Yahoo Finance The best TV of 2021 so far
Back
Mitchell and Webb returned after a four-year wait with a second helping of Simon Blackwell’s cuckoo-in-the-nest comedy. And the duo’s talent for red herrings and all-out Peep Show-style ridiculousness meant it somehow outdid the ace first outing.
What we said: “In setting and ambience, Back is as drearily British as Brexit, but its dense dialogue – roughly every third word is hilarious – ensures it is also kin to glossy American cousins such as Succession (written by Blackwell’s old collaborator Jesse Armstrong) and Veep (on which Blackwell has writer and executive producer credits), all of which can be traced back to a common ancestor in Armando Iannucci’s The Thick of It. It is only Back’s characters that are parochial; everything else about this show is world class.” Read the full review
Call My Agent!
The Gallic comedy about Parisian talent agency ASK has grown from cult concern to bona fide hit. The most recent season – initially billed as its last, though another one, and a film, are now on the way – saw a smörgåsbord of stars sign up to cameo, including Charlotte Gainsbourg and Sigourney Weaver.
What we said: “I have grown extremely attached to the ASK family, to the extent that I began offering unsolicited advice to the screen. ‘Just hire a more senior agent!’ ‘Just tell him the truth!’ ‘Andréa, no!’” Read the full review
Can’t Get You Out of My Head
Archive supremo Adam Curtis returned with a mammoth offering for our unusual times: a six-part series on the modern history of the western world, told through political intrigue and marginalised stories. Spanning everything from the assassination of JFK to Mao’s Cultural Revolution, Curtis left us with much to mull over.
What we said: “Whether you are convinced or not by the working hypothesis, Can’t Get You Out of My Head is a rush. It is vanishingly rare to be confronted by work so dense, so widely searching and ambitious in scope, so intelligent and respectful of the audience’s intelligence, too.” Read the full review
Caroline Flack: Her Life and Death
The shocking death of the TV presenter in 2020, aged 40, reignited conversations around the media treatment of those in the public eye. In this moving one-off, Flack’s mother Christine and sister Jody offered an insight into their “Carrie”: an outgoing daughter and sister, who had struggled with her mental health and who often found the pressures of fame unbearable.
What we said: “The years of fear and worry that come with loving someone who is simply not able to cope with all of life’s vicissitudes, let alone the heightened versions visited on Flack, are powerfully evoked by Jody and Christine. But, at the same time, there are happy memories.” Read the full review
Danny Boy
Toby Jones continued his campaign to be crowned Britain’s most masterful character actor with this turn as the now-disgraced human rights lawyer Phil Shiner. In a feature-length true story concerning accusations of abuse levelled against soldier Brian Wood at the Al-Sweady inquiry into military conduct in the Iraq war, Jones provided ample courtroom bluster, intercut with visceral war flashbacks.
What we said: “Aside from being compelling drama, Danny Boy is a kind of peacemaker’s intervention in the culture war, helping “woke warriors” to better understand their “flag-shagging” brethren and vice versa. Without resorting to any false, kumbaya-ish promise of reconciliation, it shows what commonalities may exist between men on opposing sides.” Read the full review
Darren McGarvey’s Class Wars
Writer, activist and rapper McGarvey has quietly been establishing himself as one of Britain’s finest documentary film-makers since his excellent 2020 series examining poverty in Scotland, Darren McGarvey’s Scotland. Here, McGarvey applied his sharp mind and disarming friendliness to the British obsession with class. A compelling and provoking watch.
What we said: “It was an hour that married granular detail with overarching theory and wide perspective, personal insight with politics, via polls on whether Greggs or fish and chips are working class.” Read the full review
Drag Race UK
Yas, yas, yas! Despite Covid-related disruptions causing a whopping seven-month gap in filming, RuPaul and Michelle Visage’s second British incarnation of the worldwide hit was far from a drag. From Bimini Bon Boulash’s glam Sex Pistols vibe and Lawrence Chaney’s all-out showmanship to Ginny Lemon’s memorable lip sync and Tayce’s unparalleled poise, it was packed full of unforgettable performances.
What we said: “A riotous watch. The US version, which is running almost concurrently, is perfectly entertaining, an elegant pro, but to be down in the gutter is, as someone memorably said, much betta.” Read the full review
Feel Good
Thank goodness Netflix commissioned a second run of Mae Martin and Joe Hampson’s remarkable show, which is at once a supersweet queer love story and a devastating exploration of addiction and PTSD – with added levity from Lisa Kudrow as Mae’s mum. A series to laugh and wail your way through in one sitting.
What we said: “Feel Good is a beautiful achievement, kind, human, as clever as it is funny.” Read the full review
Framing Britney Spears
This much-hyped New York Times exposé didn’t give concrete answers around the conservatorship that has controlled the singer’s life since 2008. But in contextualising Spears’s perceived “fall” from superstardom to seeming captivity, it highlighted the ills of the music industry and the 00s tabloid culture that, in hindsight, feels largely predatory.
What we said: “The complicity of us all in feeding the frenzy that has surrounded Spears for 30 years, and the power we hand to the men in charge remain, even and especially as we assure ourselves that a sober documentary cannot be part of it. A point to ponder.” Read the full review
Football’s Darkest Secret
An unflinching examination of the historic child abuse that took place in English football clubs, this three-part series centred on powerful testimony from survivors such as Andy Woodward and David White. A difficult but essential example of documentary television at its finest.
What we said: “It is a hard, spare and unrelenting three hours that marshals an appalling abundance of material with a compassionate but firm hand. The men’s current and remembered pain is visible in their every expression, their every movement.” Read the full review
Oprah with Harry and Meghan
The bombshell interview of the year saw Prince Harry and Meghan Markle meet with the queen of confessionals for a tell-all on family tensions and their departure from “the Firm”. From revelations on Meghan’s fragile mental state to the admission that a member of the royal family repeatedly made comments about the colour of their son Archie’s skin, it was a sobering special indeed.
What we said: “You are going to find yourself assailed on all sides by reports – hello from this one, by the way! – of Mrs Duchess Meghan and Prince Ginger Duke Harry California-Sussex’s tell-all/tell-quite-a-lot/tell-almost-nothing really and absorbing all the major points and almost all the minor details by cultural osmosis anyway … so give in now. Watch it. Enjoy it however you see fit.” Read the full review
It’s a Sin
Russell T Davies’s Aids-era drama was beautifully drawn and emotionally devastating, with its final episode surely breaking even the hardest of hearts. Following a group of exuberant, young gay friends in 80s London, led by Years & Years singer Olly Alexander, Davies masterfully balanced agony and joy – often in close proximity to one another.
What we said: “It’s possible some will complain that Davies does not treat the subject as sombrely as it deserves. This is nonsense. Fleetness and funniness are the essence of life, and only by making them as central to characters as Davies does can you convey the depth of the tragedy about to unfold. It’s a Sin looks set not just to be to Queer as Folk’s companion piece but its companion masterpiece.” Read the full review
Line of Duty
Jed Mercurio’s anti-corruption police drama powered through its sixth series with shocking shootouts, Thelma and Louise-style getaways and the reveal we’ve waited years for: the true identity of “H”. Did it disappoint some (many) fans? Did any actors drown in a sea of acronyms? Does AC-12 have any discernible future? Even if it turned out to be a damp squib, Line of Duty remains the most viewed British drama in over a decade. And Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey, that’s some achievement.
What we said: “The public has crushed to its bosom the latest tale of anti-corruption unit AC-12, led with crusading zeal by the dauntless trio Ted Hastings (Adrian Dunbar), Steve Arnott (Martin Compston) and Kate Fleming (Vicky McClure) in the fight against rottenness in the police force. At the risk of sounding like an embittered fan shouting at Johnny-come-latelies, however … man, you should have seen it back when it was good.” Read the full review
Lupin
Omar Sy stars in this fun, high-octane five-parter as Assane Diop, an updated version of literary “gentleman thief” Arsène Lupin, ducking and diving through Paris to avenge the death of his Senegalese immigrant father.
What we said: “The biggest draw, of course, is the gentleman con. Lupin won’t win any awards for its production or writing, but any viewer knows that’s not the point; the hook is in the Hollywood slickness of Assane’s scheming, and the illusion of dauntless competency under pressure.” Read the full review
Mare of Easttown
Kate Winslet burst on to our screens in a cloud of vape as the stalwart Pennsylvania cop trying to crack a murder case – and bowled us all over. What could have been a standard whodunnit became a searing, astounding look at small-town American life and all the horrors it can fling at its residents. Above all, though, it was a portrait of both a flawed detective, and an entire community, willing to do anything to protect their own.
What we said: “Winslet’s performance as the complicated, loving, fallible and sometimes dislikable Mare has been rightly lauded. So subtle, understated and multilayered: it was a privilege to witness it. The same, undoubtedly, goes for the series entire.” Read the full review
Starstruck
A gem of a romcom series. Starring as directionless millennial Jessie, who chances upon a relationship with movie star Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel) after a one-night stand, New Zealand comic Rose Matafeo crafted an endearing tale of love in the age of online dating.
What we said: “Matafeo’s timing is as immaculate as you would expect from an experienced standup, and her various foot-in-mouth moments arise from a convincingly galumphing nature instead of the grating dizziness-in-proximity-to-a-man we usually get from the genre.” Read the full review
Subnormal
Following his hit anthology series Small Axe, Steve McQueen has exec-produced two documentaries on black Britain. The second, Subnormal, was the most disturbing, with film-maker Lyttanya Shannon sensitively telling the stories of the black children unfairly sent to schools for children with special educational needs, and the lifelong trauma that ensued.
What we said: “Shannon’s approach to this film is meticulous and, as well as the first-person accounts from people put into ESN schools because of their race, she presents archive news and talkshow footage from the 60s and 70s that show how casual and widespread racism was.” Read the full review
The Investigation
The name of the man who killed Swedish journalist Kim Wall aboard his submarine in 2017 is not mentioned in this true crime series from Borgen and Another Round writer Tobias Lindholm. That may sound strange, but it is one of The Investigation’s biggest strengths. Here, Lindholm and his team focus solely on Wall’s family and the Danish police officers who helped solve her murder, in a drama that’s both gripping and humane.
What we said: “This feels like a new direction for true crime, an antidote to the showier serial killer documentaries that seem to be everywhere.” Read the full review
The Pursuit of Love
Emily Mortimer’s raucous adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s tale of romance, friendship and scandal in interwar Europe proved the perfect vehicle for Lily James’s Linda to shine. As we followed her from her stuffy family home of Alconleigh to Paris and war-torn London, Mortimer’s script deftly examined the consequences of seeking out our passions.
What we said: “Absolutely glorious … a treat for all.” Read the full review
The Underground Railroad
Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins brought this series based on Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer-winning novel to life in staggering fashion. With cinematography as breathtaking as it was harrowing, the tale of escaped slave Cora Randall (Thuso Mbedu) trying to head north and escape the clutches of slave catcher Arnold Ridgeway (Joel Edgerton) was tense and heartbreaking to the last.
What we said: “An extraordinary adaptation: hallucinatory, magical, allegorical and yet permanently in the pursuit of historical and eternal truths, the resurrection of lost perspectives and the uplifting of unheard voices. Watch it, but slowly, one complex, virtuosic episode at a time.” Read the full review
Time
Jimmy McGovern’s latest primetime drama starred two acting heavyweights: Sean Bean and Stephen Graham. An uncompromisingly intense yet emotionally nuanced portrayal of life in prison, Time told the story of middle-class teacher Mark Hebden (Bean) who is sentenced to four years’ jail time. Guiding him through life inside is long-serving guard Eric Reid (Graham), whose family troubles soon spill into the workplace with disastrous consequences.
What we said: “The performances of Bean and Graham are, even though we have come to expect brilliance from them both, astonishing. So, too, are those from everyone in smaller roles, none of which is underwritten or sketchy, and who thicken the drama into something more profoundly moving and enraging at every turn. Time well spent.” Read the full review
Too Close
This thrilling ITV three-parter was a study in the tensions, trauma and guilt surrounding modern motherhood. Emily Watson was extraordinary as Emma, the forensic psychiatrist trying to determine whether arch manipulator Connie (the exceptional Denise Gough) – an inmate who tried hard to push her every button – should be imprisoned for the harm she did to hers and another’s children. An absolute nerve-shredder.
What we said: “Too Close feels like the most woman-centred, woman-driven mainstream production we’ve yet seen. That’s a bonus. Too Close is a fantastically compelling, brilliantly scripted whydunnit that is unquantifiably better than it needs to be.” Read the full review
Unforgotten
ITV’s cracking police drama is twisty at the best of times, not least in this fourth series, which saw Nicole Walker’s DCI Cassie Stuart and Sanjeev Bhaskar’s DI Sunny Khan plunged into a cold case laden with decades-old secrets, dodgy cops – and a “didn’t see that coming” ending. And, despite the 11th hour shock, a fifth series is on the cards.
What we said: “I love how the show’s creator, Chris Lang, captivatingly sketches the lives of four apparent strangers, challenging us to work out what they’ve got to do with the corpse. What might the Buxton family therapist, the flashy Southall businessman, the dodgy boss in Rochester, and the soon-to-be-married woman in Cambridge have in common?” Read the full review
WandaVision
Not many people would have predicted that Marvel’s first foray into TV would be quite as affecting as WandaVision. Starring Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff and Paul Bettany as her cyborg partner Vision, the show played out as a slow-burning examination of Wanda’s grief, as told through US sitcom tropes.
What we said: “The parodies are fantastic fun, the jokes are great, the performances (especially from Olsen and Bettany, whose chemistry is a joy in itself) are wonderful, and it has the glorious air of something shaped by people who know exactly what they’re doing.” Read the full review
We Are Lady Parts
Nida Manzoor’s comedy about a female Muslim punk band was a riotous achievement, mixing singalong rock anthems (who could forget Bashir with the Good Beard) with a culture-clash story that was both tender and ludicrous amounts of fun.
What we said: “We have not seen anything like this on mainstream British TV: a comedy in which Muslim women are permitted to be funny, sexual, ridiculous, religious, angry, conflicted. Themselves, basically … ” Read the full review
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