The Best New Female-Led TV Shows You’ll Be Glued To In 2020

Does anyone else crave drama? Like, actually crave those 30-60 minute time slots spent unapologetically glued to a TV screen, intently consuming a chaotic, almost too close-to-home story? Just me? Okay, hear me out. There’s a time and place for unlikely romances, and lol-ing (in the audible sense) at programmes ambitiously labelled 'comedy'. The best telly is more than that in my mind. And I like mine fronted by the industry's powerhouse women, thanks. Sandra Oh, Kerry Washington, Michaela Coel, Nicole Kidman, Jodie Comer, come on down...

Fortunately, we’ve got plenty to choose from at the moment. Russian Doll and Derry Girls came and went a little too quickly and, yes, I’m still at a loss without those knockout BBC dramas like Fleabag, Back To Life and Killing Eve but there’s loads of top-notch TV to come in 2020, too. Desperate for something to fill the gaping holes in your social calendar? Well, you have come to the right place, friend. Here, you'll find every TV show that we’re looking forward to at the moment. Be sure to check back as we'll be updating the list as more shows are confirmed.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge returns to the small screen in 2020 – this time to star in a comedy written by her brilliant Fleabag collaborator, Vicky Jones, on Sky Comedy. Run introduces us to Ruby (Merritt Wever), who gets a very important text. Fifteen years ago, she and her then-partner made a pact that if ever they needed to escape the trials and tribulations of life, all they would have to do is text the word 'run' and they’d disappear together. As Ruby will come to realise throughout the series, the reality of keeping this almost-romantic promise is very different when things like grown-up responsibilities and perspective get in the way.  

Up there among the most anticipated book adaptations is this long-awaited drama starring two of TV’s most successful leading ladies: Reese Witherspoon (Big Little Lies) and Kerry Washington (Scandal). Adapted from Celeste Ng’s 2017 novel of the same name, Little Fires Everywhere presents a fraught relationship between Elena Richardson (Witherspoon), a wealthy stay-at-home mother, and Mia Warren (Washington), who moves into the area. Each of them has a murky history that slowly comes to light as Elena tries to get to the bottom of how (and why) her beautiful suburban mansion was set on fire.

Issa Rae and the gang are due to return with their standout comedy show this year, as series four lands on Sky Atlantic with what we know will be a bang. Assuming the new season picks up where we last left off, it'll have been a couple of years since Issa finally quit her rubbish job at We Got Y'all and decided to make a go of it as an entrepreneur. "It's time to level up, hoe," she raps to herself in the mirror in the new trailer. God knows we're ready.

Everyone’s favourite women-led espionage thriller is returning to the BBC for its third instalment. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer will be reviving their roles as Eve and Villanelle, picking up where we left off at that dramatic season two finale. Whether Eve is dead or alive is yet to be confirmed but we have a confident hunch that she’ll live to pursue another game of cat and mouse across new glorious locations.

Wondering where Michaela Coel has been? She’s been working on the much-anticipated production of her new BBC One drama, January 22nd, filming for which started last year. Coel writes and stars in this "fearless, frank and provocative" series that delves into the issue of sexual consent in today’s dating landscape. Arabella (Coel) is a young professional living in London who has a solid group of friends and a burgeoning writing career. But when she’s spiked and sexually assaulted on a night out she has to reassess everything she’d come to define her life by.

Comedian Mae Martin stars as herself in Channel 4’s exciting new programme, Feel Good. Drawing on many of her own life experiences to co-write the series, the show follows a recovering addict who falls in love and embarks on a new relationship with George (Fresh Meat’s Charlotte Ritchie) who proves to both help and hinder Mae’s anxiety as she navigates other relationships, sexuality and day-to-day survival in the world. Friends legend Lisa Kudrow stars as Mae’s mother, Linda.

Taking the classic coming-of-age narrative for a new spin is HBO comedy, Mrs Fletcher. The series is also making its way to Sky’s new comedy channel in the UK (and will be available on Now TV) and is based on Tom Perrotta’s 2017 novel of the same name. We follow Eve Fletcher (Kathryn Hahn) and her son Brendan (Jackson White) as they each navigate big turning points in their lives – a sexual awakening for Eve and the first year of university for Brendan. The twists and turns of relationships are at the heart of this already well-received adaptation.

Based on the character of Nurse Ratched in the 1962 novel One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, this new Netflix adaptation takes us back to 1947 to before Ratched became the heinous head of the mental institution at Salem State Hospital. Helmed by executive producer Ryan Murphy, the series has secured a two-season deal and has Sarah Paulson and Sex and the City’s Cynthia Nixon among its cast.  

This beloved drama has had the revival treatment and, at long last, is hitting Sky Atlantic for UK viewers to enjoy. The eight-episode series sees Jennifer Beals, Katherine Moenning and Leisha Hailey reprise their roles as Bette, Shane and Alice to guide us through what the group has been up to for the last decade. There are new faces, new dramas and a new location in store and don’t worry, you don’t have to be clued up on the original series to enjoy the new one.

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant star in this Big Little Lies-adjacent series. Kidman plays wealthy therapist Grace Sachs who prides herself on the successes of her career and her loving husband (Grant) and son, who she sends to a posh private school in New York. That all falls apart, of course, when her husband goes missing, triggering a series of troubling revelations that threaten the world she’s carefully built for herself. Heading to Sky Atlantic later this year.