The question of what to watch next has rarely felt more complicated — or more rewarding. The proliferation of streaming platforms has created an overwhelming abundance of content, but also, paradoxically, some of the finest television ever made. The programmes below include both recent releases and series that have recently arrived on UK streaming platforms or concluded their runs — all worth your time.

Adolescence (Netflix, 2025)

The most talked-about British drama in years, Stephen Graham and Jack Thorne's four-part series about a teenage boy arrested for a violent crime was filmed in real time — each episode is a single unbroken take — and the formal choice is not a gimmick. It produces an unbearable present-tense intimacy that makes the story, which circles the question of what we miss in the children we love, almost physically uncomfortable. Stephen Graham's performance in episode four is among the finest single pieces of acting in recent British television history. Available on Netflix.

The Bear — Series 3 (Disney+, 2024)

The Bear's third series divided critics in a way that the first two did not, with some finding its more contemplative pacing a step back from the controlled chaos of the kitchen scenes that made the show famous. They were wrong. Series three's willingness to sit with its characters in stillness — particularly in the Carmy flashback episode and the final reckoning between Richie and his past — represents the show operating at the edge of what prestige television can do. It rewards patience enormously, and the final episode's resolution is one of the most quietly devastating things streaming television has produced. On Disney+.

Rivals (Disney+, 2024)

Jilly Cooper's 1988 novel, which was considered unadaptable for decades due to its sheer quantity of plot and characters, was adapted by Netflix and Disney+ with unexpected fidelity and even more unexpected quality. David Tennant and Aidan Turner lead an ensemble cast navigating the sexual, political, and commercial warfare of the British television industry in the 1980s. It is extremely funny, occasionally shocking, and entirely comfortable with being exactly the kind of entertainment it is. One of the most purely enjoyable British productions of recent years. On Disney+.

Disclaimer (Apple TV+, 2024)

Alfonso Cuarón's first television work is a psychological thriller built from alternating timelines, unreliable narration, and the question of what we know about the people closest to us. Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline lead two parallel stories that exist in tension until the final two episodes. It is ambitious, sometimes exhausting, and occasionally infuriating — but it is also unlike almost anything else on television, and its visual language throughout is extraordinarily controlled. On Apple TV+.

Wolf Hall — The Mirror and the Light (BBC One / iPlayer, 2025)

The completion of Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy on television, filmed largely before the author's death in 2022 and released in 2025, delivers exactly what readers of The Mirror and the Light wanted and feared: a slow, magnificent, devastating conclusion to Mark Rylance's extraordinary portrayal of a man who understood power completely and was ultimately destroyed by it anyway. Essential viewing for anyone who watched the first two series, and arguably accessible without prior knowledge for viewers willing to orient themselves. On BBC iPlayer.

Slow Horses — Series 4 and 5 (Apple TV+, 2024–2025)

The adaptation of Mick Herron's Slough House spy novels has continued its remarkable consistency, with Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb remaining one of the most compelling characters in contemporary television. Series four introduces a new threat that brings the House's disgraced spooks into direct conflict with Regent's Park, and the plotting is as tight as in any previous series. Accessible from Series 1 — though rewatching from the start is recommended. On Apple TV+.

For the BBC Licence Holder

Those with a TV licence should note that BBC One and BBC Two's drama output in 2025–26 has been particularly strong: the crime drama Ludwig (BBC One, starring David Mitchell in an entirely unexpected straight role), the three-part Channel 4 documentary series on the Post Office Horizon scandal, and the BBC Three comedy Everyone Else Burns have all been widely praised. All are available on BBC iPlayer.