The 15 best ITVX dramas to watch in April 2026
From a new ITV drama to classics you've missed, these are the best shows ITVX has to offer
ITVX is a treasure trove of the best ITV dramas, from addictive whodunnits and true crime to boxsets of iconic TV shows.
2025 was a strong year for ITV. We had crime dramas like I Fought the Law, a new series of Karen Pirie, and The Hack.
2026 is already off to a strong start. Demand is already rampant for After the Flood season 3, and we’ve also had the likes of The Lady and Gone. Secret Service is set to premiere soon, too.
So, if you’re looking for something new to watch, you’re in luck: we’ve rounded up the best ITVX dramas you can watch this month.
Secret Service
- Year: 2026 (premieres on April 27 at 9pm)
- Cast: Gemma Arterton, Rafe Spall, Mark Stanley, Alex Kingston
- Creator: Tom Bradby
- Length: 1 season, 5 episodes
What it’s about: Kate, an MI6 agent who heads up the SIS’ Russia desk, becomes convinced that there’s a Russian mole in the UK Government. With a leadership contest coming up, she works tirelessly to figure out not only if it’s true, but who it is.
Why to watch: If you like your cinematic and TV spycraft with a flavour of John le Carré, rather than James Bond, Secret Service is the show for you. It’s an ambitious, tense thriller that’s timely in its frank take on the geopolitical template, unexaggerated but effective in its depiction of espionage, and you’ll second-guess every clue until you get a real answer.
Also, it’s based on a book by ITV News’ Tom Bradby!
Secret Service is available to stream on ITVX now. Once you’ve watched it, check out our breakdown of Secret Service’s ending.
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Long Call
- Year: 2021
- Cast: Ben Aldridge, Declan Bennett, Siobhán Cullen, Anita Dobson
- Creator: Kelly Jones
- Length: 1 season, 4 episodes
What it’s about: A body is found on a beach in North Devon. DI Matthew Venn and his team search for a way into a case that has no witnesses, no forensics and no motive.
Why to watch: The Long Call is very much in the Broadchurch vein of ITV dramas: a twisty, moody, and moving seaside whodunnit. However, with the release of Unchosen on Netflix, this is not-so-obvious, but compelling entry in the ‘British cult thriller’ canon. Plus, if you liked the BBC’s Babies, Siobhán Cullen is excellent in it, too. Two other things: it earned plaudits for its LGBTQ+ representation, and it’s based on a novel by the creator of Vera.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
For any Trigger Point and Line of Duty fans out there, it’s also one of Vicky McClure’s best roles.
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