PICKS OF THE YEAR: SHOWS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2026, NEW AND RETURNING TITLES REVEALED

The new and returning titles airing in 2026...

 WISDOM OF THE CROWD

A primetime entertainment format hosted by John Bishop that blends humour with fast-paced gameplay, invites those watching at home to play along and see if they have what it takes to beat the Wisdom of the Crowd.

Each episode sees individual contestants face against a group of 200 people in the studio, all trying to answer unique number-based questions. But do they have what it takes to beat the average guess of the crowd? If they succeed they take home a cash prize, if not, the money goes into a shared jackpot that will be split among the 200 participants at the end of the series — turning the crowd into active players and potential winners. It’s the ultimate David v Goliath gameshow.

 THE VOICE UK

Superstar coaches will.i.am and Sir Tom Jones return to the coaching panel, alongside last year’s winning coaches, McFly’s Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones, who also made history last series as The Voice UK’s first-ever double chair. Also joining the line-up is megastar Kelly Rowland, bringing a wealth of industry experience and a fresh new dynamic to the battle for the UK’s next big star. 

 THE MASKED SINGER

Davina McCall, Maya Jama, Jonathan Ross and Mo Gilligan are heading back to their detective chairs as the nation’s favourite guessing game begins all over again. The panel will be joined by an array of guest panelists throughout the series who will be joining in on all of the action and hoping that they can guess who is masquerading behind the mask.

 BRITAIN'S GOT TALENT

Ant & Dec will lead the nation through a new round of unforgettable auditions as performers showcase their talents in the hope of reaching the live semi-finals, and winning over the four individual judges: Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and returning judge KSI.

 CELEBRITY SABOTAGE

Joel Dommett, Judi Love, Sam Thompson and GK Barry - alongside a whole host of celebrities - get ready to shock the nation in a brand-new ITV entertainment reality game show. Celebrity Sabotage is a new entertainment reality game show that will see Joel, Judi, Sam and GK team up to playfully sabotage unsuspecting con testants.

Their mission? To complete daring and funny stunts in order to win a secret cash prize for the participants! Each week our gang of celebrity saboteurs will be joined by a new guest sab oteur including Jill Scott MBE, Fay Ripley, Olivia Attwood, Jo Brand, Guz Khan and Harry Redknapp who will join in on all the action and cause even more mischief and mayhem.

 THE BOX

Hosted by legendary broadcaster Gary Lineker, The Box is a thrilling new format that plunges 10 celebrity contestants into the unknown. With each celebrity enclosed in a yellow box, they’ll find themselves in mystery locations across the country - they will never know where they are, or what challenge is facing them on the other side.

The challenges could be physical, mental, logical, funny, a bit daunting or all of those at once - with minimal or no instruction, they must decipher and work out what to do. At the end of each episode, two players will battle it out in The Duel, a high-stakes head-to-head game to avoid elimination. The Box promises shocking reveals, mind-bending puzzles, and plenty of twists across the series.

 THE FLOOR

Rob Brydon is to host ITV’s eagerly anticipated new primetime version of The Floor. 81 quiz fanatics face off in quiz duels on a giant LED floor divided into 81 equal squares, each representing its own field of knowledge. The goal is to conquer the entire floor and take home a huge cash prize.

The rules are simple - a random contestant challenges an adjoining opponent in a quiz duel and they play against each other in the category of the opponent’s square. The winner of a duel conquers their opponent’s square and gains more ground - the loser leaves the game. The further the game progresses, the more exciting the duels become and the higher the stakes.

 MILLIONAIRE HOT SEAT

Hosted by Jeremy Clarkson, this thrilling fast-paced twist on the global Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? phenomenon puts six contestants in a battle against the clock and each other for a chance to win life-changing money. In Millionaire Hot Seat, every second counts - players take turns in the Hot Seat facing Jeremy and climbing the Million Pound Money Ladder one question at a time.

A correct answer keeps them in the game, but one wrong move means elimination and the top prize drops - contestants can choose to ‘pass’ and stay alive, but that means moving to the back of the line and risking never getting another turn. The rules are simple, but the gameplay is ruthless - Millionaire Hot Seat demands quick thinking, tactical play, and nerves of steel.

 THE NIGHT MANAGER

Jonathan Pine thought he’d buried his past. Now living as Alex Goodwin - a low-level MI6 officer running a quiet surveillance unit in London - his life is comfortingly uneventful. Then one night a chance sighting of an old Roper mercenary prompts a call to action and leads Pine to a violent encounter with a new player: Colombian businessman Teddy Dos Santos.

 LORD OF THE FLIES

The story of a group of young schoolchildren who find themselves stranded on a tropical island with no adults, following a deadly plane crash. In an attempt to remain civil, the boys organise themselves, led by Ralph and supported by the group’s intellectual, Piggy. But Jack, who is in charge of signal fire duty, is more interested in hunting and vying for leadership and soon begins to draw other boys away from the order of the group and, ultimately, from hope to tragedy.

 THE WALSH SISTERS

The series revolves around characters from five of the novels by Marian Keyes, one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time, including international bestsellers Rachel’s Holiday and Anybody Out There. Marian’s many accolades include five Irish Book Awards and being named Author of the Year at the prestigious British Book Awards in 2022. Since her first novel was published in 1995, more than 39 million copies of Keyes’ books have been sold around the world, translated into 36 languages.

 DEAR ENGLAND

Dear England is a new four-part drama series about Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team. It’s time to change the game. The country that gave the world football has since delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t the England team win at their own game? With the worst track record for penalties in the world, Gareth Southgate knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take team and country back to the promised land.

 HALF MAN

The series follows estranged ‘brothers’ Niall (Jamie Bell) and Ruben (Richard Gadd). When Ruben shows up unexpectedly at Niall’s wedding, it leads to an explosion of violence that catapults us back through their lives. Spanning almost 40 years from the 1980s to the present day, this ambitious series will cover the highs and lows of the brothers' relationship, from them meeting as teenagers to their falling out as adults – with all the good, bad, terrible, funny, angry, and challenging moments along the way.

 THIS CITY IS OURS

Picking up from where things were left at the end of series one, Michael and Diana have barely arrived in Spain when they are dragged back into the fold to answer questions around Ricardo’s death. Back in Liverpool, tensions continue to bubble amongst the remaining members of the gang. Meanwhile, an old school gangster from Ronnie's era, recently out of prison, wants compensation from the firm.

 THE CAPTURE

The Capture is returning for a third series, created, written and executive produced by BAFTA-winning Ben Chanan. Holliday Grainger will return to lead the cast, with Killian Scott (Strike, Kaos, Dublin Murders) joining The Capture for series three in a pivotal role. How do you protect the truth, in a world where lies are daily currency? And with the proliferation of deepfakes, how can we trust what we see?

 THE CAGE

The Cage is written and created by BAFTA nominated Tony Schumacher (The Responder) and stars Bafta award-winner Sheridan Smith (Cilla, The C Word, Mrs Biggs) and Michael Socha (The Gallows Pole, Showtrial). It is a high-stakes, high energy crime story set within the world of a Liverpool Casino with two unforgettable characters at its heart.

 VIGIL

Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie return as DCI Amy Silva and DI Kirsten Longacre. Their new case takes them to a remote Arctic research station, where a member of a covert British special forces mission has been shot dead.

 ENDLESS NIGHT

Sarah Phelps (The Sixth Commandment, A Very British Scandal) returns to adapt Endless Night, the classic mystery novel by the best-selling author of all time. It’s 1967 and man-of-many-trades Michael Rogers finds himself working as chauffeur for the enigmatic designer du jour Rudolf Santonix, snatching a glimpse into a glamorous world of outrageous wealth that's far from his own upbringing.

 RED EYE

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).

 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.

 TIP TOE

The five-part series will follow Leo and Clive who live next door to each other in Manchester. Leo runs a bar on Canal Street, Clive’s an electrician, with two teenage sons. But just as life should be settling down, the world around them is growing more tense.

Words become weapons, opinions become radicalised, and gradually, two neighbours become deadly enemies in a tense, suburban thriller which challenges everything we consider to be safe. The series, populated with a cast of vibrant characters and underscored with Davies’ trademark wit and deft humour, is an urgent yet gripping tale that brings a spotlight to bear on the re-emergence of an incipient threat.

 NUMBER 10

There’s a Prime Minister in the attic, a coffee bar in the basement, and a wallpapered labyrinth of romance, crisis and heartbreak in-between. Set in the only terrace house in history with mice and a nuclear deterrent, it’s the only knock-through in the world where a hangover can start a war. 

The government will be fictional and unspecific, but the problems will be real. We’ll never know which party is in power, because once the whole world hits the fan it barely matters. This is a show about the building and everyone inside. Not just the Prime Minister upstairs, but the conspiracy theorist who runs the cafe three floors below, the man who repairs the lift that never works, the madly ambitious ‘advisors’ fighting for office space in cupboards. Oh, and of course, the cat. 

 The Hunt

Deep in a vast unforgiving forest, contestants are dropped into the ultimate real-world game of hide and seek - where losing means walking away with nothing and winning could mean pocketing up to £100,000. Surviving the game isn’t about being the fastest. It’s about being the smartest.

Each episode is built around a tense, dog-eat-dog hunt, where each player becomes either a Predator or Prey. The Prey hold the cash, desperately trying to protect their winnings while completing challenges to win more money. The Predators must hunt them down and steal their cash. If they succeed their roles are reversed and the entire game flips, with Predators suddenly become Prey.

 Race Across The World

Racing across vast distances without smartphones or bank cards, and armed only with cash equating to the cost of flying the route, the teams will be pushed to their absolute limits. Only one team can claim victory over the others and win the cash prize of £20,000.

 Virgin Island

The groundbreaking and heartwarming series follows 12 adult virgins, as they travel to a luxury Mediterranean retreat to embark on a unique course in intimacy, to see if it can help them overcome the fears that are holding them back. This warm, authentic and thought-provoking series explores these issues as some of the world’s leading sexologists take the twelve courageous virgins on a unique, hands-on programme, to help them take their first steps towards sex and intimacy. 

 The Summit

Ben Shephard hosts an epic new adventure reality series which sees brave contestants embark on a thrilling journey to reach the peak of one of New Zealand’s most spectacular mountains. 14 strangers from all walks of life will face the daunting challenge of climbing a mountain in the breathtaking and rugged Alps of New Zealand’s South Island - they will also face the ultimate test of strategy and resilience as they compete for a share of a potential £200,000 cash prize.

With 14 days to reach the summit and an equal share of the prize fund in their backpacks, the contestants will have to navigate treacherous terrain, wild conditions and overcome extraordinary challenges - set by the mysterious Mountain’s Keeper - that block their path to the peak.

 I'm A Celebrity South Africa

Campmates have already proved that they can survive the Australian jungle, but this is I’m a Celebrity… on a whole new level - it’s where legends are made. The trials are tougher than ever, and with that the stakes too - with relentless twists and turns, the campmates will never know what’s coming next.

They will be faced with challenges at every turn, quickly learning that with big decisions come even bigger consequences… An exciting new element for this second series of I’m a Celebrity... South Africa is that the public will have the power to decide who is crowned as the ultimate legend of 2026.

 The Neighbourhood

A thrilling new entertainment format which sees families and households compete in a street-sized reality game and battle it out for the chance to take home a life-changing £250,000 cash prize. Hosted by the brilliant BAFTA-winning broadcaster Graham Norton, this brand-new series offers a gameshow as you’ve never seen it before - it marries high-stakes competition, neighbourhood challenges, and relatable domestic drama to offer a different flavour of reality.

The Neighbourhood will see real-life households from all walks of life move in and live side by side, finding themselves not only neighbours, but also fierce competitors in the ultimate reality showdown. This is a game the households will live as well as play - they’ll be with each other 24/7, sleeping and eating in their houses, socialising together and then voting each other out.

 Nobody's Fool

Emily Atack and Danny Dyer host a compelling new game show. Nobody’s Fool is a unique reality event packed full of drama and deception where the fate of the contestants isn’t decided by how smart they are, but how smart their fellow contestants think they are.

Ten contestants from across the UK will be selected to stay in a unique and mischievous Smart House - and take on a reality contest like no other. Rivals favourites Danny and Emily will preside over the action as the contestants must compete in challenges to convince others that they are more intelligent than they may actually be - they’ll also take part in daily individual quizzes that will test different areas of intelligence in order to build a group prize pot. In a surprising twist however, only the contestants themselves will know how well they have done - what information they choose to share with their competitors is down to them.

Across the series, the players must determine who is the weakest amongst them and eliminate them. As each of the contestants sets out to prove their worth and value to the rest of the group, can the players suss out who is a genuine asset and who is simply faking in a bid to stay in the game? The show aims to exploit preconceived notions about intelligence, playing on stereotypes and snap judgments to create a cast of characters who will keep viewers guessing.

 The Heat

A brand new reality format that follows a group of young chefs taking on the hottest job of their lives. Hosted by broadcaster Olivia Attwood, The Heat sees ten ambitious chefs travel to Barcelona working under multi-Michelin star award-winning chef Jean-Christophe Novelli, who is opening an exclusive summer restaurant at the glamorous Port Vell Marina and on a mission to find the next rising star.

This isn’t just a straight-forward cooking competition, though - each day when the kitchen service is over, the cameras keep rolling because when you’re living, working and competing with one another, there is no escaping The Heat. Viewers can expect post-shift dates, staff nights out and more - blending both their professional and personal lives will see tempers simmer, steam and boil in and outside of the kitchen.

 Can You Keep A Secret

Dawn (French & Saunders, The Vicar of Dibley) plays widow Debbie Fendon - granny, lawn bowler, tinpot dictator - who will stop at nothing to make sure her family’s protected. Unfortunately, most of the time the person they really need protecting from is her. When her hermit-like husband William (Mark Heap - Friday Night Dinner, Green Wing) unexpectedly dies, she makes an outlandish decision that will put the family under more pressure than ever before.

Because Debbie isn’t actually a widow and William didn’t really die – he was just mistakenly declared dead and the two retirees found themselves staring down the barrel of an opportunity too good to pass up. Just a few months hiding out in the loft waiting for the life insurance to pay out and then they can live out their golden years in peace.

 Black Ops

In the first series, Dom and Kay joined the Met Police as Police Community Support Officers in the hope of cleaning up their community, but found themselves unwittingly thrust into the murky world of deep cover infiltration and a powerful criminal enterprise. In series two, Gbemisola Ikumelo will be reprising her role as Dom and Hammed Animashaun (The Wheel of Time) will be back as Kay, with the duo set to be thrust into a new adventure. Akemnji Ndifornyen also reprises his role as gang boss Tevin.

 Amandaland

With both Manus and Georgie at secondary school, Amanda had to try and get her head around raising teenagers, dealing with modern motherhood horrors like teenage drinking, fake Instagram accounts and eco anxiety. Not even a woman as certain of her parenting as Amanda could deal with those nightmares alone.

 Piglets

The new series will see Sarah Parish and Mark Heap reprise their roles as no nonsense Superintendent Julie Spry and benign Superintendent Bob Weekes.  Joining them will be Chief Superintendent Cunningham (Colin McFarlane), anal Head of Admin Melanie (Rebecca Humphries) ever-angry police trainer Daz (Ricky Champ) and the returning police trainees themselves, officious Afia (Halema Hussain), wannabe actor Dev (Abdul Sessay), ‘prune in the nest’ Paul (Jamie Bisping) and reluctant wise owl Geeta (Sukh Kaur Ojla).

 The Reluctant Vampire

Raised in a conventional vampire family, Val (Lenny Rush) isn’t the most natural at the bloodthirsty rites of passage despite his best efforts. Life takes a shocking turn when he discovers — after accidentally coming across his own reflection — that he’s not a vampire after all and his Vampire mum has kept everything secret from him. Until now.

 Ann Droid

It’s 2029. Sue’s husband David passed away 18 months ago and her only son, Michael, is moving out – again - to try and fix his marriage - again. But the good news is he’s got Sue a surprise to help her live independently, a care provider with a difference. The latest D500 social humanoid eldercare robot. Created to keep the ageing population company and monitor their health, taking the pressure off the ever-stretched NHS.

 Big Mood

It’s been a year since Maggie (Nicola Coughlan) and Eddie (Lydia West) last saw each other, without any contact between the best friends. When Eddie suddenly returns for a wedding, she isn’t alone - Maggie has competition, in the form of an infuriatingly positive spiritual healer named Whitney. Can Maggie and her special brand of chaos find space in Eddie’s new life? Or will Maggie lose Eddie forever?

 Stepping Up

Every day behind closed doors in Britain a stepdad negotiates the tricky paradox of bringing up another man’s kids: locked in several love triangles, the partner and the ex, the kid and the biological Dad, there’s no easy way to play it. Josh is desperate to prove his worth as the perfect role model to his stepchildren, the ideal partner to his girlfriend, and as an all-round ‘Good Bloke’. 

Transmission details will be announced in due course.