Louisa Mellor

Have you read the news lately? I wouldn’t recommend it. You’re better off looking out of a window at any available sunshine, trees, and – if you’re lucky – the occasional dog. That said, the window solution is broadly limited to daylight hours. Come nightfall, you’ll need to turn elsewhere for diversion. That’s where the following 2025 British scripted dramas and comedies come in.

Knowing that Slow Horses series five was already in the can by the time the series four finale aired has made the wait for it feel interminable. Come on, people, how long does it take to chop it into six parts, stick that Mick Jagger song on the credits, and digitally remove any boom mics left in shot? A week? Just over a year is the answer, as Apple TV+ confirm that series five will start streaming from Wednesday the 24th of September 2025.

You expect tweaks. As budgets dictated, the costumes of classic era Doctor Who villains were made from tin foil and old pairs of tights, so whenever an alien race is revived for the modern show, they get a brush-up. The Cybermen went from looking like sock puppets carrying air conditioning units to looking like expensive chrome espresso machines. The Silurians went from creatures from the black lagoon to slinky handbag-faced dinosaurs.