1. Black Mirror
Episode 1: Be Right Back
By coincidence (or maybe not), Domhnall Gleeson has starred in my favourite film and TV show of 2013. Black Mirror is the best TV show I can remember. It completed it’s second three episode season this year, and every episode runs around in my mind.
It is essentially the Twilight Zone about technology. Every episode’s premise should be a feature film. This year’s three episodes opened with perhaps the best of the season, and starred Gleeson. Set in tomorrow, a man dies, leaving his pregnant wife behind in her rural life. In loneliness, she signs up for a program on the internet that transfers her husband’s social media into a chat program. Then they take his phone calls and makes a voice she can talk to. And it all goes wrong from there.
The other two episodes are equally thought provoking, disturbing, exciting and just all round amazing. Go see it before Robert Downey Jr turns them into films.
This trailer, though brilliant, only gives you a hint of the show.
2. Breaking Bad
Episode 14: Ozymandias
I was as caught up as the excitement for the final season of Breaking Bad as anyone. It didn’t disappoint. It may be overhyped, but the conclusion of Walter White’s tale was emotional and gut wrenching. With nothing left to lose, everything moved at an incredible pace, and everything was tied together. Not an easy task…they might be the only ones to do it so far.
3. Orange Is the New Black
Episode 1: I Wasn’t Ready
So everyone talks about House Of Cards (which was fantastic), but Orange Is the New Black was surely the better show. Probably the biggest and most diverse female cast in TV, beautifully played for human drama.
Based on a true story, our hero Piper is put in a woman’s prison and we meet are fascinating bunch of characters as she seeks her redemption. Not too dark, never too light, and that very human story of day-to-day survival.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nryWkAaWjKg
4. Doctor Who
50th Anniversary Special: The Day Of the Doctor
A good year to be Doctor Who fan. A new companion and the announcement of a new Doctor, mad some wonderful episodes at the start of the year. But it was the delights of the 50th anniversary, topped with the Day Of the Doctor. Seeing David Tennant return was a delight, but so was the whole episode, with writer Stephen Moffatt just writing fun. The year will end with Matt Smith leaving the show, and it will be another great year to be a Who fan.
5. Arrested Development
Episode 15: Blockheads.
I binged watched all 15 in one go, but it wasn’t until I rewatched them, one a week, that I really saw the genius. All the episodes are intertwined with in jokes, callbacks and call forwards that’s it’s only possible to love it on rewatching. By the time of the final episode ‘Blockheads’, many truths are revealed, and it’s even weirder and funnier than you think. Here’s to Season 5…
6. Broadchurch
Episode 8
The eight episodes of this maxi series felt like one long film. A murder mystery set in a small town, it was a prime whodunnit, and one of the most successful series ever by ITV. David Tennant led the large ensemble cast to find the killer of a little boy, and the series drew a big influence on those super-serious Danish police dramas.
The scene immediately before the big reveal in the final episode is one of the most wonderfully shot and tense scenes from television this year. There is a US remake coming, also starring Tennant, and a second season of the UK version. It’s tough to imagine how either one can top it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh-K3Za-Fyw
7. Futurama
Episode 26: Meanwhile
140 episodes later, Futurama was finally cancelled. It was one of the greatest shows ever, and I feel very deeply about it. It occasionally coughed up episodes of great science fiction, with beautiful touching stories. A solid, funny year episodes ended with possibly the greatest episode I’ve ever seen. It’s Fry and Leela’s wedding, and a strange time machine is involved. In the end, a perfect farewell.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rb_ef3pRqbI
8. 10 O’Clock Live
Episode 1
I say episode 1, but it could be any of the 8 episodes. A topical news show, sometimes dismissed as a UK Daily Show, it had some of the bitterest humour of the year. The three comics – Charlie Brooker (who also created my number one show Black Mirror), David Mitchell and Jimmy Carr took apart the news the way journalists just can’t seem to anymore. They asked the hard questions and made me laugh.
A generation of British kids will be smarter, and see the team behind this show as their Monty Python. Important, important television.
9. Brooklyn Nine Nine
Episode 1: Pilot
The surprise of the year. With 30 Rock and the Office gone, a good 30 minute comedy was definitely missing (I hate that canned laughter stuff). Brooklyn Nine Nine was there to fill the void, with each episode from the pilot getting better and better. The characters are great, with the same biting humour of 30 Rock and Scrubs. Best new comedy.
10. The IT Crowd
Special: The Internet Is Coming
A special final episode of the IT Crowd to wrap it up three years after the last episode after Chris O’Dowd became a superstar. It was great as the classic episodes, if not more so, as classic moments are revisted. It felt like no time has past, and it was bittersweet to say goodbye to the show.