elsewhere means he\u2019s not going to delve too much into misanthropy. BBC One<\/p>\n

Blue Planet III<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at that majestic creature!\u201d we cry, referring to the documentarymaking centenarian and international treasure David Attenborough. The sea creatures are also interesting. BBC One<\/p>\n

Neuromancer<\/p>\n

I\u2019m the perfect audience for this adaptation of the classic William Gibson cyberpunk novel. Me and a whole five other people. Apple doesn\u2019t care. Making extremely costly high-concept sci-fi shows that they barely promote is its passion. Invasion, Foundation, Silo: it has a sick fetish for spending money. Some of its excellent shows, such as Severance<\/a> and Pluribus<\/a>, have become successful despite Apple\u2019s attempts to bury them. But I imagine someone at Apple TV got fired over that. Anyway, whoever runs Apple TV is a stone-cold lunatic, and I love them. Apple TV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beef I watched the first series of this thinking it would be about the delicious foodstuff namechecked by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3288,9618,93,61,60,25798,1868,9405,13393,128277,15117],"class_list":{"0":"post-257907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-apple-tv","9":"tag-disney","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-lisa-mcgee","14":"tag-netflix","15":"tag-oscar-isaac","16":"tag-patrick-freyne","17":"tag-roisin-gallagher","18":"tag-zendaya"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}