The Emerging Artist and I watch far too much television. A lot of it is very good. To make a list of ‘best’ we had to struggle to extract specific shows from the blur. I’m not sure we agreed completely so here is my list compiled in consultation though not always complete agreement with the Emerging Artist. There are 23 titles in fairly shaky categories.
Reminiscence
Judge John Deed (G F Newman 2002–2007) was a new discovery for us which we loved mainly for Martin Shaw’s wonderful screen presence as a nonconformist judge. We binged on Northern Exposure (Joshua Brand and John Falsey 1990–1995), which held up surprisingly well. And our comfort binge was Rake, Season 1–5 (Peter Duncan, Richard Roxburgh and Charles Waterstreet 2010–2018), which probably couldn’t be made now but is fabulous.
Police
Soooo much crime. So many crime series are really about watching the face of the main detective as she (these days it’s very often a woman) does her detecting. From a huge field, we’ve selected these:
- Blue Lights, season 3 (Declan Lawn & Adam Patterson) continues to follow the lives of a group of recruits to the Belfast Gardaí. Among other faces there’s that of Katherine Devlin
- Dept. Q (from novels of Jusii Adler-Olsen 2025) transposes a Nordic crime series to Scotland. The face belongs to a bearded Matthew Goode.
- Get Millie Black (Marlon James 2024), created by Jamaican novelist Marlon James, writes back to shows like Death in Paradise . The face is Tamara Lawrance’s.
- Karen Pirie, series 1 & 2 (Emer Kenny 2022, 2025) is another Scottish procedural. The face is Lauren Lyle’s.
- Trigger Point, Series 3 (Daniel Brierly 2025) is a bomb disposal unit in London, with Vicky McClure as the main face
Comedy
- Nobody Wants This, season 2 (Erin Foster 2025), a romcom in which a Christian heritage woman and a rabbi negotiate their relationship.
- The Studio (Seth Rogan 2025): inside Hollywood
- Iris (Doria Tillier 2024): a comedy of manners featuring socially awkward truth-teller
- The Rehearsal, season 1 & 2 (Nathan Fielder 2025): sometimes unsettling show about a man who helps people rehearse for stressful events in their lives
- Étoile (Daniel Palladino & Amy Sherman-Palladino 2025): French and a New York ballet companies swap key talents
- The Change, season 2 (Bridget Christie 2025): A post-menopausal woman sets out on a journey of self discovery in the English woods where she gets entangled with a deeply weird community
Drama
- The Diplomat, season 3 (Debora Cahn 2025): what looks increasingly like fantasy in the age of Trump, a woman with bad hair (Keri Russell) is a brilliant diplomat
- The Shift / Dag & Nat, Season 2 (Lone Scherfig 2024): a Danish obstetrics unit under pressure day and night
- Sherwood, season 2 (James Graham 2024): a community where the wounds from the miners’ strike under Thatcher still sting
- The Hack (Jack Thorne 2025): David Tennant with bad hair as an investigative journalist versus the Murdoch empire
- Paradise (Dan Fogelman 2025): this starts out as a murder mystery and develops into a dystopian fantasy
- Down Cemetery Road (Morwenna Banks 2025): Emma Thompson, also with bad hair!
Documentary series
We didn’t watch many documentary series this year, but the five-episode Mr. Scorsese, directed by Rebecca Miller was excellent. Lots of clips and wonderful interviews with family, friends, actors and other directors.
My nominations for Year’s Best
- Adolescence (Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham 2025). Brilliant brilliant brilliant!
- Slow Horses Season 5 (Will Smith and others, from books by Mick Herron 2025): Five seasons in, this is still funny and gripping and leaves me wanting more. You come away thinking you could smell Gary Oldman.
Thank you for reading this far. Please add your own favourites in the comments.
Me fail? I fly! 