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If P.E. was your favourite subject at school, then oh boy, are you in for a treat. We’ve reached the time of year when British television suddenly gets very P.E. There’s running and jumping, football and tennis, the Olympic Games… Competitions and tournaments abound, and all televised as an interruption to your usual programming.
For non-sports fans, of course, that means a TV drought approaches. Or, to see it as more glass-half-full, it’s an opportunity to catch up on stuff you missed from earlier in the year. Below is a list of picks of the best British TV series from the first half of 2024. The US TV list is coming, and the movies one is here. Feel free to add your own recommendations below!
Baby Reindeer
Stream on: Netflix
If you haven’t watched Baby Reindeer, then you’ve almost certainly heard its name. In publicity Netflix couldn’t (and probably wouldn’t want to, judging by the size of the damage claim currently brought against it) buy, it’s been in the news for what can be summed up as ‘compliance issues’. The comedy-drama based on Richard Gadd’s confessional live stage shows about being his experiences of being stalked and sexually assaulted was presented unambiguously as a “true story” (later revised in interviews to “emotionally true”), but failed to adequately disguise the real identities of its characters, about whom it also invented certain things. A social media pile-on was followed by a backlash, a law suit, and the industry staring frozen and agog at the enormous mess. It has been nobody’s shining moment.
All of which overshadows what remains a remarkable piece of work and a hugely valuable exploration of the aftermath of sexual assault, particularly for male survivors. Now difficult to divorce from its legal shitshow, it comes with baggage, but is undeniably one of the series of the year.
Big Boys series 2
Stream on Channel4.com (UK only)
Following up a comedy debut as well-loved as 2023’s Big Boys was a tall order, but Jack Rooke and co. nailed it with this funny, poignant second run.
If you’ve yet to have the pleasure, Channel 4’s Big Boys is the story of odd-couple university students Jack and Danny (Derry Girls’ Dylan Llewellyn and Pls Like’s Jon Pointing) and their families, both found and biological. Series one followed Jack’s coming-out journey and grief over losing his dad, along with Danny’s depression, but was nothing like as pious or hard-going as that makes it sound. With a great cast including Camille Coduri and Harriet Webb as Jack’s mum and cousin, it makes light work of heavy themes. You’ll be left entertained, uplifted, and wanting to hug your loved ones.
Blue Lights series 2
Stream on: BBC iPlayer (UK); BritBox (US, currently series one only)
This was another strong return for an acclaimed new series. Northern Irish police drama Blue Lights won hearts and minds in 2023 with its character-led story of three rookie officers learning the job in Belfast. Its combination of crime and politics with everyday struggle and warmth proved a success, and series two does not dip in quality. If anything, we care more about Grace, Annie, Tommy and their colleagues now, so every emergency response they make becomes more tense. The second run explored Belfast’s historical fractures while delivering a gripping gangster plot and several easy-to-invest-in romantic storylines (more than would be professional for one unit, strictly speaking). Dramatic, involving and politically relevant, this show is one of the good ones.
Doctor Who series 14
Stream on: BBC iPlayer (UK); Disney+ (US)
Whatever your take on the current run of Doctor Who, you can’t argue with the fact that it feels reinvigorated since Ncuti Gatwa stepped into the TARDIS. (Well, you can argue, of course, Doctor Who fans do very little else. But with Disney money, a new Doctor, and returned showrunner Russell T Davies using everything he knew then plus everything he knows now to tell fun, varied, meaningful, sometimes baffling stories, reinvigorated is exactly how Doctor Who feels to me.)
The major problem with series 14? It already feels far too short. The new Doctor is only just getting into his stride, as seen in “Rogue”, and already we’re almost at the end. We need at least two additional standalone adventures of the Doctor being the Doctor, Ruby being Ruby, and the Doctor and Ruby being the Doctor and Ruby before the double-bill finale.
Eric
Stream on: Netflix
If you revelled in Benedict Cumberbatch playing a traumatised 1980s drug addict hitting the rockiest of rock bottoms in Sky drama Patrick Melrose, and are feeling robust, then Eric is the show for you. This gritty, bleak, weird drama confronts humanity at its worst, and is a real departure for Netflix, a streamer that usually stays on the cheerily nostalgic side of 1980s-set TV shows.
The New York City of Eric is not a friendly place, so when Edgar, the young son of Cumberbatch’s children’s puppeteer Vincent, goes missing, the worst is feared. What follows is an exploration of addiction, trauma and family set against a bleak backdrop, but one that leads to some valuable emotional truths. Written by The Hours and The Iron Lady’s Abi Morgan, and also starring Gaby Hoffman and Dan Fogler, Eric is one you’re likely to hear about again come next year’s awards season.
Inside No. 9 series 9
Stream on: BBC iPlayer (UK); BritBox (US, currently series one to eight only)
Not just a staggering achievement but perhaps the most staggering achievement of British TV in recent years. While the streamers were warring, TV budgets were being inflated and deflated like beachballs, and creativity was being booted out by brand-recognition and existing-IP franchises, Inside No. 9 has been steadily creating a mountain of excellent original drama and comedy.
It’s wasteful, really. 55 individual premises, each with its own setting, characters, tone, plot, jokes and twists, each over and done with in half an hour. Entire countries haven’t produced this quantity or quality of original comedy or drama, yet Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton have done it on their own (give or take producer Adam Tandy, a raft of talented directors, composer Christian Henson, and a brilliantly chosen guest cast).
Series nine has had some corkers, too (“Boo to a Goose” and “CTRL/ALT/ESC” at least deserve top 10 places on best-of lists), which means that it’s been able to go out on a high.
Mr Bates vs the Post Office
Stream on: ITVX (UK); PBS Masterpiece (US)
Channels and streamers are packed with true story dramatisations, but few can boast the cut-through and widespread success of Mr Bates vs the Post Office. With an excellent cast led by Toby Jones, Monica Dolan, and Julie Hesmondhalgh, its real-life tale of ordinary people crushed by a major injustice caught the popular imagination. Airing just before a long-overdue inquiry was held into the British Post Office scandal, the drama created a groundswell of awareness and support that proved unignorable for the current government. This four-parter written by Tom Jones and Honour’s Gwyneth Hughes, moving told the stories of subpostmasters falsely accused of, and in some cases imprisoned for, fraud and theft that was actually due to a faulty computer system Horizon. The drama movingly and stirringly depicts the lives lost to this major miscarriage of justice. It’ll make you angry, but it’s important viewing.
One Day
Stream on: Netflix
Over a decade after the movie adaptation of David Nicholls’ romantic drama One Day, came this infinitely better Netflix series. With more screentime to develop the characters of Dex (White Lotus’ Leo Woodall) and Emma (This is Going to Hurt’s Ambika Mod), two friends whose love story is elliptically told on the same date each year for 20 years, the series wins out over the movie in every way.
The casting is great. Ambika Mod makes the perfect Emma, the clever, principled, drily funny working class Edinburgh university student who meets Woodall’s wealthy, pretty playboy Dexter on graduation day. Woodall brings depth and empathy to Dex too, and the result is a moving and funny love story with plenty of nostalgia for anyone who came of age in the 1990s. Told in 14 short episodes, it’s a breeze to binge, but come prepared to feel feelings.
Ripley
Stream on: Netflix
The most stylish TV show of 2024? So far, hands down. This TV adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr Ripley stars Andrew Scott as an older and more jaded version of the famous chameleon and con-man Tom Ripley, previously depicted on screen by Matt Damon, John Malkovich, Dennis Hopper and more.
Set in the early 1960s in New York City and around Italy, this eight-episode black and white series is extremely chic. Stand-offish to begin with, the atmosphere will slowly draw you in and transport you – not on an escapist glittering holiday but into the depths of a dark psyche operating in very murky waters. It’s a fascinating character study performed by an actor with an excess of charisma. Icy, quiet and intense.
Shardlake
Stream on: Disney+ (UK); Hulu (US)
Another book-to-TV adaptation handled very well, Shardlake is a four-part murder mystery set in Tudor times. It’s an atmospheric and chilly story woven in with real historical events following the execution of Henry VIII’s second wife Anne Boleyn. Lawyer Matthew Shardlake is called upon by the King’s fixer Thomas Cromwell to seek out the killer of a royal commissioner in a remote coastal monastery. Cromwell wants grounds to close the monastery down, and expects Shardlake (Arthur Hughes) to find them, truth be damned. Behind its closed doors, the lawyer and his foist-upon-him companion Jack Barak (Anthony Boyle) uncover all kinds of secrets.
Based on a series of novels by CJ Sansom and written by Stephen Butchard, who also made great work of adapting Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom books, it’s a short, satisfying period drama, and hopefully the first of more to come.
The Gathering
Stream on: Channel 4.com (UK only)
Wimpy older viewers (me) of six-part Channel 4 drama The Gathering will find its high-level gymnastics and dangerous-looking street running scenes stressful enough before the mystery plot even gets going. We’d do well to suck it up and cope though, because this turns into an insightful story with plenty to say about class and parenting in modern Britain. (If that makes it sound at all dull, may I refer you back to the thriller mystery plot, and bits where the young characters leap Spider-Man-style off buildings and clifftops).
The Gathering is about the aftermath of an attack on a teenage girl at an illegal beach rave, but the whodunnit plot is really a vehicle for deeper discussions on social division. Written by novelist Helen Walsh, made by the production company behind Line of Duty, and starring Vinette Robinson, Warren Brown, Richard Coyle and some extremely talented newcomers, it’s a thoughtful and involving British drama.
The Responder series 2
Stream on: BBC iPlayer (UK); Prime Video, BritBox (US, currently one series only)
Fans of Jimmy McGovern (Cracker, Accused) need to watch this Liverpool-set crime drama by debut screenwriter Tony Schumacher. Series one arrived in 2022 and this year’s follow-up is no let-down. It’s the story of police response officer Chris Carson (Sherlock and The Hobbit’s Martin Freeman), a man under extreme pressure who’s trying to do good but is not doing it by the book. As a police officer, as a husband, as a dad, as a son, and as a friend, he’s buffeted from all sides and cracking under the weight.
Series one revolved around the theft of a rucksack of cocaine by Casey, an addict played with mesmerising charm by Emily Fairn. In series two, Casey’s back, as is her pal Marco (Josh Finan), who’s now struggling as a new dad. Those two find trouble and it finds them right back, leaving Chris once again caught between trying to protect and trying to survive. Freeman is very well cast, as is Adelayo Adedayo as his fellow officer Rachel, who’s still battling the demons of series one.
We Are Lady Parts series 2
Stream on: Channel 4.com (UK); Peacock (US)
Funny, but not just funny. Clever, but not just clever. Irreverent but also earnest and meaningful… We are Lady Parts is a musical comedy with a big brain, a big heart and ideas to spare. Not to mention some killer songs.
Series one introduced the show’s titular four-piece punk band Saira, Amina, Bisma and Ayesha, plus manager Momtaz – five young Muslim women navigating life’s romantic, social and political waters, each from their own individual perspective. Series two took time to develop each of those perspectives, while telling the story of the band’s dubious dealings with a mainstream label.
Anyone who thinks of comedy as drama’s lesser cousin, get wise. This show contains multitudes, and in it are more fully-fleshed British Muslim women characters than it feels like we see on entire British TV channels. Created by Nida Manzoor, with a witty script and a top cast led by Black Mirror’s Anjana Vasan and Vera’s Sarah Kameela Impey, it’s something special.
ALSO RECOMMENDED
The Red King – From Toby Whithouse, the creator of Being Human, this six-part crime mystery series channels The Wicker Man, and takes on some heavy themes. Led by The Sarah Jane Adventures and Bodyguard‘s Anjli Mohindra, Alibi series The Red King is streaming on NOW.
Criminal Record – Starring Cush Jumbo and Peter Capaldi, this contemporary police thriller is streaming on Apple TV+ and builds out heavyweight social themes from its central crime mystery.
Passenger – Imagine if British TV did Stranger Things, but set in Northern England with a load of comic talent and an excellent lead in Loki‘s Wunmi Mosaku. That’s supernatural-tinged mystery Passenger, available to stream on ITVX.
Renegade Nell – Happy Valley‘s Sally Wainwright created this Disney+ period fantasy romp, starring Derry Girls‘ Louisa Harland as a young 18th century woman with an extraordinary gift in the form of a sprite that brings her supernatural fighting powers. It’s a great family watch with a fun cast and plenty of action.
The post The Best British TV Series of 2024 (So Far) appeared first on Den of Geek.
