Best of TV 2018: Feasts and treats in store for the year ahead

There will be plenty of TV treats to keep you warm, toasty and glued to the box.

Here’s a round-up of some of the best entertainment shows and dramas hitting our screens in the new year and beyond...

CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER:

It should be called Celebrity Big Sister as it’s starting with women only going into the famous house on launch night.

The stunt is to celebrate the fact that it’s the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote.

Rumoured names include former Tory MP Charlotte Leslie and C5’s newsreader India Willoughby.

Men will enter the house a week later.

THE VOICE

Will.i.am, Jennifer Hudson, Sir Tom Jones and new boy Olly Murs are back for a new series on ITV and they are hoping to find a star.

So far – after six series of the talent show hosted by Emma Willis – this has eluded them.

Maybe 2018 will be the year they do it?

But does anyone remember the past winners?

DANCING ON ICE

Axed back in 2014 due to falling ratings, the show is back with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby hosting and Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean sitting on the judging panel.

And Mr Mean Jason Gardiner is back on board.

Celebrities risking all on the ice include Love Island’s Kem Cetinay, Bucks Fizz’s Cheryl Baker and Corrie’s Brooke Vincent.

BRITAIN’S BEST COOK

Tipped to be the BBC’s “new Bake Off”, it will be hosted by Strictly’s Claudia Winkleman.

Former Bake Off star Mary Berry will be one of the judges.

The aim of the show?

To find Britain’s best cook by testing the expertise of truly great home bakers.

Does this sound familiar?

THE GENERATION GAME

Former Bake Off hosts Mel and Sue have mighty shoes to fill.

They are reviving the late Sir Bruce Forsyth’s old Saturday night family game show complete with the famous conveyor belt and cuddly toy.

It was last seen on TV in 2002 with Jim Davidson in charge.

The BBC claim this is the show “that viewers most want back on their screens”.

ALL TOGETHER NOW

Spice Girl Geri Horner and comic Rob Beckett front this new BBC Saturday night singing contest.

Each week singers will perform in front of “The 100” (a panel of musical experts and artists).

If any of them like what they hear, they stand up and join in.

The greater the number that stand up and sing along, the higher the contestant’s score.

NEXT OF KIN

In this ITV thriller, Good Wife star Archie Panjabi plays GP Mona Harcourt, whose life is thrown into turmoil when her brother is murdered while working for a medical charity abroad.

This Life’s Jack Davenport plays her political lobbyist husband Guy.

The drama centres on a web of intrigue and betrayal as the tragedy brings buried secrets to light.

McMAFIA

One of our hottest actors, James Norton, stars in this BBC eight-part adaptation of a book about Russian corruption and money laundering.

He plays good-guy Alex Godman whose family’s Mafia past returns to threaten them.

To protect them, he has to decide whether to enter their sinister, dangerous and dark world.

BRITANNIA

It’s being called the “new Game Of Thrones” on Sky Atlantic.

Set in 43AD it tells the historical tale of the Romans’ attempt to invade Britain and conquer the Celts and the mystical Druids.

It has a stellar cast including The Missing’s David Morrissey, The Office’s Mackenzie Crook and veteran actress Zoe Wanamaker.

DEATH IN PARADISE

Ardal O’Hanlon, who played Dougal in Father Ted, now takes the leading role in this BBC crime drama as DI Jack Mooney.

It is filmed once again in the Caribbean and promises some impressive guest appearances.

Joining the show are Reggae Reggae sauce multi-millionaire Levi Roots, Car Share’s Sian Gibson, Denis Lawson from New Tricks and Mark Benton of Waterloo Road fame.

KIRI

Everyone’s favourite TV actress Sarah Lancashire heads up this gripping new drama from Channel 4.

It follows the devastating fall-out when a young black girl named Kiri – who was soon to be adopted by her white foster family – is abducted and then murdered.

It’s written by the talented team who brought us National Treasure.

CALL THE MIDWIFE

As the nuns and midwives reach 1963, they face new dramas on the BBC show.

The arrival of West Indian nurse Lucille Anderson causes a racist backlash in the community.

Elsewhere the show tackles Asian child brides, a pregnant stripper, leprosy and tokophobia (fear of pregnancy).

HARD SUN

Expect plenty of action in this BBC apocalyptic thriller.

Two cops played by Agyness Deyn and Jim Sturgess discover evidence that the world will end in five years in a format inspired by David Bowie song Five Years.