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The rich banquet of television has been laden with excellent choices this year, from suprise hits (Baby Reindeer!) to returning favorites (Industry!). Consider this list of the best TV shows of 2024 your cue to catch up on whatever you missed—or, just as helpfully, an excuse to stay indoors and fire up your favorite streamer as the temperatures plummet. Either way, you’re welcome!
Criminal Record on Apple TV+ (January)
If you’re a soft target for British crime procedurals and have fond memories of the Scottish actor Peter Capaldi dominating Armando Iannucci’s classic political series The Thick of It, Apple TV+’s Criminal Record is just the thing. In this eight-episode London-based series, Capaldi and Cush Jumbo go toe to toe as warring detectives—veteran and rookie—relitigating a high-profile murder case. —Taylor Antrim
Expats on Prime Video (January)
Lulu Wang follows up her heartfelt 2019 film The Farewell with this rich and layered limited series. Like The Farewell, which told the story of a young Chinese American woman returning to China to spend time with her dying grandmother, Expats is (unsurprisingly) concerned with the experience of living between cultures. Here, the subjects again are Americans living abroad in Asia, a trio of women whose lives are intertwined with each other and with a random-seeming tragedy. The show resists easy categorization; in some ways, with its lush attention to the frenetic urban landscapes of modern-day Hong Kong, it bears the imprint of Wang’s previous creations, feeling like a vision-driven independent film. There’s a mystery associated with the tragedy, but this is hardly a whodunit. Instead, it’s an examination of how people build a home in a foreign place and how fragile those constructions can be. Nicole Kidman gives a harrowing performance as one of the trio of women, but it is Ji-young Yoo, playing a disaffected and aimless young Korean American college graduate, who steals the show. —Chloe Schama
Feud: Capote vs. the Swans on FX/Hulu (January)
Revenge is a dish best served at La Côte Basque. The latest installment of Ryan Murphy’s Feud series tells the tale of Truman Capote’s (Tom Hollander) unfinished roman à clef Answered Prayers and the bridges he burned when Esquire published an excerpt from it in 1965. Not since Diana’s swimwear on The Crown had the fashion hive anticipated a season of television with such fervor. In Swans, the flock is glamorous and the plumage Olympics-worthy. The social doyennes of the second half of the last century are the main characters here, with Naomi Watts as the long-suffering yet sanguine Babe Paley; Chloë Sevigny as straight-shooting, Scotch-swilling green thumb C. Z. Guest; Calista Flockhart as the wounded, saber-tongued Lee Radziwill; and Diane Lane as the sage and vindictive Slim Keith. Directed by Gus Van Sant, languorous, malicious meals unspool at La Côte Basque, the midtown society lunch spot; gloves are sought at Saks; and the infamous Black and White Ball is chronicled in painstaking detail over an entire episode, with Zac Posen brought in to design the swans’ gowns. (Murphy veteran Lou Eyrich handles the rest of the show’s costumes with aplomb—and real vintage.) The show is glamorous and gothic at once, and while not much happens, it’s still worth having a bird’s eye view. —Chloe Malle
Masters of the Air on Apple TV+ (January)
Based on historian Donald L. Miller’s bestseller, Masters of the Air follows the American bomber boys of the 100th Bomb Group (dubbed the Bloody Hundredth) as they engage in treacherous raids over Nazi Germany. Executive-produced by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, the show has a traditional feel, foregrounding the psychological and emotional toll paid by these young men. But there’s plenty of visual splendor to luxuriate in, with directors like Dee Rees behind the camera and in front of it the impossibly coiffed crème of handsome young Hollywood (Barry Keoghan, Austin Butler, Callum Turner) and Colleen Atwood’s costumes (indulgent thick leather bombers with shearling collars). —Lisa Wong Macabasco
Monsieur Spade on AMC+ (January)
Some of us are prepared to travel wherever Clive Owen takes us, which in the case of the AMC+ crime series Monsieur Spade happens to be the South of France. These six episodes came to us from the writer-director-producer Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit) and tell the story of the iconic hardboiled detective Sam Spade (of Dashiell Hammett’s 1930 novel The Maltese Falcon) in retirement in Bozouls, where, bien sur, a group of nuns is murdered. Owen is dashing with a cigarette and suit, and the twisty plot pulls in the Cold War, religious doings, and espionage. Satisfying, grown-up entertainment. —TA
True Detective: Night Country on Max (January)
Set during the eternally dark and snowy days of late December in a remote Alaska town where Indigenous locals and a mining company coexist uneasily, the newest iteration of True Detective bears the closest resemblance to the thrilling first season 10 years ago. This time around, though, with Mexican writer and director Issa López at the helm, women are the heavies: Jodie Foster brandishes the badge for the first time since Silence of the Lambs 32 years ago, while real-life pro-boxing champ Kali Reis more than holds her own as her tough-as-nails partner. Both are haunted by ghosts from their traumatic pasts as they attempt to solve a grisly massacre at a scientific outpost. It’s the perfect binge, not to mention scary as hell, and both True Detective diehards and those who have never heard of “time is a flat circle” are sure to enjoy the eerie, supernatural, supremely satisfying ride. —LWM
Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Prime Video (February)
Prime Video’s Mr. and Mrs. Smith stars Donald Glover and Pen15’s Maya Erskine as a pair of spies navigating dangerous weekly missions—often around New York, where they’re based in a gorgeous town house, but also sometimes in the dramatically beautiful Dolomites or the Costa Rican jungle or on the shores of Lake Como—while also attempting to maintain their arranged marriage, one that quickly evolves from a strange shared burden to a font of real passion and pleasure, as well as conflict and competition. The 2005 film of the same name, starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, inspired this series, but Glover and Erskine are doing entirely their own thing—and the results feel exciting and fun. Plus, the show boasts a murderers’ row of supporting actors, among them Sarah Paulson (fabulous as a batty couples therapist), Alexander Skarsgård, John Turturro, Sharon Horgan, Paul Dano, Michaela Coel, and Parker Posey. —Marley Marius
One Day on Netflix (February)
I didn’t want to like this show. A mainstream bestseller turned into a mid-aughts toothless rom-com (sorry, Anne Hathaway stans!) turned Netflix show? Talk about tired IP. But, boy, did I love it. I chalk it up to the incredible chemistry between Ambika Mod (a real discovery and an unapologetic comedic talent) and Leo Woodall (the rascally charlatan who charmed on The White Lotus season two), playing university friends who circle each other romantically for most of their 20s. Each episode checks in on them on the same day but a different year (hence the title), and the show somehow convinces you that they have grown older (not wiser) and, eventually, more assured of themselves and their relationship. I thought it would be nothing more than a treacly confection, and it surprised me with its genuine heart. —CS
Shōgun on FX/Hulu (February)
One of the surprise hits of the year, this epic, years-in-the-making adaptation of James Clavell’s best-selling, thousand-plus-page historical novel from 1975 proved to be better than anyone expected and quickly became a bit of a streaming phenomenon for FX/Hulu. Set in 17th-century Japan, the story is satisfyingly complex and the acting is superb, especially from Anna Sawai as the translator Lady Mariko, veteran Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano as feudal leader Yabushige, and the highly appealing Cosmo Jarvis as the English sailor John Blackthorne. Addictive, well-paced, and lavishly produced. —TA
The Gentlemen on Netflix (March)
Guy Ritchie returns! Sometimes you just want to cheer the streamers for handing over a big budget to someone with the verve and vision of Ritchie. Another White Lotus star, an extremely charismatic Theo James, is the second son of a recently departed duke, who (first-episode mild spoiler here) is unexpectedly named his father’s heir. The reasoning quickly becomes apparent as the extent of the first son’s dissolute disfunction unfolds. Further revelations ensue—namely, a criminal operation that is part of the inheritance. Ritchie feels like he’s back in beloved territory, among the charming rakes and bullish thugs of the British underworld. The British actor Kaya Scodelario (perhaps, like me, you remember her as the singular Effy from Skins) is creepy and convincing as a woman confidently navigating that seedy scene. —CS
Girls5eva, Season 3 on Netflix (March)
If you’re in the market for a sitcom that packs in maximum jokes per minute, à la 30 Rock or The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, look no further than this Peacock series (now available on Netflix) that chronicles the improbable mid-40s reunion of an early-aughts girl group. Girls5eva admittedly took a few episodes to find its footing, but its highly Tina Fey–influenced comedic voice and bevy of magnetically watchable stars (Renée Elise Goldsberry playing a clear piano! Busy Philipps as a dippy influencer type! Paula Pell, enough said!) make it well worth seeking out. —Emma Specter
Palm Royale on Apple TV+ (March)
Call it the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel effect: a certain type of TV show that presents a super-saturated, candy-coated vision of the past. Palm Royale, which stars Kristin Wiig as a beauty pageant queen who marries up, sets its sights on Palm Beach society. Like a Lilly Pulitzer fever dream, the show is awash in tangerine and flamingo pink, a confectionary visual delight. The plot is nominally an outsider narrative, with Wiig’s character attempting to infiltrate the upper echelons of that milieu, but it’s really the fashion and the slightly camp but still enjoyable performances from the cast (Allison Janney, Laura Dern, Kaia Gerber, Ricky Martin—does the man ever age?) that keep the show afloat. —CS
Fallout on Prime Video (April)
Video-game TV adaptations are usually a case of hype cycles run amok—even though HBO’s The Last of Us was a genuine prestige-TV hit in 2023 (and has been renewed for a second season). Prime Video’s adaptation of the post-apocalyptic role-playing game Fallout has gold-plated executive producers, Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy of Westworld, and proved to be an interesting stew of cowboy action, robot mayhem, and kooky world building. —TA
Ripley on Netflix (April)
Another recycled story that holds its own appeal. This time the beloved Andrew Scott stars as Tom Ripley in an adaptation of the gripping Patricia Highsmith novel. Scott is joined by Dakota Fanning and Johnny Flynn, and the sun-soaked palette is replaced by an austere black-and-white scheme. Written and directed by Steven Zaillian, creator of the gripping and dark HBO procedural The Night Of, this Ripley has a distinctly noir feel, and a different tone overall than the sun-drenched Matt Damon and Jude Law version. Scott delivers a subtle and sinister performance. —CS
Under the Bridge on Hulu (April)
Based on acclaimed author Rebecca Godfrey’s gripping 2005 bestseller, Under the Bridge recounts the true story of 14-year-old Reena Virk (Vritika Gupta), who in 1997 went to meet friends at a party and never returned home. Trailing Godfrey (played by Riley Keough) and a local British Columbia police officer (Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone), the series delves into the hidden world of the young girls accused of the murder, revealing shocking truths about the unlikely killer.—LWM
Baby Reindeer on Netflix (May)
After arriving on Netflix with a bang in April, Baby Reindeer quickly became one of the year’s most-talked-about shows—thanks in no small part to the fact that its shocking depiction of stalking and sexual assault was closely based on the real-life experiences of its creator, the British comedian Richard Gadd. (Much of the debate surrounding the show centered on whether it was too closely based on real life, as internet sleuths made efforts to track down the real people involved.) What impressed most, though, was Baby Reindeer’s tonal tightrope walk between black comedy and moments that felt more akin to a thriller—as well as its sensitivity in dealing with a number of hot-button topics. —Liam Hess
Bridgerton, Season 3 on Netflix (May)
If Shonda Rhimes followed the chronological order of Julia Quinn’s original book series, Season 3 of Bridgerton would be about Benedict Bridgerton’s quest to find love. Yet the showrunner made the executive decision to focus instead on fan favorites Colin Bridgerton and Penelope Featherington, whose slow-burn story has been building over the past few years. It turned out to be the right creative call: Season 3 of Bridgerton is not just an ugly-ducking-to-swan love story, but one that examines female ambition and the loss of individual identity that can come with a marriage. Oh, also, there’s a lot of instrumental Taylor Swift. Who doesn’t love that? —Elise Taylor
Hacks, Season 3 on Netflix (May)
With its third season, Hacks overcame the nearly impossible feat of topping itself. After a strong sophomore season, many viewers wondered how the odd-couple comedy would continue its trajectory. Now, it’s clear there was no reason to worry. The show’s latest installment is funnier, smarter, and more poignant than ever, especially thanks to Jean Smart, who delivers bigger laughs and gut punches as Deborah Vance—whether she’s turning an NA meeting into a tight 10, or scheming to get her own late-night show. The promotion of Meg Stalter and Paul W. Downs to series regulars has added a delightful B-plot to the series, and Hannah Einbinder continues to bring greater depth to Ava with every passing episode. Lucky for us a fourth season is on its way. —Hannah Jackson
America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders on Netflix (June)
The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are no stranger to the pop-culture spotlight: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team, a reality show that followed their grueling audition process, ran for 16 seasons on CMT. Yet the Netflix docuseries America’s Sweethearts takes a raw, unfiltered look at the Lucchese-boot wearing squad that’s watched by millions every Sunday—and, as a result, feels like it tells a completely untold story. Sure, each episode is roughly centered around cheering (including one where the rookie dancers learn the show-stopping half-time routine to ACDC’s “Thunderstruck”). Yet woven throughout are plot points about the women grappling with everything from fair wages to mental health and even sexual harassment. You’ll leave rooting for the team that roots for the team. —ET
Babylon Berlin, Season 4 on MHz Choice (June)
The first two seasons of this brilliant German-language crime epic set during the Weimar Republic debuted back in Netflix’s halcyon, try-anything days (before the Floor is Lava era). It was one of the most rewarding discoveries on streaming and acquainted American audiences with the charisma of its lead actors, Liv Lisa Fries and Volker Bruch, whose characters worked for the Berlin police, uncovering misdoings (Fries’s Charlotte Ritter was also a part-time prostitute). Season three later appeared on Netflix before the series disappeared from the platform altogether. Now all three seasons have returned on the service MHz Choice (which, if you’re into Euro TV, is well worth a trial subscription). Season four, which brings Weimar Berlin ever closer to the grip of Nazism—heretofore unavailable to US viewers—began streaming in June. —TA
The Bear, Season 3 on FX/Hulu (June)
The third season of The Bear, focused on the titular restaurant’s rocky first months of operation, proved its most divisive yet. At times the show abandoned the larger plot for more intimate character studies, leaving viewers yearning for some form of resolution in Carmy and Claire’s relationship, Carmy and Richie’s relationship, and Carmy’s relationships with pretty much everyone else. But the choice also gave us my favorite episodes of the season: “Napkins,” a closer look at Liza Colón-Zayas’s Tina (and Ayo Edebiri’s directorial debut), and “Ice Chips,” which follows Natalie, a.k.a. Sugar (Abby Elliott), as she is forced to lean on her mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis), for support when she goes into labor. Let’s just consider season three an amuse-bouche; with season four already filmed, we know the main course is on the way. —HJ
Blue Lights, Season 2 on BritBox (June)
The streaming service BritBox, from the BBC, continues to serve up hidden gems. Just take Blue Lights, a Belfast-based police procedural with an appealing class of officer trainees who have to earn their stripes on the violent streets of the capital city of Northern Ireland. Start with season one (available on the service) and then charge into the latest second season, where Grace, Annie, Tommy, and their superiors in the force must confront a dangerous confluence of organized loyalist gangs and meddling from the UK intelligence services. A bingeable, highly satisfying import. —TA
House of the Dragon, Season 2 on Max (June)
The action of House of the Dragon’s impeccably acted second season picks up in the immediate aftermath of season one, the engine of plot a rather serious difference of opinion about the deathbed pronouncements of the late king Viserys Targaryen. This sets in motion a pleasingly straightforward story about power—who has it, who wants it—and the small-scale pleasures of the latest season are in the maneuverings at court and shouted arguments at councils. (These too were among the amusements of Game of Thrones.) But there also many, many scenes of gorgeously rendered dragons and breathtaking settings—castles, ruined chambers, fields, and forests—that make the series feel satisfyingly grand. If we’d been feeding on scraps this summer in TV world, Game of Thrones has given us a banquet. —TA
Presumed Innocent on Apple TV+ (June)
You can watch this show with intimate familiarity with the book and Harrison Ford film, or you can come to it—as I did—with absolutely none and fully enjoy it. (We ran an experiment with a sample size of two in our household, and this was our definitive conclusion.) It’s not that surprising, actually, when you consider the caliber of the cast: Jake Gyllenhaal as the wrongfully (or is he???) accused lawyer fending off a life-damning murder charge; Ruth Negga as his long-suffering wife; Peter Sarsgaard as the smarmy colleague out to get him; the luminous Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) as the murdered girlfriend; Bill Camp—a revelation—as the lawyer and best friend defending Gyllenhaal’s character. It’s a powerhouse collection, and they are all doing their part to weave together this supremely watchable and classy show. The story seems to be setting itself up for resolution in the final episode, but with a second season already announced, we can look forward to more suspense to come. —CS
Industry, Season 3 on Max (August)
This might just be the best show on television this year. The episodes I watched are under strict embargo, so I can’t say too much about the specifics. But suffice it to say that it keeps up the breakneck pace, the rapid-fire patter that is (to a non-finance type) inscrutable and somehow fascinating at the same time, and all the bad behavior that happens on and off the floor. The favorite characters return, their fiendish traits on full display. The episodes are dense and well paced; this is not a ponderous artistic experiment, though the tightness of its construction speaks to a care for the craft of TV making. If the absence of Succession has left a dark and gaping hole in your heart, formerly filled by the epic, desperate machinations of the 1 percent, tune in. This is the best season yet for this entirely excellent show. —CS
English Teacher on FX (September)
This Brian Jordan Alvarez vehicle often earns comparisons to Abbott Elementary thanks to the fact that both are contemporary schoolteacher chronicles. But while Abbott is a bright-eyed elementary school mockumentary, English Teacher is a sardonic account of teaching the far less charming high school crowd. Alvarez, who plays Evan Marquez, also works in public education as an out gay man in a red state. The bright minds of tomorrow, per Alvarez, flagrantly vape in the hallways, diagnose themselves with “asymptomatic Tourette’s,” and bait their teachers into TikTok-able fumbles. While the show does poke fun at Gen Z, it manages to accomplish it with impressive accuracy, avoiding the “you crazy kids!” of it all. The supporting cast is also filled with gems, including Alvarez’s frequent collaborator Stephanie Koenig as his upbeat best friend; Jordan Firstman as his on-again, off-again boyfriend; Enrico Colantoni as the long-suffering school principal; and Sean Patton as the thick-skulled but well-meaning gym teacher. The young actors who play the students are also comedic aces (Ivy Wolk in particular stands out). English Teacher gets an A in my book. —HJ
My Brilliant Friend, Season 4 on Max (September)
Stalwart fans of this exquisitely made Italian series, an adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s decade-old Neapolitan quartet of novels, were finally treated to the long-awaited final season this fall, based on Ferrante’s devastating The Story of the Lost Child. The two friends at the heart of the series, Elena Greco and Lila Cerullo, are approaching middle age, and the casting has been updated. Elena, known as Lenu, is played by the revelatory Alba Rohrwacher, and Lila by the fiery Irene Maiorino. There’s simply no show like this on television: sophisticated and transporting and painful in its exploration of female friendship, ambition, jealousy, and heartbreak. —TA
The Perfect Couple on Netflix (September)
I’ll admit it: I love almost any show about rich people behaving badly (what can I say, The O.C. premiered at a very formative and impressionable time for me). But when Nicole Kidman is involved—as she is in Netflix’s The Perfect Couple, playing a wealthy, disapproving Nantucket mother-in-law to perfection—I’m even more guaranteed to devour a whole season at once. Liev Schreiber, Dakota Fanning, and the great Meghann Fahy round out the cast of the show, which is adapted from an Elin Hilderbrand novel and definitely a little soapy at times but ultimately well worth watching (ideally all at once, in your pajamas). —ES
Slow Horses, Season 4 on Apple TV+ (September)
It’s been fun to watch Slow Horses achieve word-of-mouth hit status—I’d call it Apple TV+’s most universally loved offering. This British spy series, based on the Mick Herron Slough House novels, mixes bristling action with mordant wit, and perhaps no show on television right now has a better cast. There are the regulars—Gary Oldman as the shambolic spymaster Jackson Lamb, Jack Lowden as his protege River Cartwright, Kristen Scott Thomas as brilliantly devious UK deputy intelligence director, to name just three—and the satisfying fourth season adds James Callis as an MI5 boss and Hugo Weaving as a merciless gun for hire. High-class escapism. —TA
Trigger Point, Season 2 on BritBox (September)
Trigger Point is, for me, the find of the year, a wonderfully silly, ruthlessly tense bomb-squad police drama from the UK with one of the most appealing heroines in recent memory: Lana Washington, played by Vicky McClure, a troubled but preternaturally skilled explosives officer who offers a mix of broken vulnerability and hardened badassery the likes of which we’ve just about never seen on American TV. The second season—like the first, which came out in 2022—is not complicated. There are good guys and bad guys, and things reliably go boom every 20 minutes or so. The body count is high, and the plot machinations stretch credulity, but I defy you not to be sent to the edge of your seat. —TA
The Diplomat, Season 2 on Netflix (October)
This somewhat silly but supremely enjoyable show returned for its second season this fall. Starring Keri Russell as the American ambassador to the UK tasked with a set of high-stakes statecraft responsibilities that make her feel more like a CIA agent than a fundraiser deposited into a plum position. Russell’s character is, in fact, more accustomed to the rougher postings of the foreign-policy universe. (She worked in Baghdad, her character is at pains to remind us.) But in this fictional universe, being appointed the ambassador is a kind of unofficial vetting for the vice presidency. Again, not so believable, this show—but highly entertaining nonetheless. —CS
The Day of the Jackal on Peacock (November)
Very loosely based on Fred Zinnemann’s 1973 political thriller of the same name (itself adapted from a 1971 novel by Frederick Forsyth) The Day of the Jackal sees Eddie Redmayne play a sphinxlike assassin who draws the attention of the Secret Intelligence Service in London after killing a German politician from a dramatically great distance. As he moves on to his next target, Lashana Lynch’s wily Bianca Pullman, a gun wonk with the MI6, is hell-bent on catching him, no matter the cost. It’s great stuff, replete with gorgeous locations (Munich! Budapest! Vienna! The Adriatic Sea!), wild car chases, and characters so obsessed with their very dangerous and morally murky jobs, you can’t help but be a little obsessed with them. —MM
Dune: Prophecy on Max (November)
Great news for Dune-heads: Not only did the latest entry in the blockbuster sci-fi franchise storm the box office in March (and receive glowing critical notices to boot), but there’s another chapter of the space opera now streaming on Max. Set many thousands of years before the rise of Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atriedes, the show—which stars Emily Watson and Olivia Williams—charts the origins of the Bene Gesserit, the religious sisterhood whose behind-the-scenes plotting will come to shape the future of humanity. The spice must flow. —LH
Lioness, Season 2 on Paramount+ (November)
This counterterrorism action series from writer-director Taylor Sheridan goes hard. Or, I should say, the cast does, No show on television has such a good one: Zoe Saldaña as Joe, the leader of a secretive special operations unit; Nicole Kidman as her CIA handler, Kaitlyn, who is icy and exacting; Laysla De Oliveira as a fearsome undercover agent, Cruz; and many more. In the breathlessly exciting second season, Joe and her team are sent to the US-Mexico border after an American congresswoman is kidnapped by members of a Mexican drug cartel. Their mission shifts and swerves as chaos unfolds. Lioness is deeply concerned with patriotism and military might, but it also believes reverently in female strength, authority, and independence. To watch elite women warriors fold in among special-forces bros without needing help or rescue and without becoming objects of desire or subjects of derision, or much of anything notable at all besides equals, is borderline radical. —TA
Rebus on Viaplay (November)
Based on Ian Rankin’s Inspector Rebus novels, this six-part police procedural recalls shows like Happy Valley and Prime Suspect and was shot in actual Edinburgh, which means it feels gloomy and gritty in all the right ways. Richard Rankin (best known from Outlander) is a quiet revelation in the title role, exuding that kind of natural, off-hand, tough-guy magnetism that doesn’t feel put on. There are ruthless baddies and Rebus has a plucky millennial partner, Siobhan Clarke, played by Lucie Shorthouse, who livens things up. These six episodes alone are worth a test-drive of Viaplay, a streamer that specializes in Nordic TV. (Check out the 2021 series Black Sands while you’re there, another favorite of mine.) —TA
Say Nothing on FX/Hulu (November)
This gripping drama, based on the best-selling nonfiction book of the same name by Patrick Radden Keefe (he is an executive producer), tells the story of the Troubles in Northern Ireland through brutally intimate stories. The story begins with the disappearance of Jean McConville, a single, widowed mother of 10 who was abducted from her flat in the night and never seen again. But there are no simple villains or victims here. Instead the series paints a picture of an apartheid state that drove people—specifically, the real-life sisters Dolours Price (Lola Petticrew) and Marian Price (Hazel Doupe)—to increasingly violent radicalization. Say Nothing, the book, is deemed by many one of the best books of the past 20 years. It’s thrilling to see it get such a careful and compelling adaptation. —CS
Sherwood, Season 2 on BritBox (November)
The first season of Sherwood, an excellent Nottinghamshire-set crime drama on Britbox starring David Morrissey and Lesley Manville, was grounded in the painful history of England’s miners’ strike in the 1980s. The new second season is another superbly crafted procedural—offering a fascinating portrait of post-Brexit economic devastation in the UK. A troubled young man from one family kills the son of another and old furies are hauled to the surface. DCS Ian St. Clair (Morrissey) must get to the bottom of things before the reprisals begin to spin out of control. —TA
Black Doves on Netflix (December)
There’s an element of camp to this spy thriller starring Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw, playing (respectively) a spy and gun man who are stealing and deceiving on behalf of a shadowy, private organization that executes the wishes of the highest bidder. Who are they working for, exactly? It doesn’t matter. There’s a pleasing absence of the Manichean dynamics usually drawing stark lines around good and bad in similar shows. Here they are just doing dirty, and enjoying it all the while. Knightly and Whishaw have a lovely chemistry; it’s almost as though they’ve been waiting patiently through a dozen stately period pieces to get to this slightly silly caper. Add in the backdrop of a British Christmas that never seems to end, and it’s my kind of holiday entertainment. —CS