Make note, as I predict a huge 12 months for this lot.

As is now customary, at the start of each new year, I compile a list of nine people whom I believe will be huge on television in the twelve months ahead. A list made up of 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, Kemi Rodgers, Vick Hope and Zeze Millz and actors Callum Scott Howells, Omari Douglas, Paul Mescal, Ashley Storrie, Ella Maisy Purvis, Kitty Castledine, 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 remember these 9 names, as I predict a huge 12 months for them...

Ash Holme

Back in 2017, presenter and creator Ash Holme auditioned for The X Factor, where she met future bestie Jack Remmington - who is also on this list - and the pair regularly create content together. They began their own joint podcast, The Jack & Ash Show, last year, following the success of her own podcast Antics with Ash, which she hosted for just under a year.

Elsewhere, Ash has fronted her own two-part documentary for ITVX, called Ash Holme: What Not To Do With Dad, appeared in an episode of Channel 4's Get in the Van, took part in the fourth series of Footasylum's hit YouTube reality series Locked In, appeared as a guest on Big Brother: Late and Live and hosted the Early Breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 in October, alongside Jack Remmington.

For the last two years, Ash, together with Jack Remmington and Charley Marlowe (who appeared on this list last year), was on backstage hosting duties for BBC Children in Need. And in 2025, co-hosted the BAFTAs' digital Red Carpet coverage, alongside... You guessed it, Jack Remmington, having co-hosted For You Page on the station together over Christmas 2023.

And last summer, Ash became a regular panellist on Love Island: Aftersun (alongside Joe Baggs), having impressed producers during her many appearances on Love Island: The Morning After podcast.

So expect to see a lot more of Ash (and Jack) on our screens in 2026!

Ben Coyle-Larner

Since releasing his debut album in 2017, musician Loyle Carner, turned actor and writer-director under his real name, Ben Coyle-Larner, has received two Mercury Prize nominations for Album of the Year, two BRIT Award nominations and an NME Awards win for Best British Solo Artist in 2018.

Now in 2026, Ben is reinventing himself as an actor, taking the lead in Charlotte Regan's debut TV series Mint, which will air on BBC One and sees him star alongside Emma Laird in what's been described as a darkly comic and unconventional drama about a crime family’s inner life.

If Mint is the huge hit I suspect it'll be, then Ben will be gracing our screens in leading roles much more in the future.

Jack Remmington

Back in 2017, presenter Jack Remmington auditioned for The X Factor, as part of a duo called Jack and Joel, which is where he met future bestie Ash Holme - who is also on this list - and the pair regularly create content together. They began their own joint podcast, The Jack & Ash Show, last year and has also co-hosted the BBC Sounds podcast Famously…

Since The X Factor, Jack has carved out a career for himself as a content creator and, more recently, a presenter, hosting the Early Breakfast show on BBC Radio 1 in October, alongside Ash Holme.

For the last two years, Jack, together with Ash Holme and Charley Marlowe (who appeared on this list last year), was on backstage hosting duties for BBC Children in Need. And in 2025, co-hosted the BAFTAs' digital Red Carpet coverage, alongside... You guessed it, Ash Holme, having co-hosted For You Page on the station together over Christmas 2023.

Jack has also appeared as a guest on Love Island: Aftersun, Love Island: The Morning After, Big Brother: Late and Live, and just this week, he was a guest on the first episode of The Traitors: Uncloaked this year.

So expect to see a lot more of Jack (and Ash) on our screens in 2026!

Joe Baggs

Back in 2020, content creator and podcast host Joe Baggs appeared on Gogglebox with his younger brother George, mum Lisa and dad Terry until 2022 when the family left the show, and Joe and George focused on building an audience on TikTok, where they currently have almost 4 million followers combined, and Joe alone has almost 200 million likes on his content.

Since launching the Not My Bagg podcast in September 2022, Joe began hosting solo in December 2024, and the show's YouTube channel currently has almost 24 million views.

Last year, Joe began appearing regularly on ITV's Lorraine and has taught Lorraine Kelly how to use TikTok, shared the latest showbiz news and helped to spread awareness of the show's bowel cancer awareness campaign.

As a reality TV superfan, Joe Baggs regularly comments on telly's biggest shows, with regular appearances on Big Brother Late & Live, and from last summer, became a regular panellist on Love Island: Aftersun (alongside Ash Holme), having impressed producers during earlier guest spots and appearances on Love Island: The Morning After podcast.

Lauren Patel

In December 2024, actor Lauren Patel voiced the character of PC Mukherjee in Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, which was watched by 21.6 million viewers in 28 days, which, together with Gavin & Stacey's finale, gave the BBC their highest Christmas Day ratings in 20 years.

Then just two months later, Lauren Patel joined the cast of Waterloo Road as teacher Jas Sharma and was in the show for two series, and just last week appeared on Celebrity Mastermind, where her specialist subject was the 2016 film La La Land.

2026 will see her star alongside Mackenzie Crook, Sir Michael Palin, Pearce Quigley, Sophie Willan, Jon Pointing and Paul Kaye in Mackenzie Crook's much-anticipated new comedy for BBC One, Small Prophets.

In it, she'll play Kacey, who forms an unlikely friendship with co-worker Michael Sleep, played by Pearce Quigley, which blossoms partly, but not wholly, through their mutual dislike of store manager Gordon, played by Mackenzie Crook.

Michael's darling partner Clea disappeared seven years ago, and since then, he has lived a very ordinary life, eating Shreddies, working in a DIY store, visiting his dad Brian, and hoping for Clea to return. With recipe in hand, Sleep sets out (albeit with some scepticism) to create Homunculi - magical prophesying spirits that can predict the future.

His friendship with Kacey adds to the frustration and intrigue of his nosy neighbours, who are obsessed with trying to find out what the hell is going on in the garden shed.

Lee Peart

Comedian Lee Peart has been steadily building his career up and down the country in comedy clubs and in the Loose Women studio as the show's resident audience warm-up for the last 8 years. But as the show and ITV Daytime enter a new era, by moving to a new studio, without an audience, Lee's next chapter is set to be a very exciting one.

He's already a favourite in the industry, not just through his warm-up on Loose Women, but also Big Brother, Britain’s Got Talent, The Jonathan Ross Show and Strictly Come Dancing, as well as his writing on shows such as Late Night Lycett, Rosie Jones: Out of Order, and more recently the 8 Out of 10 Cats does Countdown Christmas special and the upcoming second series of Last One Laughing.

In December 2025, he launched the already successful Bottoms Up! podcast with man of the moment Alan Carr and has even given Jeff Brazier, Andi Peters and Kate Lawler a run for their money by hosting the competition segments on Loose Women and This Morning. Surely it's only a matter of time before he's fronting the showbiz segment or similar. And who knows, maybe a co-hosting gig over the school holidays could be on the cards.

So whilst his career as a warm-up for Loose Women might have been cut short unexpectedly, doors are deservedly starting to open for Lee, and I predict a very busy and successful 12 months and beyond, ahead.

Leo Reich

Comedian, writer and actor Leo Reich took his debut comedy hour, Leo Reich: Literally Who Cares?!, to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2022, earning him a Best Newcomer nomination at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards.

Since then, he has appeared on several television shows, including Friday Night Live, The Jonathan Ross Show, Late Night Mash, Live at the Moth Club, Richard Osman's House of Games and in 2025 starred alongside Lena Dunham in her romantic comedy for Netflix, Too Much.

In 2026, Channel 4 will air Leo Reich's debut sitcom, It Gets Worse, which he has written and created and will star in alongside Emily Fairn and Olive Grant.

It follows best friends from uni, soulmates for life, and dysfunctional roommates, Ethan, Abi, and Sam, who, a year after finally managing to move to London, have collectively accomplished nothing, and now their landlord is selling up, and they're getting kicked out! But what do they do next?

Can they keep their friendships alive when they are dispersed across a city that seems to want them dead? Can they find a six out of ten or higher to have bad sex with? Can they get their shit together when the world is so obviously falling apart? Probably not. But they’re going to have fun trying.

Channel 4 has a great track record in breaking in new comic talent, and I suspect that when 2026 comes to an end, Leo Reich will be a name that you remember.

Lewis Shepherd

In 2026, stage actor Lewis Shepherd is making his television debut, playing Davey Benton in BBC One's Lynley from 5th January and later on in the year in James Graham's BBC One adaptation of his hit stage play Dear England, reprising the role of Dele Alli.

It's a role he played on stage at the National Theatre in the original production, which means that this Manchester United fan might have to wear a Tottenham shirt again!

Dear England follows Gareth Southgate and the England men’s football team. With the worst team track record for penalties in the world when he takes over as manager, Gareth knows he needs to open his mind and face up to the years of hurt to take England back to the promised land. The country that gave the world football has delivered a painful pattern of loss. Why can’t the England team win at their own game?

With Dear England tipped to be one of the biggest dramas of 2026 (read my 26 TV shows to look forward to in 2026 here), I do not doubt that Lewis will become a familiar face on our screens for years to come.

Pascale Kann

2026 is set to be a massive year for actor Pascale Kann, as she makes her television acting debut in BBC One's upcoming drama The Dream Lands, from Kayleigh Llewellyn, who brought us In My Skin and helped turn Gabrielle Creevy into a household name.

Now the same is set to happen to Pascale as she takes the lead role in The Dream Lands as Chance, a fiercely loyal, intelligent, and hyper-vigilant 17-year-old who’s been forced to become her family’s protector from an early age in a world that never lets up.

In it, she'll star alongside Anna Friel, Connor Swindells, Clara Rugaard, Katherine Parkinson, and Golda Rosheuvel in what promises to be a gripping and intense journey driven by love, hope, and an unyielding will to survive.