The evenings are getting shorter, you've already seen the first festive cards for sale at your local supermarket and The X Factor is back on Saturday nights. To borrow a phrase - winter is coming.

But don't despair, because there is much more to autumn TV in 2014 than Cheryl Cole and Simon Cowell bickering over a bunch of karaoke singers. Don't believe us? Check out our list of 17 must-watch shows, which mean that you might as well cancel your plans until Christmas.

1. Glue - E4



A bloke from Rizzle Kicks, a writer from This Is England and lots of horses. It doesn't sound like an obvious hit, but Glue is most definitely worth getting excited about.

Skins crossed with Midsomer Murders and an added sinister, bleak edge, is probably the best description for this eight-parter, which will have you hooked from its full-on (and full frontal) opening sequence.

2. The Apprentice - BBC One



After an extended break from screens due to this summer's World Cup, Lord Sugar is expected to slip back into his Wednesday night 9pm slot as soon as Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood stop flapping around with puff pastries and Victoria sponges.

The 2013 series was a return to form for the veteran reality show, so fingers crossed that the upcoming tenth run has had similar luck with finding yet more "budding entrepreneurs" willing to lose their dignity by dashing around Covent Garden screaming into their mobile phones and trying to flog some bits of old toot.

3. Peaky Blinders - BBC Two



The coolest new British TV show of 2013 is back with the addition of Tom Hardy to the cast and an answer to that cliffhanger at the end of series one. It's a period drama for people who prefer thrills and pub brawls to upstairs, downstairs arguments over cutlery settings.

Ignore the comparisons to Boardwalk Empire - BBC Two budgets aren't quite the same as HBO's - and just sit back and enjoy one of the most ambitious TV shows the BBC has produced in the last decade. It also includes the finest TV soundtrack you'll hear in 2014.

4. The Leftovers - Sky Atlantic



Damon Lindelof, the co-creator of Lost, is back with a TV show packed with mysteries, endless questions, death and cults. Of course you bloody want to watch it.

Ten years on from Lost launching, this show - about a global tragedy that wipes out 2% of the population - may finally fill the void left by that polar bear and smoke monster-filled island.

5. The Knick - Sky Atlantic



Clive Owen is Dr John Thackery in this epic tale of the Knickerbocker Hospital in New York. Thackery is a classic TV anti-hero, who battles addictions while pushing the boundaries of medicine, all set against the backdrop of medical politics.

It's a compelling series that has already been renewed for ten more episodes and has the sort of classy touches you'd expect from its director Steven Soderbergh.

6. The Flash - Sky1



Following hot on the heels of Arrow comes The Flash - a new superhero drama with a little skip in its step.

Grant Gustin, playing the title role, suddenly discovers his lightning speed superhero powers after, erm, being hit by lightning. Undoubtedly the most fun new TV show this autumn.

7. Downton Abbey - ITV



Julian Fellowes's period drama might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it remains the biggest British TV export of recent years, and with series five on the horizon fans can expect more of the same.

We will no doubt see more potential romance (and heartbreak) for Lady Mary, more withering put-downs from Maggie Smith's Dowager, and plenty of heavily signposted references to historical events. Oh, and it looks like there's going to be a fire. Golly gosh!

8. The Great Fire - ITV



Speaking of fires, ITV's other big budget period drama this autumn is based around 1666's Great Fire of London and stars Broadchurch's Andrew Buchan as the everyman hero.

Written by ITN's political editor Tom Bradby, it also stars Game of Thrones duo Charles Dance and Rose Leslie, Boardwalk Empire actor Jack Huston and Danny Mays. We've been promised serious pyrotechnics and special effects rather than CGI for the famous fire scenes, which ITV hopes will create some red hot (ho, ho) drama.

9. The Missing - BBC One



TV commissioners must be frantically searching for crime dramas about lost children after the success of Broadchurch, Top of the Lake and Happy Valley. The Missing looks set to be equally gripping as we follow the story of a husband and wife who lose their son while on holiday in France.

There will be obvious and awkward parallels to the Madeleine McCann case, as James Nesbitt and Frances O'Connor play the lead roles of the distraught parents, whose relationship is placed under strain by the horrific ordeal.

10. The Driver - BBC One



Anything starring David Morrissey is worth getting excited about and his latest collaboration with the BBC comes in this three-part drama about a husband and father who blames himself for a family mystery and as a result ends up taking a job as a driver for a criminal gang.

Described as a story of redemption, it has an impressive cast list that includes Colm Meaney, Claudie Blakley and Sacha Parkinson, and it reunites Morrissey with his One Summer co-star Ian Hart.

11. The Fall - BBC Two



A dingy dark alleyway of a crime drama, the first series of The Fall was a cult success thanks to its brilliant lead performances from Jamie Dornan and Gillian Anderson and its unflinching and bleak approach to a sexual predator police drama.

The ending to series one divided viewers, but it set things up nicely for a showdown between the two leads in series two, which has become one of the most anticipated returning shows of the year.

12. Fortitude - Sky Atlantic



It's rare that a cast list alone is enough to make us excited about a TV show, but Sky Atlantic's Fortitude did just that. Try not salivating over a roll call that includes Christopher Eccleston, Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon, Sofie Gråbøl, Jessica Raine, Johnny Harris, Richard Dormer and Luke Treadaway.

This 12-part drama series of hour-long episodes, about a mysterious death in the Arctic Circle, is Sky Atlantic's attempt to provide a homegrown cousin to its epic HBO counterparts. Let's hope it lives up to its billing.

13. Gotham- Channel 5



One of those TV shows that has such a brilliant concept you can't quite believe that nobody has done it before. It's basically Batman: The Prequel as we follow the story of James Gordon's investigation into the death of Bruce Wayne's parents.

With classic Batman villains lurking in the shadows and Ben McKenzie as Gordon, this is about as good as it's going to get until someone forks out the cash for a Batman TV series in 50 years' time.

14. Toast of London - Channel 4



YES! YES! YES! YES!

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15. Babylon - Channel 4



Any show that includes the line, "You can't hold back time, you're not Michael J Fox or f**king L'Oréal" deserves a second chance and hopefully Channel 4's comedy drama Babylon - which had a half-good, half-underwhelming pilot earlier this year - has been given a bit of a spit and polish in time for its first full series.

With Danny Boyle and Peep Show and Fresh Meat writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong involved, there's very little reason to doubt that its first full series will be anything but excellent.

16. Black Mirror - Channel 4



Better than any Christmas present we're going to get this year is a new instalment in Charlie Brooker's chilling dystopian Black Mirror tales.

Billed as stories of "yuletide techno-paranoia", it will probably ruin Christmas forever, so maybe watch it after Santa's come down the chimney.

17. How To Get Away with Murder - Universal Channel



You know what you're going to get with a Shonda Rhimes TV series. Her biggest hits, Scandal and Grey's Anatomy, are utterly addictive guilty pleasures and prove that she's the Queen of packing sass, mystery and melodrama into 45-minute episodes.

Her latest series, which stars Oscar-nominated actress Viola Davis in the lead role, centres on a professor of criminal law who ends up entangled in a murder conspiracy along with her pupils.

Which TV show are you most excited about this autumn? Let us know below.

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