Halfway through the year seems to be as good a time as any to do a what’s worth watching list of the best TV shows (loads and loads) and movies (not very many) from the first six months of 2024.
Here – in no particular order – are my faves:
ENG LANG DRAMAS
Boy Swallows Universe (NF)
Ripley (NF)
Baby Reindeer (NF)
Responder S2 (BBC)
Blue Lights S2 (BBC)
Sympathizer (Sky)
Inside No 9 (BBC)
FOREIGN LANGUAGE DRAMAS
The 8 Show (Korean – NF)
Who Killed Him? (Mexican Am P)
Prisoner (Danish BBC)
Totems (Am Prime – an oldie but well worth watching)
DOCUMENTARIES
The Miners Strike (C4 and BBC)
Rise and Fall of Boris J (C4)
COMEDIES
None I can think of. Suggestions/recommendations are welcome
My favourite TV shows this year:
A Gentleman In Moscow (Disney +)
Ripley (Netflix)
Drops Of God (Apple TV)
The Gentlemen (Netflix)
Coma (C5)
Criminal Record (Apple TV)
Breathtaking (ITV)
Mr Bates vs The Post Office (ITV)
The Gentlemen and Mr Bates vs The Post Office – 2 that are high on my recommended list
Loses house job and savings … goes and buys loveliest house in the world … go figure
Don’t watch much TV these days, EastEnders has been pretty good. I did watch Ripley, thought it was poor overall
The Putin vs Greenpeace documentary on BBC is worth a watch. The six short episodes are quite gripping and capture a very interesting time in recent Russian history, when Putin began to turn away from the west and reveal his more malign side. Greenpeace was breathtakingly naive, as they admit.
(There was also a fascinating twist in the tale at the very end involving the former Gazprom official.)
I’ve not had chance to watch much TV over the past few months and have a huge backlog of stuff. That said I made sure I made the time for Inside No. 9, which was superb.
Staring to clear the backlog, I’m 8 episodes (out of 10) into the second season of Tokyo Vice, which seems to be one of those shows that has slipped under the radar. I’m really enjoying it.
TV is on my list when theEuros eases off. Great year for Telly imho
Tokyo Vice is great. Very much a cut above standard police thrillers. Gangsters at war, westerners struggling to get with the local culture. Based on a true life memoir.
S1 of TV was very good. May need to watch some kind of recap as been ages since I saw it
If you like Blue Lights, the Beeb is apparently now running an earlier – apparently also very good – cop show called The Cops
I’ve only just discovered the first series, and I’m hooked. Taking a break half way through the last episode. Very pleased to see there’s a second series waiting down at the Eel Market.
Plus points: acting, cinematography, location, pacing, and total absence of modish affectations (underlighting, fuzzy sound, hand-held camera work, flashy effects/filters).
And an up for Presumed Innocent, which is nicely gripping in spite of some of the faults listed above, Not a fan of Jake Gyllenhaal which rather spoils the jeopardy angle, as I don’t much care if he’s found guilty and fries. I can’t remember the movie, so no spoilers please!
Assuming you are talking about Tokyo Vice, you are lucky you have the second series ready to go – I had to wait almost 2 years after the cliffhanger ending of series one.
There’s a cliffhanger ending??? Yikes. I don’t consider that a spoiler.
What I appreciate about the first series is that the main protagonists are not “likeable”. Ansel Egort is a real brat, for all his floppy-haired charm, and Rachel Keller every bit his equal in strength of character. They’re both self-centred, ruthless, fearless, and completely believable.
Well maybe not a cliffhanger, but many unresolved storylines.
Agree on the characters being unlikeable and believable.
The Outlaws (Series 3). Missing Christopher Walken (apart from a fleeting appearance), but still good watching
Walken literally phones it in.
Yes, really enjoyed this. I think that it’s probably run its course, but the finale, with a very clever theft/break-in, was very funny and very well done.
In no particular order ….
After the Flood
Mr Bates
Nolly
One Day
Behind Her Eyes
Griselda
Under the Banner of Heaven
Things You Should Do
Baby Reindeer
The Dry
Blue Lights
The Responder
The absolute standouts though are Under the Banner of Heaven, Baby Reindeer and The Dry. Three very different series that are just utterly compulsive.
Under The Banner of Heaven was superb. The most tense TV I’ve seen in a long while
As my memory is not what it was, I find it hard to recall a lot of shows that I’ve really enjoyed this year, but here are two that have stuck in the mind.
First, as mentioned above, Mr Bates. One of the only series that has ever made me truly angry. I had read of the scandal of course, but seeing the victims’ stories brought to life so vividly (with this and The Detectorists, surely Toby Jones must be officially declared a National Treasure) made it all seem so much worse. And seeing years of coldness, intransigence, and vindictiveness by the Post Office crammed into a few hours of TV just magnified the awfulness of it. Bravo to all involved for a show that is having a genuine, life-changing impact.
Second, A Man in Full on Netflix. Jeff Daniels deserves a hatful of awrds for this Succession-ish story of a billionaire’s fight for survival. Come for the twists and turns as great characters (and character actors: hello, Bill Camp) do battle with each other. Stay for the scene at the end that might give your maiden aunt the vapours and possibly frighten the children and horses. Good heavens!
Forgot all about Mr Bates and Breathtaking. Both bound for end of
year Best Of lists
If you’re a fan of foreign language drama, you could do a lot worse
than check out Mexico’s Who Killed Him? (the true life story of the
still unsolved murder of a Mexican TV show host in 1999), and Korea’s
The 8 Show – a very funny and typically violent gameshow-set satire on
how capitalism works.
The best TV I’ve seen this year is James Bluemel’s 5-part documentary series “Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland”.
I see that it was first shown in the UK last year, so maybe it doesn’t count as a 2024 series.
But still: a staggering and very moving series of interviews.
A wonderful documentary, regardless of when released. If you’ve not seen it, please do rectify it soon.
Wonderful doc. Unforgettably chilling bit where the former UDF gunman gets a bit pissed off with the interviewer’s probing
Thirded.
This is TV at it’s very best. Chilling, informative & should be watched by all.
He is also behind Once Upon A Time in Iraq which was just as good & there is a new one in the pipeline called Once Upon A Time in Space
Superb everyone of a certain age should watch it
Nothing has come anywhere near A Gentleman in Moscow. Magical, completely addictive – like being in a dream.
A side-query.
Offspring the Elder has finished her finals and is dossing around her Halls watching telly and scouring the chazzas of Lincoln for bargains. She has paid for a month of ad-free NowTV, which comes with two extra devices, so I’ve installed it on the telly in my den. And Mrs F is going away on business again next week.
So, your recommendations please for things on NowTV. I’m 90% through the Sinéad O’Connor doc, and about to watch Dexys, ABC, and Simple Minds on Classic Albums Live.
Cricket?
@fentonsteve
Off the top of my head
Succession
Sympathizer
Anything of the Sky shows shown above or in the earlier best TV threads
Other thing to do is check the Sky site and see what they have listed under box sets
@Dai
Sports and Cinema are separate packages
I have a six year old at home so about the only TV I’ve seen this year is Bluey.
I’m perfectly fine with this. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out on a serious contender for the best kids TV show ever made.
I too have a 6 year old & love watching Bluey with him. It is sublime viewing & the episode Cricket is fully deserving of the lofty 9.7 rating on IMDB.
As you have stated, it is a serious contender for the title of best ever. If you have children/grandchildren & you have not yet had a watch then give it a go.
My favourite episodes are Cricket, Camping, Sleepytime, Bike, Takeaway, The Creek, Grandad……. I could go on for some time!
Grandad & Cricket make me sob, they are beautiful pieces of TV
Sleepytime is one of my favourites, although I suspect they had an eye on the awards shows when they were making it. The show is, of course, aimed at both kids and parents. One of the things I like about it is that it puts across a message to the latter that bringing up small kids is demanding and tiring, and that you should enjoy every minute because they grow up so fast.
Couple of goodies on Apple I forgot
Sugar
Criminal Record
Sugar? Is that the one loosely based on a short-lived sock puppet, that so enlivened the occupants of an ageing interweb community, having their faded fancies believe that a woman of spice and colour might be so moved to enter their community.
Sugah!
Quirky PI series starring Colin Farrell
I gave this a nod here a while back, then forgot about it. Is it worth pursuing to the end?
I enjoyed it, but depends how tolerant you are of sudden and slightly whimsical genre left-turns
As hedgepig says below there is a sudden plot turn that sets up some intriguing possibilities for S2
Presumed Innocent? I can’t be the only one watching it, shirley?
Got mixed reviews.
So much good stuff on at the moment that I tend to give shows
I’m not sure about one ep.
Any fans of AP’s The Boys here? Watched the first four eps of Season 4
And it is still as blackly satiric and gory as ever
I’m not bothered by reviews. I have my own thresholds of tolerance, and I’m relatively easily entertained. I think sometimes we expect too much of TV, because we’ve been spoiled by masterpieces. In the eternal absence of a second season of Severance, I’m happy with beach paperback TV, and Presumed Innocent is soaked in suntan oil. Takes about two episodes to get into, though.
In no order but enjoyed all
The Curse
3 Body Problem
Fall of The House of Usher
Dark Matter
The Boys S04 (so far)
Fallout
Boy Swallows Universe
Baby Reindeer
I’d forgotten about The Fall of House of Usher. That was great fun – solid acting, nice twists and turns, and some ingenious adaptations/reworkings of Poe’s ideas. Neat ending too.
Totally silly/stupid but “Murder, They Hope” with Johnny Vegas and Sian Gibson as a couple of totally incompetent would-be private eyes is a good easy laugh.