British Shows We Want To See in 2026
We run down ten of the shows we're most excited to see in 2026, which of them already have streaming homes and which are still waiting for pick up.
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, when British shows crossed the pond, they ended up in one of two places: PBS and BBC America. Occasionally, one would show up on HBO or Showtime, but the vast majority would end up either on public broadcasting or on an esoteric cable channel.
Times have changed radically in the dozen years since then. Since the 2020s rolled in, British shows have started debuting on every streaming service imaginable, even the extremely niche Scandi-noir-focused Viaplay and the foreign-language-dominant MHz Choice.
On the one hand, this is a time of feasting for those who love BBC and ITV programming – the number of shows that cross the pond has risen tenfold. However, it’s hard to keep track of what shows are being picked up, let alone where and when Americans can stream them. Moreover, several shows still lack American distribution and are overlooked by those trying to determine which titles will work best.
Let’s dive into some of the biggest British series coming out of the U.K. in 2026 that have confirmed airing and streaming rights, and those that are still looking for someone to pick them up.
Riot Women
Initially planned for an October debut, only to be pushed at the last minute to January, the Riot Women hype machine has been very effective during the delay. More people have asked me about the Sally Wainwright series, where and when they can watch, than the new season of Bridgerton or the upcoming season of House of the Dragon. Apparently, the idea of five A-list actresses known for their corset dramas ripping off the shackles of the patriarchy to form a punk band angrier than The Clash is immensely appealing; so much so, the BBC has already greenlit Season 2 for 2027.
Riot Women debuts with two episodes on BritBox on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, with one episode to follow each week.
Doctor Who Season 3/16/42
It doesn’t matter how you number them; the next season of Doctor Who needs a home on this side of the pond. (Though the Disney+ disaster is an argument for us all to return to the original numbering format and pick up with Season 42.) Yes, the Season 2/15/41 finale was like watching a car crash in real time as Russell T. Davies’ plans to turn the beloved British franchise into Disney+’s next Star Wars evaporated. No, we have no idea who the next Doctor will be, how the hell the show gets out of the corner it just painted itself into, or whether Davies will even still be showrunner (though Bad Wolf’s 51% ownership makes removing him rather difficult). Although the franchise rating didn’t meet Disney’s standards, it was, until the move, one of the last bulwarks supporting BBC America and AMC+. For a small-time streaming service (Acorn TV, BritBox, PBS Passport), it could be a genuine game changer. Heck, it could even help bolster HBO Max at this rate, and you know Netflix would love to give Disney a black eye by scooping up the series and actually turning it into a hit.
Point being, Doctor Who’s unfortunate hiatus will be over by Christmas 2026. Someone needs to get on it.
The Puzzle Lady
PBS announced in 2025 that it was joining forces with Channel 5 to help produce The Puzzle Lady, a brand-new cozy crime series starring Downton Abbey’s Phyllis Logan as the titular sleuth Cora Felton, and Charlotte Hope (The Spanish Princess) as her niece, Sherry. The semi-comic series follows crossword puzzle maker Cora, who is dragged kicking and screaming into helping solve a local crossword-clue-based murder, terrified that everyone will realize she's actually a fraud. Sherry is the brains behind the operation.
The three-episode first season (which was broadcast on 5 under the title Murder Most Puzzling) will debut with all episodes on PBS Passport on Thursday, February 19, 2026. No word on an official air date yet, but as this is a Thursday release, it may be as your local station sees fit. Check your local listings, etc.
A Woman of Substance
Channel 4 is going back to basics, remaking the original drama that helped it break out of the also-ran pack behind the BBC and the still-forming ITV in the 1980s. Based on the Barbara Taylor Bradford novel, the new version of A Woman of Substance will star Brenda Blethyn (Vera) and Jessica Reynolds (House of Guinness) as the older and younger versions of series heroine Emma Harte, an impoverished, ambitious maid in Yorkshire whose drive to succeed leads her to become the world’s richest woman. The original never properly aired in the States, too recent for Masterpiece Theater, and ignored by the other Big Three networks. In 2026, it is hard to imagine Masterpiece passing on it a second time (though funding cuts may prevent it), but if it does, BritBox will need to step up.
A Woman of Substance will premiere on Channel 4 sometime in 2026.
Rivals Season 2
Disney+ may have dumped the Doctor, but Hulu is all up in David Tennant’s (ahem), bringing back the second season of hit series Rivals, based on the famous Jilly Cooper series of bonkbusters. Season 1 was an all-at-once drop in late 2024, and the rollout was hampered by Hulu’s interface, which was disastrous in the months after it was dumped into Disney+. By the time Season 2 rolls out later in 2026, Hulu will be fully integrated with Disney+, and someone might even have figured out how to market the series to Americans. For everyone’s sake, we hope it does.
Rivals Season 2 is slated to premiere in the U.K. and the U.S. on Disney+ in 2026.
Frauds
Sapphic heist drama Frauds, starring Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who) and Suranne Jones (Vigil) as a pair of ex-girlfriends doing one last job, debuted on ITVX in October 2025. The six-episode series is the latest from Jones’ production company, which was the studio behind the PBS series MaryLand. However, the subject matter (and violence) isn’t really suited for PBS Passport, and would almost certainly do better on Netflix or HBO Max... heck it would actually fit the profile of the exact sort of show from the U.K. that Peacock tends to go for, though considering how poorly Vigil and The Capture have done on the Comcast-owned streaming service, I’d never recommend it go there.
Anyway, with all episodes already out in the U.K., American viewers will have to hope someone gets on the ball and grabs this.
The Detection Club
I'm still waiting for my Lord Peter Wimsey reboot, but until someone gets on that, we can all look forward to The Detection Club, a new series jointly produced by the BBC and BritBox. Based on the real-life Detection Club, formed by Dorothy L. Sayers and G.K. Chesterton and including Agatha Christie, for mystery writers to talk shop in the 1930s, the fictional series asks what would happen if the greatest mystery writers of the age actually solved crimes while they were about it. If this doesn’t lead to a resurgence of Dorothy Sayers’ greatest detective, we riot.
The Detection Club will premiere on the BBC and BritBox sometime in 2026.
A Passage To India
We are well overdue for a full-on E.M. Forster revival, even if (and maybe especially because) the Merchant-Ivory era of films has sadly become passe. The 2017 remake of Howards End was a good reminder that these novels make for excellent prestige TV miniseries. It took nearly a decade, but the BBC has finally teamed up with production studio Working Title for a six-episode series based on the seminal A Passage To India, the first time anyone has tackled it since the 1984 release. There’s no cast announced yet, and the 1920s period piece will probably need extra funding, so it’s a perfect opportunity for an American distributor to step up, whether that's PBS, BritBox, Netflix, or HBO Max.
A Passage to India is expected to film in the first half of 2026 and will debut as part of the 2026-2027 television season.
Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence
Usually referred to as Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime series, the Queen of Crime’s third-ranked detectives, behind Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, have struggled to land the same kind of fandom as her more popular sleuths. This is the third series based on the six books Christie wrote, following the middling success of the 1980s adaptation and the crash-and-burn single season of the 2015 remake. BritBox is hedging its bets by adapting the novels (which begin in the mid-1920s) for the new century, resetting the struggling couple in the 2020s, where conditions are not far removed from those of the interwar period. Antonia Thomas (Still Up) and Josh Dylan (The Buccaneers) star as the titular couple with Imelda Staunton as their benefactor, Aunt Ada.
Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence will premiere on BritBox in 2026.
Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping
David Mitchell has staged a mighty comeback in America with one of BritBox’s biggest hits of 2025, Ludwig. Unfortunately, his other comeback, a return to sketch comedy with long-time partner Robert Webb, did not make it to this side of the pond in 2025. Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping is another in the long series of Mitchell & Webb shows, which were a cult hit on BBC America in the preteens and a significant factor in why Mitchell could launch Ludwig as successfully as he did. Why BritBox did not follow its success by bringing over the new sketch series is a total mystery, and why no one else stepped in to correct this oversight continues to boggle me.
Listen, you know why Mitchell & Webb are not helping? Because they’re not on my television. You know how Mitchell & Webb could really help in 2026? If someone fixed that for us. Like Doctor Who, bringing over a new Mitchell & Webb sketch show is an automatic viewership booster because their fans will sign up en masse. Hello, Apple TV. We know Noel Fielding burned you with The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, but seriously, Mitchell & Webb are right there.
