THE YEAR AHEAD IN COMEDY, NEW AND RETURNING TITLES REVEALED

The new and returning comedy titles airing in 2026...

 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.

 Changing Ends

The hugely popular and award winning Changing Ends returns for a fourth series. Since the series 1 launch, Alan Carr’s semi autobiographical comedy has been streamed over 14 million times on ITVX, been BAFTA nominated and earlier this year won an RTS Award.

 Here We Go

Created by and starring Tom Basden (After Life), series four will once again feature the all-star cast Jim Howick (Ghosts), Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd), Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey), Freya Parks (This Town), Jude Morgan-Collie (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder), Tori Allen-Martin (Unforgotten), Mica Ricketts (Best Interests), Ed Kear (The Batman), and Jon Furlong (The Last Kingdom).

 Dinosaur

Filmed and set in Glasgow, series one of Dinosaur followed Nina (Ashley Storrie), an autistic woman in her 30s who adored her life living with her sister and best friend Evie. However, when Evie rushed into an engagement after only six weeks and made Nina her maid of honour, Nina was floored.

Forced to reconcile with her sister’s impulsive decision, Nina grappled with what this new challenge meant, which led to a surprising journey of self-discovery, saw her explore her own love interest and consider a move away from her hometown for a job promotion. At its core, Dinosaur is a series about sisterhood, love, friendship and being yourself, no matter how uncomfortable that might make others.

 We Might Regret This

The second series, filmed in London, is set against the backdrop of Freya (Kyla Harris) and Abe’s (Darren Boyd) recent engagement. As the couple dive headfirst into wedding planning, it quickly becomes clear that their views on marriage—and visions for the big day—aren’t always aligned.

Tensions rise as they navigate the high-stress world of wedding prep, further complicated by Freya’s agents, The Olivias (Emma Sidi and Hanako Footman), who enlist the couple in a wedding-themed content creation campaign focused on disability inclusion.

 Things You Should Have Done

The series follows self-confessed stay-at-home daughter Chi, as she navigates her way through a list of 'Things You Should Have Done’ left by her late parents. Chi is forced to fend for herself and has to learn to juggle the demands of modern life whilst having to prepare for the arrival of her highly strung Auntie Karen’s (Selin Hizli) baby. Dave (Dan Fearne) and Lucas (Jamie Bisping) will also return as loveable father and son caught up in the chaos.

 Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping

Series one of Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping saw David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s long-awaited return to Channel 4 and marked a bold return to British sketch comedy. The show was Channel 4’s biggest comedy launch since 2018 with the opening episode consolidating at 2.3 million (28-days) and winning its slot among 16–34s, with a 29% share.

 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’. 

 It Gets Worse

Follows Ethan, Abi, and Sam - best friends from uni, soulmates for life, and dysfunctional roommates. It’s been a year since they finally managed to move to London, they have collectively accomplished nothing, and now their landlord is selling up.

They’re getting kicked out. What now? Can they keep their friendships alive when they are dispersed across a city that seems to want them dead? Can they find a six out of ten or higher to have bad sex with? Can they get their shit together when the world is so obviously falling apart? Probably not. But they’re going to have fun trying. 

Transmission details will be announced in due course.