Ahead of the 70th London Film Festival, which begins tomorrow, DQ picks out the new shows that will premiere over 12 days of films, series and immersive storytelling.
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She Lies in Wait: Clapperboard’s Rachel Gesua on bringing Gytha Lodge’s crime novel to ITV
As filming on ITV crime thriller She Lies in Wait gets underway in Ireland, Clapperboard Studios executive Rachel Gesua tells DQ about the upcoming six-part series, adapting Gytha Lodge’s novel and how the show balances two timelines as detectives investigate the discovery of a body 25 years after a missing persons case.
Invisible: Dougray Scott and Tim Theron head out on Blood Safari for Deon Meyer adaptation
South African drama Invisible is an adaptation of Deon Meyer’s novel Blood Safari. Stars Dougray Scott and Tim Theron tell DQ about their roles in the action thriller, their approach to character prep and filming everywhere from a prestigious golf course to an animal conservancy.
Series to Watch: October 2026 – Carrie, Treasure Island, Kill Jackie, East of Eden and more
DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 12 new series to watch this October, from a high-stakes British legal drama and a Canadian mystery thriller to fresh adaptations of Carrie, Treasure Island and East of Eden.
Fighting for the moment: Fightland director Sebastian Thiel on shooting the show’s boxing gym climax in a single day
Fightland director Sebastian Thiel tells DQ about shooting the boxing-gym climax of the show’s fourth episode in a single day, drawing on his early low-budget filmmaking career to shape his approach to a big-budget production, and choosing to film the key scene with multiple cameras.
Series to Watch: Toronto 2026 – Carrie, Crystal Lake, Blindspot Berlin and more
Ahead of the 51st Toronto International Film Festival, which begins on Thursday September 10, DQ picks out the new scripted series getting world, international and North American premieres in the Canadian city.
Series to Watch: Venice 2026 – Italian mockumentary Peccato
Just one television series will receive its world premiere at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, which gets underway this week. DQ investigates Italian comedy mockumentary Peccato.
Series to Watch: September 2026 – Tall Tales & Murder, American Hostage, City of Blood and more
DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 10 new series to watch this September, from a Spanish culinary drama and a contemporary Agatha Christie adaptation to the next instalment of true crime anthology Monster and the final season of German sensation Babylon Berlin.
Icelandic actor and writer Aldís Amah Hamilton on creating the female characters at the heart of Nordic noir
Black Sands star Aldís Amah Hamilton opens up about finding the nuance in female representation across Nordic noir and explains how the Icelandic crime drama was inspired by series such as Mare of Easttown and The Fall.
Lights, camera, action: Call My Agent! The Movie joins the trend of TV series turned films
As Call My Agent! makes the leap from hit French series to feature film, DQ looks back at the shows that blazed the TV-to-film trail – from Deadwood and Downton Abbey to Luther and Peaky Blinders – and ahead to two more movies on the way.
All about chemistry: Establishing the double act at the centre of crime comedy-drama Benidorm is Murder
Jackson Gregory, the head of development for Blackbox Multimedia, reveals how John Hannah and Carolina Bécquer’s protagonists set the right tone for 5 series Benidorm is Murder, and how a Take That tribute act characterised the balance between the serious and the ridiculous.
Overcoming a Bust Up: New Zealand and German producers on queer romance, buddy cops and a 10-hour time difference
New Zealand crime drama Bust Up has crossed continents to land on Germany’s ZDF. Producers from both sides of the coproduction tell DQ how a queer buddy-cop romance bridged a 10-hour time difference to reach two very different audiences.
Solving crimes on Réunion Island with the team from French police procedural OPJ
For seven seasons, French series OPJ has followed a police team working in France’s overseas territories. Producer Muriel Alorend takes DQ inside the making of the series – from its origins and how it’s written around seven protagonists to filming in the Indian Ocean.
Series to Watch: Autumn 2026 – Blade Runner 2099, Pride & Prejudice, The Greatest and more
DQ looks ahead to the second half of 2026 to see what’s coming up on the schedules among the British broadcasters and the global streamers, including legal drama War, ghost story The Witch Farm, police procedural Winter, comedy Break Clause and new takes on Pride & Prejudice and Treasure Island.
Series to Watch: August 2026 – Lanterns, Alley Cats, The Shards and more
DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 10 new series to watch this August, from a psychological thriller set in Jamaica and a crime drama centring on a park ranger to an epic Australian period drama and an animated sitcom from Ricky Gervais.
Finding the truth behind Gone with David Morrissey, Richard Laxton and Matt Sandford
Ahead of Gone’s Golden Nymph Award nomination, star David Morrissey, director Richard Laxton and executive producer Matt Sandford trace the psychological thriller’s origins, from its private school setting to why every character they create must be in conflict.
Mock tales: The Office at 25 and the shows it inspired – from Parks & Recreation to What We Do in the Shadows
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of BBC comedy The Office, DQ takes a look at some of the series that have followed in its footsteps by utilising the mockumentary storytelling style that helped to turn Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s creation into a global phenomenon.
Into the Dark: Cast and creatives behind ITV crime series reveal the secrets of this GR Halliday adaptation
The cast and creative team behind ITV serial killer drama The Dark discuss what drew them to this adaptation of GR Halliday’s novel From the Shadows, the detective duo at the heart of the story and what director Gilles Bannier learned about working with cats.
How co-creator David de Lautour and exec Dan March identified Ms X for Disney+
As Ms X comes to Disney+ in the UK and Ireland, co-creator David de Lautour and executive producer Dan March from Dynamic Television take DQ inside this “distinctly” New Zealand series, which blends action, crime and comedy to tell the story of a suburban mum pulled into the criminal underworld.
Past lives: from Legally Blonde to Elle and the trend for television prequels
Ahead of the launch of Prime Video’s Elle, DQ picks out six other prequels that go back in time to tell the origin stories of some of our favourite characters, from the psycho living in Bates Motel to the queen of Bridgerton. Twenty-five years after Legally Blonde introduced Elle Woods on the big screen, the character made famous by Reese Witherspoon is coming to television for the first time. The film introduces Elle, a sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend by following him to Harvard Law School, where she must overcome sexism and stereotypes to become a successful lawyer. Now a new Prime Video series called Elle, which debuts on Wednesday, travels back in time to 1995 to find Elle in high school, where she encounters tricky friendships, forbidden romances and questionable fashion choices. The prequel sees Elle played by Lexi Minetree. Witherspoon is also an executive producer on the series, which is produced by her Hello Sunshine label and Amazon MGM Studios. It is created by Laura Kittrell, who is the co-showrunner with Caroline Dries. The cast also includes June Diane Raphael as Elle’s mother Eva and Tom Everett Scott as her father Wyatt, alongside Jacob Moskovitz, Gabrielle Policano, Chandler Kinney, Zac Looker and Amy Pietz. Elle isn’t alone in having her own prequel series as the industry continues to explore the past lives of beloved screen characters. Sex & the City’s Carrie Bradshaw also goes to high school in The Carrie Diaries; NCIS: Origins follows … Continue reading Past lives: from Legally Blonde to Elle and the trend for television prequels