byBen Travis,Jordan King,andHarry Stainer|Updated on7th August 2026 at 12.49pm
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We’re only halfway through the year, but already 2026 is on a roll – with streaming services and traditional broadcasters delivering must-see shows at a rate of knots. From multiple gripping return trips to Westeros, to brainteasing sci-fi dramas, to heart-pumping thrillers and deeply-felt character dramas, the small-screen landscape continues to feature some of the best storytelling around right now
To mark the midpoint of 2026, the experts at Empire and Pilot TV put their heads together to top up the 10 best shows of the year so far – series that you won’t be able to stop watching. There’s something for everyone here, so take a look, tick off how many you’ve seen already, and line up the rest on your watchlist, stat. Here’s the top 10:
10) Cape Fear
Despite boasting Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg as producers – and Javier Bardem, Amy Adams, and Patrick Wilson in its cast – Cape Fear arrived on Apple TV to no small measure of scepticism. After all, we’ve already had three great versions of the classic thriller about freed killer Max Cady and his unhinged pursuit of vengeance against those who put him away: the Robert Mitchum-led 1962 J. Lee Thompson original; Scorsese’s 1991 version with Robert De Niro; and that Sideshow Bob starring Simpsons parody. Thankfully, Nick Antosca’s limited series remix of the story works on its own terms, imitating its predecessors respectfully and stylishly in its early throes, before jumping off the deep end as Bardem goes max Cady, turning the screws on Adams and Wilson’s Bowdens to alternately chilling and campy effect. JK
Read the Empire review
9) House Of The Dragon: Season 3
Streaming on: HBO Max / NOW
While Thrones devotees have long been hooked in by the intimate scheming and psychological warfare of House Of The Dragon (with occasional bursts of fire-lizard action), all the kindling stacked in Season 1 and 2 has finally been ignited in Season 3. From the opening Battle Of The Gullet, to a major shift in the power structures of King’s Landing, to the introduction of devious new villain Ormund Hightower (James Norton) gleefully revelling in making Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy, better than ever) life a misery, Ryan Condal’s adaptation of Fire & Blood has made major moves this time around. Fuelled with the confidence of dragonfire and boasting a greater tonal variety, the Westeros-traversing storylines in Season 3 have made this often feel like classic Thrones. If they can deliver a killer finale, expectations for the fourth – and apparently final – season will be higher than ever. BT
Read the Empire review
8) Silo: Season 3
Streaming on: Apple TV
Make no mistake: the mysteries of the Silo continue to be unfolded at an unhurried pace in Season 3. But it remains one of the most engrossing sci-fi dramas around right now, utterly meticulous in its depiction of the inner-workings of its subterranean civilisation so that when the apocalyptic shit hits the fan, it hits hard. After the fiery finale of Season 2, the show’s return has seen familiar villains become more sympathetic, new threats emerge, and seen Rebecca Ferguson’s hard-headed Juliette battle against drug-induced amnesia, all while the lives of 10,000 people hang in the balance. And the underground mysteries this time are in dialogue with a gripping new flashback narrative, exploring what exactly happened in present-day America to send the remnants of humanity into those vast shelters. When the storytelling – and eventual reveals – are this juicy, Silo can take all the time it wants. BT
Read the Empire review
7) Star City
Streaming on: Apple TV
Successfully spinning off Apple TV’s best kept secret – alt-history sci-fi marvel For All Mankind – is no easy undertaking. Trickier yet is making one set in ’60s Soviet Russia, during the mothership show’s first season, with generally bleak vibes and none of that series’ wide-eyed Space Race optimism. And yet, Star City does exactly that, making for a gripping watch from start to finish. Anna Maxwell Martin and Rhys Ifans deliver knockout turns as feuding security chief Lyudmilla Raskova and the Soviet Space Program’s ‘Chief Designer’ respectively, while Agnes O’Casey emerges as the show’s true shining star in the role of eavesdropper Irina Morozova. If you’ve seen For All Mankind, this only makes that series all the greater — and if you haven’t, you can dive right in here to see what all the fuss is about before tucking into five glorious seasons of peak sci-fi with the OG show. A true win-win! JK
Read the Empire review
6) A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms
Streaming on: HBO Max / NOW
From the moment its titular hero – Peter Claffey’s ‘Hedge Knight’ Ser Duncan The Tall – is introduced liberally defecating behind a tree, in full view of the camera, A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms announced itself as a different kind of show in the wider Game Of Thrones-verse. But in following the low-stakes exploits of Dunk and his young squire ‘Egg’ (Dexter Sol Ansell) as the fledgling knight enters a deadly jousting tournament, it showed how much Westeros has to offer by delivering different scales and styles of stories. Nodding to Chaucerian smut, Shakespearean bawdiness and the now-ubiquitous Lone Wolf & Cub dynamic, the show proved delightful, hilarious – and wrenchingly dramatic too, once Dunk entered the melee. Bring on the duo’s Dorne adventure in Season 2. BT
Read the Empire review
5) Widow’s Bay
Streaming on: Apple TV
Few creators manage to marry comedy and horror in a way that’s piss-your-pants funny one moment, and dementedly unsettling the next. You can now add Katie Dippold’s name to the mix – her Apple TV+ series follows the mayor of a sleepy New England island determined to boost tourism despite the painfully obvious fact that the place is, in fact, spectacularly cursed. What follows is a twisty, goofy, and at times horrific descent into the island’s history, led by Matthew Rhys, Kate O’Flynn, and Stephen Root, all of whom know exactly what show they’re in. There’s delightful slapstick humour, retina-staining imagery, horror riffs on everything from the back catalogue of Stephen King to The Wicker Man-esque folk horror, and it delivers one of the year’s finest episodes (and party sequences) in Episode 4, ‘Beach Reads’. In a world without David Lynch, what a pleasure it is to find something that so effortlessly captures the spirit of Twin Peaks without simply imitating it. HS
4) Tip Toe
Streaming on: Channel 4
Taking a step back from the Who-verse, Russell T. Davies returns with an angry, kicking-and-screaming state-of-the-nation drama that shouts from the rooftops that we are tiptoeing backwards as a nation. Tracing back from the fallout from a shocking act of violence, we watch queer bar owner Leo (Alan Cumming) and his handyman neighbour, Clive (David Morrissey), become entwined in a simmering feud that escalates across its five episodes, as both men head towards a destructive collision course. Putting male violence, prejudice and tribalism under the microscope, Tip Toe still finds moments of queer joy and celebrates the power of acceptance amid its brutal ends. Best viewed as a flipside to Davies’ 1999 landmark Queer As Folk, it explores what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community in 2026. Essential viewing. HS
Read the Empire review
3) Spider-Noir
Streaming on: Prime Video
When Nicolas Cage’s egg-cream drinking, Nazi-punching Spider-Man Noir first thwipped onto our screens in animated blockbuster Into The Spider-Verse, little could we have known that a few short years later, his hardboiled webhead would arrive in glorious, black-and-white (and ‘True Hue’ technicolour) live-action form. And even in our wildest dreams, nothing could have prepared us for the brilliance of Spider-Noir, which sees Cage channel his inner Humphrey Bogart to play a grizzled PI delivering sardonic putdowns at a rat-a-tat clip, swinging round skyscrapers (when he isn’t sozzled and asking for biscuits), and tangling with Brendan Gleeson’s genuinely threatening, very Irish cigar-chomping gangster Silvermane. Part film noir, part comic book caper, part Buñuellian fever dream, this is a huge, batshit crazy swing from all involved that improbably sticks the landing and then some. JK
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2) The Bear: Season 5
Streaming on: Disney+ / Hulu
How’s that for a final service? The Bear rediscovered its original recipe for one last bow – perfectly balancing heart-squeezing personal dramas and deeply stressful kitchen nightmares, with the most loveable characters on the box. Set largely across a single night, Season 5 finds The Bear crew fighting tooth and nail to make mange-able magic as the building literally falls apart around them – stocks are dwindling, Chicago is caught in a torrential storm, and financial disaster means the axe is swiftly falling. And meanwhile, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) prepares to leave the chef life behind, handing the reins to Syd (Ayo Edebiri) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), who are less than thrilled to be inheriting such a mess. The result is one last exquisitely-produced dish, a masterwork in editing, tone and pace, everyone given their time to shine. Five stars on Yelp. BT
Read the Empire review
1) The Pitt: Season 2
Streaming on: HBO Max / NOW
Finally, R. Scott Gemmill’s real-time medical drama reached British shores this year. After Season 1 — introducing Noah Wyle’s trauma physician Dr. Michael ‘Robby’ Robinavitch, running a gruelling shift at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center — proved more than worth the wait, Season 2 confirms we’re in the presence of an instant all-timer. Set over 4 July, American Independence Day, this season eschews any singular major event in favour of going a little more granular, bringing us further into the psyches of Robby and his attendings as spikes of incident — cyber-attacks, ICE agents, the discovery of an abandoned child, a groundbreaking rape kit examination — force these everyday, frontline heroes to confront their own traumas and tensions. With scalpel-sharp writing, an insanely stacked cast all giving career-defining performances, and that incredibly bold — but never gimmicky — real-time hook, The Pitt’s sophomore season delivers 50cc of peak TV. JK
Read the Empire review
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