We'll soon be bidding goodbye to 2016, also known in television circles as 'The Year We Fell Out of Love With Paul Hollywood', and looking forward to a brand new year on the box.

There will be the return of some old favourites, such as Sherlock, Doctor Who, Line of Duty, Catastrophe, W1A and Broadchurch and plenty of new dramas to get our teeth into not to mention the new format of Great British Bake Off on Channel Four.

We've even got another prodigal soldier returning to his home town only to strip off a lot and carry a dangerous weapon – think Poldark with tattoos, 14 diamonds and more righteous fury than you can shake a spear at (and talking of Ross Poldark, he's back for more Cornish capers next year, too).

This week, over three days we will be looking at the new shows that are heading towards our screens in 2017 – from drama to sitcoms, reality shows to thrillers, feel-good family shows to sketch shows. Now might be a good time to claim the best place on the sofa.

TV highlights of 2017:

• Peaky Blinders, BBC2: Filming for the new series of the hit drama set in 1920s Birmingham have been delighted by news that there will be not only a fourth, but a fifth season to look forward to. Filming begins on series four in March.

• Line of Duty, BBC1: Writer Jed Mercurio's hit police corruption drama will be back again having made the move to BBC1 from BBC2 thanks to huge success. The third series was the highest-rating BBC2 drama series since 2002 with an average of 5.1 million viewers per episode. A fifth series will continue the investigations of police unit AC-12, which is charged with rooting out corruption in the force. Actors Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, Adrian Dunbar, Thandie Newton, Lee Ingleby and Jason Watkins will return.

• Catastrophe, Channel 4: One of my favourite recent comedies will be back on C4 for both a third and fourth series. Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney's BAFTA-winning sitcom is a brutally honest account of modern-day parenting following a couple whose holiday romance had life-long consequences.

• Broadchurch, ITV: David Tennant and Olivia Colman are reuniting one last time in 2017 for a third and final series of Broadchurch. Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan will be back as long-suffering husband and wife Beth and Mark Latimer. Sir Lenny Henry will also join the cast alongside Coronation Street legend Julie Hesmondhalgh. The action will involve an entirely new crime – a sexual assault that takes place in Broadchurch and the emotional damage it causes everyone connected to the crime and the victim.

• Poldark, BBC1: We may only just have bid farewell to Ross and his brooding on Cornish cliffs but filming has already started on series three and there are going to be some fresh faces washing up on the coast. Sean Gilder joins the cast as Tholly Tregirls, a friend of Ross' father before he fled Cornwall and the law and Josh Whitehouse joins as slightly posh Hugh Armitage, who is a bit of a ladies man. The new season trailer teases that Ross 'will traverse new family, new loves and new battles as the French revolution casts a shadow over life in Cornwall.' Perhaps this will herald Susan Boyle singing I Dreamed a Dream as Demelza and Elizabeth giving birth simultaneously.

• Stranger Things, Netflix: Series one of the nostalgia-driven thriller about a group of kids in the 1980s who get caught up in a terrifying mystery involving a telekinetic girl, otherworldly dimensions and a monster unleashed on their small town. There will be some familiar faces and some newcomers among the second season's cast of school-age characters and some high-profile new adult characters. Producers are tight-lipped about the plot, but we do know the action will begin a year after the return of Will, who was kept prisoner in the Upside-Down, a dark dimension filled with horror.

• W1A, BBC2: The BBC's satire about itself is due to return next year with stars Hugh Bonneville as hapless head of values Ian Fletcher, Sarah Parish and Jessica Hynes who plays horrendous public relations officer Siobhan Sharpe.

• Episodes, BBC2: The American/British comedy will return for a fifth and final series having first aired in 2011. The seven-part series will continue the story of a British husband and wife comedy writing team Sean (Stephen Mangan) and Beverly (Tamsin Greig) who travel to Hollywood to remake their successful British comedy series with unexpected results. Matt LeBlanc also stars.

• Happy Valley, BBC1: Writer Sally Wainwright has confirmed that there will be a third series of the hugely acclaimed Happy Valley and star Sarah Lancashire will be back as heroic Sergeant Catherine Cawood. Wainwright has previously hinted a third series might follow the back story of killer Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton.

Tomorrow: we look at more great TV (and some not so great TV) heading our way in 2017.