Here’s everything we’re excited about watching on TV this year, from a star-studded New Zealand spy comedy to the wild resurrection of two beloved 2000s sitcoms.
It feels like 2026 is still wiping the sleep from its eyes, and yet the year has already delivered tonnes of incredible television already. The Pitt is back on Neon following Dr Robby and the gang through another shift from hell on the fourth of July, The Traitors UK is playing an absolute backstabbing blinder over on ThreeNow, and the Golden Globes delivered multiple Leonardo DiCaprio memes and Rose Byrne going on about a bearded dragon. All great omens for another powerful year of television – here’s everything we are looking forward to watching.
New Zealand Spy (TVNZ)
We find ourselves both shaken and stirred by the full cast announcement for TVNZ’s new spy comedy series New Zealand Spy, which features the likes of Rose Matafeo, Bret McKenzie and Paul Williams. Following the “high stakes spy thrills” at a New Zealand Intelligence Agency in the 1960s and 70s, a chaotic espionage romp unfurls as they enlist some new inexperienced recruits. “There’s only one person I would come back to Aotearoa for, and that is Sam Neill,” said Matafeo when the show was announced last year. “When I got here, I found out Paul had lied to me, and Sam Neill is not in this show. I have decided to stay because I think New Zealand Spy is going to be very good.” Huge endorsement, huge excitement. / Alex Casey
The Traitors NZ S3 (Three)
The Traitors is TV to die for, and season two of The Traitors NZ was genuinely some of the best reality television we’ve ever made. Great news, then, that a third season of the worldwide TV phenomenon is scheduled to hit our screens later this year, featuring a brand new cohort of cunning New Zealanders who plan to lie and murder their way to winning a juicy cash prize.
“Like Celebrity Treasure Island, there’s a charming sense of self-deprecation to The Traitors NZ,” we wrote back in 2024. “This show knows it’s built on a ridiculous concept (deciding guilt based on the way someone gulps water? No further questions, your honour), and it leans in hard to all its absurdity and nonsense. Paul Henry [this season to be Madeleine Sami] in a dressing gown feeding a silky haired pup a fresh croissant for breakfast? Very normal. A pretend funeral that goes on so long that the players start falling asleep? That’s what we’re here for.” / Tara Ward
Celebrity Treasure Island S7 (TVNZ)
Get in here you lot! After a parched 2025 without anyone once getting “in the drink”, New Zealand’s beloved homegrown reality franchise returns in 2026 for its seventh season. Set back on the white sand beaches of the winterless North, this season promises “high-stakes challenges, heartfelt moments, and unforgettable entertainment” as a new gaggle of celebrities battle to win $100,000 for their charity. Who will reveal themselves to be a “mysterious smooth guy” like Christian Cullen, and who will ‘do a Devoy’ and rebrand as a comedy icon? All we can reveal for now is that Shortland Street star Jayden Daniels will be returning alongside Bree Tomasel in the hosting overalls, but rest assured there is much more to come. / AC
Small Town Scandal (Neon)
The podcast-to-TV pipeline is well proven when it comes to true crime, but how will Tom Sainsbury’s true crime parody Small Town Scandal translate to the screen? I loved the podcast, in which Sainsbury voiced the full cast of oddball Kiwi characters to build a cosy world at the extremely silly end of the murder-mystery spectrum, but the TV series – in which he’s joined by a star-studded cast, including Morgana O’Reilly, Rose Matafeo and British stage and screen veteran Felicity Kendal – could go any number of ways. If it manages to capture what made the podcast such a good listen, it should be a lot of fun. / Calum Henderson
Head Girl (Three)
“Fuck I loved school lol fuck” is what poet and creative genius Freya Daly Sadgrove told me in an interview about her solo poetry-rock show, Whole New Woman, back in 2023. I am interested in anything Daly Sadgrove is involved with and have been waiting impatiently for this TV adaptation of her poetry collection, Head Girl, a reading experience that puts a lightning rod to the world and heightens your own humanity.
The description of the TV adaptation sounds like the tone is in keeping with Daly Sadgrove’s deep-comedic artistic energy while also echoing to the kind of early 20s struggle-street shows like I Love LA and Girls have done so well: “Head Girl is a new mind-bending and artistically ambitious dark comedy series” which follows three “estranged best mates navigating the highs and lows of their early 20s in Wellington”. I’m excited by the cast which includes Nī Dekkers-Reihana, Liv Parker and Tatum Warren-Ngata – and am dead curious to see just how far poetry can go on screen. / Claire Mabey
Pride and Prejudice (Netflix)
No, this isn’t the weird AI sequel that fooled your mum on Facebook. It’s a very real, very new adaption of the Jane Austen classic: a six-part series from Netflix (which itself is currently embroiled in a level of strategic power manoeuvres eclipsed only by the marital ambition of Mrs Bennet).
Novelist Dolly Alderton is on writing duties and Euros Lyn (Doctor Who, Sherlock, Black Mirror) is directing this BBC-produced limited series. Emma Corrin picks up the mantle of Elizabeth Bennet, while Jack Lowden is Mr Darcy. They’re joined by Louis Partridge (wicked Wickham!) and Daryl McCormack (sweet Bingley!) and Rufus Sewell (Mr Bennet!). But it’s Olivia Colman as the inimitable Mrs Bennet that’s possibly the most exciting casting of all, one likely to bring a new dimension to the misunderstood character seen in previous adaptations. Could anything top the great Matthew Macfadyen hand flex of 2005? We shall find out later this year. / Emma Gleason
The Other Bennet Sister (TVNZ)
It’s about time awkward, unpopular women had their moment in the spotlight, and I’m fizzing for the TV adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s novel The Other Bennet Sister. Rather than retelling the familiar story of Jane Austen’s most famous heroine Elizabeth Bennet (see above), The Other Bennet Sister focuses on Mary, the most overlooked sister in Pride and Prejudice. Is there more to Mary than her terrible singing, and what happens when she decides to claim her independence from her family? This warm-hearted take on a beloved classic will excite anyone who loves an empire waistline, although there’s no word on whether the BBC adaptation will feature another iconic Darcy pond dive. Ella Bruccoleri (Call the Midwife) stars as Mary, while Richard E. Grant and Ruth Jones (Gavin and Stacey) play the Bennet parentals. / TW
Industry S4 (Neon)
In our 2024 round up of the best shows of the year, which included Industry, I wrote “Season three had me sitting bolt upright, completely hooked and prepared to say that I think Industry is one of the best shows of the year…someone let the writers off their chains, and they’ve managed to make watching the world burn fun.” Like the Sicko meme man, I appeared at Alex Casey’s metaphorical window when the call went out for shows we’re looking forward to this year. I will take any opportunity to repeatedly say, nay yell, that Industry is the darkest, smartest and most well-written show on television right now. The great thing is we don’t even have to look forward to it because the first episode of the fourth season aired on January 11.
Season three ended with Pierpoint sold to a front for a Saudi sovereign wealth fund. Yasmin chose self-preservation over love. Harper plumbed new depths of craven, amoral ambition. Rishi paid a deadly price for dancing with the devil and Eric delivered a line from Denis Johnson’s short story, “The Largesse of the Sea Maiden”, which left us under no illusion about the siren song the characters can not resist, no matter the peril. “Money tames the beast. Money is peace. Money is civilization. The end of the story is money.”
Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka and The Handmaid’s Tale Max Minghella join the cast for season four, with Minghella describing his character as a true American psycho. Based on the trailer, there isn’t a restraint in the world that could hold the writers back now. / Anna Rawhiti-Connell
Euphoria (Neon)
Sad, sweaty Rue is back and I can’t wait. She’s working at a convenience store from the looks of it and her past has caught up with her (not good) but that ineffable charisma seems intact if the new trailer’s anything to go by. Since it’s been approximately 85 years since the last season of Sam Levinson sleazy hit show it’s a relief to see the show’s teenage characters have been aged up accordingly, with the plot jumping forward five years for the long-awaited third season.
Colman Domingo has told fans to expect something “devastatingly gorgeous” in this, the third season, where he’s joined again by Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Hunter Schafer, Alexa Demie and Maude Apatow, who are all back. So is Sydney Sweeney. Presumably they’re all commanding higher fees now they’re bonafide movie stars and, in some cases, culture-war fodder. Sadly missing is Angus Cloud who passed away in 2023 from an accidental overdose, and the real-life tragedy will no doubt hang over the already heavy subject matter and themes of the show. / Emma Gleason
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Neon)
God, the ending of Game of Thrones was terrible. Horrid. Awful. Ass. The show’s mortification was so complete, even the most committed contrarians struggled to muster an “actually it was good” take. I went through the full spectrum of emotions during its final season, from disappointment to disgust to still-seething anger. David Benioff should be in jail. DB Weiss should be confined to a monastery. Their failure was such that all future Game of Thrones properties are forever tainted by their association with the putrescence the pair put out in 2019.
All this is to say, Game of Thrones spinoff A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms looks pretty good. Based on the Dunk and Egg novellas George RR Martin has been penning to avoid having to actually finish The Winds of Winter, it has a contained and, importantly, already completed story to follow. Former Irish rugby player Peter Claffey seems charmingly stolid in the clips we’ve seen of him in the role of Dunk. Dexter Sol Ansell looks winningly unsettling as the hairless alabaster Egg. Even if the latest GoT prequel can’t fully wash off the stink of its parent show, it at least has a solid shot of covering it in jousting, japery and intestine-spilling graphic violence. / Hayden Donnell
70Up (TBC)
It was one of the great joys of my life to work my way through the staggeringly ambitious and hugely groundbreaking Up series last year, and I was delighted to discover at the end of the marathon that there is a new one in the pipeline for 2026. Beginning in 1964 and following a group of seven year-olds from all walks of life (it was the olden days so they only included four girls and one person of colour), the series checks in with the same cohort every seven years to see how their life is panning out.
And boy, is there just so much life to cover. There’s births, deaths, marriage, divorces, countless career changes and a genuinely jaw-dropping array of hairstyles (21Up and 28Up, shot in the 80s, particularly shine). Roger Ebert once said that the TV films “penetrate to the central mystery of life” and I once said… nothing because I was crying too hard watching the Up series. Director Michael Apted, the voice behind the camera since he took over in 1970 at age 29, reportedly hoped to still be around to make 84Up at the age of 99, but sadly passed away in 2021. See what I mean? Fucking life, man. / AC
Line of Duty (TBC)
Forget Game of Thrones, no show is constructing a more vivid fantasy world than Line of Duty, where law enforcement officers that misuse their authority are ruthlessly hunted down and brought to justice by their peers. Back in the real world, ICE is shooting people with impunity. The upper echelons of New Zealand’s police have been implicated in covering up complaints against a colleague who was later convicted of possessing child sexual exploitation images.
In alt-dimension UK, things are different. DS Arnott, DC Fleming and Supt Hastings are back to, get this, hunt down a senior officer who might be abusing his position to commit sex crimes. But even his case might be a distraction from even deeper corruption afflicting what will undoubtedly be the highest levels of the state and its coercive arm. Just like Supt Hastings, there’s nothing I hate more than a bent copper, and at least in this show, I can see them going down the gurgler. / HD
East of Eden (Netflix)
Another historical banger from Netflix, this adapts my favourite John Steinbeck doorstopper (sprawling multigenerational family saga, determinism, mommy issues, faith, the tragedies of Westward Expansion etc etc) into a limited series. It stars Florence Pugh, Christopher Abbott, Mike Faist, Hoon Lee and, since production took place in Auckland, Dunedin and Ōamaru, more than likely at least one person you know personally. / EG
Rivals (Disney+)
Last year I awarded sex scene of the year to Rivals, a show that celebrates a particularly glorious and very British style of outdoor rutting. The first season ended with the battle for the rights to beam satellite TV into Rutshire homes seemingly won, a main character bashed over the head, a first kiss and a marriage in ruins. The second season will pick up the last half of Dame Jilly Cooper’s book. A short tease of season two featured Rupert Campbell-Black astride a horse looking saucy as hell, so I have no doubt, amid all the high camp drama, the legacy of our beloved queen of the bonkbuster will be preserved.
The second season was slated to land in the British spring (March – May here), but my rabid refreshing of all related Reddit pages seems to suggest some delay, possibly because of Cooper’s death in October last year. If David Tennant and Alex Hassell didn’t fill your cup last season, Rupert Everett is joining the cast for season two. An embarrassment of swaggering, swarthy and posh riches. / ARC
Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair (Disney+)
We’ve got good news for nostalgia-seeking millennials; Scrubs and Malcolm in the Middle are returning in 2026 with (almost) all of their original casts. Back in the 2000s, Malcolm in the Middle popularised the single camera format for the US sitcom, doing away with studio audiences and making every episode about 500 times harder to make.
Based on creator Linwood Boomer’s own childhood, Malcolm in the Middle gave us one of the few sitcoms to focus on a broke family with two working parents. In the middle of it all was an awkward genius who, it was predicted in the final episode, would one day become the US president. It was a more hopeful time. / Robbie Nicol
Scrubs (TBC)
Meanwhile, Bill Lawrence, who went on to co-create Ted Lasso, is returning for a reboot of the most iconic hospital sitcom that isn’t Green Wing. Once again we’ll get to hear Zach Braff giving a winsome voice-over at the end of an episode trying to tie together the A, B and C storylines with some sort of overarching theme. Like most hospital work – it’s not easy, but someone’s got to do it. / RN
Everything else
TVNZ
Local shows returning to TVNZ include Taskmaster NZ, Off the Grid with Colin and Manu, Origins (February 3), My Family Mystery, Grand Designs NZ, Eat Well for Less NZ, Moving Houses, Love It or List It NZ and a new season of Documentary NZ. Here are all the other new shows:
Ponies: Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson play secretaries-turned-spies in this American thriller set in the 1970s (streaming now).
Riot Women: The brilliant Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley) created and wrote this British drama about four angry middle-aged women who form a punk-rock band (streaming now).
Titanic Sinks Tonight: Experience in real time what it was like to nearly die on a big boat (streaming now).
Frauds: Suranne Jones (Vigil) and Jodie Whittaker (Dr Who) team up as ex-con artists who reunite to pull off one last job (streaming now).
The Walsh Sisters: Based on the beloved novels by Marian Keyes, this Irish drama follows the messy lives of the five Walsh sisters (February 1).
DMV: An American workplace comedy set in the department of motor vehicles. New Zealander Alex Tarrant stars (February 4).
Taste of Art: Filmed in Queenstown, Vaughan Mabee and Melissa Leong judge this new reality competition where chefs are challenged to “push the boundaries of food as art”.
Ready Gamer Mum: Hosted by Tegan Yarworth, this show sees 10 elite gamers teaching their mothers how to play some of the world’s biggest online games, in the hope of winning $50,000.
Baddies: This New Zealand series follows a group of brazen bank robbers who take control of a camp for wayward youth.
Lord of the Flies: Jack Thorne (Adolescence) adapts William Golding’s renowned novel into a four-part television drama.
The Miniature Wife: Matthew Macfadyen and Elizabeth Banks play a couple trying to keep their marriage together after the husband accidentally shrinks his wife.
Unspeakable: The Murder of JonBenet Ramsey: A true crime drama series reexamining the events around six-year-old JonBenet Ramsay’s death in 1996. Melissa McCarthy and Clive Owen play the Ramsay parents.
The ‘Burbs: An American comedy about a couple who move back to their childhood town, only to discover their new street is creepy as hell.
Three
Local shows returning include Happiness, 7 Days and Guy Montgomery’s Guy Mont Spelling Bee. Here are all the other new shows:
The Sanctuary: From the comedic talents of Joseph Moore and Laura Daniel comes this story of an eccentric American billionaire who is hiding from the law in New Zealand.
Crack Head: A dark New Zealand comedy about a woman who burns her sister’s house down and is given an ultimatum: jail, or four weeks at a rehabilitation clinic called The Last Resort.
Ms. X: Melissa George joins Dean O’Gorman and Simone Kessell in this local comedy-drama about a mother who enlists the help of an old friend to investigate her cheating husband.
Tane Tarlton’s Ocean Adventures: The grandson of New Zealand marine environmentalist Kelly Tarlton explores our unique marine wildlife and conservation efforts.
David Lomas Breakthrough: Grab the tissues, David Lomas is back and this time he’s breaking through seemingly impossible cases to reunite long-lost families.
Celebrity Escape: New Zealand and Australian comedians unite to take on an escape room.
My House My Castle: Last on our screens in 2011, My House My Castle is back to help tackle problems and give practical advice for New Zealand renters and homeowners.
Home of Hope: A documentary series that takes viewers inside the Grace Foundation, New Zealand’s largest rehabilitation and accommodation facility for people rebuilding their lives after prison.
The Revenge Club: Adapted from J.D. Pennington’s novel The Othello Club, this six part thriller follows a group of divorcees who meet at a support group and seek retribution on their new friends’ behalf.
Married at First Sight Australia: The brides and grooms are back, baby, and so is the chaos (starts February 9).
Neon
Local series returning to Neon this year include both a second season of Licence to Drive, following learner drivers with disabilities, and Secrets at Red Rocks, set on Wellington’s south coast and inspired by Rachael King’s award-winning novel. Here are all the other new local shows:
Bust Up: Morgana O’Reilly and Roimata Fox star as former flames forced to police the fictional small town of Waitote together. Can these two ex-lovers survive 10 hour shifts on the beat together?
Stalked: Presented by Jazz Thornton, this true crime series explores three haunting victim-led stories exposing the realities of New Zealand’s stalking epidemic and what has led to an overhaul of our stalking laws.
Good Bones: Josh Thomson stars as a chronic procrastinator attempting to renovate a rundown house to save his marriage, only for his amateur handiwork to uncovers a historic crime scene.
