12 February 2025
Ollie Madden, Director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, announced in August last year he was doubling Channel 4’s drama budget and the number of commissions, delivering on the Channel’s plan to launch new drama consistently throughout the year - a key pillar in Channel 4’s move to becoming a streaming-first PSB.
Today he unveils six exciting new dramas coming to Channel 4.
“Our commitment at Channel 4 drama is to make shows which offer a tangible point of difference, shine a light on British society in a thought provoking and fresh way, and yet are uncompromising in their ambition to entertain. I’m proud to announce this eclectic range of new commissions which embody that ethos, and we’re confident our audiences will love.
Jack Thorne has written his first ever love story in Falling. Produced by The Forge, this is a contemporary drama which explores what happens when a woman who has been a nun for most of her adult life unexpectedly falls in love with a catholic priest. It’s a beautifully observed, deeply romantic series that explores faith in modern life in an unexpected and fascinating way.
We’ve also greenlit an eight-part series of The Rachel Incident, Caroline O’Donoghue’s hilarious, fizzy look at 20-something best friends in 1990’s Ireland and the fallout when both their lives become intertwined with an older professor and his wife. Adapted from her own novel, Caroline is collaborating on this delicious comedy drama series with Jen Statsky, co-creator of Hacks, and the producing team includes Normal People’s Element Pictures alongside UCP and Pageboy.
In Pierre, we’re thrilled to be making acclaimed playwright Roy Williams’ series debut, co-written with the brilliant John Donnelly and produced by The Lighthouse. Set to star David Harewood, who is also an executive producer on the series, it’s a compelling portrait of a West London duty solicitor who is barely keeping his head above water physically, emotionally and financially. A charming, funny dealmaker, he is a brilliant lawyer but one whose desire for truth leads him to unravel a chilling web of institutional corruption.
We wanted to find a fresh take on the thriller genre, and who better to deliver that than the brilliant writer and star Daisy Haggard, creator of Back To Life, and her regular collaborators Two Brothers Pictures. Daisy’s new show Maya is a darkly comedic look at what witness protection looks like in the UK, and what lengths a mother will go to protect her daughter when the system fails her. At times a warm, funny honest look at parenting in extremis, it’s also a riveting thriller that explores how women escaping predatory men can so often be let down by the system.
We’re excited to be bringing back series two of The Undeclared War, the gripping cyber-thriller starring Simon Pegg and Hannah Khalique-Brown, and featuring a new co-lead, Siân Brooke, who was so compelling in Blue Lights. Playground Entertainment produced the series which has been written by Colin Teevan, and all episodes directed by Sherlock and Inside Man’s Paul McGuigan.
And finally, in A Woman of Substance, we have a bold re-imagining of the Barbara Taylor Bradford novel that was Channel 4’s biggest ever drama when it was first made some 40 years ago. Adapted by The Buccaneers showrunner Katherine Jakeways alongside Roanne Bardsley, this eight-part period revenge romp charts the epic rise of a wronged housemaid who channels her rage over decades to become the richest woman in the world. With the rise of the so-called ‘manosphere’ and worryingly downward trends around social mobility, this new series feels as searingly relevant as it is rampantly entertaining.
And still to come in 2025, we have a number of compelling dramas launching soon. Having already had one of our biggest drama launches in recent years with Patience, the York-set police procedural centred around the eponymous, neurodiverse detective, as well as James Graham’s brilliant political drama Brian and Maggiestarring Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter; these include Marlon James’ Jamaica set thriller Get Millie Black, starring Tamara Lawrance, a co-production with HBO; the four-part limited series Trespasses, adapted from Louise Kennedy’s novel by Ailbhe Keogan and starring Lola Petticrew, Tom Cullen and Gillian Anderson; and Summerwater, the Scottish-set mystery thriller adapted from Sarah Moss’ novel by John Donnelly.”
