1
Planet Earth II (BBC)
Planet Earth II is a stunning ensemble of talent, beyond David Attenborough’s sober poetry, which he deploys judiciously, modestly and obliquely to remind the audience not just that macaques are cheeky, but that the cameramen are shit hot as well. And there is more going on than the majesty of nature. The editing is seamless, the scripts are arresting, the perfectionism is there in every particular. But I find myself transfixed by its first principle: that we all have a visceral connection to nature, root for it, mourn with it, rejoice with it. The iguana hatchlings chased by snakes were the jewel in its crown, closely followed by the famished lions making an Ocean’s Eleven, last-ditch punt at a giraffe. The dynamics of such scenarios, triumph and disaster, the symphony of co-operation, the elation of escape, underdogs battling desperate odds – these are the cornerstones of narrative, the stuff that drove us to invent language in the first place. Planet Earth II made me reach into an emotional vault I haven’t accessed for decades. That’s its umbrella distinction, its overarching achievement: it is a teenage kick, a transport of wonderment that adult life mostly only reminds you of. Read more
2
Fleabag (BBC3)
Bold and filthy and utterly self-assured, Fleabag was unlike anything else on television this year. The series opened with a monologue about anal sex, sped through a terrorist-incited bathroom panic attack and rows and rows of plaster-cast penises – to that finale which threw you totally off-kilter. It was a stupendous ending, and it launched an already brilliant series into the stratosphere. It’s why Amazon picked up the series and made it so buzzworthy Stateside. And it’s why, a decade from now, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is going to be a national treasure. Read more
3
Stranger Things (Netflix)
The key ingredients barely need repeating. The Duffer brothers took the best of 80s pop culture – elements of John Carpenter, Steph(v)ens King and Spielberg, shoved them in with Dungeons and Dragons, New Order and Winona Ryder – and ended up with an algorithm-busting, genre-melding, word-of-mouth smash. Set in the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins, it’s the story of the mysterious disappearance of Will Byers, one-quarter of a gang of nerds. It quickly spread its narrative into a string theory-twisting, sci-fi horror via CIA conspiracy thriller with a side of high-school romance. And from the deep-dive discussion of the plot to the soundtrack, the endless memes and a new star in the shape of Millie Bobby Brown, Stranger Things provided a genuine 2016 TV moment. Read more
4
Happy Valley (BBC)
The second series of Sally Wainwright’s masterpiece was arguably even better than the astonishing first. The violence was less bloody, but Wainwright’s pitiless examination of the human condition as it plays out in the Calder Valley was bleaker, more brutal and braver than before. As always in her work, women were – simply, unapologetically, vitally – at the heart of it. Sarah Lancashire was the linchpin again, of course, as Sgt Catherine Cawood, shouldering burden upon burden in the absence of any alternative. In a world full of shiny dramas whose characters don’t feel rounded, watching Wainwright’s people endure their tragedies then keep on is a glorious, restorative sight. As richly satisfying and devastating as you could have hoped. Read more
5
The Night Of (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
When Naz Khan, the 23-year-old student son of a Pakistani American cab driver, is found leaving a crime scene containing the corpse of a young woman with whom he spent a wild night, the case seems clear-cut. A cop summarises the evidence excitedly: “Sex, drugs, rock’n’roll – and he’s a Muslim!” Yet this apparently simple “solve” remains, across the whole of this HBO eight-parter, ambiguous to the end – and possibly even beyond it. It had a harrowing central performance by Riz Ahmed, and a documentary realism about the horrors of imprisonment on Rikers Island. It was perceptive in its representation of race in the US, and its structure was thrilling, with the accused alternately positioned as victim and unreliable narrator. A shocking reflection of a society and a system in which facts have become relative. Read more
6
Black Mirror (Netflix)
Charlie Brooker is showing us the abyss into which we are amorally plummeting. His series of six near-future nightmares asked questions that possess us in 2016. Are we nice enough? Are we interesting enough? Why don’t trolls like me? And if we aren’t nice or interesting, can we use technology to make ourselves seem that way to improve our social capital? What made it such compelling viewing was that its answers were unremittingly, almost unbearably, dark. Read more
7
The Night Manager (BBC)
The BBC’s glossy Sunday-night Le Carré spectacular pivoted on the relationship between Hugh Laurie’s laconic monster Richard “Worst Man in the World” Roper and Tom Hiddleston’s Jonathan Pine, his alleged protege in infamy and actual undercover agent. It had sex, glamour, superb performances all round – and that delicious denouement, which tied up all the loose ends in one highly explosive bow. Read more
8
Line of Duty (BBC)
The third series of Jed Mercurio’s terrifyingly plausible police corruption drama started with an execution and a coverup, and ended with two extraordinarily intense interrogations and an “urgent exit required” break-out. And in between? Revenge, torture, decapitation, abuse, more coverups – and so many false leads and dead ends that it kept you awake at night. There’s another series next year; it’s hard to see how Mercurio will top this one. Read more
9
Transparent (Amazon Prime)
In the best series of Transparent so far, Jill Soloway and her transaffirmative team took the concept of life as a state of permanent, anxiety-inducing transition to the very edge. Then they pushed it over and watched it smash into a million heartbreaking pieces. In a year when it has been hard to conceive that president-elect Trump and Transparent are products of the same country, this was a most defiant, poignant act. Read more
10
HyperNormalisation (BBC iPlayer)
Adam Curtis jumps from Manhattan to Libya to cyberspace and back again in a three-hour tour through a post-truth world that is less a documentary than an experience. HyperNormalisation is not just provocation; it’s an eye-opening collection of insights into history and the human condition. Read more
11
Atlanta (FX/Fox)
Donald Glover’s smart, woozy sitcom about a wannabe hip-hop manager tackled racial prejudice and poverty – topics that tend to be excluded from the comedy conversation. If that makes Atlanta sound a bit heavy, it really isn’t: there’s a surreal playfulness that brings to mind everything from Monty Python to 30 Rock. Worth watching alone for the black Justin Bieber. Read more
12
Westworld (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
Michael Crichton’s robot-cowboy-on-the-rampage movie has become a genuinely tremendous television series. Vast in scope, gorgeous to look at and brimming with big ideas, you could waste entire weeks Googling fan theories on what Westworld is actually about. Read more
13
Trapped (BBC4)
The sleeper hit of spring. Fans fell in love with police chief Andri – the hottest, beardiest man in Iceland – and his sidekick Hinrika as they tried to solve the murders taking over their tiny town after a blizzard left it in lockdown. Read more
14
War and Peace (BBC)
The latest adaptation of Tolstoy’s revered doorstopper was a sexy, handsome piece of storytelling from Andrew Davies, retaining much of the book’s detail – if, somewhat inevitably, losing a smidge of battlefield chaos. Superbly acted, War and Peace set a new high-water mark in literature-to-TV adaptations. It also made lying about having read it much, much easier. Read more
15
The Crown (Netflix)
Peter Morgan’s lavish look at the private lives of the royal family. Claire Foy plays a perfectly stoic Queen Elizabeth II, Matt Smith gives gaffes galore as Phil the Greek, and there’s a very moving turn by John Lithgow as Winston Churchill. But above all, this is TV that refuses to bow down to royalty. The BBC could never have touched it. Read more
16
American Crime Story: The People Vs OJ Simpson (FX/BBC)
The glove! The verdict! The ridiculous wigs! This campy high-soap-opera – starring John Travolta’s eyebrows, Sarah Paulson’s power perm, David Schwimmer’s Sad Ross and a too-short-by-half Cuba Gooding Jr – allowed us to relive the entire trial of the century, yet somehow gripped us to the last. Read more
17
Grayson Perry: All Man (Channel 4)
Whether he’s talking to aimless teenagers on park benches or slick city boys in ivory towers, Grayson Perry always listens and never patronises. That’s how he wins people’s trust and persuades even the wariest subjects to open up. The results are funny, moving and sometimes revelatory for all involved. Read more
18
Flowers (Channel 4)
Will Sharpe’s comedy centred on an oddball family living in the English countryside, but rather than resting on their quirks for laughs, it wrung its jokes from relationships, mental health issues and plain old unhappiness. Julian Barratt’s patriarch was a children’s author suffering from depression; the story of his subsequent breakdown was harrowing, uplifting and, amazingly, incredibly funny. Read more
19
National Treasure (Channel 4)
Until the devastating climax, the brilliance of National Treasure lay in its sustained ambiguity. Should we sympathise with Paul Finchley, a man accused of multiple historic rapes, or remember he was an actor and suspect his carefully nurtured outrage? This was a drama about power and powerlessness – and, as real life has horribly shown us, if you’re a “national treasure” you can get away with almost anything. Read more
20
Louis Theroux: Drinking to Oblivion (BBC)
In the year he contended with both the Church of Scientology and Jimmy Savile, a one-off documentary about the lives of alcoholics might seem small-fry. Yet Drinking to Oblivion was one of the filmmaker’s most affecting works, shining a light on debilitating cycles of dependency. A tough watch, but with moments of hope and humour, as well as the unlikely sight of Louis singing Guys and Dolls. Read more
21
Game of Thrones (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
The sixth season was essentially more of the same – that is to say, the single greatest televised fantasy-drama in history. But many of the sedentary subplots burst into life here, and the Battle of the Bastards bloodbath became a record-breaking hour of TV. Still unmissable. Read more
22
OJ: Made in America (ESPN/BT Sport 1)
A new watershed for TV documentary, this eight-hour epic managed to draw dizzying new insight from a well-worn subject. Though its nominal concern was Simpson’s life – from sporting success to the infamous murder trial, right up to his farcical autumn years – its real focus was on something far broader: the many complex ways in which race and celebrity intersect in American life. A staggering achievement. Read a review
23
NW (BBC)
In reducing Zadie Smith’s 2012 novel about crises of identity affecting two former schoolmates in London to 90 minutes of television, writer Rachel Bennette and director Saul Dibb inevitably lost Smith’s stylistic tricks but commendably kept her complex representation of black lives. Nikki Amuka-Bird as Keisha/Natalie, whose unhappiness in her skin triggers sexual transgression, should surely be a 2017 Bafta contender. Read a review
24
The Young Pope (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
Jude Law, in a career-best performance, is an orphan from New York who unexpectedly becomes pope and appals the Vatican with his strange ways and views. In this sharp, visually spectacular 10-parter, writer-director Paolo Sorrentino’s depiction of a crude and peculiar American taking over a famous historical address now looks spookily prophetic of the ascent of President-elect Trump. Read a review
25
Veep (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
Veep’s fifth season kicked into a higher gear, underpinned as always by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s note-perfect performance. In a year when American politics was going “full-metal Nixon”, President Myers’s all-too-short term proved that politics could still be a laughing matter. Read a review
26
People Just Do Nothing (BBC Three)
Bang – lyrical blow to the jaw! The third series of the brilliant BBC3 mockumentary about Brentford’s pirate radio buffoons Kurupt FM was more meta and more melancholic, with MC Grindah and long-suffering Miche’s relationship on the rocks and Steves’ Nan leaving him. But it only added to the hapless jokes of this gem. Read more
27
Camping (Sky Atlantic)
Julia Davis’s unhappy campers gave us the miserable comic masterpiece of the year. You will have needed a holiday to recover from this one. As far from a campsite as humanly possible. Read a review
28
The Missing (BBC)
From writers-of-the-moment Jack and Harry Williams, this gripping, grisly crime drama spanned continents and played out in three timeframes to get to the truth about the abduction of young Alice Webster. You’ll never look at a drill the same way again. Read a review
29
Insecure (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
Issa Rae made her name with the whip-smart web show The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, so it was thrilling to see her get picked up by HBO for a full series. And she didn’t disappoint: Insecure was a refreshing, candid and hilarious depiction of black female friendship – with a soundtrack overseen by Solange. Read more
30
Louis Theroux: Savile (BBC)
For more than a decade, Louis Theroux has agonised about not grilling Jimmy Savile more when they first met. In this extraordinarily self-flagellatory documentary, he meets the victims of the man who emerged as a monster, the man he once referred to as a friend. Read more
31
Stag (BBC2)
This was a rare beast: the three-part Saturday night comedy-horror. The Wrong Mans’ Jim Field Smith’s stag do from hell in the Scottish Highlands was an under-the-radar thrill, with a glorious double twist. Read more
32
Exodus (BBC2)
Exodus followed refugees such as Hassan, a kind-hearted English teacher fleeing Syria, and resigned-to-death 11-year-old Isra’a as they secretly filmed their journeys across Europe. From nightmarish negotiations with people smugglers to footage of bailing out sinking dinghies, this was the most essential, devastating documentary of the year. Read a full review
33
Silicon Valley (Sky Atlantic)
Still the funniest show out there by several hundred miles. In its third series, the team behind the revolutionary data-compression platform Pied Piper finally get everything they’ve ever wanted, and realise how awful it is. Plus: horse sex! Read a full review
34
Motherland (BBC2)
Sharon Horgan and Graham Linehan’s slapstick sendup of the agonies and rivalries of motherhood. A group of scrummy mummy bullies gang up on Julia (the phenomenally frazzled Anna Maxwell Martin) and only Liz (Diane Morgan) will come to her rescue, taking in her kids when Julia’s day goes to pot. We only got to watch the pilot this year – look out for a full series run in 2017. Read a full review
35
Louis Theroux: A Different Brain (BBC2)
In recent years, Louis Theroux has moved away from sensationalist subject matter and made more thoughtful films that continue to unravel in the mind long after viewing. This documentary exemplified his new style: following four people with life-changing brain injuries, it doubled as an affecting, subtle and profound meditation on identity and mental health. Read more
36
The Girlfriend Experience (Amazon Prime)
The TV adaptation of Steven Soderbergh’s 2009 film is an improvement in almost every way. Part coming-of-age story, part corporate potboiler, part erotic thriller, it’s as sleek and bold as anything you’ve ever seen. Stick around for the jaw-dropping finale. There’s nothing like it. Read more
37
The Great British Bake Off (BBC1)
This year, Britain’s most popular show brought us Candice, who gave Mel and Sue a run for their innuendo money, Andrew the engineer’s Leonardo da Vinci-inspired rotating cog pie (plus his knights jousting with caramel phalluses), and the charmer from Ghana, the undisputed king of cooking cool – Selasi. Read a full review
38
Hillsborough (BBC2/ESPN)
In the year when the unlawful killing of 96 football fans at Hillsborough stadium was finally recognised in a court of law, this documentary provided the definitive account of what happened on 15 April 1989. Comprising archive footage and interviews with those caught up in the tragedy – from survivors to police officers – it underlined the catastrophic mistakes made on the day and the shameful cover-up that followed.
39
Deutschland 83 (Channel 4)
It’s the 1980s, the cold war is raging and nuclear war is a distinct possibility. Thankfully, this German-American espionage thriller made the threat of irreversible global meltdown seem fun. Read a full review
40
Mum (BBC)
Lesley Manville shone as Cathy in this sweet sitcom from Him & Her creator Stefan Golaszewski. Starting with the funeral of her husband, Dave, it quickly became a wistful will-they-won’t-they between Cathy and Dave’s best mate, Michael. Props also to Lisa McGrillis for her portrayal of Cathy’s son’s girlfriend, Kelly – the most naively amusing sitcom character of the year. Read a full review
41
Orange Is the New Black (Netflix)
Between Piper’s branding with a swastika, Lolly’s sectioning and Poussey’s tragic end, this series was horrific – and way more critical of the US penal system than ever before. With overcrowding at Litchfield prison, the rage between inmates and guards simmered throughout – until that heart-stopping final scene. Read a full review
42
BrainDead (Amazon Prime)
It’s 2016. Political discourse has become violently polarised. Why are we all so angry and partisan? According to BrainDead, it’s because space bugs have come to Earth, crawled into our ears and eaten our brains. This was the timeliest, most inventive and sharpest satire of the year. Read a full review
43
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Netflix)
A wacky musical romcom about obsessive self-deceit, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend’s skill is its ability to package complex ideas in primary-coloured wrapping. It’s a silly and funny show, and you’ll recognise someone you know in every single character. Read a full review
44
Fresh Meat (Channel 4)
JP, Vod and co finally graduated this year, though not before one last series of Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain’s smart, funny comedy drama. Throughout its run, Fresh Meat has been that rarest thing: a TV re-creation of uni that refuses to resort to student cliches. Read more
45
2016: Year Friends (Vimeo)
After the BBC neglected to pick up their sketch-show pilot People Time for a series, young British comics Liam Williams, Ellie White, Natasia Demetriou, Jamie Demetriou, Al Roberts and Daran Johnson created their own web sitcom. The result was absurdly creative and gratifyingly weird: in a world of staid banter, it proved that comedy could still be taken to bizarre new extremes. Read more
46
Ash vs Evil Dead (Virgin Media)
A dollop of silliness to counteract the po-facedness of most modern drama. Picking up where the Evil Dead films left off, a middle-aged, chainsaw-handed Bruce Campbell leads a foul-mouthed crusade against the forces of darkness. Read more
47
Lovesick (Netflix)
Remember Scrotal Recall? Tom Edge’s timeline-jumping, gonorrhea-themed love-com on Channel 4 has been renamed and reborn on Netflix, resuming its run as the best will-they-won’t-they show since the US Office. Read more
48
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
The second series of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s cult-survivor fun show. This time it centred around the festive antics of Kimmy, her roommate Titus and their daffy landlady Lillian. Kimmy got a new job as an elf, Lillian went on a one-woman mission to bring down gentrification – and Titus put on a show called Kimono You Didn’t, inspired by his past life as a geisha. Read a full review
49
Halt and Catch Fire (Amazon Prime)
AMC’s 1980s tech drama is still the most sorely underrated US show on TV. The spectacular third outing saw our crew of computer programmer pioneers move to the nascent Silicon Valley. It had secret weddings and Super Mario Bros, plus multiple masterful cliffhanger endings. Catch up before the fourth and final series starts next summer. Read more
50
The Walking Dead (Fox)
The post-apocalypse horror show marches on – and Rick Grimes and the gang may finally have met their match in Negan and the sadistic Saviors. How will they stop themselves dying, one by one, at the hands of Lucille the barbed-wire baseball bat? Read more
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