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Louise Thomas
Editor
Television got off to an extremely strong start in 2024. On New Year’s Day, an ITV drama featuring lots of people wearing cardigans and talking about IT problems landed on our screens – and who could have predicted it would go on to become one of the most influential shows of all time? Mr Bates vs The Post Office set the bar high.
Then came a little something set in a Scottish castle to lighten the mood – The Traitors – which eight million of us watched 100 per cent faithfully, before the return of the criminally underseen Big Boys, the seen-by-almost-everyone One Day, new antics from Clarkson’s Farm, and much more...
Here is the best TV of the year so far...
Mr Bates vs The Post Office
The very first drama of 2024 (it arrived on 1 January), also turned out to be one of the most talked about of the year. And its impact was colossal. This heartbreaking dramatisation of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history starred Toby Jones as Alan Bates, the former subpostmaster who took the Post Office to High Court after hundreds of staff were wrongly accused of theft and fraud – accusations that destroyed many lives. The four-part drama not only led to the UK Parliament passing a law overturning the convictions of subpostmasters, but also showed how drama – much more than news coverage or protests – has a unique power in capturing the public’s imagination and pushing issues to the front of the political agenda.
Four episodes, available on ITV
The Traitors series two
No one was surprised that Claudia Winkleman, her fringe, and lots of backstabbing in a Scottish castle made for appointment TV a second time around, with eight million of us tuning into the finale to see who would win the game of deception – and scream at our TVs. I won’t put in any spoilers here in case you’ve been living under a rock, but as Jessie Thompson wrote in her review: “The show must be a living panic attack to participate in, but it’s so, so much fun to watch.” The UK’s first celebrity spinoff is coming soon…
12 episodes, available on iPlayer
Julia series two
For a delicious second series of this biopic, Sarah Lancashire reprised her role as legendary TV chef Julia Child, the woman who taught America to cook. As our critic Nick Hilton wrote: “Whether she’s reconnecting with her admiring former tutors at Le Cordon Bleu or presenting her show live from the White House, life comes as easily to Child as flakes of puff pastry being pulled away from the impeccably steamed flesh of a sea bass. And Lancashire – taking on a role previously played by another goliath, Meryl Streep, in 2009’s Julie & Julia – is equally unflappable.”
Eight episodes, available on NOW
True Detective series four
After the spectacularly haunting first series of True Detective, led by Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey in 2014, the show never quite managed to reach the same heights. This fourth series, written by Issa López, was the best stab at brilliance since, with Jodie Foster perfectly cast as the frosty, Alaska-set mystery’s lead detective. “It takes the middle of nowhere as a jumping off point for a descent – into madness, violence, and the loss of faith,” wrote Nick Hilton. “At its best and bleakest, the series reflects a true dark night of the soul.”
Six episodes, available on NOW
Big Boys series two
Jack Rooke’s exploration of grief, sexuality, friendship, and, crucially, hun culture, is beautiful and ridiculous in equal measure. And it introduced the world to the terrific, bruising work of Jon Pointing, who plays Danny, the laddish best mate of Dylan Llewellyn’s Jack. As Nick Hilton put it, this “sweet, sensitive misfit comedy is something to be savoured”.
Six episodes, available on Channel 4
Masters of the Air
After 2001’s Band of Brothers and 2010’s The Pacific, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks rounded out their trilogy of Second World War epics with Masters of the Air. A big ensemble cast was led by Austin Butler and Callum Turner as pilots in the 100th Bomb Group, an American Air Force unit known by its infamous nickname, The Bloody Hundredth. A visual spectacle, and an incredible story of young soldiers losing their innocence. It was hard to resist.
Nine episodes, available on Apple TV+
Mr and Mrs Smith
Almost 20 years after the assassin thriller that birthed Brangelina, a remake was born. This time, with Donald Glover and Maya Erskine pulling the trigger. Nick Hilton called the new hipster take on the story “one of the sexiest shows on TV”, writing that it “lands somewhere between Jack Ryan and Girls – they’re fighting off Central American warlords one moment and swanning around a farmer’s market the next”.
Eight episodes, available on Prime
One Day
Oh, how the tears flowed. This new adaptation of David Nicholls’ 2009 romance novel had us weeping over Em and Dex’s love story all over again. Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall were captivating as the will-they-won’t-they pair, the soundtrack was sublime (from The The to Portishead), and Mod’s Leeds accent went down much, much better than Anne Hathaway’s in the 2011 film. Top marks all round.
14 episodes, available on Netflix
Alice & Jack
This was another heart-piercer – but far fewer people saw it. An anti-romcom of sorts, the storyline spanned 15 years, with Domhnall Gleeson and Andrea Riseborough playing two people in love, who can’t live with each other, but can’t live without each other. It had very mixed reviews, with some critics saying the leads lacked chemistry – but it’s worth watching for its intense, intriguing take on the concept of soulmates, alone.
Six episodes, available on Channel 4
Breathtaking
It is hard to make drama that truly captures the profound sadness – and chaos – of life in hospitals during the Covid pandemic. But this one, an adaptation of Dr Rachel Clarke’s memoir, succeeded. It followed Joanne Froggatt as a consultant in the eye of the storm, who witnesses first-hand the virus begin to take hold, and subsequently overwhelm the NHS.
Three episodes, available on ITV
Shōgun
Disney’s sex-and-violence-filled epic, set in 17th-century Japan, drew immediate comparisons to Game of Thrones upon its release. The mesmerising adaptation of James Clavell’s samurai novel starred Cosmo Jarvis as John Blackthorne, an English sailor/navigator held prisoner in Japan, with Hiroyuki Sanada playing Lord Toranaga and Tadanobu Asano as warrior Yabushige. The action plays out in a mixture of Japanese and English, so it needs your full attention, and it’s worth it.
10 episodes, available on Disney+
Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV
This exposé into children’s TV behemoth Nickelodeon made headlines around the world and shook the television industry when it arrived in March. It saw former stars of the channel, including Drake Bell, pull back the curtain to reveal a toxic culture of abuse, harassment, racism and sexism on the sets of shows led by TV executive Dan Schneider.
Five episodes, available on Discovery+
The Life and Death of Lily Savage
Airing on the first anniversary of Paul O’Grady’s death, this documentary had “an overwhelming sense of sadness” running through it, wrote our critic Sean O’Grady. It delved into the entertainer’s bolshy drag alter ego Lily Savage, who was inspired by hardened sex workers he’d grown up seeing in Birkenhead, and included interviews with several of O’Grady’s friends and colleagues through the years, including Ian McKellen, Alan Carr and Graham Norton.
One episode, available on ITV
Feud: Capote vs The Swans
This glittering tale of a high society scandal was one of the starriest shows of the year so far – with a cast including Tom Hollander, Naomi Watts, Chloë Sevigny and Demi Moore. Created by Ryan Murphy, it told the story of how, in 1976, writer Truman Capote published a short story in Esquire that ruined his friendships with New York’s elite and tarnished his literary reputation. It was nothing short of “beguiling”, according to The Independent’s Nick Hilton.
Eight episodes, available on Disney+
Baby Reindeer
OK. So obviously the messy aftermath of this drama – you know, the outing/attempted outing of the real people at its centre, the $170m lawsuit, etc – slightly overshadowed how good the series actually was. But no matter what happened after it aired, Richard Gadd’s story of his experience of stalking and abuse was strange, wonderfully unwieldy and, at times, beautiful.
Seven episodes, available on Netflix
Hacks series three on Max
At the time of writing, the latest series of Hacks is still not available to stream in the UK and there’s no word on when it’s arriving, and that is nothing short of a travesty. The new episodes of the comedy about comedians are fabulous – think high-camp glitz and razor-sharp wit. Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder – the two women with the best chemistry on TV right now – are back as Deborah Vance and Ava Daniels, and figuring out how to work in sort-of-harmony again. Christina Hendricks makes a cameo as a gay Republican, and it’s a riot.
Nine episodes, available on Max in the US
Clarkson’s Farm series three
This is one of those shows where we all try really hard not to like it but, in the end, we give in. And now it’s the most-watched show on Prime in the UK. It’s Jeremy Clarkson, on a farm, screwing everything up and winding everyone around him up. This series was surprisingly moving, with a storyline about the deaths of several new residents at Diddly Squat – some very cute piglets – leaving viewers in tears. The show has been so successful that Clarkson is now making a series about another adventure of his: becoming a pub landlord.
Eight episodes, available on Prime
Inside No 9
Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s peculiar, twisted comedy-horror anthology aired its ninth and final season earlier this year, and it brought back 55 guest stars for its last ever, top-secret instalment, from Amanda Abbington and Tim Key to Katherine Parkinson. Fans of the show were bereft. In his review of episode one of the final series, Sean O’Grady wrote that it’s “a tribute to the stamina, creativity and careful craftsmanship of Pemberton and Shearsmith that fans are left wanting more”.
Six episodes, available on iPlayer
House of the Dragon series two
House of the Dragon’s second run wasn’t as good as its first, and none of the show has been as good as its predecessor, Game of Thrones, but it’s still one of the best things on telly. It’s not surprising, given the scale of it. As Louis Chilton wrote in his review: “The acting is solid, and superlative in places – Olivia Cooke’s shrewd and conflicted Alicent remains a scene-stealer – and the whole production is just lush to look at. Whether gazing at bucolic vistas, or stately castle interiors, you’re always a little awed by the sheer amount of money that’s on screen.”
Eight episodes, available on NOW
Spent
Michelle de Swarte was a revelation – and a hoot – in this wacky, shrewdly observed comedy inspired by her own life. It charts the journey of Mia, a former international catwalk model who runs out of cash and ends up going back to her roots in south London, broke and in denial. No matter how badly Mia behaves, you can’t help but root for her.
Six episodes, available on iPlayer
Mr Bigstuff
Danny Dyer had a lot of fun being extremely Danny Dyer in this suburbia-set comedy, created by Ryan Sampson, about brotherhood and masculinity. So if you like lines like, “I’ve been on my trotters all day looking for a certain little twat with a nutty haircut,” then this is the show for you. It’s Dyer’s first big project since he left EastEnders, and could be a sign of more comic roles to come.
Six episodes, available on NOW
