The best shows coming soon to TV and streaming services

2023 is primed to be an exciting year for TV. Our emotions have already been put through the wringer by The Last of Us and we’ve witnessed the end of Happy Valley, and we’re only partly through 2023. Here’s our guide to the best upcoming TV shows.

With networks and streaming services competing for your hard-earned subscription fee, there’s no shortage of TV shows to gorge on this year. There are crime capers in White House Plumbers, vengeful nuns with Mrs. Davis and the return of Succession to look forward to. So, from Netflix binges to weekly viewing, here are some of the TV shows we can’t wait to tune into this year.

Additional copy by Esat Dedezade and Ian Evenden

Mrs. Davis (Peacock)

It’s been a pretty bonkers year so far for the silver screen. We’ve seen bears on cocaine, a Knock on the Cabin door and a movie about a plane inexplicably called Plane. The wildest plot of 2023 may be reserved for Mrs. Davis, though, a show that features a bad ass nun fighting against an AI in an absurd fight for survival and control. The newest show from Lost and The Leftovers’ creator Damon Lindelof and Tara Hernandez, Mrs. Davis looks set to be a delightfully unserious romp.

Release date: 20 April

Love and Death (Max, ITVX)

There are certain stars that when you see their name on the credits, you know you’re in for something of a masterpiece. Philip Seymour Hoffman was one, Tilda Swinton is another. Jesse Plemons falls into that category, who will soon star alongside WandaVision’s Elizabeth Olsen in Love and Death. Set in a quiet, Texas suburb rocked by an axe murder in the 1980s, Love and Death is written by David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, The Undoing) and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, best known for Homeland.

Release date: 27 April

Citadel (Amazon Prime Video)

A spy agency has fallen, and the minds of its agents have been wiped. The fall of the agency known as Citadel created a power vacuum that a merciless crime syndicate are more than happy to fill. A city must fight for its morality…but will it succeed? Starring Richard Madden, who lit up the TV screen as war veteran David Budd in 2018’s Bodyguard, Priyanka Chopra, and everyone’s favourite Italian food connoisseur Stanley Tucci, Citadel is the next big budget epic from Amazon Prime Video.

Release date: 28 April

White House Plumbers (Max)

Watergate was one of the biggest scandals in political history. So much so that any public controversy will likely forever be referenced as ‘Something or other-gate’. But while there’s been countless references to Nixon in TV and film, less is known about how the former President’s own political saboteurs, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, accidentally bungled the entire thing. White House Plumbers documents this true story in a comedy-drama caper, with Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux playing the titular slapstick spies.

Release date: 1 May

The Days (Netflix)

The Days is a Netflix Japan show coming to the UK this summer. Set amidst the nuclear disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant following the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, The Days shows how events folded from the perspectives of government and corporate interests, alongside those putting their lives on the line to help contain the disaster.

Described by Netflix as a ‘dark and understated’ drama, the cast includes well-known Japanese stars Koji Yakusho and Kaoru Kobayashi, the latter of whom provided the dubbed voice for President Bartlett in the Japanese release of The West Wing.

Release date: June 1

Gen V (Prime Video)

Fans of Prime Video’s runaway gorefest that is The Boys will be happy to hear that we’re getting a superhero origin story with Gen V, which is pretty much a version of American Pie if Quentin Tarentino was the director. Gen V takes place at America’s only college for teenage superheroes. With that comes all the coming of age drama, awkwardness and ‘finding yourself’ one would expect, but with the added risk of accidentally getting blown to pieces in freshers week.

Release date: 7 July 2023 (rumoured)

True Detective – Season 4 (Max)

True Detective may be a little hit and miss, but there’s something about this sinister series that keeps us coming back. And given how the fourth series of this crime thriller stars Jodie Foster as a cop on the beat in the barren Alaskan plains, we’re ready to dive in and potentially be disappointed once again. Joined by her partner played by Kali Reis, Foster is tasked with investigating the disappearance of eight men who simply vanished into the cold, dark night. Will we see a Silence of the Lambs-esque performance from Foster? Here’s hoping.

Release date: 2023

M. Son of the Century (Now TV, Sky)

There’s no shortage of wartime epics out there from the American and British perspective. Band of Brothers, Catch-22, The Man in the High Castle, The Pacific, we could go on. The eight-part M. Son of the Century, though, will show Italy’s wartime role in a TV drama format. Based on the novel by Antonio Scurati, directed by BAFTA-winner Joe Wright (Darkest Hour, Atonement, Cyrano) and written by Stefano Bises (Gomorrah), M. Son of the Century charts the rise of fascism in Italy, and with it Mussolini’s grasp on power.

Release date: TBA, 2023

Mr and Mrs Smith (Prime Video)

Harking back to the origin story of Brangenlina, Mr and Mrs Smith (the forthcoming TV series) is based on the same storyline as Pitt and Jolie’s 2005 spy caper. But this time, Donald Glover (AKA Childish Gambino) and Maya Erskine, star of the hilariously absurd PEN15, star as the titular couple. Throw the I May Destroy You writer and actress Michaela Coel into the mix, and we have a very exciting show to look forward to.

Release date: TBA, 2023

Bodies (Netflix)

Stephen Graham. This Is England actor. National treasure. Master of the gritty drama and now, star of the crime epic Bodies. Based on the 2015 graphic novel of the same name, Bodies follows four detectives in four different eras who all find themselves investigating a murder committed under very similar circumstances. The catch is that, whether in the 1890s, 1940s, 2010s or a post-apocalyptic 2050, the victim is always the same person.

Release date: TBA, 2023