Top 5 Shows To Watch Out For In January 2017 On UK TV
January has traditionally felt like a bit of a wasteland when it comes to new tv. All the US tv shows take a break before Christmas, their mid-season shows haven’t yet started, and seem to take forever for things to get going again. This year however, there is a whole stack of new and returning TV for you to get your teeth into, and help your post-holiday season blues. Here is our highlights of the shows to look out for in January on UK TV.
Uncle, Series 3 (Final Series) – BBC Three/iPlayer – 1 January 2017 & BBC One – 6 January 2017 at 11.25pm
The oddest of odd couples, Andy (Nick Helm) & Errol (Elliot Speller-Gillott) return for one final outing, when Uncle returns for it’s final season on BBC Three & BBC One in January. Picking up after the events of series 2, Andy is now living in the basement of sister Sam (Daisy Haggard) and her boyfriend Bruce’s (Daniel Lawrence Taylor) new home. Depressed over how things ended with Melodie (Esther Smith), and having cut off contact with Teresa (Raquel Cassidy) after finding out she was pregnant, he now has nightmares about the child he’s never met, and it’s playing on his conscience.
Errol, meanwhile, is having Daddy issues of his own, unable to accept Bruce as the man of the house. This is causing Sam a headache, on top of the fact that Bruce is subtly hinting to her that he wants a baby.
When Andy is offered the chance to write for a boyband, he has to decide whether financial security is more important to him than artistic integrity, especially when he has a kid in the wings. With Errol’s help, Andy goes on a journey of self-discovery to find out whether he can man up and be a dad.
Supernatural, Season 12 – E4 – 4th January 2017 at 10pm
For the first time in around 7 years, thanks to lovely folk at E4, Supernatural returns in a relatively timely fashion to the UK! Now CW’s longest running show, the Winchester brothers are back for a 12th season, picking up straight after the shocking events of season 11’s finale!
Sam (Jared Padalecki) had been shot by a Woman of Letters who mysteriously showed up at the bunker. Whilst Dean (Jensen Ackles) coming to terms with Amara (God’s sister) parting gift… The return of the brothers long dead mother!
Taboo – BBC One – 7 January 2017 at 9pm
If there’s one thing the BBC does well, it’s incredible British drama, and Taboo looks like it’s going to be one of the best. Not only does it star the brilliant Tom Hardy, it’s written by Peaky Blinders’ Steven Knight, and Ridley Scott is an exec producer!
Set in 1814, the show follows James Keziah Delaney (Hardy), a man who has been to the ends of the earth and comes back irrevocably changed. Believed to be long dead, he returns home to London from Africa to inherit what is left of his father’s shipping empire and rebuild a life for himself. But his father’s legacy is a poisoned chalice, and with enemies lurking in every dark corner, James must navigate increasingly complex territories to avoid his own death sentence. Encircled by conspiracy, murder and betrayal, a dark family mystery unfolds in a combustible tale of love and treachery.
Sneaky Pete, Season 1 – Amazon Prime Video – 13 January 2017
Co-created by Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston and House’s David Shore, Sneaky Pete is the story of Marius (Giovanni Ribisi), a con-man who steals the identity of his cellmate in order to hide from the mob boss (Bryan Cranston) whom he ripped off. As the real Pete had been estranged from his family for the past 20 years, when Marius shows up on Pete’s grandparent’s doorstep, it’s not too hard to convince them he’s their long lost grandson. He’s welcomed ‘back’ into the family, and the family business of collecting bail-bonds. Taking on the role of a ‘skip tracer’, he uses his con-man skills to help catch other criminals, and discover the family life he never had.
Riverdale, Season 1 – Netflix 27 January 2017 at 8am
https://youtu.be/E0qH4AsZIvY
As one of the buzziest shows of last seasons pick ups, Riverdale is definitely one to watch out for. From Flash/Arrow (etc…) creator Greg Berlanti, this is a screen adaptation of Archie Comics, but not as you knew it… Described as “Archie Comics via Twin Peaks” this is a dark tale of a small American community dealing with the shocking and tragic death of high school golden boy Jason Blossom.
KJ Apa stars as Archie Andrews, still the all-American teen, but the events of the summer have made him reevaluate things in his life, including his illicit affair with Riverdale’s young music teacher, Ms. Grundy (Sarah Habel). Not that Archie is short of female attention… Girl-next-door Betty Cooper (Lili Reinhart) is anxious to see her crush Archie after being away all summer, but she’s not quite ready to reveal her true feelings to him. A situation which is complicated by the arrival of new girl Veronica Lodge (Camila Mendes), who clearly has a spark with Archie, but refuses to act on it and wreck her budding friendship with Betty. There’s also Cheryl Blossom (Madelaine Petsch), Riverdale’s bitchy queen bee, who will go out of her way to stir things up between Archie, Betty, and Veronica… But Cheryl is keeping secrets of her own. Do they related to the death of her twin Jason?There is clearly a lot more going on under the surface of this ‘sleepy’ little town than the residents are prepared to admit…
Those are our top 5 picks, but special mentions also need to go to Fortitude, Bones, Black Sails, Suits and The Flash, which all return for new or continuing seasons. There is also Michael Weatherly’s new drama Bull starting on Fox UK, Jason Momoa’s new show Frontier, and Neil Patrick Harris in Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, both arriving on Netflix.
For all the UK TV premiere dates for shows coming in January, and the whole of 2017, check out the UK Air Dates Page here.
