By 
It’s a dicey time for the British TV industry. The BBC may not currently be facing the hostility of the previous government, but its output is being winnowed down by cuts; the chunk taken out industry-wide by Covid-19 has never really been put back; the pockets of the once-shiny new streamers are less deep than they used to be, and more desperate for returns on investment; and the majority freelance workforce that make the shows we love are seriously struggling for security and a future. The model needs to change.
Despite all that gloom, 2024 has still seen some amazing work come to screen. We’ve had tense crime series, globetrotting thrillers, glitzy entertainment shows, heartfelt comedy, imaginative sci-fi and brilliant period drama. We’ve had shows so good they explain why clever, creative people choose unstable careers and crazy hours to make them. Join us in celebrating the most entertaining UK TV series of the year, and add any of your British favourites we’ve missed below. You’ll find the Best Of American TV list here, feat. Shogun and Interview With the Vampire and House of the Dragon and all that great stuff. Happy watching!
25. Gladiators
In terms of uncomplicated, feel-good family joy, few series can beat this year’s BBC One Gladiators reboot. In an atomised entertainment world where every member of a family is sucked in to their own personal screen, shows with multi-generational appeal are increasingly rare, and this good-natured brawn-fest has to be the pick of the bunch. Presented by light entertainment doyen Bradley Walsh (his son Barney is also there), it’s charmingly nostalgic for those of us old enough to know who Ulrika(ka-ka) Jonsson is, fresh fun for everybody else, and once again a Saturday teatime staple. Read why it’s the last feelgood show standing here.
24. Renegade Nell
Sally Wainwright’s family fantasy felt like a throwback to a different time – not the 18th century, when it was set, but the late 20th century, when children’s teatime drama was at its peak. In the 70s, 80s or 90s, this imaginative story about Nell (Derry Girls’ Louisa Harland), a young woman endowed with magical superpowers by a sprite (Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed), would have been a post-bath and homework Sunday night family favourite. Nell’s adventures fighting evil lords and standing up for the oppressed were great fun, but sadly couldn’t find their audience in the streaming age, hence Disney+ not renewing it. Read our review here.
23. Red Eye
There’s not much better than a big, silly TV thriller that knows it’s a big, silly TV thriller and absolutely leans into it. ITV’s Red Eye (already renewed for a second series) is exactly that. Richard Armitage plays a surgeon implicated in an international spy conspiracy in this real-time six-parter set mostly aboard a London to Beijing flight. As the altitude climbs, so does the body count and so do the frankly ludicrous twists that come together for a genuinely exciting climax. Brain-off conspiracy fun. Read our review here.
22. The Traitors Series 2
When it works, it works, and in series two, The Traitors worked. Even the worst TV snob can’t argue with the entertainment value of Diane’s poisoned fizzy rosé death and high drama funeral (well, they could, but as they almost certainly weren’t watching, the rest of us don’t have to listen). Skulduggery, betrayal, twists, and beautiful weirdo Claudia Winkleman… the high camp of The Traitors is a thing to behold, and a lifeline in the dark winter months. Bring on series three, and read our guide to the best survival tactics on the show, and why they should put Winkleman’s face on stamps, here.
21. The Red King
Folk horror is a British institution, and one that writer Toby Whithouse (Being Human, Doctor Who) bravely attempted to revive for this Alibi six-parter, with some success. Anjli Mohindra plays Grace, a detective seconded to a remote British island where her investigation into the disappearance of a local teenager leads her to discover a vast conspiracy. It’s a twisty mystery that pays bountiful homage to genre classic The Wicker Man and ticks a lot of familiar boxes. Read our review here.
20. Until I Kill You
It’s become so common for makers of true crime drama to insist that their shows aren’t exploitative or salacious but instead, all about ‘giving a voice to the victims’, that the sentiment has become almost meaningless. Four-parter ITV Until I Kill You though, really delivers on that promise. Serial killer John Sweeney (Shaun Evans) isn’t the focus, this is very much the story of Delia Balmer (Anna Maxwell-Martin), a woman who suffered immensely at her former boyfriend Sweeney’s hands, but whose story is ultimately one of strength and hope. Maxwell-Martin gives an extraordinary performance as this idiosyncratic survivor. Read about the drama’s depiction of Balmer’s Catch-22 situation here.
19. Ludwig
This David Mitchell vehicle is charming stuff. Its faintly-ludicrous-but-knows-it story of identical twin brothers (Mitchell) and police conspiracy bumbled along nicely for six episodes, whereupon a cliffhanger made the now-commissioned second series a must. Mitchell plays socially awkward loner John Taylor, a puzzle-setting genius whose more outgoing police detective twin brother James goes missing, leaving his wife (Anna Maxwell Martin) and son behind. To find James, John must assume his identity, and it turns out that a lifetime of solving puzzles is excellent preparation for solving murders. A well-acted, unchallenging binge-watch dotted with treats including cameos by Derek Jacobi and Felicity Kendal. Read our review here.
18. Passenger
Happy Valley meets Stranger Things in this ITV horror mystery starring Loki’s Wunmi Mosaku as a detective investigating weird happenings in an isolated Northern village. The TV screenwriting debut of The Crown and Better’s Andrew Buchan, Passenger is a twisty story that pulls you along with eerie revelations, comedic interludes, intriguing characters and a solid cast. What’s really going on at the bread factory? It’s worth spending six episodes of this unusual series finding out. Read our review here.
17. Day of the Jackal
Sky Atlantic’s new 10-part adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s assassin novel takes the unusual step of following killer-for-hire “The Jackal” (Eddie Redmayne) and the MI6 agent obsessively tracking him (Lashana Lynch) home to their spouses and children. It slows things down, but adds another Killing Eve-type layer to the action thriller, giving it additional jeopardy – as if The Day of the Jackal needed any more of that. Watch it for Redmayne’s prosthetic disguises, car chases and expert marksmanship. Read our review here.
16. Shardlake
This TV adaptation of CJ Sansom’s Tudor-set mystery novels has been a long time in the coming. Sir Kenneth Branagh was once attached before his attention strayed to Wallander, leaving room for Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom) to write this atmospheric adaptation for Disney+. It stars Arthur Hughes as 16th century lawyer Arthur Shardlake, a man tasked with investigating a murder at a wealthy, remote monastery that Henry VIII (Sean Bean) wants to find justification to shut down, and is a transportive crime mystery that does justice to Sansom’s character and setting. Read our review here.
15. Taskmaster Series 17 & 18
What is there to say? It’s Taskmaster, one of the most reliably entertaining British comedy shows around. Each new confection of guest brings its own flavour to whatever daft business Alex Horne, Greg Davies and co. have cooked up (performing classical music without any instruments, screaming body parts in Alex’s face and secretly saying “umbrella” five times, to name but a few) . 2024 saw Steve Pemberton, Sophie Willian, Nick Mohammed, John Robins and Joanne McNally vie for first place, followed by Jack Dee, Emma Sidi, Rosie Jones, Babatunde Aléshé and Andy Zaltzman. Always daft fun. Read our series ranking here.
14. Big Boys Series 2
A third series is on the way to Channel 4, so don’t worry that the monumental finale to Big Boys’ second run would be our last visit to Jack, Danny and co. That finale belonged to the excellent Harriet Webb, whose role as Cousin Shannon was expanded this time – literally as Shan found herself unexpectedly pregnant and on the labour ward in the last episode. Jack Rooke’s autobiographically inspired university comedy started strong and just gets better, so expect great things from Jack and Danny’s final year at Brent.
13. Blue Lights Series 2
Belfast-set BBC One police drama Blue Lights eschews the home life-light approach of a more standoffish crime series like Line of Duty, and foregrounds the characters behind the official acronyms and handcuffs. Series one threw three rookie cops in at the deep end, and series two sees the new trio a little more experienced and steadier on their feet, but still finding their way through policing a city riven by political and religious division. And that’s just their work lives; there’s just as much drama to be found in the romantic side of things in Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson’s well-cast, empathetically written show. Read our interview with Sian Brookes here.
12. Mr Bates vs the Post Office
It’s rare in these days of too-much-TV for a single drama to cut through in the way that Mr Bates vs the Post Office did. In what might have been the best scheduling decision of recent years, the ITV four-parter about the sub-postmaster false conviction scandal was stripped across the very first week of 2024, when people were at home and looking for something new post-Christmas. We watched this brilliantly acted (Jason Watkins, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Monica Dolan…) true story about cruel miscarriages of justice in droves, and viewers were mobilised to follow the story through the subsequent inquiry and its aftermath.
11. One Day
The less said about the 2012 movie adaptation of David Nicholls’ One Day the better (it wasn’t just poor Anne Hathaway’s Yorkshire accent, everything was just too concertinaed for a movie runtime to make any real impact). This 10-part Netflix series is the only adaptation to watch. Starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall as Emma and Dexter, the two romantic leads who meet on St Swithin’s Day (July 15th for anyone born after the ninth century) in 1988 and whose elliptical story we follow on that day for the next two decades. Funny, warm, nostalgic and – be warned – a teeny bit heartbreaking, this is a pretty perfect rom-com. Read how the Netflix version fixed the movie’s biggest problem, here.
10. We Are Lady Parts Series 2
Nida Manzoor’s excellent Channel 4 comedy about an all-female, all-Muslim punk rock band went even bigger in its second series. Instead of focusing mostly on the story of stage-fright-suffering guitarist Amina (Anjana Vasan), each bandmember had their turn in the spotlight and their own character drama played out inventively through music. With plenty to say about ambition, selling out, political expression and modern life, this one’s a funny, raucous must-watch.
9. Rivals
Perhaps it’s the waiting-in-for-parcels time of Christmas talking, but how great is it when something actually delivers? When it was first announced, Disney+’s Rivals promised to be oodles of saucy fun and delivered exactly that. It retold Jilly Cooper’s toff-bonking tale with a top cast (David Tennant, Katherine Parkinson, Aidan Turner, Claire Rushbrook…) and an overflowing champagne coupe of bubbly 80s energy. The soundtrack, the outfits, the shagging, the wit – it all worked, so thank goodness they’ve already renewed it for a second series. Read our delighted review here.
8. Alma’s Not Normal Series 2
Sophie Willan‘s Bafta-winning autobiographically inspired BBC Two sitcom has such a deft way with serious stuff (addiction, abuse, child neglect, cancer, death) that you’re still grinning before you’ve even noticed that things have turned grim. Which they won’t be for long, because Alma’s Not Normal brings heart, laughs and silliness to every scene, no matter the subject. Series one was great, but series two, which welcomes Steve Pemberton, Craig Parkinson and Nick Mohammed, is even better, and what it has to say about family and more is worth hearing.
7. Supacell
The emotional drama in Rapman’s Netflix series would be enough to hold your attention even without the addition of superpowers and time-travel. They’re the sci-fi fantasy icing on the cake of this extremely watchable and well made story about five Black south Londoners who discover they can do extraordinary things: telekinesis, super-strength, super-speed… It’s up to Tosin Cole’s Michael to bring all five together to complete a mission close to his heart, but when the pressures of real life get in the way, being a superhero’s not that easy. A second series has already been announced. Read our series one review here.
6. KAOS
Don’t cry that it’s over, smile because it happened? That’s about right for KAOS, a bold, inventive, modern take on Greek myths that was cancelled by Netflix in record time. Why? It was both ambitious (read: expensive) but also idiosyncratic and niche, so couldn’t quite wipe its face when it came to drawing enough of an audience for the streamer. Created by The End of the F***ing World‘s Charlie Covell, KAOS reimagined Greek mythology through a modern lens, telling stories with imaginative twists and stuffing its episodes with Easter eggs for mythology nerds to savour. The cast was top-notch (Jeff Goldblum as Zeus? Janet McTeer as Hera? Beautiful.) and the whole thing was totally transportive. Read our review here.
5. Baby Reindeer
You can’t fail to have noticed Richard Gadd’s acclaimed Netflix series, though perhaps not for the right reasons. Gadd’s autobiographically inspired story about being stalked was the centre of a very well publicised legal hubbub (is “that “hubbub” the right term when $170 million law suits are involved?) after the real woman Gadd had fictionalised as Jessica Gunning character Martha was first identified by fans online, and then pursued a case against the show for its description of itself as “a true story”. Expensive lessons are being learned, and Netflix’s legal team will doubtless tighten up its processes in future, but brushing all that aside, what remains is the fact that Baby Reindeer is an excellent drama – frank, honest, painful, funny and one of the best this year. With spoilers, read about its stunning fourth episode here.
4. Slow Horses Series 4
We’ve said it before, but we (and everybody else writing about Apple TV+ spy thriller Slow Horses) will say it again: if this was on BBC One on a Sunday night, it would get gangbusters ratings and engender a national obsession on a par with the early days of Broadchurch and the later days of Line of Duty. That said, the BBC couldn’t afford Gary Oldman, who makes this Mick Herron adaptation as brilliant as it is, so that’s that.
In series four, the disgraced spy graveyard that is Slough House dealt with a terrorist bombing, a mercenary international kill squad, a serious threat to a senior spook, and a very personal blast from the past. It was pacey, gripping, funny and well, it featured the best character on television. What more is there to say?
3. Doctor Who Series 14
Rewatch the trailer above. Do it now, I’ll wait. Done? Okay.
Wasn’t it great? Didn’t those episodes contain some of the most memorable and imaginative British television that you (and hopefully your kids) saw this year? Jinkx Monsoon crawling out of the piano, the return of Steven Moffat with the supremely tense “Boom”, Ruby’s creepy, unknowable shadow in “73 Yards”, the spiffy Doctor and his new beau dancing in the Bridgerton episode, the many faces of Susan Twist, the ongoing mystery of Mrs Flood, THAT blast from the past in the two-part finale… Granted, “Space Babies” wasn’t the strongest start, and two Doctor-lite episodes out of eight with a brand new Doctor was too many, but looking back, there’s so much to cheer about – not least Ncuti Gatwa owning the part like he was the first person ever to play it. Bring on the Christmas special. Read our reviews and more here.
2. Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
You could call it recency bias seeing as at the time of writing, the second instalment of Peter Kosminsky and Peter Straughan’s Hilary Mantel adaptation Wolf Hall is still airing on BBC One, but that’s not it. The Mirror and the Light is simply the greatest combination of story, setting, writing, directing and performance that television has seen in years. Almost 10 years, in fact, when the first series aired. Damian Lewis is excellent as King Henry VIII, a vain and childlike man of terrible power, but Mark Rylance is supreme as clever, kind, ferocious and idealistic Thomas Cromwell. Last series was all about Cromwell’s rise, and this one’s all about his fall, making it darker, more emotional and totally compelling. Read our slightly giddy episode reviews here.
1. Inside No. 9
This was an astounding feat. The ninth series of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton’s brilliant BBC Two anthology marked 55 individual stories and distinct settings with several times as many characters, and countless surprises. Not only did series nine contain episodes as good as the show has ever made (tube train-set opener “Boo to a Goose” is easily Top 10), but the finale was also the perfect capper to everything that went before. In “Plodding On”, Inside No. 9 went meta and showed us its own wrap party, complete with a roster of past guest stars and more Easter egg references to previous stories than it would be sane to count (we tried). Having been in such regular supply this past decade, it would be easy to take the extraordinary achievement of Inside No. 9 for granted, so we chose not to by putting it at the top of this list. Bravo to all involved. Read our episode reviews here.
The post The Best UK TV Shows of 2024 appeared first on Den of Geek.
