#SUN TV NEW YEAR PROGRAMS 2019 TV#
(BBC One) When it was announced that Alan Partridge was to make his return to TV in early 2019 as co-host of a chat show, the big question was: would his incontinent crassness stand out in a media landscape that contained actual buffoons such as Piers Morgan? The answer was a resounding yes. But do persist: there is such a fine, idiosyncratic, impressive show nested within. What we said: Russian Doll is an acquired taste. (Netflix) Wisecracking New Yorker Nadia Vulvokov (Natasha Lyonne) finds herself caught in a traumatic Groundhog Day-style loop in this eight-episode dramedy, which – despite landing out of nowhere back in February – proved to be one of the funniest, saddest and trippiest shows of the year.
It’s about who gets to have their story heard, who is allowed to be believed. What we said: Unbelievable isn’t a programme about whether a vulnerable teen was telling the truth. This was the buddy cop duo that the #MeToo generation deserved. This autumn, over eight precisely constructed episodes, Unbelievable dramatised this process more powerfully than ever before. There’s the assault itself and then the systematic way in which victims are dismissed and disbelieved by the criminal justice system.
(Netflix) The trauma of sexual assault is often twofold. What we said: In its last throes, The Virtues distilled itself down to drama in one of its purest forms: whether humans have something deep within that will save them when they face the source of all their pain, with the lure of the self-destruct button stronger than ever. A drama that began as a desperate trawl through the anguish of Graham’s Joseph – a lonely alcoholic, spun off the rails by the departure of his son to Australia – evolved into a moving depiction of everyday heroism. Graham’s qualities as an actor – unflinching emotional honesty, the ability to convey an infinity of turmoil in a single facial expression – coincide perfectly with Meadows’ journeys into despair and redemption. (Channel 4) It has been said that Stephen Graham is Shane Meadows’ muse. 5 The VirtuesĮveryday heroism … Stephen Graham in The Virtues. We do not deserve Davies, but thank God he’s here.
#SUN TV NEW YEAR PROGRAMS 2019 SERIES#
What we said: For a series that compresses 15 years into six hours, it seems to pass in the blink of an eye thanks to Russell T Davies’s trademark humour, compassion and the kinetic energy with which he infuses every project. That’s right: impending nuclear armageddon was merely an aperitif when it came to the terror and devastation the Lyons family were to face in Russell T Davies’s breathtakingly ambitious six-part dystopian drama. (BBC One) In the first episode of Years and Years, a family shindig was interrupted by the whine of air raid sirens and the news that Donald Trump had fired a nuclear missile at the Chinese – a moment of hysteria-inducing horror that doubled as the show’s starter pistol. What we said: Director Johan Renck and screenwriter Craig Mazin will be remembered for crafting a remarkably cogent and multivalent drama, one aided by impeccable performances. But it also made universal observations, painfully resonant in the UK or US in 2019, about how institutions and hierarchies turn people into liars who, in extreme circumstances, lose their basic humanity. (HBO/Sky) On the most basic level, Chernobyl was one of the best true-story miniseries ever made, capitalising on the curious fact that most people know hardly anything about the meltdown of a nuclear reactor in Pripyat, Ukraine in April 1986, despite the incident’s global infamy. The best true-story miniseries ever made. What we said: This series raised the bar so utterly that, at times, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s risks and progression were so impressive all one could do was shake one’s head in appreciation. Or to give him the title by which he instantly came to be known: Hot Priest. But this was appropriate enough, given the figure who supplied most of the fuel for our second journey into Fleabag’s world – Andrew Scott’s Priest. (BBC iPlayer) That the second series of Fleabag successfully and satisfyingly deepened, enriched and furthered the first, which had been designed and stood as a perfectly worked standalone series, is a near-divine miracle. What we said: The writing is so creatively foul that it fills the gap left by its sibling in crudeness, Veep half the fun is waiting to see what the interminably vile Roman will sneer about next. A veritable powerhouse, Succession contained all the things that had once drawn us to Westeros: power, wealth, loyalty and sheer nastiness.
That show was Succession, Jesse Armstrong’s dizzyingly seductive drama about a billionaire media family, which became a runaway hit with its second series. (HBO/Sky) 2019 was the year HBO threw millions upon millions of dollars at the final season of Game of Thrones, only to have another of its shows blow it out of the water entirely.