A very close second to last season’s brilliance – this saw the lateral-stylings of Jon Robins, the carefree madness of Joanne McNally, the timid & good-natured earnestness of a Dracula-costumed Nick Mohamed, the borderline incomprehensible logical leaps of Sophie Willan,
MasterChef 2024
The bespectacled ogre and his scrotum-faced keeper drag another batch of hopefuls through the repetitive competitive kitchen-based challenge, this year spicing things up by bringing back a busload of near-misses from last season. Was that for variety, or because there
Deadloch
Every now & again a show comes up out of nowhere and takes you places you never expected – and this crime/comedy centred around a serial killer in a Tasmanian lesbian haven town absolutely kept us guessing. Gloriously rough, and
A Man in Full
Was definitely expecting a bit more out of this David E Kelley limited series – really felt like they took what I later learned to be a Tom Wolfe story and crammed it into the few episodes they had budget
Baby Reindeer
Terrifying, really. And a bit of a twofer, because being one of the most watched things on Netflix this year we also get the parallel drama of people tracking down the players in this true story. Worth a look, but
For All Mankind – Seasons 1-4
Started as a fairly promising sci-fi/alternative timeline show, although as Season 1 progressed it was clearly light sci-fi with a more obvious drama predilection. I enjoyed the progressive timeline of the show and the reincorporation of the characters as they
Ted Lasso
What a piece. This started off as a straight sitcom about a fish-out-of-water soccer coach brought in to close the team down as a revenge ploy by a spurned ex-wife… but by god did it transform into something different. The
Griselda
Sofia Vergara’s Spanish-language piece about drug queenpin Griselda Blanco. I’m not 100% sure why the prosthetics were necessary, but other than constant background distraction this was a pretty intense bit of escapism. I think I wanted to shout at the
Great British Menu 2024
The great marathon of high-end culinary art returns – proving once again that the standard of cooking in some parts of the country is far, far higher than others. Although that dubious regionality still shines through. This year’s crop were
Criminal Record
Decent police drama about a wrongful murder conviction, with some thoroughly disagreeable arse-covering cops, some beautifully rich flawed characters, and nailbiting intensity. Peter Capaldi always seems to be about 40% more intense than other actors, although some of that’s GOT