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.