TV & Movies
Doctor Who, The Tourist, & Harry Potter are here to ease your hangover.
Come New Year’s Day 2022 – as we mark close to two years of “unprecedented times” – I’d like to believe that we are more than owed a duvet day watching back-to-back TV shows and ignoring the world outside. Following all of December’s excellent festive programming, there are a number of one-off specials, new drama series, and kitsch TV competitions to curl up in front of at the beginning of the New Year. What’s more, many of the shows scheduled for the first few days in January are easy viewing (an especially nice touch considering how heavy our heads may be following the night before, if you catch my drift).
TV fans can also expect a great deal of magic and other worldly content in 2022 from a one-off Doctor Who special to the much-awaited Harry Potter: Return To Hogwarts reunion. There’s also the return of some classic old-faithfuls such as Call The Midwife, which is technically arriving on Jan. 2 – but let’s not pretend we won’t still be in bed by then...
Also arriving on Jan. 2 is The Chase: The Bloopers, which promises such cringeworthy and hilarious never-before-seen clips. And game show fans will also be happy to hear about the return of Taskmaster. Details are still under wraps but we can expect a New Years special at some point in early January. So, if you plan to bring in the new year in front of the TV, then here are all the TV shows you need to know about on January 1 and 2.
Doctor Who: Eve Of The Daleks
What would New Year’s Day be without watching the Time Lord save lives from an alien threat? Eve Of The Daleks is Jodie Whittaker’s last Doctor Who episode as the Time Lord as she regenerates into the Fourteenth Doctor, and has been tipped as an “action-packed spectacular”. Without spoiling it, the episode sees an executioner Dalek targeting two people; Sarah (Aisling Bea), who owns and runs a storage company, and Nick (Adjani Salmon), a customer who visits his unit every year on New Year’s Eve. The question at the heart of the episode is — why them? The BBC synopsis asks, “Can the Doctor, Yaz, and Dan save them and survive into the New Year?’ Let’s hope.
Eve of The Daleks airs on January 1 on BBC One at 7 p.m.
The Tourist
A New Year requires a brand new drama series to sink your teeth into, and 2022 is starting off strong. Starring Jamie Dornan, BBC’s Tourist is a six-part mystery thriller about a British man who ends up deep into the Australian outback, chased by a tank truck trying to run him off the road. As the BBC teases, what ensues next is an epic cat and mouse chase that lands the man in the hospital, “hurt, but somehow alive. Except he has no idea who he is”.
Episode 1 of Tourist airs on January 1 on BBC One at 9 p.m.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts
It’s been twenty magical years of Harry Potter and now the cast — including stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint — will be returning to the wizarding world for a one-off special to relive the magic of Hogwarts. Expect interviews and more from the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Day.
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return To Hogwarts airs on Sky Atlantic and Now TV on January 1. Times TBC.
Scream 4
What says “Happy New Year!” more than a classic slasher movie to make you jump out of your skin? OK, so while this may be a debatable NYD movie choice, the fourth instalment of the hit horror franchise Scream is making its Netflix UK debut in January and it may be just the thing you need to help you forget your hangover. Originally released in 2011, Scream 4 sees Neve Campbell reprise her role as “perennial survivor” Sidney Prescott. Sidney returns to her hometown of Woodsboro after ten years. Now a self-help author, she reunites with family and friends only to find a new knife-wielding Ghostface is targeting teens.
Scream 4 will arrive on Netflix UK on January 1.
She’s The Man
This 2006 rom-com is a guilty pleasure watch for many millennials who were hardcore into Amanda Bynes’ brand of comedy during her Nickelodeon heyday. She’s The Man sees Viola Hastings (Bynes) left heartbroken after her football team is disbanded. After being told she’s not allowed to play on the boy’s football team, Viola decides to disguise herself as her twin brother in order to play in a big tournament. While Bynes’ boy wig is truly terrible, the film is a fun and easy watch for New Year’s Day.
She’s The Man will arrive on Netflix UK on January 1.
The Chase: The Bloopers
The Chase: The Bloopers promises an hour of “laughs, gaffes, and outtakes that were never meant to see the light of day” when it returns on New Year’s Day. Hosted by the affable Bradley Walsh, expect some cringe-worthy moments from the popular TV competition, which you’ll probably want to rewind a few times.
The Chase: The Bloopers airs on January 2 on ITV at 6.30 p.m.
Anne
Upcoming ITV docu-drama Anne tells the story of late Hillsborough campaigner Anne Williams who spent decades fighting for justice for her son Kevin, who was fatally crushed aged 15 in the football stadium tragedy in 1989. Starring Maxine Peake, the four-part series has already received praise for the retelling of Williams’ story, and viewers can expect a moving watch when it airs on January 2.
Anne airs on January 2 on ITV at 9 p.m.
Call The Midwife
Following up on its Christmas Day special (where the team has its busiest Christmas yet), Call The Midwife will be kickstarting season 11 on January 2, 2022 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The new series is set in the 1960s, and it’s expected that the midwives and nuns will have to grapple with changes to abortion laws.
Call The Midwife airs on January 2 on BBC One at 8 p.m.
Taskmaster
For the New Year’s Treat special of Taskmaster — Channel 4’s BAFTA-winning comedy game show where celebs take on a bunch of weird challenges — a new set of celebs arrive at the Taskmaster house, including Claudia Winkleman, Adrian Chiles, Lady Leshurr, paralympic champion Johnnie Peacock, and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi. Hosted, of course, by Greg Davies and Alex Horne, expect fun, daft, and a little messy light TV for New year.
Date and times TBC.
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