Series to Watch: December 2024

Series to Watch: December 2024


By Michael Pickard
November 28, 2024

Ones to Watch

DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 10 new shows to watch this December, from a Keira Knightley spy thriller and an epic Colombian drama to a Welsh crime series and the returns of Dexter, Strike, The Split and Squid Game.

Black Doves
From: UK
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producer: Sister
Starring: Keira Knightley, Ben Whishaw, Sarah Lancashire, Andrew Buchan and Andrew Koji
Launch date: December 5
Set against the backdrop of London at Christmas, Black Doves follows Helen Webb (Knightley), a quick-witted, down-to-earth, dedicated wife and mother – and professional spy. For 10 years, she’s been passing on her politician husband’s secrets to the shadowy organisation she works for: the Black Doves. When her secret lover Jason (Koji) is assassinated, her spymaster, the enigmatic Reed (Lancashire), calls in Helen’s old friend Sam (Whishaw) to keep her safe. Together, Helen and Sam set off on a mission to investigate who killed Jason and why, leading them to uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy linking the murky London underworld to a looming geopolitical crisis.
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One Hundred Years of Solitude: Part 1
From: Colombia
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producer: Dynamo
Starring: Marco González, Susana Morales and Claudio Cataño
Launch date: December 11
Based on Gabriel García Márquez’s acclaimed magical realism novel and told in two parts, the story follows cousins José Arcadio Buendía (González) and Úrsula Iguarán (Morales) who, married against their parents’ wishes, leave their village behind and embark on a long journey in search of a new home. Accompanied by friends and adventurers, their journey culminates with the founding of a utopian town on the banks of a river of prehistoric stones that they baptise Macondo. Several generations of the Buendía lineage will mark the future of this mythical town, tormented by madness, impossible loves, a bloody and absurd war, and the fear of a terrible curse that condemns them, without hope, to 100 years of solitude.
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Śleboda
From: Poland
Original broadcaster: SkyShowtime
Starring: Maria Dębska, Maciej Musiał and Piotr Pacek
Launch date: December 12
A suspenseful crime story set in the picturesque Polish region of Podhale, this is SkyShowtime’s first locally commissioned series from Poland. It revolves around a young anthropology doctor from Cracow (Dębska) who flees to the mountains seeking self-discovery, only to stumble upon a dead body. She quickly becomes entangled in solving a murder mystery and finds herself crossing paths with Sebastian (Musiał), a shameless journalist on the hunt for a scoop, and Jędrek (Pacek), a local police officer with whom she shared a teenage romance.
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Dexter: Original Sin
From: US
Original broadcaster: Paramount+
Producers: Showtime Studios, Counterpart Studios
Distributor: Paramount Global Content Distribution
Starring: Christian Slater, Patrick Gibson and Molly Brown
Launch date: December 13
A new 10-part series that chronicles America’s favourite serial killer in training. Set in 1991 Miami, the series follows Dexter (Gibson) as he transitions from student to avenging serial killer. When his bloodthirsty urges can’t be ignored any longer, Dexter must learn to channel his inner darkness. With the guidance of his father, Harry (Slater), he adopts a code designed to help him find and kill people who deserve to be eliminated from society, without getting on law enforcement’s radar. This is a particular challenge for young Dexter as he begins a forensics internship at the Miami Metro Police Department.
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Strike – The Ink Black Heart
From: UK
Original broadcasters: BBC, HBO
Producer: Bronte Film & TV
Distributor: Warner Bros
Starring: Tom Burke, Holliday Grainger, David Westhead, Christian McKay, Emma Fielding, Tupele Dorgu, James Nelson-Joyce, Ruth Sheen, Jack Greenlees, Natasha O’Keeffe and Caitlin Innes Edwards
Launch date: December 16 (BBC)
The sixth adaptation of JK Rowling’s crime novel series (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith) opens when frantic, desperate Edie Ledwell appears begging to speak to private detective Robin Ellacott (Grainger). The co-creator of a popular cartoon, The Ink Black Heart, Edie is being persecuted by a mysterious online figure who goes by the name of Anomie. Robin informs Edie that the agency is too busy to take on her case and thinks nothing more of it until a few weeks later, when she reads the shocking news that Edie has been murdered. Robin and her business partner Cormoran Strike (Burke) then become drawn into the quest to uncover Anomie’s true identity in a case that stretches them to their limit.

Whiskey on the Rocks
From: Sweden
Original broadcasters: SVT (Sweden), Disney+, Hulu (US)
Producer: Humanoids
Starring: Rolf Lassgård, Elsa Saisio, Anders Mossling, Niklas Engdahl, Filip Berg, Adam Lundgren, Kęstutis Stasys Jakštas and Mark Noble
Launch dates: December 25 (SVT), January 22 (Disney+, Hulu)
This political satire inspired by real events is the first Nordic original series to premiere on Disney+. In the early hours of October 28, 1981, a Whiskey-class Soviet nuclear submarine was spotted aground inside a restricted Swedish military area. The world teetered on the brink of disaster. With global superpowers on edge, the eyes of the world turned to Sweden’s calm and collected prime minister, Thorbjörn Fälldin, a former sheep farmer, who faced the immense challenge of keeping peace between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and US president Ronald Reagan.
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Squid Game S2
From: Korea
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producer: Firstman Studio
Starring: Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-hun, Wi Ha-jun, Gong Yoo, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Gyu-young, Lee Jin-uk, Park Sung-hoon, Yang Dong-geun, Kang Ae-sim, Lee David, Choi Seung-hyun, Roh Jae-won, Jo Yu-ri and Won Ji-an
Launch date: December 26
Three years after winning Squid Game, Player 456 gave up going to the States and comes back with a new resolution in his mind. Gi-hun once again dives into the mysterious survival game, starting another life-or-death game with new participants gathered to win the prize of 456 billion won.
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The Road Trip
From: UK
Original broadcaster: Paramount+
Producer: 42
Starring: Emma Appleton, Laurie Davidson, David Jonsson, Isabella Laughland and Angus Imrie
Launch date: December 26 (UK, Canada, Australia)
Based on the novel by Beth O’Leary, Addie and her sister Deb are on a road trip to a friend’s wedding in Spain when they are forced to offer a ride to Addie’s ex Dylan, his irrepressible best friend Marcus, and complete stranger Rodney. With nowhere to hide but a creaky campervan, the group must confront their buried history as secrets and revelations cause many a bump in the road. Intercutting between the past and present, flashbacks show Addie and Dylan’s intoxicating love affair two years earlier, while the journey to the wedding proves to be an unforgettable ride.
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Ar y Ffin (Mudtown)
From: Wales
Original broadcasters: S4C, U&Alibi
Producer: Severn Screen
Distributor: All3Media International
Starring: Erin Richards, Tom Cullen, Matthew Gravelle, Lauren Morais, Lloyd Meredith, Kimberly Nixon, Sion Pritchard and Ifan Huw Dafydd
Launch date: December 29 (S4C, BBC iPlayer), 2025 (U&Alibi)
Revolving around life at Newport’s Magistrates Court, the series follows experienced magistrate Claire Lewis Jones (Richards) as she faces personal turmoil while presiding over cases. When Ned Humphries, a childhood friend of Claire’s daughter Beca, faces arson charges, Claire’s loyalty to her community is put to the test. Matters are made worse when local criminal kingpin Saint Pete (Cullen) appears on the scene. Claire and Saint Pete go back a long way – will her past come back to threaten her present? As she delves deeper into the case, and suspicions grow around her daughter’s new bad-boy boyfriend, Claire uncovers a web of criminal activity that could put her and her family at risk.

The Split: Barcelona
From: UK
Original broadcaster: BBC
Producer: Sister
Distributor: BBC Studios
Starring: Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan, Annabel Scholey, Fiona Button, Deborah Findlay, Ian McElhinney, Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, Elizabeth Roberts, Alex Guersman, Toby Stephens, Manu Fullola and Romina Cocca
Launch date: December TBC
This eagerly anticipated two-part special picks up two years after the original series, created and written by Abi Morgan, finished in 2022 with its third season. The Spanish extravaganza, set over one sun-soaked weekend, finds formidable family lawyer Hannah Defoe (Walker) and her family gathering for a beautiful wedding at a magnificent vineyard, nestled in Catalonia’s wine region.
Read more here

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