Nine best TV shows of 2024 to binge this Christmas
From Baby Reindeer and Slow Horses to Rivals and Shogun, here are the critics' favourites
Shogun
"Mesmerising television," said The Guardian: this adaptation of James Clavell's 1975 novel about an English seaman's adventures in feudal Japan is a "lavish, demanding drama, to be approached with care and focus". Filmed in Japanese and in English, it puts a great multinational cast to excellent use. "Shogun" was first dramatised in the 1980s, starring Richard Chamberlain. The new version "foregrounds and enriches its Japanese characters", said The New York Times, "while maintaining the original mini-series' soapy intrigue and epic sweep".
Available now on Disney+
Rivals
"The most enjoyable TV show of the year was totally Tory," said The Daily Telegraph. "'Rivals' was the breath of fresh air that British television needed – uproarious, unfiltered fun." With its big hair, shoulder pads, lunchtime drinking and endless affairs, this adaptation of Jilly Cooper's much-loved novel treated the 1980s as a "source of happy nostalgia". It's "brash" and "riddled with bare arses", said Empire, but it's "an incredibly entertaining ride".
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Available now on Disney+
Baby Reindeer
A low-budget drama based on an Edinburgh Fringe show, "Baby Reindeer" wasn't an obvious candidate for a global hit, said The Independent. But Richard Gadd's dark autobiographical story about a comedian and his stalker "became a sensation, topping viewing charts around the world" and causing a media furore. It's "a strikingly inventive and compelling piece of television". The "writing, acting and sheer, unsparing honesty" all impress, said Time Out. Gadd and co-star Jessica Gunning are excellent.
Available now on Netflix
One Day
"Is this the definitive version of the modern-but-classic love story?" asked Time Out. In "One Day", Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall star as two students who meet on 15 July 1988 – St Swithin's Day – "and whom we encounter again on the same day over the next two decades". Amid all the period detail, "there's real depth here too, with class divides, drug abuse, infidelity and death all tackled head-on. Forget the 2011 movie, this one's the real deal." "An irresistible romance", said The Daily Telegraph, which "gladdened the heart".
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Available now on Netflix
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
Nearly a decade after the first series, "Wolf Hall" "returned with a bang – or a chop" – as Anne Boleyn gave way to Jane Seymour, and Mark Rylance's Thomas Cromwell continued his ascent at Henry VIII's court, said The Independent. It's a lush, "terrific" production. As before, "Wolf Hall" covers the story "beautifully, movingly and immaculately", said The Guardian.
Available now on BBC iPlayer
Slow Horses
The "surly, downbeat" spies of "Slow Horses" returned for a fourth series this year, said Time Out. Gary Oldman stars once again as the "cynical, masterful" and flatulent spymaster Jackson Lamb, "a man who looks like he's spent his entire life passed out on a Wetherspoons toilet". There's plenty of action this season, but "the beating heart of it is simply character, wit and dialogue", said The Times. "Strange, complicated characters and cynical, dark, defiant wit."
Available now on Apple TV
The Day of the Jackal
Based on Frederick Forsyth's classic novel, this updated version stars Eddie Redmayne as an elite assassin trying to kill a tech boss, said Empire. It's an "extraordinarily tense and taut 10-part thriller". The new version includes some heavy-handed touches, said The New York Times – "an unnecessary backstory", and "unneeded parallels between the killer's remorselessness and the capitalist heartlessness of his clients". But it's "engrossing" and Redmayne is very good.
Available now on Sky or Now TV
Nobody Wants This
An "utterly joyous romcom", which sees Kristen Bell starring as an agnostic sex podcaster who falls head-over-heels for Adam Brody's "hot rabbi", said Stylist. A "very modern tale of interfaith dating", it's great fun and the pair have excellent "chemistry", said The Independent. "Everybody wants this," said The Guardian. "It's the funniest, sweetest, most scabrous, most romantic, most real thing" seen on TV in years.
Available now on Netflix
Industry
The new season of the "high stakes banking drama Industry" lives up to the grand comparisons it inspires, said GQ: to "Succession", "Mad Men", "The Sopranos". "The characters are complex, the cast is excellent across the board." The earlier seasons were "chilly" and hard to love, said The New Yorker. "But, like so many series before it, Industry has realised its full potential with its third season." The stories are "fantastically unpredictable", the show's critique of the class system is sharp.
Available now on BBC iPlayer