Nightmare Alley

Bradley Cooper plays a fairground conman on the make in Guillermo del Toro’s lustrous, malevolent new adaptation of William Lindsay Gresham’s 1946 novel. With A+ femme fatale-ing from Cate Blanchett. Jan 21

Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre

Guy Ritchie mounts a jolly-looking spy romp with Jason Statham topping the bill, Josh Hartnett playing “Hollywood’s biggest movie star” – remember those days? – and Hugh Grant as the billionaire arms dealer they must thwart. Jan 21

Parallel Mothers

Two women, about to give birth in a hospital ward, become friends. But have their babies been somehow switched? Penélope Cruz returns as the muse for a Pedro Almodóvar melodrama with Hitchcockian frissons. Jan 28

The Souvenir: Part II

Devastated by her boyfriend’s death, Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne) pours her energies into a student filmmaking project, in Joanna Hogg’s gloriously sharp, surprisingly funny continuation of her semi-autobiographical drama. Feb 4

Belle

Japan’s Mamoru Hosoda directs a kaleidoscopically beautiful and poignant reimagining of Beauty and the Beast, about a high school student with a double life as an online pop starlet. Feb 4

Death on the Nile

Vastly delayed – by Covid, but also the huge question marks hanging over Armie Hammer’s career – this brings Kenneth Branagh’s Poirot on board a cruise for a corpse, remaking one of Christie’s cleverest plots. Feb 11

Flee

A wrenching awards hopeful in both the animation and documentary races, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s film relates the story of escape from Afghanistan to Denmark of a fugitive named Amin, whose journey of self-discovery captivates. Feb 11

The Duke

The spirit of Ealing comedy lives on in Roger Michell’s gloriously funny and moving final film, about the 1961 theft of a Goya from the National Gallery. Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren star. Feb 25

Paris, 13th District

The latest from Jacques Audiard, director of A Prophet and Rust and Bone, is a dreamy, steamy monochrome drama charting the criss-crossing sex lives of hot young Parisians. March 4

The Batman

Welcome to the next era of the caped crusader; after the rather pained stint Ben Affleck put in, it’s Robert Pattinson’s turn. A noirishly rain-soaked Gotham is playground to both Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz) and The Riddler (Paul Dano). March 4

Turning Red

Another ingenious-sounding coming-of-age fable from Pixar, about a 13-year-old girl who transforms into a giant red panda at moments of high excitement or stress. March 11

Downton Abbey 2

Filming stalled between lockdowns, but never fear: everyone’s back for the second one, originally intended for this Christmas. And don’t assume that Maggie Smith’s Violet is dead quite yet, whatever they implied last time. March 18

The Worst Person in the World

From Norway’s Joachim Trier comes one of the finest romantic comedies in years, about a young Oslo woman (Renate Reinsve – remember the name) who bounces gamely between lovers and vocations. March 25

The Lost City

Anyone for Re-mancing the Stone? Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum star as a chardonnay-slurping novelist and her dim-but-hunky cover model on a chaotic jungle adventure. March 25

Television

The Tourist

Jamie Dornan plays a British man who is run off the road by a truck in the Australian outback and wakes up with no memory of who he is – only the knowledge that someone is trying to kill him. A twisty thriller from the creators of The Missing. BBC One, Jan 1

The Gilded Age

Old and new money vie for power in 1880s New York in this period drama from Julian Fellowes. Not a Downton Abbey prequel, but expect something similarly sumptuous and snobbish, with a cast that includes Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski. Sky Atlantic, Jan 25

No Return

Sheridan Smith stars as a mother whose family holiday in Turkey turns into a nightmare when her teenage son is arrested following a seemingly innocent invitation to a beach party. ITV, Jan

The Responder

With an ex-police officer (Tony Schumacher) as writer, this drama promises an authentic look at life on the beat over six night shifts in Liverpool. Martin Freeman stars. BBC One, date TBC

Chloe

The Crown star Erin Doherty steals another woman’s identity in a psychological thriller from Alice Seabright, a writer who cut her teeth on Netflix’s Sex Education. BBC One, date TBC

Anne

Anne Williams spent more than 20 years pursuing justice for her teenage son, Kevin, and other victims of the Hillsborough disaster. She is played by Maxine Peake in this four-part series filmed on location in Liverpool. ITV, date TBC

This Is Going To Hurt

Based on the bestselling 2017 memoir by Adam Kay, this comic drama stars Ben Whishaw as a junior doctor coping with gruelling hours and terrifying responsibilities. BBC One, Feb