Photograph: Michele K Short/Netflix 37 Barry View image in fullscreen Mesmerising … Jonah Hill and Emma Stone in Maniac. (Channel 4) Confidently scripted by Jack Thorne and boasting a heavyweight central performance by Sarah Lancashire, the four-part drama about a social worker caught in a media storm was calmly furious and deeply insightful. When it finally arrived, the release of all that tension was one of the year’s most exquisitely affecting TV moments. (BBC Two) Such a fine, brittle sitcom, with such a delicate, halting romance in the middle between Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan. (BBC One) Jenna Coleman as we’d never seen her before: a simmering well of sadness and anger, as the initially powerless young mum in a pitiless missing-baby thriller that was narratively always three steps ahead of us. Her interactions with real experts were intolerably funny. (BBC Two) Spoof presenter Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) cranked up her malapropistic shredding of pompous factual TV with a sweeping, ambitious and totally stupid history of the UK. (HBO/Sky Atlantic) Issa Rae’s dramedy couldn’t just remain as a document of aimless late-20s Angelenos for ever and this year, as its protagonists settled into their 30s, the show itself changed, grew, tried new things and came out stronger. View image in fullscreen Composite: Lee Smith/Reuters Joel Anderson/ITV 29 Insecure It’s undeniable ace was Amy Adams, hauntingly measured and utterly unafraid to burrow deep under the skin of her indefinable character. (HBO/Sky Atlantic) Prioritising mood and thematic texture over narrative, the eight-part drama was a confounding, fascinating and artistically satisfying experience. But his most impressive feat was arguably following up Atlanta, his surreal examination of African American life, with a second series (subtitled Robbin’ Season) as ambitious and odd as the first. Then he produced the most talked about music video in years for his song This Is America. That was after he announced his departure from the animated Deadpool series by releasing a satirical script mocking Hollywood’s tone-deaf tendencies on race. He starred as Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Photograph: Des Willie/BBC/Forgiving Earth 9 Atlanta View image in fullscreen Magnificent … Michaela Coel in Black Earth Rising. The alchemy of the setup – from the whip-smart script to its authentic production – suggests that there are plenty of enjoyable telly-watching hours to be had in Derry yet. For all its the humour, there is also a gravitas missing from other nostalgic teen comedies. (Channel 4) Its universality was just part of why it became Channel 4’s largest comedy launch in five years. This was prestige TV’s answer to a night-time soap such as Dynasty, Dallas or Empire, full of twists and turns, showdowns and power grabs. For all its insights about the 1%, Succession wasn’t made to be studied, it was made to be gorged in one sitting. (HBO/Sky Atlantic) Jesse Armstrong’s comedy-drama quickly became the year’s most deliciously guilty pleasure, an engrossing prestige TV melodrama of squabbling and secrecy that doubled as a canny critique of bloated end-times capitalism, and was arguably the year’s funniest show to boot. Photograph: Ollie Upton/Showtime 5 Succession View image in fullscreen Remarkable … Patrick Melrose. At the heart of all this was a career-best performance by Benedict Cumberbatch, who tweaked his jittery Sherlock persona, replacing brittle neurosis with a despairing wildness.
It was a case study in the corrupting nature of privilege and a demonstration of how Britain’s upper classes nurture myths to obscure difficult truths.
(Sky Atlantic/Showtime) As well as being a remarkable study of addiction, Patrick Melrose was full of wider resonances.
Yet the water cooler-hit of the decade was also a surprisingly thoughtful show. For a few weeks this autumn the six-part series from Jed Mercurio, the king of the out-of-nowhere twist, dominated conversation to such an extent that no other programme stood a chance. (BBC One) The BBC’s biggest ratings hit in a decade was that rarest of things: a pure adrenaline jolt of entertainment. Photograph: Sophie Mutevelian/AP 3 Bodyguard View image in fullscreen Anarchic … Ben Whishaw, left, and Hugh Grant in A Very English Scandal.