The best TV dramas airing in autumn 2018
From Vanity Fair to War of the Worlds, from Luther to Victoria, from The Little Drummer Girl to Bodyguard – here's what we'll be watching this autumn
The Little Drummer Girl – BBC1
The team behind The Night Manager have reunited for another John le Carré adaptation. Florence Pugh, Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgård and Charles Dance are lined up to star in a seventies tale of international plots and espionage. Read more
House of Cards – Netflix
House of Cards is set to return with Robin Wright (Claire Underwood) in the lead role after allegations against Kevin Spacey (Frank Underwood) forced a delay in production and a change of direction for season six. Read more
Butterfly – ITV
Three-part drama Butterfly centres around Vicky (Anna Friel), the mother of a transgender child. According to a programme description from ITV, Butterfly “follows the story of an 11-year-old boy, Max, who makes the huge decision that he wants to live life as a girl." Max begins to live life as Maxine – but her separated parents are fundamentally divided about how to support her. Read more
Black Earth Rising – BBC2
Chewing Gum's Michaela Coel and Roseanne actor John Goodman star in war crimes thriller Black Earth Rising. Hugo Blick's new drama tackles the prosecution of international war crimes and the personal, legal and political storm this ignites, with Coel playing Kate Ashby – a woman who was rescued as a young child during the Rwandan genocide and adopted by Eve Ashby (Harriet Walter), a world class British prosecutor in international criminal law. Read more
