Must-See in the New Year: Things We're Looking Forward to in 2014

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Happy New Year, Telly Visions readers! From our family here to yours – we hope you all have a wonderful 2014: a year full of love and laughter and, of course, as much great British television as you can possibly cram in to 365 days. 

Luckily, there’s apparently going to be quite a bit in the way of quality options to pick from in the next twelve months. 

Just a few of the awesome things we have to look forward to include: 

Sherlock. The mere fact that 19 days into 2014 we will get to see the long-awaited new season of Sherlock is enough make one pre-emptively thankful. Watch the full Series 3 trailer and let the flailing begin.

The final series of Poirot. David Suchet made history by successfully filming every Agatha Christie Poirot mystery, and next year Americans should get to see the final five stories for themselves: Elephants Can Remember, The Big Four, Dead Man’s Folly, The Labours of Hercules and Curtain. Watch the ITV trailer for the grand Poirot finale here.

Martin Freeman in Fargo. Now that the Sherlock star is finished spending several years in New Zealand filming Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit trilogy, it’s going to be interesting to see what projects Martin Freeman ends up doing next. Thanks to his roles as Bilbo Baggins and Dr. John Watson, Freeman’s become quite internationally known in the past couple of years, and could probably have taken on most any role he wanted. That he’s set to star in the FX television adaptation of Oscar-winning film Fargo is intriguing – and watching him attempt that accent should be fun. 

The Imitation Game. Emotional historical biopic about one of one of World War II’s greatest unsung heroes? Check. Star-studded cast featuring such notables as Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Downton Abbey’s Allen Leech, The Hollow Crown’s Rory Kinnear, Game of Thrones Charles Dance, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Mark Strong and more? Check. Sounds like an instant contender for awards season to me. 

Death Comes to Pemberley. Lucky Brits saw this Pride and Prejudice sequel on Boxing Day, but we can look forward to the three-part drama as part of the 2014 Masterpiece slate. The series stars Matthew Rhys, Anna Maxwell Martin, Jenna Coleman and Matthew Goode and actually looks pretty good, if the first trailer’s anything to go by.

Call the Midwife. The nuns and midwives of Nonnatus House will be back for a full third series in March!

American Broadchurch. Technically called Gracepoint, the US adaptation of Chris Chibnall’s critically acclaimed murder mystery series is either going to be incredible or a trainwreck, and we probably won’t know which way it’s going to go until the series premieres. Former Doctor Who star David Tennant reprises his role as tortured investigator Alec Hardy, but he’ll have an American accent and be joined by Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn rather than original Ellie Olivia Colman. It’s hard not to be curious about how it’s going to turn out.

The Musketeers. Twelfth Doctor Peter Capaldi as the infamous Cardinal Richelieu and Merlin’s dishy Santiago Cabrera as Musketeer Aramis? Sign me up. Watch the trailer here.

This is only a small portion of the great stuff that’s headed our way in the coming months – I didn’t even bring up the new seasons of Doc Martin, Last Tango in Halifax or Mr. Selfridge!

What would you put on your Must See in 2014 list?


Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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