TV overload as autumn falls on the small screen

I can batten down the hatches, get under a blanket and have some serious sofa time. After the summer drought of decent telly, the darker nights and colder days signal the return of all my favourite shows.

I can only assume they wait until this time of year because during the summer months we're all meant to be outside enjoying the great British weather. OK this year wasn't bad but normally it's tragic.

The fact remains the telly was naff. But I'll tell you what saved me. . . Prison Break boxsets and Wentworth Miller. Worth watching if nothing that follows tickles your fancy.

So back to TV land in autumn. For me, the joy of the small screen lies in the return of old favourites along with some new dramas.

Peaky Blinders, bizarrely on BBC Two (why, it's so good?), will back next month with its second series. And just for the ladies they've added the tempting and freshly bearded, Tom Hardy, to the cast. Thank goodness he's taking a break from Hollywood to star in this Brum-based gritty gangster drama. To add to its appeal some of it is filmed locally.

Keeping things edgy is Channel 4's Homeland. The fourth season airs in October. *SPOILER ALERT* But how will it work without our favourite ginge Damian Lewis? Is Brody really dead? I mean really dead? Surely he was the point of it. And what about Carrie? She was up the duff and is now heading to Pakistan and Afghanistan sans baby. Will she still be wearing sharp trousers suits? The plot thickens.

Next Sunday Downton Abbey returns. How I've survived the year is anyone's guess. There's a new government and change is afoot causing unrest for the Granthams. And will Mary finally pick a beau? Apparently she gets funny. Miracles do happen after all. Julian Fellowes has really upped the ante this time throwing Richard E. Grant and Anna Chancellor into the cast ring. But old timer Maggie Smith will no doubt rule the screen with her snarky comments and caustic one-liners. Love her.

Comedy drama Mount Pleasant also returns to Sky Living next week and we get to catch up with its residents including Sally Lindsay, Samantha Womack and Sian Reeves. It's a bit like a Brit version of Friends. The cast feel so familiar as you dip into their lives ooop north.

September sees some extra telly treats on ITV including Cilla, where we learn about the life of the raucous red-head. With Sheridan Smith as our Cilla Black it's bound to be a lorra lorra laffs.

The Great Fire is a big-budget drama telling the tale of the 1666 London inferno. Jack Huston gets wiggy with it as merry monarch Charles II. Andrew Buchan of Broadchurch fame is the baker caught up in intrigue with Samuel Pepys.

The Knick starts on sky Atlantic this month. The rather-scrumptious-for-an-older-bloke Clive Owen takes on the role as a crusading doctor with a rather dapper moustache, a drug problem and an overly-complicated love life in early 1900s NYC. Phew.

My excitement is already building so much so I can barely keep still. I'm sorry to say it, but all we need now is a cold snap and monsoonal rain conditions so we've got plenty of excuses to stay in and watch the box.