ITV UNVEILS DRAMA SLATE FOR 2026, NEW AND RETURNING TITLES REVEALED

ITV have unveiled its slate of new and returning drama titles set to air in 2026, with exact transmission details announced in due course.

RED EYE

Launches New Year's Day

The hit thriller takes flight again with Jing Lusi reprising her role as DS Hana Li for a new investigation alongside guest star Martin Compston. Joining Jing and Martin in the highly pressurised roller-coaster world of Red Eye are Lesley Sharp and Jemma Moore, who also return as Head of MI5 Madeline Delaney and journalist Jess Li.

Inside the US Embassy, the celebrations for a newly-appointed US Ambassador to London are shattered when a call threatening to blow a British plane out of the sky if anyone leaves triggers an immediate embassy lockdown and traps guests and staff inside. That’s when the murders begin, landing Hana Li, as a British cop, in a political and jurisdictional nightmare.

 THE LADY

Charts the extraordinary rise and fall of Jane Andrews from Buckingham Palace to convicted murderer. Based upon true events surrounding Andrews’ story, the partly fictionalised drama is written by Debbie O’Malley. Mia McKenna-Bruce brings compelling depth to Jane Andrews, a young working-class girl who, to the astonishment of her friends and family, became the then Duchess of York’s dresser at Buckingham Palace.

 BETRAYAL

Shaun Evans, Romola Garai, and Zahra Ahmadi star in a gripping thriller about trust, truth, and the personal cost of secrecy in the modern intelligence world. The series is set against the backdrop of MI5 and explores the fragile, tangled web of human relationships, where loyalty and deception collide.

At the heart of the story is John Hughes (Evans), a mid-career MI5 officer navigating a rapidly evolving intelligence landscape while struggling to keep his personal life intact. Acting on a hunch, John meets a British-Iranian man with links to the Stockport gangland who claims to have intelligence about an imminent plot on UK soil.

 GONE

A gripping psychological thriller from the pen of acclaimed screenwriter George Kay and starring Eve Myles and David Morrissey. Set against the backdrop of a prestigious private school, a foreboding forest and the quiet sprawl of Bristol, Gone is a chilling mystery focusing on local headmaster Michael Polly, played by David Morrissey (The Long Shadow, Sherwood, Britannia), who becomes the prime suspect in his wife Sarah’s disappearance.

 THE PARTY

Based on the acclaimed novel by Elizabeth Day, this drama stars Luke Evans as Martin Gilmour, a journalist shaped by his lifelong friendship with the wealthy and charismatic politician Ben Fitzmaurice, played by Tom Cullen.

Raised alone by his working-class mum Sylvia, played by BAFTA-winning Joanna Scanlan (After Love, Riot Women), Martin (Evans - Nine Perfect Strangers, Murder Mystery, the Fast and Furious franchise and ITV’s The Pembrokeshire Murders) wins a scholarship to an elite boarding school, where he first meets Ben (Cullen - The Gold, Trespasses, House of the Dragon).

 SECRET SERVICE

Acclaimed award-winning actress Gemma Arterton (Funny Woman, The Critic) leads a stellar cast in a gripping espionage thriller adapted from ITV News anchor Tom Bradby’s tense and timely novel and produced by Potboiler Productions. Set against today’s fraught political landscape, Secret Service explores long standing tensions between Russia and the UK and raises pressing questions about foreign influence in British politics.

Joining Gemma is an exceptional ensemble cast: Rafe Spall (The English, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Mark Stanley (Adolescence, Happy Valley), Alex Kingston (Douglas Is Cancelled, Doctor Who), Roger Allam (Endeavour, The Choral), Amaka Okafor (Bodies, The Responder), Aoife Hinds (Dune: Prophecy, The Long Call), Rochenda Sandall (Amandaland, The Rig, Line of Duty), and Khalid Abdalla (The Day of the Jackal, The Crown).

 ADULTERY

A scandalous new drama written by award-winning Danny Brocklehurst and produced by Poison Pen Studios. The series is led by Dominic Cooper and Romola Garai. The provocative love story raises questions about class, grief, and the effects of social media as it takes the viewer on a rollercoaster story of passion, parenthood, and peril as Tom Kirkman and Beth Brookes embark upon a passionate and intense love affair that threatens to uproot their whole lives.

Adultery is naturally authentic and bristling with passion as it focuses upon two ordinary families and messy complications. Adultery introduces us to Tom’s 15-year-old daughter Jess, who has found love with schoolmate Ollie, and they can’t take their hands off one another as love’s young dream becomes all consuming.

When Tom meets Ollie’s mum Beth in the most unexpected of circumstances, the two families’ lives are potentially turned upside down forever - will Tom and Beth be able to control their desires unlike their lovestruck teenagers?

 THE BLAME

Drama centred around DI Emma Crane and DI Tom Radley investigating a tragic murder in the fictional town of Wakestead - they quickly identify their main suspect, but an unexpected lead comes to light as the case progresses. As Emma and Tom dig deeper, they uncover a web of lies, institutional cover-ups and moral compromise which forces Emma to question the people closest to her.

Part propulsive mystery, part social commentary and part love story, The Blame will tackle big questions around policing and will take an unflinching look at who we can really trust. Leading the cast is Michelle Keegan (Fool Me Once, Brassic) as DI Emma Crane - Douglas Booth (The Sandman, The Dirt) joins as DI Tom Radley, and Ian Hart (Mr Bates vs. The Post Office, The Last Kingdom) is DCI Kenneth Walker.

 BELIEVE ME

The story of three victims of John Worboys, one of the most prolific sex attackers in British history who was dubbed by the media as the Black Cab Rapist after preying on women under the cover of being a ‘respectable’ licensed taxi-cab driver.

 THE DARK

Based upon GR Halliday’s debut novel From the Shadows. When the body of a young man is found eerily staged in the idyllic Scottish wilderness, detective Monica Kennedy fears this is just the beginning of a terrifying campaign that will strike the heart of a rural community.

As paranoia rises, suspicions and secrets are forced into the light and the locals start to realise that there is a serial killer hidden amongst them. With her experience of dealing with the darkest of humanity, Monica Kennedy quickly becomes entangled in a heightened game of cat and mouse with a cunning killer - only she can stop this monster before he claims any more victims.

GRACE

Detective drama is back for a sixth series. John Simm will reprise his role as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace for four standalone films set in the familiar surroundings of Brighton. Starring alongside John will be Richie Campbell (Top Boy, Stephen), who plays DS Glenn Branson, Zoë Tapper (Liar) as Cleo Morey, Laura Elphinstone (Chernobyl) as DS Bella Moy, and Brad Morrison (Outlander) as DC Nick Nicholl.

 AFTER THE FLOOD

The second series finds newly promoted detective Jo Marshall (Sophie Rundle) on the trail of a baffling new murder investigation. As tensions simmer in Waterside amid the rising threat of moorland fires and the subsequent risk of further flooding, a body is discovered in bizarre circumstances.

Jo's race to stop the killer brings her into direct conflict with dark and influential forces within the town, ultimately drawing her into an investigation that becomes deeply personal. One that will require her to operate in secret if she is to have any hope of rooting out the corruption that has blighted the town's police force - and her own family - for decades.

 GRANTCHESTER

The fan-favourite show returns for its tenth series. Following the departure of Reverend Will Davenport (Tom Brittney) in the ninth series, DI Geordie Keating (Robson Green) and Alphy Kottaram (Rishi Nair) cement their friendship and working relationship as they embark on more adventures and mysteries to solve across eight brand-new episodes.

Returning to the crime drama are Al Weaver as Leonard Finch, Tessa Peake Jones as Mrs. C, Kacey Ainsworth as Cathy Keating, Oliver Dimsdale as Daniel Marlowe, Nick Brimble as Jack Chapman, Bradley Hall as DC Larry Peters, and Melissa Johns as Miss Scott.

 PROFESSOR T

The hit crime drama is back, with Ben Miller starring in the titular role, to deliver its uniquely riveting crime stories with its irresistible ensemble of characters. Ben Miller (Bridgerton, Death in Paradise) returns to play Cambridge’s illustrious Professor Jasper Tempest, with Zoe Wanamaker (Shadow and Bone, My Family) as the Professor’s aunt Zelda Radclyffe, and Juliet Stevenson (Emma, Truly Madly Deeply) returning as psychologist Dr Helena Goldberg.

Barney White (Against the Law), Sunetra Sarker (Playing Nice, Casualty), and Rhian Blundell (Vampire Academy, Nobody Girl), who play Detective Dan Winters, DCI Maiya Goswami, and Detective Chloe Highsmith respectively, will also feature in the fourth series.

 MIDSOMER MURDERS

DCI John Barnaby (Neil Dudgeon) is back in Midsomer County investigating two new feature-length murder mysteries with the help of his trusted sidekick DS Jamie Winter (played by Nick Hendrix). The new episodes will take viewers back to the picturesque yet surprisingly lethal English countryside where we see into the worlds of family feuds on a grand scale and the phenomenon of treasure hunters.

Guest starring in The Devil’s Work are Peter Serafinowicz, Sarah Woodward, Alex Macqueen, Ginny Holder and Charles Dale, while Jon Culshaw, Sally Lindsay, Shaun Dooley, Oliver Dimsdale and Omid Djalili all guest star in Book of the Dead. The episodes will also see the return of Annette Badland as pathologist Dr Fleur Perkins and Fiona Dolman as Barnaby’s wife Sarah.

Transmission details will be announced in due course.