Best TV hitting screens this autumn, from Amanda Holden's raunchy sex doc & new thrillers to legendary game show reboot

IT’S been the summer that the sun forgot and soon the nights will be drawing in - and a cosy evening spent on the sofa is starting to look more and more appealing.

Luckily the autumn TV schedules are ready and waiting.

Gripping real-life documentaries and tense thrillers sit alongside side-splitting comedies and a raft of new game shows.

We pick the best viewing to see you well into the cold months…

DRAMA

Be prepared to get sucked in with a whole host of new dramas.

Multi-award winning film Boiling Point is being transformed into a five-part series for the BBC, picking up six months from where the film left off.

And of the original line-up has stuck around, including Stephen Graham as mentor Andy Jones .

Elsewhere, Jenna Coleman returns to screens in mid-September for new Prime Video gripping series Wilderness alongside Oliver Jackson-Cohen, which sees her dream holiday go wrong when she discovers her hubby is having an affair.

Another twisted love story will be told in September in Sky drama The Lovers, starring Johnny Flynn and Roisin Gallagher, whose characters are so utterly wrong for each other that it becomes so right.

TV drama favourites Katherine Kelly and Jill Halfpenny have come together for new ITVX drama The Long Shadow, airing mid-September, which details the five-year manhunt for serial killer Peter Sutcliffe, The Yorkshire Ripper.

Another spine-chiller, six-part drama The Woman In The Wall from BBC One, details shock scandal in Ireland, The Magdalene Laundries. Ruth Wilson and Daryl McCormack unearth the horrors hidden behind the quaint Irish town of Kilkinure.

Women’s prison drama Time will make a comeback for series two, with a top cast including Bella Ramsey, Jodie Whittaker and Tamara Lawrance.

Later in the year both Sex Education and The Crown will grace Netflix for their final seasons.

Doctor Who returns to BBC One in November featuring the return of David Tennant as the Fourteenth Doctor and Catherine Tate as Donna Noble.

Also returning on Apple TV+ is Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon’s The Morning Show, featuring guest star Jon Hamm.

REALITY

There's plenty on offer if escaping from real life to watch someone else's play out on screen is your bag.

E4’s big hitter Married At First Sight returns mid-September with a whole new set of twists, including its first ever transgender contributor and tons of drama.

But before then, Celebs Go Dating will be back on August 20 with the likes of Vanessa Feltz, Adam Collard, Chloe Burrows and Lottie Moss looking for love.

Host Anna Williamson teased: “You’re not just in for a shock, we have been in for a shock.”

Claudia Winkleman’s award-winning The Traitors will return for its much-anticipated second series. There are a string of new shows that will be hoping to emulate its success.

Missing Love Island? Look no further as Davina McCall hosts single parents looking to find love in My Mum, Your Dad – ITV’s big new dating show.

The fresh format promises laughs and genuine connections when it lands mid-September.

But this autumn’s real big fish is Big Brother, which returns to screens after years off air thanks to a reboot by ITV.

Hosted by AJ Odudu and Will Best, execs have promised a string of amazing new housemates.

For conventional fly-on-the-wall fodder, look out for Chloe Madeley: A Family Affair on ITV.

Richard and Judy’s daughter and her husband, rugby ace James Haskell, have invited the cameras into their home as they reveal the behind-the-scenes chaos of being first-time parents.

And the Kweens of reality telly The Kardashians are back on Disney+ for their fourth series, as we catch up with everything from Kourtney’s pregnancy to Kendall’s relationship with Bad Bunny.

FACTUAL

Factual entertainment will dominate the TV schedule, promising to educate, inform – and sometimes raise eyebrows.

Doing the latter, Amanda Holden will explore the history of intimate relationships in new Sky series Sex: A Bonkers History, starting in mid-September.

In it she explores how our attitudes to love-making have changed, from ancient Egypt to today.

Meanwhile Robbie Williams has granted Netflix unprecedented access to his private life for a self-titled documentary, as has David Beckham, whose career is laid bare – as well as his struggles with OCD.

And Coleen Rooney will step back into the limelight after securing a multi-million-pound deal with Disney+ to tell her side of the Wagatha Christie saga.

The three-part series will detail the circumstances leading up to her Instagram post that caused an internet sensation, and look at how she won the high court case against Rebekah Vardy.

In another Disney+ factual show expected to prove a winner, Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney return for a second series of Welcome To Wrexham, landing on September 13.

It is expected to pick up from where the first successful series left off in 2022, documenting the football club’s promotion from the National League to the EFL League Two.

If you prefer the natural world, in October the BBC begins another compelling Sir David Attenborough series, Planet Earth III.

And Netflix has shocking true crime as it investigates the unsolved 1999 doorstep murder of TV presenter Jill Dando.

Meanwhile, ITV will celebrate Coronation Street queen Barbara Knox with a one-off TV special as the Rita Tanner legend turns 90.

For stars of a different kind, British astronaut Tim Peake will take a look at the solar system in Tim Peake: Secrets Of Our Universe for Channel 5.

CHALLENGE

If challenge shows are all about watching household names suffer, then there’s none more grisly than Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.

This autumn will see it’s most anticipated series yet hit screens as the directing staff get to grips with disgraced former Health Secretary – and evident glutton for punishment – Matt Hancock among a string of other celebs.

The team, including favourites Mark “Billy” Billingham and Jason “Foxy” Fox, push them to the limits physically and mentally during the gruelling SAS selection process in the Vietnamese jungle.

There’s more brutality over on new series Survivor for BBC1.

This adapted version of the global brand returns and sees Joel Dommett introduce two tribes of plucky contestants who go head to head in physical and psychological challenges on a Caribbean island.

On a one-man mission is Ben Fogle for Channel 5’s Endurance: Race To The Pole.

He has returned to Antarctica to relive the Edwardian expeditions of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen in what will be an inspiring three-parter, set to land in October.

Also off on their travels are celebs including All Saints’ Mel Blatt and weatherman Alex Beresford for the first ever series of Celebrity Race Across The World, which lands in early September.

The stars, all joined by family members or friends, will start in Marrakech, Morocco, and end in Tromsø, Norway, in an epic journey that will span 24 countries and more than 6,000 miles.

Experiencing a little less freedom are another batch of celebs for Channel 4’s HMP, a four-part constructed series set in a decommissioned prison.

EastEnders actor Sid Owen, singer HRVY and tractor porn MP Neil Parish will be locked up alongside real former criminals

ENTERTAINMENT

Nothing closes the door on summer like the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom opening for business.

And the entertainment behemoth is back in glittering style for its 21st series in September.

Adam Thomas, Annabel Croft and Krishnan Guru-Murthy are among celebs signed up for the dance extravaganza, hosted by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman, with judges Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood, Motsi Mabuse and Anton Du Beke.

The Voice returns for its twelfth series, with Anne-Marie, Olly Murs, Sir Tom Jones and will.i.am back in the hot seats as coaches.

Emma Willis presents as wannabe singing superstars battle it out to win a coveted record deal.

It’ll soon be time for Ant and Dec to return to ITV with I’m A Celebrity . . .  Get Me Out Of Here!, as a brave bunch sign up for witchetty grubs and challenges Down Under.

Stars so far set to appear include Alan Halsall and Josie Gibson, with the series due in November.

Josie’s This Morning co-host Alison Hammond will make her debut as presenter on The Great British Bake Off for Channel 4 this autumn.

There is a brand new show from ITV called Mamma Mia! I Have A Dream, which follows the search for a musical theatre star.

With Zoe Ball as host, judges including Alan Carr and Jessie Ware will look for a new Sophie and Sky for the London West End production.

Rylan Clark has a saucy new show for Channel 4 called Sex Rated, where singles bravely ask former partners how they fared in the sack.

And against all odds, soap phoenix Neighbours is back after ending for good last year. It’s on Amazon Freevee from mid-September.

COMEDY

If you’re in need of a few laughs, there are plenty on offer.

Danny Dyer has taken a step back from his usual tough-guy roles for a comedy based on a hen do gone wrong in Henpocalypse! on BBC Two.

The former EastEnders actor plays himself in the new series, which follows a group of women stranded with just their hen do paraphernalia during the apocalypse, which kills off all men – except Danny, presumably.

Fellow former soap star Michelle Keegan is back for the fifth series of Sky’s comedy Brassic, alongside Joe Gilgun.

The gang face big repercussions from their entanglements with the dangerous McDonagh brothers and powerful drug buyer Manolito.

Later this month, Netflix will see Adam Sandler joined by his family in new comedy drama film You Are So Not Invited To My Bat Mitzvah.

Elsewhere, the BBC will showcase a full six-part series of Mawaan Rizwan’s comedy Juice following its successful pilot episode last year.

The writer and comedian plays Jamma, a young man desperate to be the centre of attention in his family but who just can’t get a break from anyone apart from his boyfriend Guy, played by Russell Tovey.

For classic, old-school comedy, Rosie Jones returns to UKTV with a band of comedians for Rosie Jones’s Disability Comedy Extravaganza.

GAME SHOWS

Game shows both old and new will test the grey matter in the coming months.

Long-running favourite Deal Or No Deal will be making its return after years off air, with Mr Saturday Night Stephen Mulhern as host.

Taking over from Noel Edmonds, he’ll front 20 episodes of the much-loved format which will run on ITV1 this autumn.

Elsewhere the channel has another fun returner in the shape of Jeopardy!, which is back after a mammoth 27 years off-screen in the UK.

Stephen Fry will host, putting the contestants to work to win the prize money, with a retro set design similar to the original series.

Another cherished favourite has been rebooted by Prime Video – Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle.

Romesh Ranganathan and Tom Davis deliver the voiceover and recapture the mayhem of the 1990s original.

Just like in previous series, hopefuls of the attacking army will fight their way into the castle through a series of ridiculous games for a chance to win one million yen (£5,000).

If you’re hoping for something fresh, Roman Kemp and Sarah Greene take to BBC One with The Finish Line, a brand new format based on an iconic horse-racing fairground game.

Knowledge equals speed in this new format, so the more the contestants know, the further they can go.