{"id":616025,"date":"2026-09-06T06:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T06:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616025\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T06:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T06:40:19","slug":"20-autumn-tv-shows-everyone-will-be-talking-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/616025\/","title":{"rendered":"20 autumn TV shows everyone will be talking about"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Over the hottest British summer since records began, the notion of rain (what is that?), chilly nights, indulgent knitwear and cosying up in front of the telly felt very far away. But the leaves have started to fall from the trees, and the new season is officially here, bringing with it a terrific roster of dramas, comedies and reality TV.<\/p>\n

There are many televisual treats to choose from in the next three months, from the revamped Strictly to Nigella joining Bake Off,<\/a> the return of Rivals, and Netflix<\/a>\u2019s take on two magnificent novels: John Steinbeck<\/a>\u2019s East of Eden and Jane Austen\u2019s Pride and Prejudice.<\/p>\n

It can be hard to narrow it all down to what\u2019s worth watching, so here are 20 highlights to look forward to, selected by The Independent\u2019s culture writers.<\/p>\n

Saturday Night Live UK season two<\/p>\n

12 September, Sky One<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, the inaugural cast of SNL UK achieved the impressive feat of producing a live sketch show that made the sceptical British public say: \u201cOh, that actually wasn\u2019t terrible.\u201d Now, they\u2019ve got to do it all over again as the Sky series returns. Its cast of comedy up-and-comers are back to welcome a new round of celebrity hosts \u2013 starting with Jurassic Park star Jeff Goldblum \u2013 for 75 minutes of political satire and meme-worthy impressions. With a new prime minister in Number 10 and the world just generally burning, there\u2019ll have plenty of material to work with. Lauren Morris<\/p>\n

\"RisingRising stars: The cast of \u2018SNL UK\u2019 (Sky UK)<\/p>\n

Strictly Come Dancing<\/p>\n

19 September, BBC One<\/p>\n

Once again, it\u2019s time for a new line-up of celebrities to endure 13 weeks of spray tans, blisters and trodden-on toes as Strictly Come Dancing returns in September. It won\u2019t all be business as usual though, with the TV juggernaut undergoing its biggest face lift yet. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and promoted pro Johannes Radebe<\/a> are making their debuts as new Strictly hosts, while the famous cast truly vary in star power \u2014 with Gavin and Stacey\u2019s Melanie Walters rubbing shoulders with dog trainer Graeme Hall and TikTok star John Nellis<\/a>. Bring on the BBC\u2019s sequin-heavy fever dream! LM<\/p>\n

Brothers<\/p>\n

23 September, Apple TV<\/p>\n

As two combative murder investigators in the first season of HBO\u2019s True Detective, Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson formed one of TV\u2019s best modern odd couples; Brothers, a new comedy series reuniting the duo, is likely to be a less grisly affair. Here, Harrelson and McConaughey play versions of themselves, who live on a ranch together and discover that they may in fact be biological siblings (a twist mirroring a spurious-but-conceivably-plausible theory about their own lives). This will be Harrelson\u2019s first stint as a sitcom regular since Cheers, more than 30 years ago: for McConaughey, it\u2019s new territory. This alone makes Brothers an intriguing proposition. Louis Chilton<\/p>\n

The Real Rooneys<\/p>\n

24 September, Disney+<\/p>\n

Two North West footballing families have opened up their doors to reality camera crews this season. Over on Amazon, we have Michael Owen, his Love Island star daughter Gemma and, erm, their thoroughbred race horses. <\/a>And on Disney+, building off the success of their \u201cWagatha Christie\u201d doc from a few years back, we have Coleen and Wayne Rooney and their four kids. I know which team I\u2019ll be backing. Coleen has always been a likeably no-nonsense presence on screen (remember her Real Women model casting show for ITV<\/a>?), while her husband has undergone something of a Waynaissance since swapping his patchy management career for TV punditry. My top World Cup 2026 moment? Rooney declaring that the closing ceremony \u201cwas crap\u201d. I\u2019m expecting gently low-stakes stuff \u2013 Wayne on the school run! Coleen designing a Primark range! \u2013 presented as high-stakes drama. Katie Rosseinsky<\/p>\n

The Great British Bake Off <\/p>\n

September, Channel 4<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s nothing that brings the cosy, autumnal, back-to-school energy quite like Bake Off, which returns to Channel 4 for its 17th series. The recipe is always as reassuringly familiar and comforting as an old pair of slippers \u2013 signature bakes, technical challenges and showstoppers take in the gamut of pastry, cakes, biscuits, bread and more \u2013 as is the roster of competitors, different each year yet perfectly type-cast to ensure the optimal blend of chemistry in the hallowed tent. While Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding will return as the show\u2019s gently comedic, light-and-shade presenting double act, this year there\u2019s an additional ingredient in play: sultry chef Nigella Lawson<\/a> takes over from Prue Leith as a judge, joining the gimlet-eyed Paul Hollywood. I anticipate even more baking-related sexual innuendos than usual (and endless\u201cmeecro-wah-vay\u201d references). Helen Coffey<\/p>\n

\"NigellaNigella Lawson with fellow \u2018Bake Off\u2019 judge Paul Hollywood and hosts Alison Hammond and Noel Fielding (Channel 4\/Love Productions)<\/p>\n

East of Eden<\/p>\n

1 October, Netflix<\/p>\n

John Steinbeck\u2019s epic novel \u2013 a study of morality and biblical myth transposed to 20th-century California \u2013 is no easy work to adapt; when Elia Kazan made it into a film in 1955, he settled for adapting only the last quarter of it. Kazan\u2019s granddaughter, The Big Sick star Zoe Kazan, writes this new seven-episode Netflix adaptation, which seeks a more holistic approach. Florence Pugh tops the bill, playing the malevolent, conniving Cathy Ames: a heavyweight actor taking on a heavyweight part. Add in too a talented supporting cast (including Challengers\u2019 Mike Faist and Girls\u2019 Christopher Abbott), and there\u2019s every indication that East of Eden might be the best thing Netflix have put out in an age. LC<\/p>\n

VisionQuest<\/p>\n

14 October, Disney+<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been five years since Marvel launched its TV output with the meta gamble that was WandaVision, and they\u2019ve never bettered it. All eyes will be on the studio\u2019s next series, then, which will serve as a sequel of sorts. VisionQuest, which shifts the focus solely onto Paul Bettany\u2019s Vision, is an existential drama in which the android searches for discoveries about his existence. It sounds like a bold concept that could lure in non-Marvel fans, but a detail that\u2019ll make comic book aficionados salivate: James Spader will be reprising his role as the villainous Ultron for the first time since 2016 film Avengers: Age of Ultron. Jacob Stolworthy<\/p>\n

Crystal Lake<\/p>\n

15 October, Sky Atlantic<\/p>\n

Linda Cardellini has played crazy exactly twice: as an asylum inmate in the Kenan and Kel movie Good Burger, and as the killer heiress with an incriminating perm in Legally Blonde. Both of these performances are generational classics (ish). If these trends continue, we\u2019re in for a treat with Crystal Lake, a Friday the 13th prequel series that casts Cardellini as knife-wielding murderer Pamela Voorhees. Unless you\u2019re Drew Barrymore in Scream and fatefully bad at trivia games, you\u2019ll remember that Mrs Voorhees was the killer in the original Friday the 13th, before her deranged undead son Jason took over teen-slaughtering duties for its many sequels. There are lots of red flags here (an origin story for a character who maybe doesn\u2019t require one; a limited series that drags out a 95-minute slasher movie to eight whole hours), but Cardellini is enough of an attraction to make this intriguing. Adam White<\/p>\n

Nocturne<\/p>\n

20 October, Apple TV<\/p>\n

The plot for Nocturne reads like the synopsis for many other crime shows, but there\u2019s a difference: this one is based on gripping serial killer novels, Lazarus and The Sandman by Lars Kepler \u2013 the pen name of husband-wife duo Alexander and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. The Apple TV drama follows a former homicide detective (Liev Schreiber) who relocates to a small Pennsylvania town, which is rocked by a spate of murders. And if that doesn\u2019t make for a perfect, gritty alternative to the more wholesome autumnal viewing, I\u2019m not sure what does. Helping matters is the fact that it also stars British acting supremo Stephen Graham. If Nocturne plays its cards right, it could become the next Mare of Easttown. JS<\/p>\n

\"StephenStephen Graham and Liev Schreiber go head-to-head in \u2018Nocturne\u2019 (Apple TV+)<\/p>\n

The Celebrity Traitors<\/p>\n

October, BBC One<\/p>\n

It seems like forever ago that Celia Imrie farted on national television in season one of The Celebrity Traitors, but finally we\u2019re bound for more iconic moments and inopportune, nervous flatulence with the return of the show this autumn<\/a>. The starry spin-off of the game broke records for the BBC when it debuted last October, with millions tuning in to see what outrageous outfit Jonathan Ross was wearing. This year\u2019s line-up is arguably even more stacked than the last, with Bella Ramsay from The Last of Us and the wonderfully eccentric Richard E Grant among those stepping into the castle. Of course, we\u2019ve got some comedians in the mix too: James Acaster, Joe Lovett and Miranda Hart. So, don your capes and get your murder list at the ready, it\u2019s time for round two. Annabel Nugent<\/p>\n

Rivals season two part two<\/p>\n

November, Disney+<\/p>\n

The mid-season finale of Disney\u2019s sublime Jilly Cooper adaptation was less about ecstasy, and more about agony. Claire Rushbrook\u2019s buttoned-up Monica finally mustered the courage to leave David Tennant\u2019s slimy Tony, only to almost instantly (seemingly) die in a car accident (I\u2019m in the denial phase of grief, OK, and there\u2019s a tiny part of me that\u2019s convinced our dear Mon Mon is still, somehow, alive). In another major development, Katherine Parkinson\u2019s Lizzie and Danny Dyer\u2019s Freddie had their first snog of the season under a tree. So what happens next? It\u2019s already been months of waiting\u2026 I can\u2019t hold on much longer! Ellie Harrison<\/p>\n

I Am Helen<\/p>\n

November, Channel 4 <\/p>\n

Dominic Savage\u2019s I Am films are naturalistic, raw portraits of women in suffocating circumstances that offer enticingly meaty character-led roles for British actresses. His most recent, the prescient I Am Ruth (2022), moved me to tears, with Kate Winslet as a mum driven to helpless despair by her daughter\u2019s smartphone obsession (played by Mia Threapleton, Winslet\u2019s real-life daughter<\/a>). Now he returns with I Am Helen, created alongside its star, Nicola Coughlan. We\u2019re told it\u2019s about toxic masculinity seen through a female lens, and while there\u2019s been a surfeit of manosphere docs recently, it\u2019s that female perspective that has often felt sorely lacking. Jessie Thompson <\/p>\n

\"JoeJoe Cole and Nicola Coughlan tackle toxic masculinity in \u2018I Am Helen\u2019 (Channel 4)<\/p>\n

It Gets Worse <\/p>\n

Autumn, Channel 4<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a slight \u201cparty you haven\u2019t been invited to\u201d feeling about this new Channel 4 comedy, which stems from a who\u2019s-who of everything vaguely insidery and chic at the moment \u2013 it\u2019s a vehicle for buzzy stand-up comedian Leo Reich, is produced by mystery cool-movie merchants A24, and features guest appearances from Lena Dunham, Andrew Scott and the Chicken Shop Date lady. But then there\u2019s that very funny title, which inverts the Glee-era queer battle cry of \u201cit gets better\u201d to declare\u2026 actually, nope! Reich is one of three struggling London flatmates booted out of their home by their landlord. Head-in-hands \u201cwhy is everything terrible right now?\u201d Gen-Z misery-comedy ensues. AW<\/p>\n

Pride and Prejudice<\/p>\n

Autumn, Netflix <\/p>\n

Forget Nora Ephron fall, Elizabeth Bennet autumn is on the way, baby. Just as the nights start to draw in, Netflix will bring us a starry adaptation of what is \u2013 truth universally acknowledged \u2013 one of the best novels ever. It\u2019s been adapted by Dolly Alderton, oracle of millennials, with Emma Corrin (only person to acceptably pull off a performance of Princess Diana) and Jack Lowden (the beardy Slow Horses star rumoured to be in the running for 007) playing our Lizzie and Mr Darcy. The trailer is all birdsong and country walks, so it doesn\u2019t look like they will be Emerald Fennell-ing it \u2013 no flesh-coloured wallpaper at Pemberley, thanks \u2013 and the discourse is bound to be insufferable, but as an autumn telly offering it\u2019s surely just what the doctor ordered. JT<\/p>\n

Black Doves season 2<\/p>\n

Autumn, Netflix <\/p>\n

James Bond, who? I personally have been waiting for another stylish spy to come back into my life \u2013 or two, rather. Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw reprise their roles as best pals and expert killers Helen and Sam in season two of Netflix\u2019s smash hit Black Doves. Thankfully, they both made it out alive following season one\u2019s explosive finale. This time around, the dynamic duo are joined by the always superb Ambika Mod (One Last Day) who enters the picture as an acerbic and anarchic agent sent to assist. With plenty of cliffhangers to tie up and Helen\u2019s husband Wallace preparing to become prime minister of the very country she is betraying, things are bound to get interesting. AN<\/p>\n

\"WhishawWhishaw and Knightley as a killer duo in \u2018Black Doves\u2019 (Netflix)<\/p>\n

The Undertow <\/p>\n

Autumn, Netflix <\/p>\n

Far from Fifty Shades of Grey, it\u2019s black and white: Jamie Dornan is having a Moment. The Irish actor received rave reviews for his starring role as an amnesiac stuck in the Australian outback in The Tourist, and recently landed a plum part as Strider\/Aragorn in Andy Serkis\u2019s upcoming blockbuster The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum. He\u2019s a busy man, if only there were two of him\u2026 wait, there are! At least, there are in Netflix\u2019s gritty new crime-noir The Undertow, which follows Nicola (Mackenzie Davis), stuck in a loveless marriage with husband Adam (Dornan) while living in the Scottish Highlands. The arrival of Adam\u2019s free-spirited twin brother Lee (also Dornan!) stirs up old feelings, until a terrible accident throws their lives into chaos. It seems Nicola took \u201ckeeping it in the family\u201d a bit too literally \u2013 and all those secrets are about to come bubbling up to the surface. Roisin O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n

The Good Daughter on Sky <\/p>\n

Autumn, Sky Atlantic<\/p>\n

There are two great reasons to tune into this thriller: Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy. They are a couple of the most watchable actresses of their generation \u2013 Byrne stole every scene in the star-packed classic Bridesmaids and Fahy has been in huge demand since her eerie, magnetic performance in The White Lotus \u2013 so seeing them play sisters in this adaptation of Karin Slaughter\u2019s best-selling novel will surely be a masterclass. According to Sky, the drama follows siblings Charlotte and Samantha Quinn two decades after a single night of violence changed their lives forever. And now their past is coming back to haunt them. Pass the biscuits and sign me up right now. EH<\/p>\n

Adultery <\/p>\n

Autumn, ITV <\/p>\n

How\u2019s this for a dilemma? In ITV\u2019s new drama Adultery, Tom (Dominic Cooper) and Beth (Romola Garai) find themselves, erm, entangled, despite being married to other people and having two kids who happen to be dating… hey, at least they won\u2019t need to go through that whole awkward \u201cmeet the parents\u201d routine. It\u2019ll be awkward enough already. RO<\/p>\n

\"SteamySteamy drama \u2018Adultery\u2019 is coming to ITV (ITV)<\/p>\n

70 Up<\/p>\n

Autumn, ITV <\/p>\n

The 7 Up series, a one-of-a-kind televisual experiment that has traced the lives of 14 members of the public at seven-year intervals, comes to an end with its 10th and final instalment. 70 Up is the first film since the 1964 original to not have Michael Apted as director, the documentarian having died in 2021. You could hardly ask for a more capable replacement than Asif Kapadia, the man behind hit documentaries Senna, Amy, and Diego Maradona. As the 7 Up series has gone on, it has morphed from a pointed examination of the British class system into something stranger and more poignant. These 10 episodes have comprised a lifetime \u2013 for the audience just as much as the participants. LC<\/p>\n

Time season three<\/p>\n

Autumn, BBC One<\/p>\n

After putting Sean Bean behind bars in its first season, and Jodie Whittaker in a women\u2019s prison for its second, BBC One\u2019s brutal prison drama is back, and this time the action takes place in a young offenders institution. David Tennant leads the call sheet as a \u201ccustodial manager\u201d, with creator Jimmy McGovern aiming to explore the impact of locking up teenagers, and the effects that has on those who look after them. If it\u2019s anything like the first two outings, it will be a gripping, blood-soaked ride that keeps you thinking about our country\u2019s broken justice system long after the final credits roll. EH<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-616025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616025","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=616025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}