Channel 5 Commissions 6 New Series We Need To See

Channel 5 continues its ambitious plans to become one of the pre-eminent sources of British drama with an announcement of half a dozen new shows to be commissioned for the 2025-2026 TV season. The slate, which was announced without a single American co-producer in sight, includes a diverse range of fan-favorite stories, from heart-racing thrillers to cozy crime series, as well as family dramas and at least one French co-production. As always, there's at least one show that's heavily PBS coded, and unsurprisingly, it's the one with a cast already attached.

We've previously discussed the surprising success of the U.K.'s Channel 5 since the streaming wars hit the U.K. The network, which Paramount owns, was primarily an outlet for American TV reruns (mostly those produced by Paramount) for most of its linear existence. Initially, the channel seemed to be a prominent casualty of streaming, as those reruns were all moved to Paramount+ or other American-owned streaming services upon their overseas launch. Instead, the network turned to original series and has thrived, while those American streamers have struggled to find purchase on the far side of the pond.

Part of Channel 5's success has been its savvy choices of American co-producers, with BritBox, Acorn TV, and PBS all heavily invested in the network's biggest hits. However, with the new normal of "global economic uncertainty," Channel 5 is starting to go it alone, or by reaching across the Channel to France. 

Let's run down today's announced titles.

The biggest announcement is the adaptation of the best-selling Cooper & Fry mystery novels from U.K. writer Stephen Booth. Booth first started publishing the odd-couple detective series in 2000 with his debut novel, Black Dog. The 18th and final novel, Fall Down Dead, was published in 2018. The series revolved around two rookie detectives who are assigned to the mystery-shrouded Peak District: Diana Fry, who has just moved to the area, and Ben Cooper, who has spent his whole life in the small village. The series will consist of four feature-length episodes, covering Booth's first four novels.

However, what makes this show stand out from the other five announced today is that it's one of only two that comes with a cast attached; moreover, said cast is meant to appeal to a PBS audience, with Downton Abbey's Robert James-Collier as Cooper and Doctor Who's Mandip Gill as Fry. We have, of course, reached out to Masterpiece to ask if this might be something they would be interested in boarding. We did not hear back by press time, but even if it doesn't get picked up by PBS' premiere anthology series, there's little doubt someone will bring this one over and soon.

Clapperboard is producing Cooper & Fry, the same company behind The Madame Blanc Mysteries. It's one of three new series from the studio, alongside the currently castless series Number One Fan. The series revolves around a nationally recognized Daytime Talk Show host (think ITV's Lorraine), by the name of Lucy, who is mysteriously attacked on her way home, only to be rescued by a stranger by the name of Donna, who tells Lucy she's her "number one fan." (Hello title!)

Naturally, Lucy is grateful to Donna and promises to help her get a career in TV. But everything quickly sours when Donna starts infiltrating Lucy’s career, family, and friends. But that's nothing compared to the realization that Donna has an ulterior motive, one that links her to the scandalous secret Lucy has spent her life trying to keep hidden, which could derail the career she has so carefully cultivated. 

Depending on the cast, this could get scooped up by Hulu or Prime Video, but I'd be more inclined to put my money on BritBox.

The British papers are calling Clapperboard's third commission, Death in Benidorm, a "Death in Paradise-style spinoff series." Lest this confuse you, it is not an actual spinoff of the popular mystery series set in Saint-Marie; the proper, less polite but more accurate term would probably be a "Death in Paradise-style knockoff series." Set in the popular Spanish tourist spot, Death in Benidorm features your usual odd couple crime solvers who live in a seaside paradise, none of whom are related to the world of Saint-Marie, solving crimes in the sunshine.

The series features retired detective Dennis Crown, who now lives a quiet life running a bar in Benidorm. But when tourists start turning up dead, he’s reluctantly drawn back into detective work—egged on by his barmaid Rosa, a crime drama superfan. With Dennis’s real-world experience and Rosa’s encyclopedic TV knowledge, each episode sees the duo tackling a new murder in paradise while trying to remain on the right side of the local Spanish police.

This depends on the casting. If Channel 5 lands some proper A-listers to take this show and make it better than the sum of its parts, it could end up on PBS. If not, it'll probably languish unwatched on some streaming service no one subscribes to, like MGM+.

A French-made production from Pernel Media, the same company that co-produced The Au Pair with Channel 5, Missed Call is another mystery in the borderline super-trashy thriller vein. The series revolves around Sarah, a single mother who travels to the idyllic French village where her daughter, Katie, is on a school exchange after receiving a worrying late-night missed call. 

Upon arriving, she discovers that her daughter is nowhere to be found, and her host family and the local police are disturbingly unconcerned. Dismissed as a typical teenage disappearance, Katie’s case is ignored — but Sarah knows something is wrong, and must race against the clock to find her. 

The Au Pair never crossed the pond because some shows are just too lowbrow to live, and I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if that happens here, too. But with the right cast, that could change.

Neighbours may be canceled, but its legendary star, Jackie Woodburne, isn't going quietly into that good night with it. The actress, famous for playing Susan Kennedy in Australia's iconic soap opera, has landed her first role since the series' conclusion, as one half of the cast attached to Channel 5's Imposter, opposite Popstars winner-turned-TV presenter Kym Marsh.

Imposter is an Australian-set family drama, focusing on a splashy seaside hotel, which becomes the centre of a bitter family dispute when matriarch Helen refuses to sell, despite pressure from her three adult children. But Helen is hiding a secret: a daughter, Amanda, whom she gave up for adoption decades ago. When she suddenly appears, Helen welcomes her with open arms—but is Amanda who she claims to be? Of course, murder isn't far behind.

Since it's set in the US and stars actors Americans aren't familiar with, it's a decent bet that this one will land on Acorn TV, if anywhere.

Last but not least, Channel 5 has commissioned The Family Secret, a series with very little information other than a highly vague logline. 

"A gripping, psychological drama that asks, what if your past isn’t what you think it is? When an unexpected inheritance disrupts Amanda Wilkins’ seemingly ordinary world, she is drawn into a compelling mystery that forces her to question everything she thought she knew."

The series has no cast yet, but it's being produced by Sphere Abacus, which is behind the Robson Green-Jason Watkins thriller The Game. With so little to go on, this one's too much of a wild card to speculate where it could go if it gets picked up.