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It’s that time of the year again: the nights are getting longer, the days are getting colder and the quality of the drama on TV is getting considerably better. The BBC have recently released the trailer for their Autumn and Winter dramas over the next six months, and it promises some corkers. Here’s my guide to the first half of the list.
Starring: Christopher Eccleston and Mackenzie Crook
Overview: Acclaimed writer Jimmy McGovern tells six separate tales of how six different people ended up in the docks, examining questions of justice and morality.
Anticipation level: Fairly high. There’s good talent involved on both sides of the camera, but the idea could get in the way of entertainment.
Starring: Rufus Sewell
Overview: Based on the popular novels by Michael Dibdin, this three part adaptation follows the “handsome, humorous and romantic” detective as he solves crimes in Italy.
Anticipation level: Very high. Popular books, a gorgeous setting and Rufus Sewell should be a dynamite combination.
Starring: Matt Smith, Lindsay Duncan and Imogen Poots
Overview: A look at the formative years of novelist Christopher Isherwood as he escapes his oppressive relationship with his mother and enters the gay subculture of 1930s Berlin.
Anticipation levels: High. A brilliant cast should help to tell this potentially fascinating story with flare.
Starring: Romola Garai, Gillian Anderson, Chris O’Dowd and many more
Overview: This adaptation explores the dark side of Victorian London through the story of young prostitute Sugar as she tries to escape her life with the help of businessman William Rackman.
Anticipation level: High. The cast is amazing and the seedier side of Victorian London usually makes for compelling viewing.
Starring: Matt Smith, Michael Gambon and Katherine Jenkins
Overview: Details are still pretty scarce, but it appears to be a sci-fi twist on the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol.
Anticipation level: Ridiculously high. It’ll be fascinating to see what Steven Moffat makes of the format, and Michael Gambon can do no wrong.
Starring: Mark Gatiss and Rory Kinnear
Overview: In 1969, 90-year old Julius Bedford tells a young boy the story of the real first men on the moon, who went there in 1909 in a copper and cast-iron sphere.
Anticipation level: High. Gatiss also wrote this adaptation of HG Wells’s novel, and he’s brilliant at this kind of thing.
Starring: Ruth Jones, Robert Bathurst and Aidan Turner
Overview: The story of Carry On actress Hattie Jacques and her affair with a younger man while married to Dad’s Army actor John Le Mesurier.
Anticipation level: Moderate. These BBC4 biopics are generally good, but the low budget can leave them feeling a bit stagey.
Starring: Laura Fraser, Ruth Gedmintas and Fiona Button
Overview: The lives and loves of a group of 20-something lesbians living in Glasgow - a British version of The L-Word.
Anticipation level: Fairly low. When BBC3 dramas are good, they’re Being Human. When they’re bad, they’re pretty much everything else.
Starring: Andrew Buchan, Peter Capaldi and Tatiana Maslany
Overview: Hustle creator Tony Jordan has written this modern, magical retelling of the traditional Christmas story that will put the love story between Mary and Joseph at its heart.
Anticipation level: Pretty high. It’ll be worth tuning in just to see how Malcolm Tucker fits into the birth of Jesus.
Starring: Liam Cunningham, Hermione Norris, Eric Mabius and Daniel Mays
Overview: A team of pioneers have created a new existence for themselves on the planet of Carpathia – but can they resist falling into very human traps while trying to build a better life?
Anticipation level: Moderate. This has a great cast, but it smacks too much of other BBC programmes that have failed (The Deep, anyone?) to warrant much hope.
Check back later for my take on the second half of the list.
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