Series to Watch: 2024

Series to Watch: 2024


By DQ
December 19, 2023

Ones to Watch

DQ looks ahead to 2024 and picks out 20 new dramas expected to air over the coming year, from a Band of Brothers follow-up and a video game adaptation to a Swedish psychological thriller and the return of a Spanish hero.

3 Body Problem
From: US
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producer: Bighead Littlehead, Plan B Entertainment, Primitive Streak, T-Street, The Three-Body Universe and YooZoo Pictures
Starring: Benedict Wong, Jess Hong, Jovan Adepo, Eiza González, Alex Sharp, John Bradley, Zine Tseng, Saamer Usmani, Liam Cunningham, Rosalind Chao, Marlo Kelly, Sea Shimooka and Jonathan Pryce
Launch date: March 21
Based on the book by Liu Cixin, this series from Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss comes a year after a Chinese adaptation for streamer Tencent. The story follows a young woman’s fateful decision in 1960s China that reverberates across space and time to a group of brilliant scientists in the present day. As the laws of nature unravel before their eyes, five former colleagues reunite to confront the greatest threat in humanity’s history.
Watch trailer 

Alice & Jack
From: UK, US
Original broadcaster: Channel 4, Masterpiece PBS
Producers: Groundswell Productions, Me + You Productions and De Maio Entertainment
Distributor: Fremantle
Starring: Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson
This show is described as a love story for the ages. When Alice (Riseborough) and Jack (Gleeson) first meet, they’re bound by a connection so powerful it seems nothing can break it. But will their path lead them to a place of happiness and togetherness? Or will life and their own emotional complexities get in the way?

Apples Never Fall
From: US
Original broadcaster: Peacock
Producer: Heyday Television
Distributor: NBCUniversal Global Distribution
Starring: Annette Bening, Sam Neill, Jake Lacey, Alison Brie
Based on Liane Moriarty’s novel, this series centres on the Delaneys, who from the outside appear to be an enviably contented family. Former tennis coaches Joy and Stan are parents to four adult children and, after decades of marriage, they have finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. But after Joy disappears, her children are forced to re-examine their parents’ marriage and their family history with fresh eyes.

Boarders
From: UK
Original broadcaster: BBC
Producer: Studio Lambert
Distributor: All3Media International
Starring: Josh Tedeku, Jodie Campbell, Myles Kamwendo, Sekou Diaby, Aruna Jalloh, Derek Riddell, Niky Wardley and Daniel Lawrence Taylor
Created by Taylor (Timewasters), this six-part series follows five talented, under-privileged black students from inner-city London as they gain scholarships to St Gilberts, an elite boarding school. There, they will go on a journey to learn about themselves, their identity and what it’s like to live alongside the one percent, which is nothing like life as they knew it.

Domino Day
From: UK
Original broadcaster: BBC
Producer: Dancing Ledge Productions
Distributor: Fremantle
Starring: Siena Kelly, Alisha Bailey, Babirye Bukilwa, Poppy Lee Friar, Molly Harris, Percelle Ascott and Sam Howard-Sneyd
Blending coming-of-age story and supernatural drama with a contemporary Manchester backdrop, this six-parter introduces a young witch called Domino, who is coming to terms with the extraordinary powers she possesses. But as Domino attempts to understand who she is and find more like her, a coven of witches is already tracking her, convinced they must stop her before she has the chance to destroy everything and everyone around her.
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Expats
From: US
Original broadcaster: Prime Video
Producers: Local Time, Blossom Films and Per Capita Productions
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee and Jack Huston
Launch date: January 26
Creator, writer and director Lulu Wang’s Expats portrays a complex tapestry of Hong Kong residents. It focuses on a single encounter between a multifaceted group of women, which sets off a chain of life-altering events and leaves everyone navigating the intricate balance between blame and accountability.

Fallout
From: US
Original broadcaster: Prime Video
Producer: Kilter Films
Starring: Ella Purnell, Walton Goggins, Aaron Moten and Kyle MacLaughlin
Launch date: April 12
From Westworld’s Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, this series is based on the hit video game of the same name. Two hundred years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind – and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird and highly violent universe waiting for them.
Watch trailer

Griselda
From: US
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producer: Latin World Entertainment
Starring: Sofía Vergara, Alberto Guerra, Christian Tappan, Martín Rodriguez, Juliana Aidén Martinez and Vanessa Ferlito
Launch date: January 25
Vergara stars in this series inspired by the life of Griselda Blanco, who created one of the most profitable cartels in history. In 1970s-80s Miami, Blanco’s lethal blend of unsuspected savagery and charm helped her expertly navigate between business and family, leading her to become widely known as ‘The Godmother.’
Watch trailer 

Máxima
From: The Netherlands
Original broadcaster: Videoland
Producer: Millstreet Films
Distributor: Beta Film
Starring: Delfina Chaves, Martijn Lakemeier, Sebastian Koch and Elsie de Brauw
Set to air across multiple seasons, Máxima tells the story of Argentinian-born Máxima Zorreguieta, who later became Queen Máxima of the Netherlands. The debut season depicts Máxima’s first encounter with then Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and her path to becoming a public figure, highlighting her determination and ambition, as well as her struggle to balance loyalty to her family and her own identity. Her father’s controversial past and his role in Argentina’s autocratic Videla regime plays an important role and will be explored in flashbacks.
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Mary & George
From: UK
Original broadcasters: Sky (UK, Ireland, DACH, Italy), AMC (US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India)
Producers: Hera Pictures, Sky Studios
Distributor: NBCUniversal Global Distribution
Starring: Julianne Moore, Nicholas Galitzine, Tony Curran, Nicola Walker, Niamh Algar, Trine Dyrholm, Sean Gilder, Adrian Rawlins, Mark O’Halloran, Laurie Davidson, Samuel Blenkin, Jacob McCarthy, Tom Victor, Alice Grant, Amelia Gething, Mirren Mack, Rina Mahoney and Simon Russell Beale
Inspired by Benjamin Woolley’s The King’s Assassin, this “daring historical psychodrama” tells the story of Mary Villiers (Moore), who moulded her beautiful and charismatic son, George (Galitzine), to seduce King James VI of Scotland and I of England and become his all-powerful lover. Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become the richest, most titled and influential players the English court had ever seen, and the king’s most trusted advisors. And with England’s place on the world stage under threat from a Spanish invasion and rioters taking to the streets to denounce the king, the stakes could not have been higher.

Masters of the Air
From: US
Original broadcaster: Apple TV+
Producer: Apple Studios
Starring: Austin Butler, Callum Turner, Anthony Boyle, Nate Mann, Rafferty Law, Barry Keoghan, Josiah Cross, Branden Cook and Ncuti Gatwa
Launch date: January 26
From the team behind Band of Brothers and The Pacific – Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman – comes this action drama based on the true story of an American bomber group during the Second World War. It follows the men of the 100th Bomb Group (the ‘Bloody Hundreth’) as they conduct perilous bombing raids over Nazi Germany and grapple with the frigid conditions, lack of oxygen and sheer terror of combat conducted at 25,000 feet in the air.
Watch trailer 

Mr & Mrs Smith
From: US
Original broadcaster: Prime Video
Producers: Amazon Studios, New Regency Productions, Wells Street Films
Starring: Donald Glover and Maya Erskine
Launch date: February 2
From co-creators and executive producers Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane, this is a reimagining of the 2005 film of the same name and stars Glover as John Smith and Maya Erskine as Jane Smith. Here, two lonely strangers land jobs working for a mysterious spy agency that offers them a glorious life of espionage, wealth, global travel and a dream brownstone in Manhattan. The catch? New identities in an arranged marriage as Mr and Mrs John and Jane Smith. Now hitched, John and Jane navigate a high-risk mission every week while also facing a new relationship milestone. Their complex cover story becomes even more complicated when they catch real feelings for each other. What’s riskier: espionage or marriage?

Oderbruch
From: Germany
Original broadcasters: ARD, Das Erste
Producers: Syrreal Entertainment, ARD Degeto, CBS Studios
Starring: Karoline Schuch, Felix Kramer, Lucas Gregorowicz, Julius Gause, Jan Krauter, Sebastian Urzendowsky, André M Hennicke, Alix Heyblom, Adrian Topol, Winfried Glatzeder, Robert Glatzeder, Stefan Weinert and Bettina Wegner
Launch date: January
The discovery of several hundred corpses leads former police officer Maggie Kring to return to her old hometown to investigate. But in the search for the killer, she gets caught up not only in a 20-year-old case but also her family’s dark past, discovering a truth that will change her forever.

Renegade Nell
From: UK
Original broadcaster: Disney+
Producer: Lookout Point
Starring: Louisa Harland, Nick Mohammed, Frank Dillane, Adrian Lester, Alice Kremelberg, Joely Richardson, Pip Torrens, Jake Dunn, Ényì Okoronkwo, Bo Bragason, Florence Keen and Craig Parkinson
Launch date: Spring
Created and written by Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley), this eight-part adventure series follows Nell (Harland), a quick-witted and courageous young woman who finds herself framed for murder and unexpectedly becomes the most notorious highwaywoman in 18th century England.

Shōgun
From: US
Original broadcaster: FX, Disney+
Producer: FX Productions
Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, Hiroto Kanai, Takehiro Hira, Moeka Hoshi, Tokuma Nishioka, Shinnosuke Abe, Yuki Kura and Fumi Nikaido
Launch date: February 27 (Disney+)
Based on James Clavell’s novel, Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him, when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village. Its English captain, John Blackthorne, comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power and devastate the formidable influence of Blackthorne’s own enemies — the Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants. Toranaga and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, Toda Mariko, a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line. While serving her lord amid this fraught political landscape, Mariko must reconcile her newfound companionship with Blackthorne, her commitment to the faith that saved her and her duty to her late father.
Watch trailer 

Shardlake
From: UK
Original broadcaster: Disney+
Producers: The Forge, Runaway Fridge
Starring: Arthur Hughes, Sean Bean, Anthony Boyle, Babou Ceesay, Paul Kaye and Ruby Ashbourne Serkis
This four-part drama, described as an eerie whodunnit adventure, is based on the first book in CJ Sansom’s Tudor series of novels. In 16th century England during the dissolution of the monasteries, Matthew Shardlake (Hughes)’s sheltered life as a lawyer is turned upside down when Cromwell (Bean) instructs him to investigate the murder of one of his commissioners at a monastery in the remote town of Scarnsea. Cromwell insists he is accompanied by cocky, good-looking Jack Barak (Boyle), and Shardlake is left unsure whether Barak is an assistant or Cromwell’s spy.  At Scarnsea, the duo are met with hostility, suspicion and paranoia by the monks who fear for their future and will seemingly stop at nothing to preserve their order.

Families Like Ours
From: Denmark
Original broadcasters: TV2 (Denmark), Canal+ (France)
Producer: Zentropa
Distributor: StudioCanal
Starring: Amaryllis August, Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Paprika Steen, Helene Reingaard Neumann, Esben Smed, Magnus Millang, David Dencik, Thomas Bo Larsen, Max Kaysen Høyrup and Asta Kamma August
Launch date: Autumn 2024
Pitched as one of the biggest Scandinavian series coming in 2024, this seven-part drama comes from director Thomas Vinterberg, who also co-writes the scripts with Bo Hr Hansen. A grandiose and intimate family story about a nation forced to say goodbye to the homeland, it begins during a Danish summer when rising water levels can no longer be ignored and the government decides the entire Danish population must be evacuated. But while chaos, disconnection and powerlessness slowly take over, life goes on. Love still grows, people are reconciled, and hopes of being reunited endure.

The Marlow Murder Club
From: UK
Original broadcasters: UKTV (UK), Masterpiece PBS (US)
Producer: Monumental Television
Distributor: ITV Studios
Starring: Samantha Bond, Jo Martin, Cara Horgan and Natalie Dew
Based on the novel by Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood, this show centres on retired archaeologist Judith Potts (Bond), who lives alone in a faded mansion in the peaceful town of Marlow and fills her time by setting crosswords for the local paper. During one of her regular wild swims in the Thames, Judith hears a gunshot coming from a neighbour’s garden and believes a brutal murder has taken place. When the police are reluctant to believe her story, Judith finds herself forming an unlikely friendship with local dog walker and empty-nester Suzie (Martin) and unfulfilled vicar’s wife Becks (Horgan) as they start an investigation of their own. Eventually asked to assist with the official police investigation, headed by newly promoted Tanika (Dew), the women must piece together clues, grill suspect witnesses and face down real danger as they work against the clock to stop the killer in their tracks.

Veronika
From: Sweden
Original broadcaster: Sky Showtime
Producer: Bigster
Starring: Alexandra Rapaport, Tobias Santelmann,
A psychological thriller with supernatural elements, this series stars Rapaport (Heder) as Veronika Gren, a hard-working police officer and mother of two. With a complicated background and a secret addiction, when she suddenly sees a dead boy standing in the hospital parking lot, Veronika thinks she’s losing her mind. But the boy is not a hallucination and is here to stay until justice is served – and he hasn’t come alone. Veronika realises the dead are victims of unsolved crimes and, in order to give them peace, she must face her inner darkness and accept her power. It becomes clear that the solution lies in her own past – and that the killer is ready to strike again.

Zorro
From: Spain
Original broadcasters: Prime Video (US, Latin America, Spain, Portugal, Andorra)|
Producer: Secuoya Studios
Distributor: Mediawan Rights
Starring: Miguel Bernardeau, Renata Notni, Dalia Xiucoatl, Emiliano Zurita and Joel Bosqued
A modern take on the classic hero, this story takes place in 1830s LA, where landowner Diego (Bernardeau) hides his alter ego as masked vigilante Zorro.

 

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