Eve Myles in Gone and Ruth Wilson and Dominic West in The Affair
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The best ITVX dramas you can watch right now

Grace, Gone, and The Affair are among the best ITVX dramas right now

ITVX is a treasure trove of top-tier dramas, from addictive whodunnits and gripping true crime to boxsets of iconic TV hits.

2025 was a strong year for ITV, delivering standouts like I Fought the Law, a new run of Karen Pirie, and The Hack.

2026 has picked up right where it left off. Demand is already building for After the Flood season 3, while newer titles like The Lady and Gone have kept viewers locked in. Secret Service is next up, and it’s already generating buzz ahead of its premiere.

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If you’re looking for your next binge, you’re in the right place — here are the best ITVX dramas to stream right now.

Ruth Wilson and Dominic West in water in The Affair
The Affair is a must-watch (Credit: ITV)

The Affair

  • Year: 2014 – 2019
  • Cast: Ruth Wilson, Dominic West, Maura Tierney, Joshua Jackson
  • Creator: Sarah Treem, Hagai Levi
  • Length: 5 seasons, 53 episodes

What it’s about: The Affair is about – you guessed it – an affair! Specifically, it follows Alison, a young, married waitress who meets a teacher from New York, and they hit it off, complicating both their lives more than they ever imagined.

Why to watch: With its innovative, multi-perspective storytelling and strong performances (especially from Luther star Ruth Wilson), The Affair is incredibly addictive telly – as well as being provocative and all-involving. You’ll want to binge the lot.

Richie Campbell and John Simm as DS Glenn Branson and DS Roy Grace
Grace is worth your time (Credit: ITV)

Grace

  • Year: 2021 – present
  • Cast: John Simm, Richie Campbell, Rakie Ayola
  • Creator: Russell Lewis, Peter James
  • Length: 6 seasons, 20 episodes

What it’s about: When the wife of a Brighton property developer is reported missing, DS Roy Grace is plunged into a tangled investigation where everyone involved has something to hide.

Why to watch: Grace feels like a show from a slowly fading TV era – and that’s a compliment. It’s a consistently gripping detective series: gritty, but not too grim; violent, but not gratuitous; twisty, but not convoluted. Even when it’s not amazing, it’s one thing most shows could only aspire to: reliable.

Eve Myles in Gone
The always watchable Eve Myles in Gone (Credit: ITV)

Gone

  • Year: 2026
  • Cast: Eve Myles, David Morrissey
  • Creator: George Kay
  • Length: 1 season, 6 episodes

What it’s about: Michael Polly, the local headmaster and an upstanding member of his community, becomes the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance. When he encounters Annie Cassidy, a bright, gutsy detective, a compulsive game of cat and mouse begins as she chips away at his veneer in search of the truth.

Why to watch: Gone has all the hallmarks of a classic ITV drama: a missing spouse, an ostensibly nice man who’s the suspect, and a formidable British actress playing the detective. There’s little else we can say to sell it to you – and, best of all, you’ll be able to binge the whole thing rather than having to wait for it to air on ITV1.

Another thing: as well as being partly based on a book (To Hunt a Killer), it’s also inspired by the work of a real detective and crime correspondent.

Natalie Dormer and Mia McKenna-Bruce in The Lady
The Lady is one of the best dramas to watch this month (Credit: ITV)

The Lady

  • Year: 2026
  • Cast: Mia McKenna-Bruce, Natalie Dormer
  • Creator: Debbie O’Malley
  • Length: 1 season, 4 episodes

What it’s about: Jane Andrews’ life changes overnight when she lands a job as Sarah Ferguson’s dresser. However, as she becomes a little too fond of the royal lifestyle, her life starts to fall apart – and it ends in a murder trial that becomes a nationwide story.

Why to watch: The Lady is an easy project to sell; it’s a drama about Fergie’s killer ex-dresser, after all. However, whether it’s the lavish production values, its emotionally driven story, or a truly superb, pained performance from McKenna-Bruce, it’s a deeper, rawer look at Andrews’ story than you may be expecting.

Once you’ve watched it, make sure you find out more about The Lady cast and where Jane Andrews is now.

Sheridan Smith in character as Ann Ming in I Fought the Law
I Fought the Law is one of 2025’s best dramas (Credit: ITV)

I Fought the Law

  • Year: 2025
  • Cast: Sheridan Smith, Daniel York Loh, Enzo Cilenti
  • Creator: Jamie Crichton
  • Length: 1 season, 4 episodes

What it’s about: After her daughter’s murder, Ann Ming and her husband Charlie embark on a campaign to overturn Britain’s double jeopardy law.

Why to watch: If Stephen Graham is the king of the British crime drama, Sheridan Smith is undoubtedly its queen. I Fought the Law is some of her best work, with her brilliant, emotionally deep portrayal of Ann Ming elevating an otherwise formulaic (but still gripping) series.

Martin Freeman standing in front of a countryside view in A Confession
A Confession has one of Martin Freeman’s best performances (Credit: ITV)

A Confession

  • Year: 2019
  • Cast: Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, Joe Absolom
  • Creator: Jeff Pope
  • Length: 1 season, 6 episodes

What it’s about: In 2011, a young woman disappears after leaving a nightclub. Three years later, Detective Superintendent Stephen Fulcher puts his career on the line to solve the case.

Why to watch: A Confession has two heavyweights: Jeff Pope, a master of delicate, haunting true crime stories (watch See No Evil: The Moors Murders if you haven’t), and Martin Freeman, the ultra-everyman whose fracturing, deep desperation screams from the screen.

Vicky McClure in her Expo uniform in Trigger Point
Vicky McClure is a bomb disposal operative in Trigger Point (Credit: ITV)

Trigger Point

  • Year: 2022 – present
  • Cast: Vicky McClure, Adrian Lester, Gavin Sibson
  • Creator: Daniel Brierley
  • Length: 3 seasons, 18 episodes (season 4 confirmed)

What it’s about: Lana Washington, an ex-military bomb disposal operative (known as an ‘EXPO’), leads the Met Police’s bomb squad as they work to protect London from terrorist threats.

Why to watch: If you mixed 9-1-1 with Line of Duty, you’d get Trigger Point, a preposterous, thrilling potboiler that flicks the same switch over and over again. Somehow, it doesn’t get old, but it’s indebted to Vicky McClure’s eminently watchable screen presence.

Brenda Blethyn in costume as Vera in front of a police car in Vera
Vera is one of the channel’s best police dramas (Credit: ITV)

Vera

  • Year: 2011 – 2025
  • Cast: Brenda Blethyn, Jon Morrison, Kenny Doughty
  • Creator: Ann Cleeves
  • Length: 14 seasons, 56 episode

What it’s about: Vera, an obsessive detective chief inspector with a temper, leads a team to investigate complex crimes in Northumberland.

Why to watch: Vera enjoyed a mammoth 14-year run on ITV. You can credit that to the sharp writing, broad range of stories, and its inherent cosiness (even when there’s a murder), but it’s down to Brenda Blethyn’s iconic turn as the titular detective. She’s an underrated great.

Stephen Graham in Little Boy Blue
Little Boy Blue is based on an upsetting true story (Credit: ITV)

Little Boy Blue

  • Year: 2017
  • Cast: Stephen Graham, Sinead Keenan, Brían F. O’Byrne, Christine Tremarco
  • Creator: Jeff Pope
  • Length: 1 season, 4 episodes

What it’s about: When 11-year-old Rhys Jones is shot and killed while walking home from football training, Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly is tasked with bringing the killer to justice.

Why to watch: True crime dramas can be a controversy magnet; some are too graphic, others play loose with the facts. Little Boy Blue is about as real – and dramatically effective – as the genre gets, thanks to Stephen Graham’s performance and the cooperation of Rhys’ parents, Melanie and Steven.

Stephen Graham in The Walk-In
The Walk-In can be a tough watch (Credit: ITV)

The Walk-In

  • Year: 2022
  • Cast: Stephen Graham, Andrew Ellis, Dean Fagan
  • Creator: Jeff Pope
  • Length: 1 season, 5 episodes

What it’s about: Matthew Collins, a reformed Neo-Nazi who works for an anti-fascist organisation, tries to infiltrate a far-right terrorist group.

Why to watch: Stephen Graham is, predictably, the highlight of The Walk-In. However, he may be why you press play, but this is an unflinching, even frightening drama about the UK’s current of racism that could be a little much for some viewers to bear. We implore you to stick with it.

David Tennant as Dennis Nilsen
David Tennant is chilling in Des (Credit: ITV)

Des

  • Year: 2020
  • Cast: David Tennant, Daniel Mays, Jason Watkins
  • Creator: Luke Neal
  • Length: 1 season, 3 episodes

What it’s about: Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay receives a call about the possible discovery of human remains in a house. When they question the homeowner, Dennis Nilsen, he admits to killing at least 12 young boys and men.

Why to watch: Des doesn’t show any of the murders, beginning with his arrest and unnerving confession. This places the focus on Tennant’s incredibly eerie performance, peeling back the layers of Nilsen’s narcissism in his blasé, bewildered interactions with the police.

It’s a deeply unsympathetic performance (among the best portrayals of real-life serial killers), and his indifferent demeanour to his own actions will haunt you long after it’s done.

Sheridan Smith standing in front of an angry crowd in The Moorside
The Moorside has Sheridan Smith’s best performance (Credit: ITV)

The Moorside

  • Year: 2017
  • Cast: Sheridan Smith, Siobhan Finneran, Sian Brooke
  • Creator: Neil McKay
  • Length: 1 season, 2 episodes

What it’s about: In 2008, Yorkshire schoolgirl Shannon Matthews mysteriously disappears, and the local community rallies together to find her.

Why to watch: Sheridan Smith is a stalwart of British TV dramas, and The Moorside remains her greatest work to date. Written by Neil McKay (Appropriate Adult), it’s a sympathetic, hopeful, yet necessarily gritty ‘Broken Britain’ story, with Smith in inspirational form.

Emily Watson and Dominic West in Appropriate Adult
Appropriate Adult is one the best ITVX dramas (Credit: ITV)

Appropriate Adult

  • Year: 2011
  • Cast: Emily Watson, Dominic West, Monica Dolan
  • Creator: Neil McKay
  • Length: 1 season, 2 episodes

What it’s about: In 1994, social worker Janet Leach is called upon to be an appropriate adult for someone who’s just been arrested: Fred West, one of the most notorious serial killers in British history.

Why to watch: Appropriate Adult doesn’t sensationalise or indulge in the Wests’ awful crimes. It’s a grim, compelling character study, both of the killers themselves and a woman thrust into an unimaginable situation.

Don’t just take it from us. John Bennett, the detective superintendent who led the inquiry into the Wests’ crimes, said “the mannerisms and psyche of Frederick West captured and enacted by Dominic West and Monica Dolan of Rosemary West are hauntingly accurate”.

the cast of Mr Bates vs the Post Office wearing slogans
Mr Bates vs the Post Office had a huge impact in the UK (Credit: ITV)

Mr Bates vs the Post Office

  • Year: 2024
  • Cast: Toby Jones, Monica Dolan, Julie Hesmondhalgh
  • Creator: Gwyneth Hughes
  • Length: 1 season, 4 episodes

What it’s about: When a computing fault causes financial losses for the Post Office, hundreds of innocent subpostmasters are prosecuted for theft – and a group decides to fight back.

Why to watch: Mr Bates vs The Post Office is one of the best shows ITV has ever produced; a stirring, grounded, exquisitely performed drama that brought a rage-inducing national scandal to the fore. Keep an eye out for all the Broadchurch alumni.

David Tennant and Olivia Colman on a beach in Broadchurch
Broadchurch is the best drama on ITVX (Credit: ITV)

Broadchurch

  • Year: 2013 – 2017
  • Cast: David Tennant, Olivia Colman, Jodie Whittaker
  • Creator: Chris Chibnall
  • Length: 3 seasons, 24 episodes

What it’s about: When the body of a young boy is found on a beach, a small coastal town becomes the focus of a major police investigation and a media frenzy, with two detectives forced to work together to figure out what happened.

Why to watch: Simply put, Broadchurch is one of the best British crime dramas this side of the millennium; a show that came and went on its own terms with three superb seasons, each just as good as the last (season 1 is the best, though). Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who work may be divisive, but this is unanimously revered.

Read more: The best movies you can stream for free on ITVX

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Cameron Frew
TV Guides Editor

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