Reasons to stay in: best TV this spring

Westworld season two

No doubt an attempt by HBO to recreate the success of Game of Thrones (and then use it as a replacement ratings puller), season one of Westworld was the high-budget syfy thriller set in a universe where every appetite is indulged upon a cast of unwitting humanoid robots.

The season came to an end with thousands of unanswered questions. Thank goodness then, that season two – and rebellion – is on the horizon.

The Handmaid's Tale season two

Back in January, the futuristic, dystopian story of The Handmaid's Tale won the Golden Globe for Best Television Series and was – in our opinion – the best thing on TV all year.

Season one of this harrowing drama, following the story of Offred whose reproductive rights have been stripped from her as she's used by a rich family for their childbearing purposes – was based on Canadian author Margaret Atwood's novel by the same name.

What happens in season two is a completely mystery to everyone. Atwood never wrote a sequel. And so it is with some trepidation that we await what will become of our protagonist on Channel 4.

A Very English Scandal, BBC One

Notting Hill actor Hugh Grant is returning to the small screen since for the first time since 1993, in a three-part BBC One drama based on the true story of a murderous MP. What's not to love?

Joined by Ben Whishaw – the current darling of British theatre/film/TV/you name it – Grant stars in A Very English Scandal as the former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe MP, who was accused of conspiring to murder his rumoured lover Norman Scott.

An extraordinary story, elegantly written into a book of the same name by British author John Preston, A Very British Scandal is the real-life tale of the urbane, charismatic public figure who, after a chance meeting in early 1960s, commenced in sexual relations with a young man then called Norman Josiffe (he later changed his name to Scott).

Patrick Melrose, Sky Atlantic

If you haven't yet read the Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St Aubyn, you'll very likely soon be scrambling to buy the five books that have inspired this new TV adaptation on Sky Atlantic.

The self-proclaimed 'harrowing yet hilarious journey' Patrick Melrose is based on Edward St Aubyn's semi-autobiographical novels – one episode per novel (giving us five episodes) – and tracks Melrose's life through his traumatic childhood to an adulthood of substance abuse and onwards.

Suits season seven, Netflix

No doubt Meghan Markle's engagement to Prince Harry has boosted the profile of Suits in the UK – but the show was popular in the first place for a reason.

Season seven of this somewhat ridiculous American drama returns, with a cast of insufferable lawyers all one-upping each other with pop-culture references and stories about how attractive they are.

Most importantly of all, the second half of season seven is Meghan Markle's final episodes as an actress before she gets written out. Watch it in real-time.

This Is Us season two, Channel 4

Season one of this emotional and heart-wrenching (but also very funny) sitcom gave us a story about triplets, alcoholism, adaption, weight, race, fame and the struggle of parenthood.

Prepare to have their heart broken, mended and then broken again in season two. And you can catch up on season one on Amazon Prime if you haven't seen it yet (why not?).

Vanity Fair, ITV

Bonnets, ruffles and a period drama adaptation: these things are usually the realm of the BBC. But ITV gave us Victoria and we loved it – and now they're pushing the boat out with a new adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair.

Adapted by Gwyneth Hughes (Dark Angel, The Girl, Miss Austen Regrets) and starring Olivia Cooke (the 23-year-old star of Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One), ITV brings us the story of social climber and heroine Becky Sharp.

Set against the Napoleonic Wars, Becky tries to escape the trappings of poverty and escalate into the heights of English Society – all the way up to the court of King George IV. Love, loss, a skewering of English life, and lots of good humour awaits.

Sharp Objects, Sky Atlantic

Gillian Flynn's debut novel wasn't the literary – and then filmic – sensation that Gone Girl was. However, since the author's stratospheric rise to fame, two other novels by Flynn have been snapped up for screen adaptations – including her first, Sharp Objects.

Coming to Sky Atlantic this spring (probably sometime in June), Sharp Objects will serve as Amy Adam's TV debut. It follows the story of a newspaper journalist who returns home to report on a series of murders. Perhaps it will have the same nordic-noir feel of Top of the Lake (which has a very similar plot), and then again, perhaps not.