ITV today launches its sparkling winter highlights, promising a winter wonderland of New Year treats featuring a rich variety of drama, brand new entertainment and blue chip factual, on its new free streaming service ITVX and main channel ITV1.
Forthcoming drama:
Dramas dropping on fresh new free streaming service ITVX include Nolly (ITVX), a brand new 3-part drama from BAFTA-winning writer Russell T Davies, starring Academy Award-nominee Helena Bonham Carter and Mark Gatiss. Nolly explores the all-powerful reign, and fall from grace, of the inimitable TV legend Noele Gordon.
Evocative new three-part contemporary drama You & Me (ITVX) stars Harry Lawtey as Ben, a young northerner in London who finds his life changed forever when catastrophe strikes on the happiest day of his life. Full of compelling twists and turns, the series explores what it means to find love, lose love and try to love again.
French Riviera set series The Reunion (ITVX) is adapted from the best-selling novel by Guillaume Musso and stars an international cast led by Ioan Gruffudd. Three friends reconnect at a high school reunion, bound by a tragic secret linked to a girl who went missing 25 years earlier.
Without Sin (ITVX) is a four-part psychological thriller exploring the relationship which develops between a grieving mother and the man she believes murdered her daughter. BAFTA and RTS award winning actress Vicky McClure plays the leading role of Stella Tomlinson, whose 14-year-old daughter Maisy, is found dead at their family home with the bloodied, hooded figure of Charles Stone standing over her. Acclaimed film and television actor, Johnny Harris will star alongside Vicky as Charles.
Stonehouse (ITVX and ITV1) is a brand new three-part drama about the life and times of the disgraced Labour minister John Stonehouse. Emmy award-winning actor Matthew Macfadyen takes the lead role with Keeley Hawes as Stonehouse’s wife Barbara, telling the story of how the high-flying member of Harold Wilson’s Government vanished from the beach of a luxury hotel in Florida in 1974.
Parminder Nagra, Lara Pulver and Lisa McGrillis play three female doctors in Maternal (ITVX and ITV1), a six-part medical drama about returning to post-pandemic frontline medicine after maternity leave. The series explores working motherhood with wit, warmth and humour, offering a unique perspective on our beloved overstretched NHS and the people who hold it together. Sometimes.
Factual highlights:
A Year On Planet Earth (ITVX) will showcase the many wonders of the natural world and will reveal the incredible ways in which all life is connected and how massive natural events affect the lives of individual animals. This unique and beautifully shot series is narrated by Stephen Fry.
Following its success last year, true-crime series Social Media Murders (ITVX) returns for a second series. The series reveals shocking cases that resulted in the murder of a young person, where in each instance, social media brought the culprit and the victim together.
A Murder in the Family (ITVX) relives three shocking British murders as told by those closest to the tragic events, revealing the killers’ motives behind their fatal acts.
Factual highlights on ITV1 include Paralympic gold medallist Ellie Simmonds exploring the complex and emotive relationship between disability and adoption. And actor Jason Watkins and his wife Clara Francis tell the heartbreaking story of losing their daughter to Sepsis at the age of two, raising awareness of the deadly infection and breaking the taboo of child bereavement to help other grieving parents find hope.
Entertainment and Reality:
Award-winning fan favourite Love Island (ITV2 and ITVX) returns to ITV2 and ITVX in January, returning to sunny South Africa with brand new host Maya Jama bringing us a new line-up of lovestruck singletons and a jaw-dropping new villa.
The world’s biggest cooking contest, Next Level Chef comes to ITV1 as Gordon Ramsay fronts a three-storey kitchen challenge like no other.
The greatest show on ice is back as eleven celebrities prepare to embark on the ultimate challenge in Dancing on Ice (ITV1). Promising more glitz, glamour and show-stopping performances not to be missed, hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby return along with ice royalty Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean and ice panel judges Ashley Banjo and Oti Mabuse.
The Queen of Country Pop is coming to ITV1 as Shania Twain takes her place on the panel of Starstruck (ITV1).
Ant & Dec’s Limitless Win (ITV1) will give contestants the chance to play for the world’s first unlimited jackpot as the ground-breaking format returns for a second series.
Sporting highlights:
2023 also promises to be a bumper year for sport, beginning with the FA Cup’s return to ITV in early January, live tournament football involving the England Women football team and free to air coverage of the Six Nations kicking-off in February with England’s opening match against Scotland.