New drama
IT’S A FREE WORLD (Channel 4, Sept)
Ken Loach launches an attack on our country’s exploitation of cheap immigrant
labour. Impressive newcomer Kierston Wareing stars.
JOE’S PALACE (BBC One, Nov)/ CAPTURING MARY (BBC Two, Nov)
All the Stephen Poliakoff traits on display in his latest pair of linked
films, the latter featuring David Walliams and Ruth Wilson ( above).
Exquisite, haunting, oblique, rather peculiar – they’re the anithesis of Ken
Loach’s social grit ( see left).
THE DINNER PARTY (BBC, Sept)
Tony Grounds’s satire of suburban manners follows a dinner party as it
descends into hell. An impressive ensemble cast features Alison Steadman.
Just don’t call it an Abigail’s Party remake.
BRITZ (Channel 4, Oct)
A grimly topical two-part thriller from Peter Kosminsky ( The Government
Inspector) about siblings pulled apart by conflicting experiences in
post9/11 Britain.
FRANKENSTEIN (ITV1, late autumn)
The not-so-good doctor is reborn in the 21st century as a female biologist
played by Helen McCrory.
CRANFORD (BBC One, late autumn)
Judi Dench (right) dons bonnet for an ambitious adaptation of three
Elizabeth Gaskell novels.
WHISTLEBLOWERS (ITV1, Sept)
Tony Marchant ( The Mark of Cain) has a knack for powerful drama, so
hopes are high for this thriller series.
FAIRYTALES (BBC One, late autumn)
After contemporary versions of The Canterbury Tales in 2003 and
Shakespeare plays in 2005 come radical reworkings of four bedtime staples.
For example, Billy Goat, with Mathew Horne, Paul Nicholls and Nick
Mohammed ( l-r above), has a local boy band craving pastures new.
STUART: A LIFE BACKWARDS (BBC Two, Sept)
Based on Alexander Masters’s novel about his friendship with Stuart, a
homeless young alcoholic. Expect clips of Tom Hardy as Stuart at next year’s
TV-awards bashes.
MY BOY JACK (ITV1, late autumn)
David Haig’s play about the grief and guilt of Rudyard Kipling after carting
his boy off to war. Haig, Kim Cattrall and Daniel Radcliffe ( right)
make for an eye-catching cast.
OLIVER TWIST (BBC One, late autumn)
This year’s Bleak House? Timothy Spall will play Fagin.
A ROOM WITH A VIEW (ITV1, late autumn)
Tim Spall again, this time playing opposite his son, Rafe.
MISS AUSTEN REGRETS (BBC One, late autumn)
Imagining the novelist’s final years.
THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (ITV1, late autumn)
Derek Jacobi and Toby Jones lead the requisite cast of hundreds.
BELLE DE JOUR (ITV2, Sept)
Spanking . . . orgies . . . Billie Piper? The combination has already
been exciting the tabloids as Belle de Jour’s blog about life as a
high-class hooker is dramatised ( right).
Factual
(BBC One, mid-autumn)
At 64, the globe-trotting Python shows little sign of hanging up his hiking
boots. For this latest travelogue, Palin finally gets round to investigating
less-exotic climes – the Eastern Bloc, from Albania to Estonia, Slovakia to
Slovenia.
BLAIR (BBC One, late autumn)
We may feel we’ve had our fill of postmortems of the Blair years. But the BBC
is promising that this series will be “landmark”, featuring a number of
candid interviews in which Tone looks back on his years in power. Je ne
regrette rien?
ROSS KEMP IN AFGHANISTAN/ ON GANGS (Sky One, Oct)
Kemp’s macho persona goes on tour, joining the British Army to fight the
Taleban and meeting more notorious gangs around the world.
STEPHEN FRY: HIV AND ME (BBC Two, late autumn)
Almost a follow-up to his two-parter on bipolar disorder, this docu-journey
has the nation’s favourite polymath hearing personal stories of those
affected by HIV.
THE NATURE OF BRITAIN (BBC One, Oct)
Natural history series that appears to be another shot at nudging Alan
Titchmarsh in a more David Attenboroughish direction. Comedy
THE ARMSTRONG AND MILLER SHOW (BBC One, late autumn)
Seven years after Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller knocked their likeable
Channel 4 sketch show on the head, it receives a resurrection on BBC One. In
which Jessica Hynes (née Stevenson, of Spaced fame) writes and
stars as a woman who continually fails her driving test. David Tennant geeks
it up as the instructor.
LEAD BALLOON (BBC Two, late autumn)
Jack Dee’s ever-dejected Rick Spleen character returns for a new series and a
promotion from BBC Four.
COMEDY SHOWCASE (Channel 4, Oct)
Channel 4 celebrates 25 years of comedy output with six 30-minute specials
featuring such talent as Martin Freeman and Stephen Mangan.
THE OMID DJALILI SHOW (BBC One, late autumn)/ THE PETER SERAFINOWICZ SHOW
(BBC Two, Oct)
Two comic talents get their own shows. Entertainment
ELTON JOHN: ME, MYSELF AND I (ITV1; mid-autumn)
Another self-indulgent profile? Maybe, but this one boasts an innovative
stylistic approach, with the Queen Mother of rock revisiting his earlier
incarnations via cutting-edge special effects.
THE RICHES (Virgin1, late autumn)
Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver ( above) lead the Malloy clan, Irish
grifters who assume the identity of a middle-class suburban family in
Louisiana in this skewering of the American Dream.
THE TUDORS (BBC Two, mid-autumn)
A glossy US series portraying the early years of Henry VIII, when he was
apparently a stud with rock-idol looks (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, below).
ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A TEN-YEAR-OLD? (Sky One, Oct)
Sky bags the Deal or No Deal host Noel Edmonds for its own new game
show, which humiliates grown-ups by asking questions set by ten-year-olds.
I’M A CELEBRITY . . . GET ME OUT OF HERE (ITV1, mid-autumn)
The jungle contest returns. Pity the local population of arthropods.
CLASSICAL STAR (BBC Two, mid-autumn)
The talent show format turns to the world of classical musicians.
MILLIONAIRE’S MISSION (Channel 4, Sept)
Entrepreneurs live for three weeks in a Ugandan village. Can their expertise
help living standards? Can Channel 4 end African poverty?
NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (Sky One, mid-autumn)
Jerry Springer presides as participants confess their sins to loved ones for
our amusement. US imports
THE COMPANY (BBC Two, mid-autumn)
The season’s big, glossy US thriller follows nefarious CIA goings-on over 30
years up to the first Gulf conflict. Chris O’Donnell, Alfred Molina and
Michael Keaton lead a starry cast. Arts
NUREYEV – FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (BBC Two, Sept)
A feature-length performance documentary that highlights Nureyev’s career in
Russia before his 1961 defection, revealing him as a breathtaking star long
before he made his name in the West.
FACTORY – FROM JOY DIVISION TO HAPPY MONDAYS (BBC Four, Sept)
A 90-minute film tracing the rise and glorious demise of the legendary Factory
label, this will inevitably assume the mantle of a tribute to its founder
Tony Wilson.
A YEAR IN THE LIFE . . . J. K. ROWLING (ITV1, late autumn)
Following the author as she completes her last Potter tome.
ARENA – THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY OF PHIL SPECTOR (BBC Two, late autumn)
An extraordinary scoop for Arena. While standing trial for murder,
the famously enigmatic record producer participated fully in this
no-holds-barred profile, set to his greatest hits.
FROM THE BASEMENT (Sky Arts, late autumn) No audience for a new
live-music series, so far featuring the White Stripes, Thom Yorke, Beck and
Jarvis Cocker. Jack White reckons: “No host. Thank God.”
All transmission details are subject to change
