BBC's drama output for 2026 has got off to a great start – with the likes of Dennis Kelly's Waiting for the Out and the hotly anticipated fourth season of Industry both impressing both critics and audiences.

Meanwhile, The Night Manager returned for a second season 10 years after season 1 concluded, and long-running favourites Silent Witness, Call the Midwife and Death in Paradise are all ongoing – so it's really been a good start to the year for the broadcaster.

Of course, these shows are all available to watch on BBC iPlayer along with a whole array of shows from the BBC's back catalogue. For example, now that the aforementioned The Night Manager is at an end, you might want to check out another John Le Carré adaptation such as 2018 miniseries The Little Drummer Girl.

Of course, there are also Death in Paradise spin-offs Beyond Paradise and Return to Paradise, sitting alongside newer dramas such as King & Conqueror and The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Then there are offbeat comedy dramas like Film Club and Am I Being Unreasonable?, while those looking for something more hard-hitting can turn to Blue Lights or a range of true story adaptations like The Bombing of Pan Am 103.

Crime, murder mystery and detective series like Annika and Death Valley also join iPlayer's stacked library, as well as American acquisitions like Tell Me Lies, so there really is something for everyone.

However, with so much to binge-watch, we understand it can all be a bit overwhelming to have so much choice. So, we've put together a list of all the best available series right now, which should mean you can find something to suit you without all that endless scrolling.

Read on and enjoy.

Showing 1 to 24 of 85 results

  • Walsh siblings Claire, Rachel, Maggie, Anna, and Helen grapple with personal challenges, relationships, and the complexities of modern life.
  • Lord of the Flies

    2026

    Drama

    Thriller

    Adaptation of William Golding's novel about a group of schoolboys stranded on a deserted island, whose attempts to build their own civilisation descend into tragedy
  • Industry

    2020

    Drama

    Drama following five graduates who join the world's most pre-eminent financial institution in the aftermath of the 2008 collapse. Starring Harry Lawtey
  • The Night Manager

    2016

    Crime/detective

    Thriller

    15

    Adaptation of John Le Carre's novel with Tom Hiddleston and Olivia Colman. A former soldier working in a Cairo hotel discovers incriminating evidence against an international arms dealer.
  • Waiting for the Out

    2026

    Drama

    Crime/detective

    Drama starring Josh Finan as a teacher leading a philosophy class in a prison, a job that forces him to question his own past
  • Lynley

    2026

    Crime/detective

    Drama

    Detective drama based on Elizabeth George's novels, starring Leo Suter as an aristocratic police inspector
  • Doctor Who spin-off, about a conflict between the human race and an ancient species of aquatic reptiles. Starring Russell Tovey and Gugu Mbatha-Raw
  • Prisoner 951

    2025

    Drama

    Drama based on the true story of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's imprisonment in Iran for six years. Starring Narges Rashidi and Joseph Fiennes
  • Wild Cherry

    2025

    Drama

    Thriller

    15

    In the town of Richford Lake, things are perfect for supermum Juliet and business mogul Lorna. But when their teenage daughters Allegra and Grace get caught in a scandal, this idyllic town falls to pieces. Drama, starring Eve Best and Carme Ejogo
  • Shetland

    2013

    Crime/detective

    Mystery

    15

    Murder-mystery following detectives confronted by a series of puzzling crimes, originally adapted from the book Red Bones by crime writer Ann Cleeves.
  • Return to Paradise

    Crime/detective

    Australian-born DI Mackenzie Clarke returns from London to her home town of Dolphin Cove to re-join its local police team. Death in Paradise spin-off, starring Anna Samson
  • Riot Women

    2025

    Drama

    Drama about five women who find an escape from their chaotic lives by forming a punk band
  • Outrageous

    2025

    Drama

    12

    Drama following six aristocratic sisters as they come of age during the turbulent 1930s, starring Bessie Carter and based on Mary Lovell's definitive biography, The Mitford Girls
  • This City Is Ours

    2025

    Crime/detective

    Drama

    Liverpool-set crime drama, about a gang member who is tempted to seek a new life when he falls in love just as his criminal mentor contemplates retirement
  • The Little Drummer Girl

    2018

    Crime/detective

    Drama

    Six-part drama based on John le Carré's best-selling novel. Brilliant young actress Charlie (Florence Pugh) strikes up an acquaintance with an intriguing stranger while on holiday in Greece.
  • Reunion

    Crime/detective

    Thriller about a deaf ex-convict seeking revenge, who is reunited with his estranged daughter. Starring Matthew Gurney
  • King & Conqueror

    2025

    Drama

    Fantasy

    Historical drama depicting the build-up to the Battle of Hastings, following rivals Harold Godwinson and William of Normandy. Starring James Norton and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau
  • Monarch of the Glen

    2000

    Comedy

    Drama

    PG

    Rural Scottish drama roughly based on Compton McKenzie's Highland novels. It stars Alastair Mackenzie as Archie MacDonald, a budding restaurateur in London.
  • Unforgivable

    2025

    Drama

    Liverpool family the Mitchells deal with the aftermath of an act of sexual abuse committed by a member of their own clan. Having served his prison sentence for the crime, Joe Mitchell arrives at St Maura's, an institution which offers him a home and rehabilitation after his release. With the support of Katherine, an ex-nun, Joe undertakes therapy sessions in the hope of understanding what led him to commit the abuse. Simultaneously, his sister, Anna, is dealing with the impact that Joe's crime has had on her family - her sons, Tom and Peter, and her father, Brian. Jimmy McGovern's drama, starring David Threlfall, Anna Friel, Anna Maxwell Martin, Bobby Schofield and Mark Womack
  • The Gallows Pole

    2023

    Drama

    History

    Shane Meadows's first period drama, about a little-known 18th Century criminal mastermind. The cast includes established and first-time actors.
  • Amityville: An Origin Story

    2023

    Crime/detective

    Documentary

    Docudrama examining the true story of George and Kathy Lutz, whose move into a dream home in 1975 turned into a nightmare. Those closest to the terror share their stories
  • Magpie Murders

    2022

    Mystery

    Crime/detective

    Editor Susan Ryeland gets drawn into a web of intrigue and murder when she receives Alan Conway's unfinished manuscript of an Atticus Pünd mystery.
  • The One That Got Away

    2025

    Thriller

    Drama

    DI Ffion Lloyd returns to her small hometown, Pembroke Dock, to investigate when a nurse is found dead in the woods and the crime scene resembles a case she solved 12 years ago but local officer DS Rick Sheldon is not happy about her return. Crime drama staring Elen Rhys and Richard Harrington
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