The 10 biggest new TV shows to watch in spring 2024

Ripley

Andrew Scott as Patricia Highsmith’s charming sociopath Tom Ripley – how can we resist? Throw in Johnny Flynn as Dickie Greenleaf and a gold standard showrunner (The Night Of’s Steve Zaillian), and this should be superb.

Netflix, April 4

The Regime

Satire with bells on, as Kate Winslet stars as a flailing authoritarian chancellor in an unnamed European country. Think The Death of Stalin meets The Crown.

April 8, Sky Atlantic

Franklin

Leftfield historical dramas are all the rage on TV at the moment. This Michael Douglas vehicle looks a lot of fun, as the founding father attempts to woo the French.

April 12, Apple TV+

Fallout

A post-apocalyptic, retrofuturistic, science-fiction phantasmagoria as Ella Purnell’s young “Vault Dweller” drags herself blinking into a nuclear-war scorched Los Angeles. Big, mad, delirious fun.

April 11, Amazon Prime Video

The Sympathizer

Fresh from his Oscar glory, Robert Downey Jr takes on a plethora of different roles in this thrilling adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about a Vietcong soldier exiled in LA.

April 14, Sky Atlantic 

Feud: Capote vs the Swans

Following his superb series about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis, Ryan Murphy returns with another irresistible story – the battle between Truman Capote and his glittering milieu. It stars Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, Demi Moore, Calista Flockhart, Chloe Sevigny, Molly Ringwald, to name a few.

April 17, Disney+

Disclaimer

Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity, Roma) returns to the small screen with an ambitious drama about a documentary maker (Cate Blanchett) who finds that she and her dark secrets are the subject of a popular novel.

April 26, Apple TV+

Red Eye

High-octane, high concept and just plain high – this white-knuckle conspiracy drama is set aboard a flight from Beijing to London, where Richard Armitage’s doctor has been arrested for murder.

April (TBC), ITV1

Blue Lights

The Belfast-set police drama was one of the best things on TV last year and makes a very welcome return. Raw and relevant in the way that most cop dramas resolutely aren’t.

April (TBC), BBC One

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

As bracing a true story as they come – Harvey Keitel plays Lale Sokolov, a Jewish man at Auschwitz who was tasked with tattooing the ID numbers on fellow prisoners’ arms.

May 2, Sky Atlantic

Bridgerton S3

Back to Regency London we go – or rather that should be, back to Bridgertonland we go, as the souped-up period fantasy reaches its third season of backstabbing and bonking.

May 16, Netflix

The Gathering

One for parents to watch from behind the sofa – a twisty, state-of-the-nation drama about a violent incident involving teenage gymnasts at an illegal rave. The kids aren’t alright.

May, Channel 4

Shardlake

CJ Sansom Tudor mystery novels get their long overdue TV adaptation, with Arthur Hughes playing the eponymous “crookback” sleuth and Sean Bean as Thomas Cromwell.

May, Disney+

Presumed Innocent

The small screen finally bags big Jake Gyllenhaal, as he takes on the role of Rusty Sabich, a US prosecutor accused of the murder of a colleague. Harrison Ford played the role in the 1990 movie.

June 14, Apple TV+

Rebus

Richard Rankin steps into the well-worn shoes of detective John Rebus – previously sported by John Hannah and Ken Stott – in a fresh adaptation of Ian Rankin’s hit crime novels.

Spring, BBC One

Eric

Benedict Cumberbath is a puppeteer in 1980s New York whose life is devastated when his young son goes missing. The only person who can help? A 7ft furry purple monster called Eric.

Summer, Netflix