Make a note of these 12 names as I predict a huge 12 months for them ahead.
Since 2020, it's become a New Year's Day tradition for me to pull together a list of names who I believe will be huge on television in the twelve months ahead. A list made up of complete newcomers, internet stars ready for mainstream crossover, and familiar faces not yet known for their telly work, plus everyone else in between.
In recent years, some of the names on this list have included comedians Babatúndé Aléshé, Eddie Kadi, Jayde Adams, London Hughes, Munya Chawawa, Rosie Jones and Sophie Willan, presenters Jordan North, Vick Hope and Zeze Millz and actors Callum Scott Howells, Omari Douglas and Paul Mescal and many more! Many have gone on to be nominated for and win Best Breakthrough at the I Talk Telly Awards.
So, be sure to make a note of my 12 TV stars of tomorrow for 2024 as I predict a huge 12 months for them ahead...
Ashley Storrie
Scottish comedian, writer and actress Ashley Storrie is set for an exciting 2024, with her own BBC Three/Hulu comedy Dinosaur, which is bound to propel her into the mainstream.
Co-created with Matilda Curtis, and produced by Two Brothers Pictures (who were behind Fleabag) Dinosaur sees Ashley play Nina, an autistic woman in her 30s who adores her life living with her sister and best friend Evie.
Yet when Evie rushes into an engagement after only six weeks and makes Nina her maid of honour, Nina is floored. Forced to reconcile with her sister’s impulsive decision, Nina grapples with what this new challenge means, leading to a surprising journey of self-discovery.
To date, Ashley has appeared in two series of Up For It alongside fellow comedians Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and Rosco McClelland and has achieved close to 30 million views online thanks to her Harry Potter parody, Tanya Potter as well as viral sketches If The Handmaid’s Tale was Scottish and If Game of Thrones Was Scottish.
She also happens to be the daughter of legendary comedian Janey Godley and currently hosts her own BBC Radio Scotland show every Friday evening from 10pm. 2023 was a great year for Ashley as not only did she make her debut on The News Quiz, but she also fronted her own BBC Radio 4 series What’s the Story, Ashley Storrie?
Chezablonde
With over 16 million likes, TikTok sensation Rhys Thomas, best known online as Chezablonde, utilises her platform to speak openly about her experiences as a transgender woman in a Gen-Z era. Thanks to her large following and Channel 4's backing, 2024 is shaping up to be an exciting 12 months for Chezablonde.
In March 2023, Chezablonde was one of four names announced as part of Channel 4's E4 Academy, which aims to nurture and develop up-and-coming talent, by partnering future faces of unscripted content with independent production companies.
This led to the release of her own Channel 4 visualised podcast, Don't @ Me Babes towards the end of 2023 in which she sits down with some iconic TV girlies to gossip about anything from dating red flags to reality TV secrets and everything in between.
Dionne Brown
Three years since graduating from ArtsEd with a BA (Hons) in Acting, Dionne Brown is set for a stellar 2024 with roles in two of the year's most highly-anticipated television dramas.
Coming soon to Channel 4, Dionne will lead Channel 4's new 8-part adaptation of Candice Carty-Williams' bestselling novel, Queenie, starring alongside Jon Pointing, Samuel Adewunmi, Tilly Keeper, Elisha Applebaum, Mim Shaikh, Sally Phillips, Llewella Gideon and Michelle Greenidge.
Queenie Jenkins is a twenty-five-year-old Jamaican British woman living in South London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. After a messy break-up from her long-term boyfriend Tom, played by Jon Pointing, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places and begins to realise she has to face the past head-on before she can rebuild.
Before then, Dionne will star alongside Peter Capaldi and Cush Jumbo in Apple TV+'s new 8-part London crime thriller Criminal Record which follows two detectives caught in a tug-of-war over a historic murder conviction.
Eva Morgan
Despite only graduating in 2023 from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with a BA (Hons) in Acting (Collaborative and Devised Theatre), Eva Morgan already has an exciting 2024 lined up, making their television debut starring opposite Vinette Robinson, Warren Brown and Richard Coyle in new Channel 4 drama The Gathering.
Written by Helen Walsh, the six-part drama, which wrapped in October 2023, centres around a violent attack on a teenage girl during a rave on a tidal islet and promises to be a multi-layered story that's a drama for our times.
Eva plays Kelly, the victim of the attack, who straddles the very different worlds of two groups of teens. She's an accomplished gymnast, on the pathway to world-class competitions, but at odds with her teammates and their ultra-competitive parents.
By contrast, Kelly also rolls with a group of urban free-runners, whose reckless lifestyle and exuberant free spirit conflict with the discipline and restrictions Kelly experiences in the tightly controlled world of competitive sport.
Hattie Dynevor
Waterloo Road has an excellent track record in breaking new on-screen talent and with an influx of new students joining the latest series in January, Hattie Dynevor's arrival as Libby Guthrie is sure to make her a firm favourite with viewers in 2024.
Libby, who makes a surprise return to Manchester to stay with her dad, the school’s Head of History Neil Guthrie (Neil Fitzmaurice), proves to be far from a teacher's pet.
And it was Waterloo Road too, where Hattie's older sister Phoebe Dynevor got her big break in 2009 before taking on the role of Daphne in Bridgerton. And with their mother, Sally Dynevor, having played Sally in Coronation Street since 1986 and their father Tim writing hit television dramas, it's safe to say that the Dynevor dynasty is going strong.
Josh Tedeku
Having trained at the National Youth Theatre, actor Josh Tedeku has an exciting 2024 ahead, playing one of the leads in BBC Three's new coming-of-age comedy-drama Boarders, which follows the lives of five underprivileged black students from inner-city London who win scholarships to an elite boarding school.
Written and created by Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Boarders follows the lives of five underprivileged black students from inner-city London who win scholarships to an elite boarding school.
Stepping out of the urban metropolis, they'll experience the highs and lows of boarding school, learning about themselves, their identity and what life on the other side is like, which they discover is nothing like life in zone three.
Kat Sadler
Comedian and writer Kat Sadler technically broke through towards the end of 2023 with the release of their own BBC Three comedy Such Brave Girls which explores life and love in all its ugly chaos. But as word of mouth grows and those iPlayer numbers continue to rise, 2024 looks set to be the year Kat Sadler truly gets the recognition they deserve.
The six-part comedy follows sisters Josie and Billie, played by Kat and real-life sister Lizzie Donaldson, and their single mother Deb, played by Louise Brealey. We follow them as they navigate life armed with nothing but poor judgement and self-esteem exclusively tied to people who couldn't care less about them. They're vain, selfish, heavily in debt, pathologically desperate for affection and bursting with misplaced, terrifying love.
And whilst I keep everything crossed that Such Brave Girls does return for a second series, one thing we do know for sure is that Kat has written an episode of ITVX's Tell Me Everything, which is returning for a second series.
She has also appeared on several television shows, including The Mash Report, Frankie Boyle's New World Order, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable and Joe Lycett's Got Your Back .
Kitty Castledine
Having recently graduated from LAMDA with a BA (Hons) in Professional Acting, Kitty Castledine is set to become a household name in 2024, having already landed her first major television role, playing series regular Penny Branning in EastEnders.
She'll make her first appearance on New Year's Day as Jack Branning's daughter who returns to Walford after 15 years of living abroad, appearing alongside Jacqueline Jossa who's returning as Penny's cousin, Lauren Branning.
Aside from EastEnders, Kitty will also star in the fourth series of Brighton-based drama Grace, alongside John Simm who returns as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, when it returns to ITV1 this year.
Kyrah Gray
South London-born and raised, comedian Kyrah Gray began her comedy career during her final year of University in 2019 and has become one of the most exciting new voices in comedy, both on the circuit and online, meaning she's certain to be all over our TV screens in 2024.
In 2023, Kyrah made it down to the top 30 of the BBC's New Comedy Awards, a nationwide talent search to find the best new stand-ups and performed on Comedy Central Live.
As well as supporting White Yardie on tour, Kyrah was also invited by Mo Gilligan to perform at The O2 as part of his Black British Takeover in 2022 and on Boxing Day 2023, she teamed up with Remi Burgz for a special show on BBC Radio 1Xtra.
Laura Smyth
Comedian, writer and actor Laura Smyth won the Funny Women Awards in 2019 having only been doing comedy for 5 months, and now after supporting Jack Whitehall on tour, she looks set for a busy 2024 as she embarks on her debut nationwide tour, Living My Best Life, whilst continuing to grow her television appearances.
From Monday 8th January on BBC Two, Laura can be seen alongside Johnny Cochrane, Shobna Gulati and Dermot Murnaghan as a contestant in a brand new week of Richard Osman's House of Games and she'll soon appear as a panellist on the new series of Cats Does Countdown on Channel 4.
In September 2021, Laura quit teaching to focus on comedy before discovering that she had breast cancer which she writes about in a must-read piece for The Guardian which came out towards the end of 2023.
Since her diagnosis she has appeared in several television shows, including Frankie Boyle's New World Order, Jonathan Ross' Comedy Club, Yesterday, Today and the Day Before, Stand Up Sketch Show and Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, starred in BBC Three's comedy PRU and has written for ITVX's Deep Fake Neighbour Wars.
In 2023, she launched her podcast Bang On It with Michelle de Swarte, hosted the Southern Heat of BBC's New Comedy Awards, appeared on Live At The Apollo, contributed to BBC Two's Between the Covers and was paired with Chris McCausland for David Mitchell's Outsiders on Dave, in which comedians compete in pairs carrying out survival-themed tasks for badges.
Nella Rose
With almost 85 million views on her YouTube channel, 1.1 million followers on TikTok and 1 million followers on Instagram Nella Rose has become one of the most in-demand, culturally relevant youth voices in the UK and after taking part in I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, 2024 is set to bring many more opportunities her way as she continues her ascend into the mainstream.
In 2023, Nella formed part of Channel 4.0's all-female line-up prank show, Tapped Out alongside Adeola Patronne, Mariam Musa and Chloe Burrows which has achieved over 5m views on YouTube and returned to host the official red carpets for the BRIT Awards and BET Awards. She also helped promote the final season of Top Boy with her own digital chat show for Netflix.
She has also hosted Catfish UK for MTV alongside Oobah Butler, her own Netflix digital show Judge Nella in which she is joined by her friends to debate the hottest, juiciest, most salacious topics about their favourite Netflix shows and appeared on ITV2's Don't Hate the Playaz.
Spuddz
Comedian, vlogger and writer Spuddz has taken social media by storm, reaching millions through his content thanks to his unique and infectious style of humour. And with an ever-growing television presence, Spuddz is all set to become one of the most in-demand new talents on television in 2024.
In 2023, Spuddz took part in E4's dating show Celebs Go Dating and on Monday 8th January joins the channel's Celeb Cooking School in which Michelin-starred chef Giorgio Locatelli opens up his cookery school to teach even the most hopeless of celebs how to cook.
He has also hosted shows for Channel 4.0 including Get in the Van alongside America Foster, in which teams of influencers used social media to scout the most suitable person to "get in the van" in an array of categories and The Dating Pool in which Spuddz invites influencers and singletons into his cab for some speedy dates on the road.
Following the success of what Channel 4 are calling social pilots, it was announced in September 2023 that The Dating Pool would be returning with three more episodes as well as a one-off airing on E4.