30 TV shows you can’t afford to miss in 2017

Over­whelmed by the amount of choice on offer on the small screen these days? Are you look­ing for high qual­i­ty pro­gram­ming but live in fear of miss­ing out? We’re here to help. Our essen­tial 2017 TV pre­view fea­tures 30 orig­i­nal dra­mas, ani­mat­ed series, long-await­ed fol­low-ups, cult curios and tan­ta­lis­ing spin-offs, all com­ing your way over the next 12 months. Tell us which shows you’re most look­ing for­ward to by tweet­ing us @LWLies

10 Jan­u­ary, BBC/FX

Tom Hardy stars as an adven­tur­er in the 1800s, who on his return to Eng­land, seeks revenge on the men who killed his father. Peaky Blind­ers cre­ator Steven Knight again part­ners up with Hardy fol­low­ing their fruit­ful col­lab­o­ra­tions on the pop­u­lar BBC dra­ma as well as the 2013 fea­ture, Locke. This project is par­tic­u­lar­ly close to Hardy’s heart, with Chips Hardy (his dad) being cred­it­ed as a co-cre­ator. Jonathan Pryce, Oona Chap­lin and Jessie Buck­ley are among the tal­ent­ed cast.

TBC, Net­flix

Sophia Amoruso’s best­selling book about her climb to the top of the fash­ion indus­try is get­ting the Net­flix treat­ment, with a 13-part series set to be released in 2017. The show will hope­ful­ly give a much need­ed insight into the life of a 21^st cen­tu­ry busi­ness­woman and her successes.

2 Feb­ru­ary, NBC

A bril­liant sound­ing premise for an orig­i­nal com­e­dy, Pow­er­less imag­ines how an insur­ance com­pa­ny copes with the destruc­tion caused by DC super­heroes. A ques­tion often pon­dered in com­ic book movie land is whether the heroes are actu­al­ly caus­ing more harm than good. Now final­ly it looks like we have the answer. Alan Tur­dyk and Vanes­sa Hud­gens star in this off­beat caper.

26 April, Hulu

Based on the incred­i­bly suc­cess­ful book by Mar­garet Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale cen­tres around a woman who is forced to live as a con­cu­bine under a total­i­tar­i­an theoc­ra­cy, where she then begins an illic­it affair. This series is pro­duced by MGM Tele­vi­sion and stars the great Elis­a­beth Moss along­side Yvonne Strahovski.

TBC, Net­flix

Spike Lee is trans­form­ing his debut fea­ture She’s Got­ta Have It into a 10-part Net­flix series which he will direct and pro­duce along­side his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee. The 1986 film pro­vid­ed a ground­break­ing por­tray­al of an African-Amer­i­can woman in New York, and for its 30^th anniver­sary year Lee was keen to, ​“revis­it these mem­o­rable char­ac­ters who will still be rel­e­vant and avant garde three decades lat­er.” DeWan­da Wise will play the lead, Nola Dar­ling, with Antho­ny Ramos also starring.

15 Jan­u­ary, HBO

A hand­some rogue with tra­di­tion­al­ist views (Jude Law) becomes the new pon­tiff despite his shady past and Amer­i­can her­itage which caus­es polit­i­cal tur­moil amongst the Catholic faith­ful. A coke drink­ing, cig­a­rette smok­ing Pope is an odd prospect and should make for great TV, espe­cial­ly with the for­mi­da­ble cast includ­ing Diane Keaton and Javier Cámara.

TBC, Show­time

A line uttered by many a stand-up come­di­an, this show fol­lows the ins and outs of a ​’70s-com­e­dy club in the thriv­ing scene of LA. Pro­duced by Jim Car­rey, star­ring Melis­sa Leo, Ari Graynor and a host of spe­cial guests, and based on William Knoedelseder’s nov­el of the same name, expect lash­ings of dark humour.

TBC, HBO

James Fran­co plays twins in this series which explores New York City in the ​’70s, where pros­ti­tu­tion and the pornog­ra­phy was turn­ing Man­hat­tan into a seedy cesspit. The Wire cre­ator David Simon and writer George Pele­canos are the dri­ving force behind this one, with Mag­gie Gyl­len­haal star­ring along­side Franco.

TBC, Starz

An ex-con dis­cov­ers that his new boss is the Norse God Odin in this long-await­ed adap­ta­tion of Neil Gaiman’s nov­el. The series is co-cre­at­ed by Han­ni­bal mas­ter­mind Bryan Fuller and Logan and Blade Run­ner 2049 writer Michael Green, and stars Demore Barnes and Gillian Ander­son.

TBC, Net­flix

Justin Simien returns to write and direct this series adap­ta­tion of his 2015 break­out fea­ture. Dear White Peo­ple explores the lives of black stu­dents at a pre­dom­i­nant­ly white Ivy League col­lege and the every­day racism they face, with the radio show from which the film takes its name act­ing as a nar­ra­tive over­lay. The forth­com­ing TV expan­sion will ensure that the nation­al dis­course around race will con­tin­ue pro­duc­tive­ly in the main­stream media.

TBC, ABC

In this sequel to Shakespeare’s ​‘Romeo and Juli­et’, the mar­riage of Ros­aline and Ben­vo­lio is intend­ed to unite the war­ring house­holds in the wake of the doomed cousins’ deaths. Lashana Lynch, who made her film debut in 2011’s Fast Girls, stars as Ros­aline along­side Zuleikha Robin­son as Lady Capulet and new­com­er Wade Brig­gs as Benvolio.

TBC, Net­flix

A new project from Lisa Rubin, Gyp­sy fol­lows ther­a­pist Jean Hol­loway, in a star­ring role for Nao­mi Watts, who devel­ops dan­ger­ous rela­tion­ships with her clients. Also star­ring Bil­ly Crudup, the series has a strong cast and well-estab­lished direc­tor in Sam Tay­lor-John­son behind it.

TBC, Dis­ney XD

Dis­ney Tele­vi­sion Ani­ma­tion have pro­duced an ani­mat­ed series to fol­low on from the 2014 mega-hit Big Hero 6. Ryan Pot­ter returns to voice Hiro Hama­da, the 14-year-old robot­ics prodi­gy who faces the chal­lenge of acad­e­mia as well as the respon­si­bil­i­ties of fight­ing crime once enrolled at the San Fran­sokyo Insti­tute of Tech­nol­o­gy. He is joined by most of the orig­i­nal voice cast from the film, includ­ing Jamie Chung as fel­low stu­dent GoGo Toma­go and Scott Adsit as inflat­able robot Baymax.

TBC, BBC

The acclaimed BBC minis­eries cre­at­ed Jane Cam­pi­on returns for a sec­ond instal­ment with Nicole Kid­man and Game of Thrones’ Gwen­do­line Christie join­ing Elis­a­beth Moss. The crime dra­ma fol­lows Moss as Detec­tive Robin Grif­fin, who returns to her New Zealand home­town to solve the mys­tery of a preg­nant 12-year-old’s dis­ap­pear­ance. The sec­ond sea­son will report­ed­ly take place in Syd­ney and Hong Kong.

TBC, Net­flix

Net­flix has ordered six episodes of anoth­er book adap­ta­tion series for 2017, this time Alias Grace based on the 1998 Mar­garet Atwood nov­el of the same name. The show depicts the true sto­ry of ser­vants Grace Marks and and James McDer­mott, who were con­vict­ed of the mur­ders of their employ­er Thomas Kin­n­ear and house­maid Nan­cy Mont­gomery in 1843. Sarah Pol­ley has adapt­ed Atwood’s text and Amer­i­can Psycho’s Mary Har­ron will direct.

13 Jan­u­ary, Netflix

The dark and delight­ful­ly gloomy children’s series final­ly has the small screen treat­ment it deserves cour­tesy of Net­flix. Neil-Patrick Har­ris, Patrick War­bur­ton and Joan Cusack are the most well-known names to star in this new adap­ta­tion, which intro­duces new­com­ers Louis Hynes and Mali­na Weiss­man as the Baude­laire chil­dren. The show will hope­ful­ly cap­ture the inte­gral som­bre tones of the orig­i­nal stories.

TBC, Net­flix

This year’s instant cult clas­sic Stranger Things was one of Netflix’s third most-watched orig­i­nal show ever. The sec­ond sea­son promis­es a host of new char­ac­ters, with the return­ing kids joined by for­mer child-star Sean Astin. Expect anoth­er healthy dose of nos­tal­gia-laced hor­ror-mys­tery. But will Eleven return? We’re expect­ing answers ear­ly summer.

TBC, FX

FX has picked up this new 10-episode series from Boyz n the Hood direc­tor John Sin­gle­ton. The West Wing’s Tim Math­e­son and actor/​comedian DeR­ay Davis are set to star at this dra­mat­ic look at the 1980s Los Ange­les cocaine epi­dem­ic and its impact on the city. Lon­don-born Dam­son Idris is also set to fea­ture as pow­er-hun­gry street entre­pre­neur Franklin Saint.

19 Feb­ru­ary, HBO

An all-star cast of Alexan­der Skars­gård, Adam Scott, Nicole Kid­man and Reese With­er­spoon assem­ble for this eager­ly antic­i­pat­ed orig­i­nal series. It fol­lows a group of seem­ing­ly per­fect moth­ers whose cosy lives are shat­tered by mur­der and oth­er mys­te­ri­ous goings on. Dal­las Buy­ers Club direc­tor Jean-Marc Val­lée teams with David E Kel­ley for this twist­ed sub­ur­ban drama.

TBC, Showtime/​Sky Atlantic

A new Sky Atlantic series about an activist cou­ple in 1970s Lon­don who free a polit­i­cal pris­on­er will fea­ture Idris Elba in the lead. He’s also serv­ing as exec­u­tive pro­duc­er, team­ing up with writer John Rid­ley who won the Best Screen­play Oscar in 2014 for 12 Years a Slave. Guer­ril­la promis­es to be an intense explo­ration of rad­i­cal activism and resistance.

TBC, Show­time

A show that real­ly needs no intro­duc­tion. David Lynch’s first major project since 2006 – and his first with writer Mark Frost since 1992’s Fire Walk with Me – chron­i­cles the infa­mous moun­tain town 25 years on. Sheryl Lee, Mäd­chen Amick, Dana Ash­brook, Kyle MacLach­lan and the rest return for what is eas­i­ly the most excit­ing TV event of the year.

TBC, Net­flix

Com­mu­ni­ty cre­ators Joel McHale and Dan Har­mon are writ­ing 14 new episodes of cult ​’90s com­e­dy MST3K, which owes its revival to Kick­starter. It’s set to star Feli­cia Day and Pat­ton Oswalt as the revamped mad sci­en­tists who send a use­less work­er (Jon­ah Ray) into space where he is made to watch ter­ri­ble movies with his robot bud­dies as a wicked experiment.

TBC, ABC

This intrigu­ing new project from Oscar-win­ning screen­writer Dustin Lance Black chron­i­cles the gay rights move­ment in the US from the Stonewall Riots in 1969 onwards. The first two-hour seg­ment will be direct­ed by Gus van Sant, and the cast includes Guy Pearce and Mary-Louise Park­er as an LGBT activist and women’s rights activist respectively.

TBC, Net­flix

Jen­ji Kohan, the brains behind Orange is the New Black, will serve as exec­u­tive pro­duc­er on the com­e­dy dra­ma G.L.O.W., about the 1980s female wrestling out­fit Gor­geous Ladies of Wrestling. Star­ring Ali­son Brie and come­di­an Marc Maron, the show will delve into the per­son­al and pro­fes­sion­al lives of female pro wrestlers as a strug­gling actress finds work on a week­ly series about the performers.

TBC, Net­flix

No Paul Rudd, but Eliz­a­beth Banks, Amy Poehler and Ken Mari­no all return for the third instal­ment of the cult film-cum-series, which will fol­low the pro­gres­sion (or per­haps regres­sion) of the much-loved camp­mates 10 years on. Let’s hope it con­tin­ues the suc­cess of the Net­flix pre­quel from 2015.

17 March, Netflix

Finn Jones, best known for play­ing Loras Tyrell in Game of Thrones, lands his next major screen role as Dan­ny Rand, aka Iron Fist, in this new Mar­vel series. It sees the tit­u­lar mar­tial arts expert return to New York to claim his fam­i­ly lega­cy, where must choose between his duties as a human weapon and his inher­it­ed responsibilities.

TBC, Ama­zon

Chris Kraus’ 1997 nov­el of the same name has been adapt­ed for Ama­zon. Star­ring Kathryn Hahn and Grif­fin Dunne as a cou­ple who become infat­u­at­ed with a pro­fes­sor named Dick (Kevin Bacon), the lat­est offer­ing from Trans­par­ent cre­ator Jill Soloway promis­es to be anoth­er humor­ous explo­ration of mar­ried life. The pilot received warm reviews when it aired back in August.

TBC, Net­flix

Char­l­ize Theron is exec pro­duc­ing this crime dra­ma which focus­es on two FBI agents and their attempts to solve cas­es by inter­view­ing impris­oned ser­i­al killers. Based on the book ​‘Mind­hunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Ser­i­al Crime Unit’ by for­mer agents John Dou­glas and Mark Olshak­er, the show will star Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany in the lead roles. David Finch­er is down to direct.

TBC, BBC/​Netflix

This four-part ani­mat­ed ser­i­al, based on the beloved 1972 nov­el by Richard Adams, boasts a bud­get of £20 mil­lion and a cast con­sist­ing of Gem­ma Arter­ton, John Boye­ga, Ben Kings­ley, Nicholas Hoult, Olivia Cole­man and James McAvoy. It’s set to air first on BBC One before hit­ting Netflix.

TBC, FX

This lat­est work from Amer­i­can Hor­ror Sto­ry cre­ator Ryan Mur­phy is an anthol­o­gy series depict­ing the infa­mous rival­ry of Joan Craw­ford and Bette Davis that peaked dur­ing the film­ing of the 1962 film What­ev­er Hap­pened to Baby Jane?. The show boasts an all-star cast with Jes­si­ca Lange as Craw­ford and Susan Saran­don as Davis along­side Alfred Moli­na, Stan­ley Tuc­ci and Sarah Paulson.