TV series both new and old for 2015
Audiences on both sides of the Atlantic can look forward to plenty of new projects and a host of second seasons on their TVs for this new year
Despite the start of the new year, and a host of new productions about to begin (see below), the hit TV series from 2014 are far from finished, and we can expect a number of second seasons. One example is the highly-praised drama, Fargo (FX), which last year showed how to go about adapting a successful feature film for the small screen. Starring Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton, Fargo is inspired by the Coen brothers' classic movie.
Meanwhile, True Detective (HBO) also impressed last year with its dynamic narrative form applied to the cop show starring Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson. HBO has already announced big names lined up for the second season, including Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn starring alongside Rachel McAdams.
The Knick (Cinemax) brought together Steven Soderbergh and Clive Owen in a medical drama set in New York of 1900, and a second season is due out this year. Also gearing up for a 10-episode second season is The Affair (Showtime), the television revelation of the second half of 2014, starring Dominic West and Ruth Wilson.
‘Better Call Saul': anticipated sequel to ‘Breaking Bad'
This is perhaps the series around which there is most expectation, considering it is a spin-off of the universally popular Breaking Bad, also on AMC. The new series, for which Movistar has gained exclusive rights in Spain, is about Saul Goodman, the dodgy lawyer from Breaking Bad, played by Bob Odenkirk. The story takes place in 2002, six years before Goodman runs into Walter White, who takes the lawyer on to help him in his transformation from a humble chemistry teacher into a drug lord. This initial series will have 10 episodes, which will begin airing at the end of February. The success of the new project could well depend on its reception among Breaking Bad's army of fanatical fans.
BBC adaptation of hit historical novel ‘Wolf Hall'
The BBC and historical costume drama are virtually synonymous. The UK's public broadcaster has a new project, co-produced with the US PBS channel, which sees Damien Lewis (Homeland) interpret the role of Henry VIII. The series is an adaptation of the hugely successful, prize-winning series of novels by Hilary Mantel. Directed by Peter Kosminsky, this latest BBC adaptation of top historical fiction follows in the footsteps of series such as The White Queen (2013) and begins some time in January.
Martin Luther King, the biopic, from creator of ‘The Wire'
David Simon, the creator of the acclaimed series, The Wire, has a new project about the life of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King. The six-hour mini-series on HBO is based on the trilogy of books by Taylor Branch, America in the King Years. Chat show giant, Oprah Winfrey is one of the show's producers.
Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll from Scorsese and Jagger
HBO has given the green light for Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger to produce a new series about rock-and-roll in the 1970s, starring Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) and Olivia Wilde (House). The series will explore the sex-fuelled music business of punk and disco.
The Lynchesque series taking France by storm
The series that “David Lynch would have made if he'd been French”, P'tit Quinquin is a French mini-series from the ARTE channel that features Bruno Dumont's first incursion into television, in a story that lies somewhere between Twin Peaks and Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis.
Fantastical competition for HBO's Game of Thrones
Originally rejected by HBO, but now taken up by the Starz channel, is the adaptation of the Neil Gaiman novel, American Gods. With it fantastical theme, it is a clear competitor to Game of Thrones. The project is in the hands of Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies).