Exciting new and returning ITV dramas you need to watch in 2025 with Happy Valley and Mr Bates vs The Post Office stars
ITV have a wide range of dramas coming to viewers’ screens during 2025.
With both returning favourites and new shows, period pieces and contemporary stories, the programmes cover a lot of bases.
Read on below for the must-see ITV dramas to watch coming up into 2025.
Unforgotten (Series Six)
Series six of Unforgotten sees Sinéad Keenan and Sanjeev Bhaskar reprise their roles as DCI Jess James and DI Sunil ‘Sunny’ Khan.
The crime drama explores investigations into cold cases -that is, unresolved criminal investigations.
In the latest outing, suspected human remains are discovered on Whitney Marsh.
Analysis showing these remains are relatively recent implies a grim outcome: that the body had been placed there already dismembered.
Additional returning actors include Andrew Lancel as Jess’ husband Steve, as well as Kate Robbins as her mother Kate.
Further cast members include MyAnna Buring, Max Fairley, Elham Elas, Victoria Hamilton, Jan Francis and Damien Maloney.
Protection
Happy Valley‘s Siobhan Finneran keads the cast of this police drama/conspiracy thriller.
Her character, DI Liz Nyles, is a compromised – but ultimately honest – officer, working in the secretive world of Witness Protection.
She is juggling her front-line job with a pressurised family life and her dad recovering from a stroke.
A horrifying incident at work raises serious questions about the integrity of Liz’s unit.
Facing accusations of corruptions, it is soon thought someone has been leaking information to organised crime.
With horror, Liz begins to speculate if she has unwittingly compromised herself.
Does her younger, married lover Paul Brandice (Barry Ward) have sinister motives – and has he been manipulating Liz?
Protection also stars Katherine Kelly, Kris Hitchen, Alec Newman, Channell Kular and Nadine Marshall.
A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
Bohemian Rhapsody’s Lucy Boynton takes on the leading role in this untold story of night club manageress Ruth Ellis – the last woman to hang in the UK.
Set in 1955, the show is based on Carol Ann Lee’s acclaimed biography A Fine Day for Hanging: The Real Ruth Ellis Story
Mr Bates and the Post Office‘s Toby Jones also stars in the four-part drama, in the role of Ruth’s solicitor John Bickford.
Gradually, Bickford realises the extent of Ruth’s abuse at the hands of her lover David Blakely (Laurie Davidson) – and fights to make the case for provocation.
The all-star line-up also features Nigel Havers, Mark Stanley, Arthur Darvill, Juliet Stevenson, Toby Stephens and Joe Armstrong.
Karen Pirie (Series Two)
Lauren Lyle is reprising her BAFTA-winning role as private investigator Karen Pirie.
In 1984, oil fortune heiress Catriona Grant is kidnapped at gunpoint alongside her young son Adam.
It sparks a huge investigation but when the culprits fall silent, the
case runs cold and Catriona and Adam are never seen again.
40 years later, Karen Pirie investigates when a man’s body is discovered – and is assigned to reopen the case in complete secrecy.
Alongside her team, they are tasked with unlocking an infamous Scottish mystery while evading any media attention.
What happened to Catriona Grant?
Also appearing are Emer Kenny (the show’s scriptwriter), Chris Jenks, Steve John Shepherd, Rahkee Thakrar, James Cosmo and John Michie.
Out There
Doc Martin‘s Martin Clunes stars as a farmer facing sinister forces seeping into his rural community.
The drama highlights the devastating impact as the farmer’s livelihood is threatened by local county lines drug dealers.
Essentially, these are urban gangs utilising the British countryside as a base of operations.
Scripted by Ed Whitmore, the show takes place in the Welsh countryside.
Playing Nice
BAFTA-winning Happy Valley star James Norton stars in this psychological thriller.
It follows two couples who discover their toddlers were switched at birth in a hospital mix-up.
Now faced with an impossible situation, do they keep the sons they’ve raised or reclaim their biological child?
The limited series’ cast also features Niamh Algar, Jessica Brown Findlay and James McArdle in leading roles.
The Bay (Series Five)
Coming back for its fifth series, Marsha Thomason returns as Morecambe’s MIU Family Liaison Officer DS Jenn Townsend.
In the new episode, a 23-year-old university student is found dead on the edge of the docks.
Returning to work following the death of her father, Jenn pushes her own grief aside to support the family.
As the investigation‘s stakes increase, Jenn grapples with her personal and professional struggles as she builds bridges with her own relatives.
Guest cast for the new series includes Leanne Best, Neil Maskell, David Troughton and Tara Lynne O’Neill.
Grantchester (Series Nine)
The upcoming series of Grantchester sees the arrival of a new vicar — Alphy Kotteram, played by Hollyoaks‘ Rishi Nair.
Meanwhile the show is bidding farewell to Reverend Will Davenport (Tom Brittney).
Set in 1961, all is well for Will and Geordie (Robson Green), but as Will is approached with a life-changing offer – can he leave Grantchester behind?
As for the Reverend Alphy Kotteram, he has a distrust for authority and no inclination to get involved in murder investigations.
Soon, Alphy and Geordie discover more similarities than they first realise – and the newcomer learns murder is never far in Grantchester.
The Dry (Series Two)
Roisin Gallagher returns to play recovering alcoholic Shiv Sheridan, with the other series one regulars also returning.
Picking up seven months later, the Sheridans are now in their “new normal”.
Outwardly, it appears the family is relatively content, with Shiv sober, celibate and solvent for six months.
Not to mention that Ant has hung onto his job at the
estate agent and his relationship with Max, while Caroline’s been exploring the benefits of Tinder.
All seems normal — or is it?
Party of Five
A popular US 90s teen drama, the show follows the five Salinger siblings following their parents’ deaths in a car accident.
The central characters are Charlie (Matthew Fox), Bailey (Scott Wolf), Julia (Neve Campbell) and Claudia (Lacey Chabert).
Also be on the lookout for ER’s Scott Grimes and I Know What You Did Last Summer‘s Jennifer Love Hewitt in major supporting roles.
Watch along as the Salingers navigate managing their own lives, first loves and growing up.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
This smash-hit supernatural drama series originally aired from 1997 to 2003.
Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar in the title role, it followed a young woman who happens to be latest in a succession of women known as “Vampire Slayers”.
Chosen by fate, their role is to fight against vampires and other sinister forces.
Buffy herself receives guidance along the way from her “Watcher” – Giles, who is played by Anthony Stewart Head.
The ensemble cast also includes Alyson Hannigan, David Boreanaz, James Marsters and Charisma Carpenter.
Belgravia The Next Chapter
Set in 1871, this series picks up 30 years after the events of Belgravia, written by Downton Abbey scribe Julian Fellowes.
Penned by Helen Edmundson, Belgravia The Next Chapter tells the story of Frederick Trenchard – the third Lord Glanville – and his new love interest Clara Dunn.
Frederick is unaware his birth was from an affair between his mother
Susan and rogue John Bellasis.
A troubled childhood has left him feeling insecure – challenging Frederick’s relationship with Clara.
Crime dramas on ITVX
Crime drama buffs have a wide selection of choices on ITVX - here is a selection of some of the programmes available to binge.
- Professor T: Based on a Belgian TV series of the same name, former Death in Paradise lead Ben Miller plays the title character. Professor Jasper Tempest is a criminologist with OCD who helps the police solve crimes. The cast also includes Emma Naomi, Barney White and Andy Gathergood.
- The Beast Must Die: This series follows a mother’s grief for her son, who was killed in an accident. Nicholas Blake’s novel of the same name has been adapted for the programme. Stars include Cush Jumbo, Jared Harris, Billy Howle and Geraldine James.
- Red Eye: Starring Richard Armitage, Jing Lusi and Lesley Sharp star in this six-part thriller, which mostly takes place during an all-night flight between London and Beijing. With dead bodies piling up and a mystery to unravel, the heroes must work fast to get to the truth.
- The Twelve: This Australian drama originally aired as a miniseries in 2022, with the episodes dropping in the UK in February 2023. Four months later, the show was renewed for a second season. Jurassic Park star Sam Neill stars in the leading role of barrister Brett Colby.
- Manhunt: Martin Clunes stars in this drama based on true murder investigations. Series one focused on the death of Amélie Delagrange, which took place in 2004, while the second depicted the search for serial rapist Delroy Grant.