Nine best TV shows of the year

In an era of limitless streamed “content”, it can be hard to settle on anything to watch. Here are nine shows worth trying.

Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes

Jeff Pope’s dramatisation of the events, in the febrile weeks after the 7/7 bombings, that led to the police shooting an innocent 27-year-old Brazilian electrician makes for gripping, harrowing viewing, said The New Statesman. It is not perfect: the depiction of Met Police commissioner Ian Blair as a “ridiculously camp” fool is misguided. But the account of how de Menezes came to be mistaken for an Ethiopian terrorist, and the lies told afterwards, is starkly told. This is a “J’accuse” that is “both subtle and grand”.
Disney +

Leonard and Hungry Paul

Rónán Hession’s debut novel, about two men still living at home in their early 30s, became a word-of-mouth hit – and was so loved by Julia Roberts that she agreed to narrate this TV adaptation. In this “droll Dublin dramedy” nothing happens, said The Irish Times, yet it is far from boring. Those totally allergic to whimsy may find it trying; for the rest, it amounts to a sweet, wry, “quietly uplifting” celebration of the “bittersweet banality” of ordinary life.
BBC iPlayer

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Adolescence

A massive global hit, “Adolescence” is near-perfect TV, said The Guardian. Consisting of four episodes, each filmed in a single take, it begins with police bursting into an ordinary family home at dawn, to arrest a 13-year-old boy (Owen Cooper) on suspicion of murder, as his shell-shocked parents look on. Superbly acted and brilliantly written, this is not a police procedural, said The Telegraph. It is a devastating exploration of the pressures on boys today, including the malign influence of social media, and the nonsense peddled about what it means to be a man.
Netflix

The Great Art Fraud

In May 2022, the disgraced young art dealer Inigo Philbrick was sentenced to seven years in jail for defrauding collectors and investors out of $86 million (£63 million). This “riveting” two-part documentary looks at how he did it, with much of the story told by the former wunderkind himself, said the Financial Times. It does a great job in explaining how his fraud worked (broadly, he sold more shares than existed in the same valuable pieces), and sheds light on a little-regulated market, where relationships rely largely on trust.
BBC iPlayer

The Beast in Me

Watchable but silly thrillers come along all the time on Netflix – with “Sirens” among the better ones this year. “The Beast in Me” is also on Netflix, but this psychological thriller is a cut above, said The Guardian. Taut and convincingly scripted, it stars Claire Danes as a troubled writer, living alone in a big house in a wealthy exurb, and Matthew Rhys as the suspected wife-killer who moves in next door. They are both so good, you can hardly look away.
Netflix

Riot Women

In Sally Wainwright’s latest series, she pulls together a group of women who are feeling sidelined and invisible in middle age – and has them form a band. Set (like “Happy Valley”) in Hebden Bridge, this is an upbeat story painted in bold colours, said the FT, yet it goes into dark places. There are lots of twists, and it barrels along at a great pace. Some of the messaging about menopause is heavy-handed, said The Telegraph. Still, this is crowd-pleasing fare, and in the central role Joanna Scanlan is typically excellent.
BBC iPlayer

What It Feels Like for a Girl

An eight-part adaptation of Paris Lees’ often shattering memoir of her life as a trans teenager in Nottinghamshire, this show is not for everyone, said The Telegraph: it contains many disturbing sex scenes, and it strives a bit too hard for attention. But it brims with energy; Ellis Howard is “magnetic” in the central role; and though Lees’ story is “caked in the grime of life on the margins”, it also has “the sprinkled-in- stardust quality of a real-life fairy tale”.
BBC iPlayer

The Narrow Road to the Deep North

Richard Flanagan’s novel, about an elderly Australian haunted by memories of being a Japanese POW used as forced labour on the Death Railway in Burma, is a gruelling read. And this TV adaptation, starring Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds, is no less shocking, said The Times. Many scenes in it are truly “soul sickening”. But the series is “terrific” – even “magnificent” at times.
BBC iPlayer

Amandaland

This enjoyable spinoff from the hit comedy “Motherland” is focused on snobby, glossy Amanda (Lucy Punch), the alpha female in the old gang, said The Guardian. Now a single mum, she has had to move to grotty South Harlesden (SoHar); and is trying to make it as a wellness influencer. Punch is brilliant in a show that is very funny, and also surprisingly “life affirming”, said The Times. And though we miss some of the old characters, there are welcome returns from Philippa Dunne as Anne, and Joanna Lumley as Amanda’s mother.
BBC iPlayer