Everything British Worth Streaming in January 2026

It's a new year here at Telly Visions, and a pivotal one for the entertainment world as the final major shifts in the streaming landscape reconsolidate the dozens of streaming services we've been covering for the last decade. HBO Max remains in limbo as Netflix and Paramount vie for ownership. As part of the BBC, BritBox is facing the 99-year charter review, and the last of the failing streaming services, Peacock, still hangs on in hopes that its fortunes will turn if it just can wait long enough.

The primary American streaming services are happy to lean on British programming to bolster their coffers (and the never-ending demands of streaming for new titles), but only when it's convenient. Luckily, January is very convenient, with American broadcast not returning from hiatus until mid-month and many viewers staying home on these cold winter days. Between the New Year's Day releases and Netflix's continued effort to break shows into parts (rather than sensibly releasing them weekly), there's quite a bit heading to U.S. streaming services from the U.K. So let's run down all the British titles coming to our shores for January 2026.

Hijack Season 2

Apple TV dropped the plus, but it hasn't dropped the slow roll of British programming. Hijack Season 2 is the first U.K.-based series out of the gate, bringing back Idris Elba as Sam Nelson, who finds himself accidentally aboard another hijacked mode of public transport, and this time, it's trains. Toby Jones joins the cast as this season's probable antagonist. Season 2 will debut on Wednesday, January 14, 2026, with two episodes, then one episode per week through the end of February.

A Thousand Blows Season 2

Disney+ has finally combined with Hulu here in America (Hulu programming has been available via Disney+ everywhere else in the world for years), but that doesn't mean it's figured out how to promote Hulu series from the U.K. Case in point: A Thousand Blows, which went unnoticed in 2025 despite starring Adolescence's Stephen Graham and Erin Doherty. A big reason? It was released all at once instead of weekly, leaving no time to build an audience. So what is Disney doing for Season 2, now that its main stars are U.S. household names? Dropping all episodes at once again on Hulu with little to no fanfare. One day, Disney will either learn to market its shows regardless of which vertical they are under, or it will end up following HBO Max into a merger oblivion. All episodes of Season 2 will be available on Friday, January 9, 2026.

Industry Season 4

HBO Max will cease to exist as we know it one way or another before the end of 2026. Much like with PBS, the irony is that the people who run HBO and HBO Max have finally managed to right the ship and will debut multiple long-gestating hit shows between now and the end of their existence. The streaming service kicks off 2026 with Season 4 of Industry, which finally broke out in 2024 with Season 3. Series regulars Myha'la, Marisa Abela, and Ken Leung join the returning Kit Harington for another season of financial wizardry and high-stakes power moves. The series debuts on HBO and HBO Max at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, January 11, 2026, and will air/stream one episode a week until early March.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Season 1

The search for a Westeros-based fantasy series that can rival Game of Thrones continues. House of the Dragon has done what it can with its final seasons looming, but it never had that much to work with. Hopefully, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, based on the series of novellas, will fare better. The new series debuts Sunday, January 18, 2026, airing/streaming directly after Industry at 10 p.m. ET, and running through the beginning of March.

Run Away

If it's New Year's Day on Netflix, it's Harlan Coben time. Netflix accidentally discovered these standalone mystery series based on the American writer's novels and set in the U.K., did gangbusters with the British viewership on New Year's Day. This year's adaptation is Run Away, based on the 2019 novel of the same name, starring James Nesbitt, Ruth Jones, Minnie Driver, Alfred Enoch, and Lucian Msamati. All episodes debut Thursday, January 1, 2026.

Agatha Christie's Seven Dials

Netflix is coming for the BBC's Agatha Christie domination in 2026, with the debut of its first miniseries based on the Queen of Crime's lesser-known The Seven Dials Mystery. Like most recent BBC miniseries, this one features Christie's lesser-known sleuth, Detective Battle; unlike the BBC, however, Netflix will not erase the original detective or merge him with the other main male character. Instead, Martin Freeman will play the detective no one remembers Christie created, with Mia McKenna-Bruce as his running sidekick, Bundle Brent. All episodes debut Thursday, January 15, 2026.

Bridgerton Season 4, Part 1

Netflix is once again attempting to split shows in two, releasing the halves a month apart. (This despite mounting evidence that this only works for shows that debut in May/June, because the Emmy cutoff gives the streaming service the entertainment landscape to itself.) Bridgerton was fortunate the first time; Season 3 was a May/June release, and the Colin/Penelope story was one of the strongest of the batch. It is highly doubtful Season 4 (which is based on the weakest of the novels) will be able to pull off the same trick, even with Valentine's Day arriving between Parts 1 and 2. Someone slap Ted Sarandos until he finally admits that weekly release is better. Bridgerton Season 4 Part 1 debuts on Thursday, January 29, 2026, with Part 2 following at the end of February.

Coldwater

After serving his time and then some in zombieville over on AMC, Andrew Lincoln finally returns to his home country and native accent in Coldwater, a story about a middle-aged man who uproots his family from London to the small village of Coldwater, believing it will be a safer place to raise his family. He is, naturally, wrong. Eve Myles, Ewen Bremner, and Indira Varma co-star. The series debuts on Paramount+ on Friday, January 9, and follows on Showtime on Sunday, January 11, 2026. The series will debut one episode a week through the end of February.

The Traitors Season 4

Peacock's American version of the U.K. smash hit The Traitors returns for another round of D-list American reality celebrities being locked in a Scottish castle to play parlor games for our amusement. Let's hope the success of The Celebrity Traitors in the U.K. helps everyone in the U.S. think bigger about who they could cast for Season 5. Three episodes stream on Thursday, January 8, 2026, followed by two more on January 15, after which the show moves to one episode per week through the end of February.

PONIES

Parent company Comcast is still generating enough revenue from cable subscribers that Peacock can pretend it hasn't completely failed as a streaming service, which means it still occasionally airs U.K. shows, despite failing to market them or draw an audience. The latest series to hope against hope for viewers to notice it is the 1970s-set, unfortunately named PONIES (stands for Persons Of No Interest), starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson as a pair of widowed secretaries at the American embassy in Moscow who become spies. All eight episodes will drop on Thursday, January 15, 2026.

The Night Manager Season 2

Tom Hiddleston is leveraging his Marvel-earned clout to bring back The Night Manager, one of the biggest hits of the 2010s for the BBC. Since Season 1 exhausted the book's plot, and only Olivia Colman was willing to return for more with Hiddleston, the second and third seasons will be wholly new material inspired by the John LeCarr novel. Three episodes debut Sunday, January 11, 2026, with one episode a week to follow through mid-February.

Steal

Sophie Turner's second attempt to star in a breakout hit series after Joan failed to catch on in the U.S. is Steal, where she plays an office drone who accidentally finds herself caught up in the middle of a heist. The three-part U.K. thriller series co-stars Saltburns'Archie Madekwe as the mastermind behind the heist, and Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as the DCI who is on their tail. All three episodes debut on Wednesday, January 21, 2026.

Best Medicine Season 1

Doc Martin may have ended in the U.K.; however, the fandom, especially in the U.S., has not abated. So, of course, there will now be an Americanized version, Best Medicine, set in New England and starring Josh Charles as the rechristened Dr. Martin Best. The new series begins much like the original, as Dr. Best moves to a small town after his career in Boston collapses. The series will debut on the American broadcast network Fox on Sunday, January 4, 2026, and will then stream on Tubi. It will air one episode a week through January and February, unless the ratings and reviews are so dismal that Fox is forced to pull it.