Looking back on the year in television is a confusing exercise. Was Baby Reindeer really this year? How could Boy Swallows Universe be nearly a year old when it already feels like a classic? Why have I still not watched Agatha All Along? And how come none of our critics picked Shogun in their top five (don’t worry, I fixed that in our best TV moments of the year list)? What our critics have done, though, is watch a lot of TV. You might not always agree with their top five picks, but hopefully they have given you something to think about and then add to your summer holiday binge list. Louise Rugendyke, TV Editor

MICHAEL IDATO’S TOP FIVE PICKS

Hacks – You know your TV viewing game is next level when you’re not just deep diving the hits, but you are pinpointing their strongest season. The general consensus runs something like this: Game of Thrones season four, The Good Wife season five, The Wire season four and Wentworth season two. With season three, Hacks, the multi-award-winning American comedy that turned Jean Smart from comedy perennial to American television legend, delivered its boldest, sharpest and most universe-shaking season yet, confirming it is the apex predator of its genre. Stan*

Agatha All Along – Who has been making the best TV show on TV all year? It was Agatha, all along. An unlikely spin-off to an unlikely hit, this series began with Wandavision, which retooled the superhero genre into an homage to American sitcoms, and then, in its final episode, delivered a global-gasp-generating twist in which Agatha was revealed as the show’s actual villain. Or was she? Agatha All Along twists the tale even further, sending Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) and a band of witches along the road to redemption. Or was it all another sinister game? The clue’s in the title, kids. Disney+

The Diplomat – When the first season of The Diplomat landed, its fish-out-of-water story about hotspot specialist diplomatic Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) being parachuted into the posey post of US ambassador to the UK read like equal parts The West Wing and Emily in Paris. The second season took a hot second to land, largely because the first was such an unexpected smash hit, but it took its game to the next level, turning the series into one of the most taut political thrillers of the past two decades. It may have a cute layer of polish, but The Diplomat is all hard grit. Netflix

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story – Though the true crime genre has periodically sent a ripple through the justice establishment, few true crime dramas hit like this one. Writer/producer Ryan Murphy and longtime collaborator Ian Brennan tackle the 1989 murders of José (Javier Bardem) and Kitty Menendez (Chloë Sevigny) at the hands of their sons Lyle (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) and Erik (Cooper Koch), as a multi-perspective thriller. But the media attention on the drama pushed the case back into the spotlight, and the brothers’ most recent appeals process has gone all the way to the California governor’s door. Netflix

The Penguin – Like the Joker sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, the new television adaptation of The Penguin was almost a cautionary tale of why we can’t have nice things. For the past decade, Marvel has dominated the superhero genre while DC Comics, to which Penguin belongs, has been a bit of a problem child. But like the big-screen Joker sequel, The Penguin was a TV adaptation of the Batman villain that reimagined him as more Tony Soprano than Oswald Cobblepot. Gone were the cigarette filter and haw-haw-haw laughter, and in its place the kind of ambitious storytelling that is rare for TV, and rarer still for the superhero genre. Binge

Read our five-star review of Hacks’ third season; how Australia nabbed a (small) starring role in The Diplomat; and if true-crime TV is the new road to justice.

CRAIG MATHIESON’S TOP FIVE PICKS

English Teacher – My only complaint about the best new comedy of 2024 was that the debut season of Brian Jordan Alvarez’s haywire high school series was over too soon. Eight episodes, each about 22 minutes in length, was an excellent introduction that left you wanting more. Set in a public high school in a progressive corner of Texas, English Teacher was laugh-out-loud funny and deeply insightful from go to whoa. A gay teacher whose bursts of idealism don’t preclude screw-loose schemes, Alvarez’s Evan Marquez navigates idiosyncratic colleagues, conservative parents, and – best of all – a diverse student body that consistently bucks cliches. Disney+

Fake – Please add Anya Beyersdorf to the list of creatives whose name atop a show means you must pay attention. She adapted journalist Stephanie Wood’s 2019 memoir Fake into a compelling study of vicious deception, wounding self-delusion, and tragic risk; this was the best Australian drama in years. The concept was car crash contemporary – magazine writer Birdie Bell (Asher Keddie) ventures onto the dating apps and is romanced by grazier Joe Burt (David Wenham), who exults and exhausts her – but at every turn Fake dug deeper into the characters and the underlying themes. It was a scalpel-sharp dissection. Paramount+

Matlock – It’s two great shows for the price of one. Locked into the 43-minute format of the American network procedural, this legal drama is a concise case of the week, where septuagenarian lawyer Madeline Matlock (an impeccable Kathy Bates) uses common sense, experience, and empathy to help clear cases for the prestigious New York firm where she finagled a junior position. Her high-powered bosses are doubtful, her twenty-something colleagues bewildered. But after the first episode’s finale you’re also in on an ongoing covert thriller that completely changes the stakes. The cases are twisty, the humour astute, and the sentimentality well-earned. It’s the ideal change of pace to prestige TV. 10play/Paramount+

Ripley – Exquisite can be a shallow compliment for a television show, a nod to technical excellence as a veneer. But in Steven Zaillian’s magisterial psychological thriller about a 1960s American conman whose ambition becomes bloody after he relocates to Italy, it’s an all-encompassing concept. Robert Elswit’s black and white cinematography is menacingly exquisite, Andrew Scott’s coolly calculating performance in the title role is exquisitely subtle, the barbed social interaction and suppressed desire is exquisitely cruel, and the logistics of horrifying crimes are exquisitely intimate. Few shows have ever been so thrillingly complete, so shorn of excess, so genuinely exquisite. Netflix

Say Nothing – The best single shot on television this year comes late in this wrenching drama about The Troubles in Northern Ireland, when an unassuming middle-aged man walks past a giant mural celebrating his youthful commitment to the Irish Republican Army’s cause: his bloody youth as an insurgent has become a community symbol he no longer controls.

Of the many weapons in this drama, which is based on real-life events, including the disappearance of a single mother of 10 accused of being a British informer, none are ultimately stronger than regret and guilt. The young armed radicals can’t defeat the passing of time. Disney+

Read Stephanie Woods’ account of her book Fake being turned into a TV series; our comparison of the two Ripleys; and Craig Mathieson’s five-star review of Say Nothing.

KYLIE NORTHOVER’S TOP FIVE PICKS

Boy Swallows Universe – This much anticipated adaptation landed in January 2024 but remains, in my view, the best Australian series for the entire year. Sure, it got a bit silly in the later episodes (as did the book), and the casting of Anthony LaPaglia was a bit questionable, but this distinctly Australian coming-of-age story was set in a 1980s suburbia rarely depicted on screen, amazingly realised through some impeccable production design. And the acting, particularly that of Felix Cameron as the story’s protagonist, 12-year-old Eli Bell, was outstanding. The excellent cast also includes an unrecognisable Simon Baker as Eli’s loving but alcoholic dad Robert; Travis Fimmel as his heroin dealer stepfather Lyle; Phoebe Tonkin as his mum Frances; and Lee Tiger Halley as his older brother Gus. Author Trent Dalton was heavily involved in the series, which is perhaps why it was so lovingly faithful to the bestselling novel. Netflix

Somebody Somewhere – The third and final perfect season of this incredible series finished this week, and I am bereft there will be no more episodes of this unlikely hit. Based loosely on comedian cabaret singer Bridget Everett’s life, it follows Sam (Everett) who returns to her Kansas hometown to look after her dying sister, and her attempts to make a new life there. Sam befriends Joel (comedian Jeff Hiller), a gay Christian man, and it’s through him and his circle of LGBTQ+ friends that Sam, as cynical as it gets, begins to find a sense of belonging. All small moments and large character studies, Somebody Somewhere is one of the best American shows in years. Binge

One Day – I’m not much of a romcom fan, but this brilliant adaptation of David Nicholl’s bestselling 2009 novel was joyful, funny and heartbreaking - even for those who knew how it ended. Over 14 half-hour episodes, it follows Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) from their university graduation night in 1988 through to 2007 as they meet up every St Swithin’s Day. In the series, each episode features at least one of those years as their lives head in different directions. Perfect (and unexpected; a joy) casting of the leads made this love story even better than fans of the book could have hoped for, and the streaming format is perfect for Nicholls’ years-long love story. Netflix

After The Party – In arguably the best NZ series of the year, Robyn Malcolm (Upper Middle Bogan) plays a character not often seen on screen: a ballsy middle-aged woman who is brilliant and infuriating. Malcolm is schoolteacher Penny, who loses almost everything when she accuses her husband Phil (Peter Mullan) of a sex crime against one of their daughter’s teenage friends. Nobody believes her, and viewers will also find themselves doubting themselves as the series progresses. Malcolm is compelling in this gripping drama. ABC iview

The Serpent Queen – This fabulously camp retelling of the life of France’s Italian-born monarch Catherine de Medici is surely one of the most underrated series in the past few years. Samantha Morton is delicious as the so-called “serpent queen”, forced by circumstances to become a ruthless operator, in this cheeky historical drama in which there are a few liberties taken, including Morton frequently breaking the fourth wall. Brilliant. Stan*

Read why Trent Dalton had to leave the set of Boy Swallows Universe; Somebody Somewhere’s Jeff Hiller on the power of over-40s friendship; and why chemistry can make or break a romcom.

KARL QUINN’S TOP FIVE PICKS

Baby Reindeer – If the measure of a show’s success is in the amount of chatter it generates, then Richard Gadd’s autobiographical drama was the standout of the year. It packed a one-two punch with its tale of an aspiring stand-up comedian (Gadd) befriending and then being relentlessly stalked by a lonely former lawyer (the astonishing Jessica Gunning), and of his sexual abuse at the hands of a TV producer who promises to make him a star. But the kicker was offscreen, where Netflix’s insistence that everything in the series was true has led to a massive defamation suit that could yet see the series hog headlines for a good while yet. Netflix

Colin from Accounts – The delightful Aussie romcom, created by Harriet Dyer and starring and written by her real-life partner Patrick Brammall, is all about balancing light and dark. But in its second season, it leant into the heavier themes to superb effect. With our star-crossed and age-gapped lovers having moved in together, the gloss soon comes off. Toxic family dynamics, financial pressures, crossed wires and even death all do their bit to ensure the path of love doth not run smooth. The chemistry between the leads is terrific, the gags still plentiful, but it’s the truthfulness of the writing that really sets it apart. Binge

The Day of the Jackal – I gave this meticulously crafted thriller five stars when I reviewed it, on the basis of the first five episodes; had I seen all 10, I’d have been a little less generous. But despite being guilty of some unearned plot leaps in the back end, there’s still so much to enjoy in this contemporary update of Frederick Forsyth’s 1971 novel (which was filmed brilliantly in 1973, with Edward Fox as the Jackal). At the centre of everything is the cat-and-mouse game between Eddie Redmayne’s assassin (as much actor as killer, with his ability to assume multiple identities) and Lashana Lynch’s MI6 operative. I loved the slow build and focus on character, interspersed with periods of frenetic action. Propulsive and compulsive. Binge

Nobody Wants This – A romcom about shiksa goddess Joanne (Kristen Bell) falling for hot rabbi Noah (Adam Brody), this was one of the more unexpected delights of 2024. It worked because of the obvious chemistry between the leads, because of the excellent supporting cast (most notably Succession’s Justine Lupe as Joanne’s sister and fellow sexy-talk podcast host Morgan and Timothy Simons as Noah’s klutzy but sweet brother Sasha), and especially because of the lived experience of series creator Erin Foster, who based the story on her own cross-cultural romance. It rings true, and it rings hella funny, too. Netflix

Slow Horses – Garry Oldman is having such a ball in this spy thriller as Jackson Lamb, the dishevelled boss of an outlying and much-derided branch of MI5, that you can’t help but be dragged along in his farting, belching wake. Each season has been a little sillier than the last, with the interlocking plots, inter-agency rivalries, unlikely coincidences, and Lamb’s endless ability to pull an unlikely solution out of his filthy trench coat in the nick of time all pushing credibility to the limit. But with a brilliant supporting cast – including Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce and, in season four, Hugo Weaving – having almost as much fun, it hardly matters. Le Carre it is not, but laconic and wildly entertaining it most certainly is. Apple TV+

Hugo Weaving enters the Slow Horses universe; Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer on why Colin from Accounts is “not about our love”; and Kar Quinn’s five-star review of Day of the Jackal.

Do you agree (or disagree) with our critics’ picks? What was your favourite show of the year? We’d love to hear about it in the comments below.

*Stan is owned by Nine, publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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