Netflix has certainly kept us entertained throughout the many iterations of the UK’s Covid lockdown with a plethora of brilliant TV shows (think The Queen’s Gambit, Tiger King, and Unorthodox, to name just three).

If you were worried the streaming platform would be slowing things down anytime soon, though, brush those fears away! Because, as it just so happens, the streamer has commissioned a whopping 23 new series.

And, as if that weren’t enough to get you excited, a number of these new shows will be written and produced right here in the United Kingdom next year, too!

Here’s what you need to know (and don’t worry, we’ll be sure to keep this list updated with new titles as and when they’re announced).

The Chestnut Man

Based on the debut novel by award-winning writer Søren Sveistrup, The Chestnut Man is set in the quiet suburb of Copenhagen, where the police make a terrible discovery one blustery October morning. A young woman is found brutally murdered in a playground and one of her hands is missing. Above her hangs a small man. A small man made entirely of chestnuts. 

Ambitious young detective Naia Thulin is assigned to the case, along with her new partner, Mark Hess. They soon discover a mysterious piece of evidence on the chestnut man – evidence connecting it to a girl who went missing a year earlier and was presumed dead – the daughter of politician Rosa Hartung.

Release date: TBC

Anatomy Of A Scandal

Based on the international bestselling novel Anatomy Of A Scandal by Sarah Vaughan, this star-studded series promises to be weave an insightful and suspenseful story about a sexual consent scandal among the British privileged elite and the women caught up in its wake. 

Sienna Miller, Rupert Friend, and Michelle Dockery are all confirmed to star in the six-episode anthology series. 

Release date: TBC

Magic The Gathering

A fantasy TV series based on a card game? Consider us intrigued.

“So what we plan to do is, the story and the characters are going to be true to the spirit of the story and the characters that are preexisting,” Nik Kelman, aka the Wizards of the Coast’s head of story and entertainment and executive producer on the Netflix series, told The Wrap. “We’re going to be true to that and the world and also true to the core values of those worlds and characters. But we’re definitely going to try to carve out our own continuity space in a very similar way to other franchises that have done that with adventures in a new medium from preexisting stories.”

Kelman went on to say that although the series will stay true to the card game’s story, it will carve out its own continuity: “If somebody’s parents have died and that’s a crucial part of who their character is, that’s gonna be true no matter what medium that story takes place in, but the exact details of whether they were six or eight when that happened may shift.”

Release date: TBC

Bridgerton: Season 2

Netflix recently confirmed that Bridgerton will definitely be getting a second season.

In a letter shared on Twitter, Lady Whistledown herself confirmed that production on season two will start in spring 2021. She also revealed that Lord Anthony Bridgerton will “dominate the social season” so there’ll be a big focus on him.

“Indeed, it shall certainly be interesting to follow the romantic interests of Lord Bridgerton… my pen anticipates the day,” she added.

Resident Evil

Netflix’s adaptation of the Resident Evil horror game franchise was first confirmed by Deadline, who said the following about the plot:

“The drama series will explore the dark inner workings of the Umbrella Corporation and the new world order caused by the outbreak of the T-virus. While the project is in early stages, the series is expected to incorporate all of Resident Evil’s signature elements, including action sequences and Easter eggs.”

Now, as per WON, we know that the story “takes place over two timelines, the first of which involves 14-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker moving to New Raccoon City.”

“They come to realise that their father may be concealing dark secrets that could destroy the world,” the site explains.

“The second timeline takes place over a decade in the future, where only 15 million humans remain, with over 6 billion animals and people being infected with the T-virus. It follows Jade, now thirty, in her efforts to survive in this world.”

Release date: TBC

Behind Her Eyes

Netflix has been working hard on a TV adaptation of Sarah Pinborough’s bestselling novel, Behind Her Eyes.

The plot, as previously shared by Stylist, sees single mother Louise fall head over heels for the oh-so-successful and oh-so-charming David Young.

For a while, their relationship seems perfect. He seems perfect. But everything comes to a grinding halt when Louise meets David’s beautiful wife, Adele, and finds herself caught in a web of secrets and lies where nothing is what it seems.

Is David really the man she thought she knew? Is Adele really as sweet and vulnerable as she appears? What terrible secrets are they both hiding?

And, more importantly, how far will they go to keep them? 

Release date: February 2021

Firefly Lane

Based on Kristin Hannah’s bestselling book, Firefly Lane (starring Katheine Heigl and Sarah Chalke) is the sweeping story of two inseparable best friends and their enduring, complicated bond, spanning four tumultuous decades.

Release date: February 2021.

Stay Close

Netflix’s upcoming adaptation of Harlan Coben’s bestselling novel, Stay Close, sees Cush Jumbo take on the role of Megan, a busy suburban mum whose life is torn apart after Lorraine (Sarah Parish), a friend from her past, delivers some shocking news.

The revelation has a devastating knock-on effect on Ray (The Stranger’s Richard Armitage), a once-brilliant photographer stuck in a dead-end job pandering to rich kids, and a detective who can’t let go of a missing persons cold case. 

As per the book’s synopsis, the plot centres on these “three ordinary people, who discover that when the past refuses to stay buried, the American dream can be a nightmare”.

Release date: TBC

Sweet Tooth

Based on the Vertigo comic book, Sweet Tooth takes us along on the adventure of Gus – part deer, part boy – who leaves his home in the forest to find the outside world ravaged by a cataclysmic event. 

Release date: TBC

The Irregulars

Originally announced two years ago, this new Netflix series follows the ‘Baker Street Irregulars,’ rather than focusing on The Great Detective himself.

In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic novels, they are a gang of boys who provide Holmes with information from the streets of London.

As per the official synopsis: “Set in Victorian London, The Irregulars follows a gang of troubled delinquent teens who are manipulated into solving crimes for the sinister Doctor Watson and his mysterious business partner.

“As the crimes take on a horrifying supernatural edge and a dark power emerges, it’ll be up to the Irregulars to come together to save London, each other, and potentially the entire world.”

Release date: TBC

Inventing Anna

Created and produced by TV goddess Shonda Rhimes, Inventing Anna is set to bring to life the stranger-than-fiction true story of Anna Delvey, New York’s ‘fake heiress,’ who famously fooled the world when she claimed to be a German socialite setting up an art foundation, and scammed numerous high-flyers and financial institutions into funding her outrageously lavish style.

Ozark’s Julia Garner, Anna Chlumsky, and Laverne Cox all star.

Release date: TBC 

The Witcher: Blood Origin

The Witcher: Blood Origin has been announced by Netflix and is a new installment into the world of The Witcher. This six-part live-action prequel TV show will take place hundreds of years before the main series, and will explore the origins of Witchers and the very first Witcher. 

Release date: TBC

White Stork

As per Variety, White Stork will find The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston playing politician James Cooper, whose parliamentary ambitions and personal life are thwarted when he is the subject of a vetting process by Asher Millan.

The 10-part political thriller is written by Jericho’s Chris Dunlop, directed by Taboo’s Kristoffer Nyholm, and produced by the folks who brought us Sex Education.

Release date: TBC

Lockwood & Co

As reported on 15 December 2020: Written and directed by Attack the Block’s Joe Cornish, Lockwood & Co is based on the Jonathan Stroud YA book series, which is set in an alternate version of modern-day London.

Due to an event called “the Problem”, ghosts appear throughout the city by nighttime and attack the living. However, only teenagers and children possess the “talent” needed to detect the presence of the spooks – a talent which they lose as soon as they hit their twenties.

It seems a natural next step, then, for three teens to launch a supernatural start-up of their very own in the depths of the city. However, while it sounds like a twist on The Baby-Sitters Club, it’s worth noting that the trio’s business will put them in grave danger. Because, as Netflix puts it, it will see “the most gifted teenage ghost-hunters venture nightly into perilous combat with deadly spirits.”

Release date: TBC

An Unlikely Murderer

This five part Swedish drama series, based on Thomas Pettersson’s award-winning book of the same name, will bring yet another “gripping and challenging” true crime story to our TV screens.

“It’s a fictional interpretation of how Stig Engström, the graphic designer who was named as the probable murderer of Sweden’s prime minister Olof Palme, managed to elude justice right up to his death through a combination of audacity, luck and a perplexed police force,” reads the official Netflix synopsis.

“What do we know about Stig Engström? How could the police let him get away, despite being on his track? The murder was not planned well, Engström did everything wrong from the beginning and almost no one believed his lies about what he actually did during that fateful night 1986 in Stockholm, Sweden.”

Release date: TBC

Cuckoo Song

This horror series, based on author Frances Hardinge’s award-winning novel of the same name, takes place in the early 1920s, a few years after the First World War. And it will follow “two warring sisters – one human, one monster – who must unite to reverse a supernatural pact gone horribly wrong, and, with it, mend their grief-stricken family.”

Release date: TBC

Baby Reindeer

Winner of the 2020 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Affiliate Theatre, Richard Gadd’s one-man play is due to get its very own Netflix adaptation, too.

For those who haven’t seen it performed on stage, it’s worth noting that it’s not a fuzzy Christmas romcom (despite everything the name suggests). Rather, it’s all about Gadd’s interactions with an obsessive female stalker, and the terrifying ramifications of a fleeting mistake.

Here’s a trailer for the OG play, to give you some idea of what we mean:

You see? Not fuzzy. Not fuzzy at all. And the adaptation will definitely be well worth a watch, if you ask us!

Release date: TBC

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Based on the best-selling debut novel of author Stuart Turton, this one takes your classic British murder mystery and gives it a unique spin.

“All set within the grounds of a sprawling country estate, this high-concept thriller presents an intriguing puzzle,” the show’s description reads.

“But how do you solve a murder when every time you are getting close to the answer, you wake up in someone else’s body?”

Release date: TBC

Man vs. Bee

This one does exactly what it says on the tin: Rowan Atkinson takes on a house-sitting job in an opulent mansion filled with breakable things, only to enter into a battle with… a bee.

It’s giving a lot of people big Mr Bean vibes, for obvious reasons, so it’s understandable that there’s a bit of a (forgive us) buzz around this one.

Release date: TBC

Half Bad

Based on Sally Green’s YA trilogy, this series is about “16-year-old Nathan”, who just so happens to be “the illegitimate son of the world’s most feared witch.”

As such, Nathan is regarded as an abomination, and has been kept in shackles and observed for most of his life to see if he’ll follow in his family’s villainous footsteps.

His only hope for survival? To escape, track down his real dad, and embrace his own magical powers, before it’s too late. But how can Nathan find his father when there is no one safe to trust, not even family, not even the girl he loves?

Release date: TBC

Shadow And Bone

In a world cleaved in two by a massive barrier of perpetual darkness, where unnatural creatures feast on human flesh, a young soldier uncovers a power that might finally unite her country. But as she struggles to hone her power, dangerous forces plot against her. Thugs, thieves, assassins and saints are at war now, and it will take more than magic to survive.

Release date: 1 April 2021

Lupin

Loosely based on the adventures of fictional thief Arsène Lupin, this addictive Netflix Original follows janitor Assane Diop (Omar Sy), whose life is turned upside down when his father dies after being accused of a crime he didn’t commit.

Some 25 years later, Assane is still desperate to avenge his dad’s death. And so, just like that, he decides to steal Marie Antoinette’s necklace from the Louvre. As you do.

Release date: 8 January. 

The Red Zone

Director Sam Mendes is set to executive-produce The Red Zone, a 30-minute comedy that is “about football, but also not about football.”

For those who need a little more to go on then just that, Netflix says it explores the “people and surfaces that collide in the orbit of this strange world of bluffers, sharks and genuine talent.”

Oh, and it’s written by The Guardian’s Jonathan Liew, who is widely regarded as a truly excellent sports journalist. So that’s another big plus!

Release date: TBC

Headspace Guide To Meditation

Headspace Guide to Meditation explores the foundation of meditation and how it can help us be more present and less distracted in our daily lives.

Each episode focuses on a different benefit – from managing stress to embracing gratitude – and begins by teaching the approach and techniques, then concludes with a guided meditation.

Headspace co-founder and former Buddhist monk Andy Puddicombe will lead every step of the way as he narrates the eight 20-minute episodes, his voice paired with playful animation and soothing music. And, after the events of 2020, we feel a little meditative self-care is exactly what the doctor ordered, quite frankly.

Release date: 1 January 2021

Young Royals

Sweden’s answer to The Crown, Young Royals (written by Lisa Ambjörn) follows a teenage Prince Wilhelm as he arrives at Hillerska, a prestigious boarding school in Sweden. There, away from the prying eyes of the court, he finally gets an opportunity to explore his true self and find out what kind of life he really wants. But it’s not long before he’s forced to choose between love… and duty.

Release date: TBC

Images: Getty/Netflix/Johan Paulin