New British TV Mysteries & Crime Dramas Still to Come in 2024
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Last Updated on July 28, 2024 by Stefanie Hutson
We're a little more than halfway through 2024 as we write this, but since many new shows premiere in autumn and early winter, there's still a great deal of new British TV to look forward to this year. Most of the shows below don't have official premiere dates (those are often set very close to the actual date), but shows with “first look” images available are usually getting close to their initial premiere date in at least one market.
Ludwig
Ludwig follows John ‘Ludwig’ Taylor, played by David Mitchell, whose life takes a dramatic turn when his identical twin, James, mysteriously disappears. John, a recluse who designs puzzles under the alias ‘Ludwig', takes on his brother's identity in hopes of finding him.
The twist? James is a successful DCI who leads Cambridge’s major crimes team. The series explores John’s attempts to navigate his brother’s crime-fighting world, balancing the demands of solving major mysteries while trying to crack the biggest puzzle of his life – his brother’s disappearance. Each episode will offer a “case of the week” while also following his efforts to figure out what happened to his brother.
The series will ultimately be aired on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK, but we've yet to see an official premiere date. Similarly, there have been no official announcements for US viewing options at time of writing.
Nightsleeper
The latest in a long line of British crime stories set on trains, Nightsleeper drags us into a high-stakes scenario aboard the Heart of Britain overnight sleeper train when it becomes the focus of a coordinated cyber attack. The story unfolds in real time, focusing on the frantic efforts to thwart the escalating events onboard. Together, two strangers – one on the train, the other not – will have to work together to save lives.
Alexandra Roach (The Light in the Hall) stars as Abby Aysgarth, the Acting Technical Director at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, while Joe Cole (Gangs of London) plays Joe Roag, an off-duty cop caught up in the unfolding drama.
Nightsleeper is expected to premiere on BBC One, but an American streaming outlet has not yet been announced.
Ellis
Sharon D. Clarke (Holby City) will star as DCI Ellis in this three-part crime drama about a tenacious “floater” cop who's sent in to help when cases are floundering. Along with her right-hand man, DS Harper, she arrives at new stations and finds herself having to win over the locals while solving some of the toughest cases in the country.
The series began filming earlier this year in Northern Ireland, and it's expected to premiere on Channel 5 (UK) and Acorn TV (US and possibly other countries) in the not-too-distant future. No official dates have been announced, though.
Joan
Sophie Turner (Game of Thrones) stars in this upcoming six-part drama based on the true story of 1980s jewel thief Joan Hannington. Trapped in a bad marriage, she escaped into an exciting life that would earn her the nickname “The Godmother”. It was adapted from Hannington's 2004 memoir, I Am What I Am: The True Story of Britain's Most Notorious Jewel Thief.
Joan will premiere in the UK on ITVX in September 2024, with a US premiere on The CW on October 2nd.
UNTIL I KILL YOU
Shaun Evans (Endeavour) takes on a very different role in this true crime drama about serial killer John Sweeney. Most of Sweeney's crimes took place during the 1990s, when he attacked and killed a number of his girlfriends, dumping their bodies in canals. When caught, police discovered gruesome paintings that revealed the depth of his hatred for women. Anna Maxwell Martin (Bleak House) stars alongside Evans in the four-part series, playing the role of Delia Balmer – a girlfriend who survived a horrifying attack, sending Sweeney on the run for years.
Interestingly, this is one of an increasing number of ITV shows that have premiered someone other than the UK. It aired in April in New Zealand and Canada, but we've yet to see premiere details for the US and UK.
Dead & Buried
This four-part Northern Ireland-based thriller will star Colin Morgan (Humans) and Annabel Scholey (The Split), and it began filming back in January 2024. It sees Scholey playing Cathy, a woman who's on a supermarket run when she sees the man who was convicted for the murder of her brother twenty years prior. Though her friend advises her against it, Cathy goes online and investigates what he's been up to while she was busy grieving. From there, she begins to interact with him, her obsession only growing as she gets in deeper.
Others appearing in the series include Kerri Quinn (Hope Street), Waj Ali (Carnival Row), Owen Roe (Vikings), Niamh Walsh (The Sandman), Micheal Hanna (He'll Have to Go) and Joanne Crawford, (Blue Lights). There's no premiere date at time of writing, but it's expected to be available in the UK in autumn 2024 – no details yet for US readers.
Rebus
Richard Rankin stars as Ian Rankin's iconic detective John Rebus in this, the second major adaptation of the Scottish crime classic. Rebus is intelligent and relentless, but he's also cynical and disdainful of authority. He's the classic middle-aged, alcoholic male detective type, and this leaves him lonely and a bit haunted by all he's seen.
The six-part first season aired in May on BBC One and BBC Scotland, but American viewers are still waiting for a premiere date. In the meantime, you can check out the book series, which begins with Knots & Crosses.
The Red King
This unique series features element of the sort of folk horror that was so popular back in British shows of the 1960s and 70s (and which has been sadly lacking in recent years). The show follows Sergeant Grace Narayan (Anjli Mohindra), a woman whose strict rule-following keeps her at a distance from her more casual colleagues. She's eventually forced to take up a post on the remote Welsh island of St. Jory – and that's where her real troubles begin. As she investigates the cold case of a missing teenage boy, she begins to uncover long-buried secrets. Other cast members include Marc Warren, Mark Lewis Jones, Jill Halfpenny and Adjoa Andoh.
The series premiered earlier this year in the UK, but there's no US date as of yet.
Marlow Murder Club
Based on the novels by Robert Thorogood (Death in Paradise), this fun “cosy” mystery series is set in the market town of Marlow, where eccentric crossword puzzle setter Judith Potts finds herself mixed up in a murder (and then another, and another…) and making new friends in the process. Samantha Bond (Home Fires) plays Judith, while Jo Martin (Back to Life) plays friend Suzie Harris and Cara Horgan (Traitors) takes on the role of Becks Starling.
Though it has already premiered in the UK, it will begin airing on October 27th on PBS and PBS Masterpiece in the US. In the meantime, you can check out the books below:
Black Doves
Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw will star in this Christmas spy thriller about a spy and an assassin who together uncover a vast global conspiracy. Knightley will play Helen Webb, a dedicated wife and mother who's spent the last decade sharing her politician husband's secrets to a murky investigation known as the Black Doves. Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) will play Reed, her spymaster, while Ben Wishaw will play Sam Young, a suave, champagne-loving assassin whose job will be to protect Helen while she investigates who killed her lover.
The series is expected to premiere on Netflix sometime around Christmas, though an exact date hasn't been announced.
Protection
Katherine Kelly and Siobhan Finneran will star in this upcoming six-part drama about a witness protection department. Finneran stars as Detective Liz Nyles, an otherwise competent officer who's been compromised by an affair with a colleague. She knows there's corruption in her unit, but figuring out who's behind it will prove challenging. The series is expected to explore the often complicated morals of witness protection – a world where it's not just the truly innocent who are being shielded, but a great many nasty criminals whose only merit relates to what they do to help bring down other criminals.
The series will premiere on ITV and ITVX in 2024, but an American distributor has not yet been named.
Curfew
Sarah Parish (Bancroft) will star in this upcoming Paramount+ thriller about a society in which men are kept inside from 7pm to 7am each day for the safety of women. The six-part series will tell the story of a woman murdered during curfew hours, and it began filming in February of 2024. Mandip Gill (Doctor Who) and Mitchell Robinson (Mayflies) will star alongside Parish.
An official premiere date hasn't yet been announced, but as a Paramount+ series, that's where we'd expect to see it premiere.
Prime Target
More of a thriller than a crime drama, this upcoming Apple TV+ series will follow a young mathematician who's on the verge of a breakthrough when he learns someone is tracking him and trying to prevent him from achieving his goal. Cast members include Stephen Rea (The Crying Game), and David Morrissey (Sherwood). Though not strictly British, it will include a number of British cast members.
Looking Beyond 2024…
Dates haven't been announced for these shows, but based on what we know so far, there's a good chance they could be released in 2025 or beyond. Then again, some productions just don't get a ton of public updates, then the pop up on the schedules one day out of the blue – so you never know.
Cordelia Gray
Screenwriter Eve Hedderwick Turner (Anne Boleyn) is currently adapting PD James's Cordelia Gray books for a modern-day setting, with Caryn Mandaback Productions (Peaky Blinders) working on bringing it to life. James wrote two Cordelia Gray novels, An Unsuitable Job for a Woman and The Skull Beneath the Skin. In the stories, Gray inherits a detective agency and quickly finds herself deep in murder investigations.
Death Valley
Timothy Spall (The Sixth Commandment) and Gwyneth Keyworth (Alex Rider) will star in this upcoming comedy-murder mystery about a Welsh detective sergeant, Janie Mallowan (Keyworth), who finds herself in an unusual crime-fighting partnership with an eccentric retired actor who once starred on a popular crime drama (Spall).
The Crow Girl
Eve Myles (Keeping Faith) stars as DCI Jeanette Kilburn, a detective who joins forces with psychotherapist Sophia Craven (Katherine Kelly, Liar) after a teenage boy's body is discarded in plain sight. Together, they hunt the killer despite opposition from Kilburn's superiors. As they investigate, they uncover a chain of disappearances over time, along with evidence of police cover-up. This one's in production for Paramount+ UK, with no details on when it might premiere.
Department Q
Netflix announced this British adaptation of the Department Q book series back in February, and the production has been filming in Edinburgh. The series is based on author Jussi Adler-Olsen's Danish detective series, and it has previously been adapted for film in its home country.
In the books, we follow Carl Mørck, a man who used to be one of Denmark's top homicide detectives. After a raid gone wrong, his partner ends up paralysed and he blames himself. That's when he gets a mysterious promotion to Department Q, a division consisting of nothing more than himself, an assistant, and a box of cold case files.
A premiere date hasn't been announced, but given the filming dates, we would expect to see this on Netflix sometime between late 2024 and early 2025.
Down Cemetery Road
Many of our readers will have seen the Apple TV+ series based on Mick Herron's Slough House novels (Slow Horses). We expect fewer will be familiar with his Oxford/Zoe Boehm book series. Apple has decided to further mine his back catalogue, and this one will star Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson. Thompson will star as an Oxford-based PI who's been hired by a woman (Wilson) to look into a the case of a child who's gone missing after an explosion.
Playing Nice
James Norton (Grantchester, McMafia) will star in this Cornwall-based series about two couples who find out their toddlers were inadvertently switched at birth. The four-part thriller will also include Niamh Algar as wife to Norton's character, along with James McArdle and Jessica Brown Findlay. Premiere details have not yet been announced.
Bookish
Mark Gatiss is both the creator and star of this upcoming period mystery about a Gabriel Book, a gay book shop owner who helps police solve crimes in post-WW2 London. Polly Walker will co-star as Trottie Book, his wife (in a lavender marriage), while Elliot Levey will play Inspector Bliss. Filming began in Belgium in April 2024, and the series is expected to premiere in 2025.
A Matter of Blood
This genre-blending thriller follows DI Cass Jones as he hunts the enigmatic serial killer Mr. Solomon – a hunt that's disrupted when his own brother is found murdered and he's the prime suspect. As he fights for his life and freedom, he realises the case and his brother's murder might be more connected than he initially believed.
The six-part series is based on author Sarah Pinborough's best-selling Dog-Faced Gods trilogy.
Code of Silence
Code of Silence follows Alison Woods, a deaf catering worker played by Rose Ayling-Ellis (EastEnders, Strictly Come Dancing). Struggling to balance two jobs and support her deaf mother, she finds herself drawn into the world of crime fighting when DC Ashleigh Francis enlists her help. Her talent for lip reading becomes crucial in interpreting the conversations of dangerous criminals, but this unfortunately pulls her into a world full of danger.
The series began filming in May 2024 in London, but a premiere date hasn't been announced. It could be late 2024, but it could just as easily arrive in 2025. It will premiere on ITV and ITVX in the UK – no word yet for US viewers.
Out There
Martin Clunes (Doc Martin, Manhunt) will star in this upcoming true crime series about a widowed farmer who finds out his son is involved with county lines drug dealing. The series filmed recently in Wales, and it's expected to premiere on ITVX and ITV1 in the near future, though no premiere date has been set. For the US, we've yet to hear anything about when or where it will air.
The Seven Dials Mystery
This Netflix series will adapt Dame Agatha Christie's famous novel with a cast that includes Martin Freeman (The Responder), Helena Bonham Carter (Nolly), Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex), and Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve). Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall will be handling the adaptation, and it began filming this summer. No word on a premiere date, but we'd expect to see it in late 2024 or early 2025.
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