The television schedule has been all over the place of late as big broadcasters such as BBC and ITV make way for coverage of the UEFA European Football Championship, which kicked off on Friday, June 14. Over on BBC One, EastEnders has often been moved to BBC Two or removed from the air entirely, while The One Show has taken a hiatus and many popular programmes have seen their slot moved.
But as the Euros 2024 hurtle toward their conclusion with the final in Berlin on Sunday, July 14, there is still wall-to-wall sport scheduled. This month saw the return of Wimbledon, which takes place over two weeks, and no sooner after the tennis tournament wraps up the Paris 2024 Olympics start and will continue straight through until August.
We really are in the middle of this big and wonderful summer of sport, but if you're not a bat and ball kind of person or just fancy something a bit different then there are plenty of gritty dramas you can sink your teeth into if you know where to find them.
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In fact, there are a whole host of new and returning dramas landing on BBC iPlayer in the coming weeks. Psychological thriller, In End of Summer, launches on iPlayer on Friday, July 6. It is adapted from the gripping best-seller of the same name by ex-cop Anders de la Mottes.
Julia Ragnarsson, known for her chilling role in Midsommar and the acclaimed series The Bridge, takes on the role of Vera, who aims to uncover what happened to her missing brother Billy twenty years ago. All six episodes will be available to stream from Saturday, July 6, or viewers can tune in to BBC Four at 9pm.
Next up it's the crime thriller The Turkish Detective, which the BBC has acquired for iPlayer. The eight-part series has been adapted from the best-selling novel series by Barbara Nadel.
Series one will be available to stream from Sunday, July 7. The drama is set in modern-day Istanbul and stars Haluk Bilginer (Baba), Ethan Kai (Killing Eve) and Yasemin Kay Allen (The Usual Suspects).
The Turkish Detective follows the adventures of Inspector Çetin Ikmen (Bilginer), his partner Detective Mehmet Süleyman (Kai), and Detective Ayşe Farsakoğlu (Allen) going through ups and downs as they solve crimes, with each crime story being heavily rooted in the varied culture and history of Istanbul and set against the frenzied world of modern-day Turkey.
Fans of We Hunt Together will be delighted to know that the second series will land on iPlayer on Monday, July 8. We Hunt Together initially premiered on Alibi back in May 2020 but series one re-aired on BBC in 2023.
Now the second series of the Alibi drama, which will see the return of Eve Myles as DS Lola Franks, Babou Ceesay as DI Jackson Mendy, and Hermione Corfield as Freddy Lane, is coming to iPlayer 10 months after series one's dramatic finale.
All episodes of the cat-and-mouse crime thriller from series one and two will be available to stream from Monday, July 8.
And if you're looking for something a little lighter, a new comedy-drama, Spent, starring Michelle de Swarte, will also be available from Monday, July 8. The show follows a former catwalk model who is on the run, mainly from herself.
Also newly available on iPlayer is A Good Girl's Guide To Murder, starring Emma Myers. The drama, which was filmed in and around Somerset, is based on Holly Jackson's smash hit novels and landed on BBC iPlayer on Monday, July 1.
