Can British TV dilatory down for a second? This twelvemonth has already been a monster of a twelvemonth for must-see bid retired of the UK, and we're lone halfway done.
From the spectacular instrumentality of Doctor Who to the astir talked-about amusem*nt of the year, not 1 but 2 superb comedies astir 18th-century outlaws, a bid that makes america outcry inactive reasoning astir it, the steamy instrumentality to the Ton, and the triumphant 2nd section of our favourite all-women Muslim punk band, 2024's TV offerings person been apical tier.
Here's the 15 champion British TV shows of 2024 (so far) and wherever you tin ticker them, some wrong the UK and extracurricular it.
15. Trying, Season 4
Esther Smith and Rafe Spall instrumentality for different delightful play of "Trying." Credit: Apple TV+
Andy Wolton's uplifting bid Trying returned for a 4th season, digging into immoderate deeper themes astir decease and individuality each portion keeping america afloat with comedy. A heartfelt travel done the trials and tribulations of starting a family, Trying has agelong been 1 of Apple TV+'s underrated gems. This season, eternal optimist Nikki and deadpan delight Jason (Esther Smith and Rafe Spall) assistance their kids navigate large questions astir family, including question marks astir Princess' commencement mother. Episode 2, entailing an old-fashioned day with Jim Broadbent arsenic George, is simply a play highlight. — Shannon Connellan, UK Editor
How to watch: Trying Season 4 is present streaming connected Apple TV+.
14. The Outlaws, Season 3
They're baaaack. Credit: BBC / Big Talk
Stephen Merchant and Elgin James' sharply scripted and hilariously performed drama bid The Outlaws returned for a 3rd circular this year, and it's arsenic caller arsenic the time it began its mandated assemblage service. The bid follows a radical of random miscreants successful Bristol charged with payback work who've ended up an improbable and steadfast modern-day heist crew. Though they've done immoderate things they're not truthful arrogant of, the unit person bonded implicit the past fewer seasons with immoderate harebrained schemes, large operations, and moving moments of friendship. In Season 3? There's a dormant body, caller careers, higher stakes, and the wondrous summation of Richard E. Grant. Wait, did we accidental dormant body? — S.C.
How to watch: The Outlaws Season 3 is streaming connected BBC iPlayer successful the UK and Prime Video successful the U.S.
13. The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin
Hugh Bonneville and Noel Fielding successful "The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin." Credit: Apple TV+
One of 2 tales of road robbery successful 18th-century England this year, The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is arsenic silly and amusive arsenic its lengthy sanction suggests. Based connected the exploits of Essex brigand Dick Turpin (Noel Fielding successful afloat Vince Noir mode), the bid seizes connected the information that Turpin's beingness was wildly romanticised aft his decease astatine 33 (by hanging, for equine theft) — past amps it up to 11. Rolling astir the woods with his Essex Gang of misfits, Turpin takes connected a peril of the week successful Monty Python meets Our Flag Means Death meets The Mighty Boosh fashion. Throw successful immoderate cameos from Britain's biggest comedians, with standout appearances by Tamsin Greig, Greg Davies, and Sex Education's Connor Swindells, and you've got a surreal, satisfying, history-adjacent escapade connected your hands. — S.C.
How to watch: The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin is present streaming connected Apple TV+.
12. Renegade Nell
Louisa Harland successful "Renegade Nell." Credit: Robert Viglasky / Disney
Proving that you tin ne'er person excessively galore highwaymen connected screen, the delightful Renegade Nell continues the inclination acceptable by The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin.
Created by Happy Valley's Sally Wainwright and starring Derry Girls' Louisa Harland, Renegade Nell delivers a caller heroine to basal for successful Nell Jackson (Harland). Framed for execution by nobles, Nell and her sisters find themselves caught up successful a beingness of crime, with each of 18th-century England fearing Nell arsenic a notorious road robber. Expect stunts to dice for, humanities adventure, and magic, courtesy of Nell's guardian tone Billy Bly (Ted Lasso's Nick Mohammed). Plus, Harland cements her prima presumption with a show that is arsenic charming arsenic it is badass. — Belen Edwards, Entertainment Reporter
How to watch: Renegade Nell is present streaming connected Disney+.
11. Big Mood
Lydia West and Nicola Coughlan sound it retired of the parkland successful "Big Mood." Credit: Channel 4
It's officially the twelvemonth of Nicola Coughlan, with some Bridgerton and Big Mood making this best-of list. The second sees Coughlan successful a superb pairing with It's a Sin prima Lydia West arsenic 2 champion friends successful Londo who are navigating their thirties and each the societal unit that comes with it. Written by playwright Camilla Whitehill and directed by Rebecca Asher (Dead to Me, Grace and Frankie) Big Mood is simply a funny, moving, and superbly acted exploration of intelligence wellness and friendship, specifically done bipolar upset and unprocessed grief. If you liked This Way Up, you mightiness similar Big Mood. — S.C.
How to watch: Big Mood is present streaming connected All4 successful the UK and Tubi successful the U.S.
10. Queenie
Dionne Brown arsenic Queenie Jenkins successful "Queenie." Credit: Lionsgate / Latoya Okuneye
Candice Carty-Williams' incredibly fashionable and critically lauded caller Queenie came to TV this year, produced by Channel 4 and launched connected Hulu successful the U.S. with Disney's Onyx Collective. Dionne Brown is sublime arsenic the titular protagonist Queenie Jenkins, a 25-year-old Jamaican British pistillate who's putting 1 ft successful beforehand of the different aft a large breakup. Set successful London, the bid sees Queenie attempting to determination connected with her beingness done casual hookups portion processing unresolved trauma and uncovering her mode to self-love.
As Liv Facey wrote for Mashable, "Queenie is simply a realistic practice of a young pistillate conscionable trying to fig things out. She makes viewers question however antithetic from her we truly are. Yes, she is simply a messiness and tin beryllium annoying, but she’s besides smart, funny, and each the things successful between, and isn't that thing we tin each be?
"Queeniestresses the value ofportraying Black women successful their implicit complexity, including their messy sides. The bid reminds america that we request much characters likeher,whom we are forced to look astatine with nuanceand link connected a deeper level — adjacent if that comes with discomfort." — S.C.
How to watch: Queenie is present streaming connected All4 successful the UK and Hulu successful the U.S.
9. The Responder, Season 2
Martin Freeman and Adelayo Adedayo are exceptional successful "The Responder." Credit: BBC / Dancing Ledge
One of the champion shows of 2022, Tony Schumacher's tense, gritty constabulary play The Responder yet returned for a 2nd season, bringing with it 2 of the champion performances connected TV this year. Martin Freeman continues his exceptional tally arsenic corner-cutting Liverpool bull Chris Carson, alongside superb Supacell prima Adelayo Adedayo arsenic his effect squad spouse Rachel Hargreaves. As successful the archetypal season, Season 2 is simply a marathon of gray-area choices, with close and incorrect thrown successful the bin arsenic the characters simply effort to support their heads supra water. If you privation to ticker actors astatine the apical of their crippled wrong a compelling play that rattles the constabulary procedural, this is it. — S.C.
How to watch: The Responder is streaming connected BBC iPlayer successful the UK. Season 1 is streaming connected Prime Video successful the U.S., with Season 2 coming soon.
8. Bridgerton, Season 3
Luke Newton and Nicola Coughlan successful "Bridgerton." Credit: Liam Daniel / Netflix
First determination was Daphne and the Duke. Then came Kate and Anthony and Queen Charlotte and George III. Now, with Season 3, Shondaland's beloved adaptation of Julia Quinn's romance novels brings america Penelope and Colin's emotion story, the slowest-burn romance yet — she's been burning for him since Season 1! It took traveling astir the satellite for Colin Bridgerton to get a glow-up and recognize what a large miss helium had backmost home. Thankfully by the extremity of portion one, helium showed her his deep, probing affection successful a carriage country that near fans blistery and bothered.
Part 2 throws these lovers into each other's arms and caller drama. And we're present for each moment, due to the fact that Nicola Coughlan is our queen. Sure, there's different plotlines this season, immoderate spicy, immoderate bewildering, and 1 involving a vegetarian who deserves better! But it's Coughlan and her grace, her comedic timing, and her swoon-inducing charms that has made Bridgerton Season 3 among Netflix's precise champion successful 2024.* — Kristy Puchko, Film Editor
How to watch: Bridgerton Season 3 is present streaming connected Netflix.
7. Mary and George
Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine successful "Mary & George." Credit: Starz
Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine strategy and seduce their mode to the apical successful Mary and George, a play play each astir the heady pursuit of power.
Moore plays Mary Villiers, a countess successful Jacobean England who pushes her lad George (Galitzine) to beryllium King James VI and I's (Tony Curran) caller lover. Rival suitors and governmental opponents person it retired for the Villiers family, and portion George claims his feelings for James are real, there's nary uncertainty helium and his parent are utilizing the fragile king for their ain gain. As Mary and George's power continues to grow, the bid weaves an intoxicating web of sex, politics, and ungraded — 1 that threatens to illness astir the Villiers arsenic they sacrifice thing and anyone to get ahead.* — B.E.
How to watch: Mary and George is present streaming connected Sky and NOW TV successful the UK and connected Starz successful the U.S.
6. Supacell
Rapman's Netflix bid is yet here. Credit: Netflix
Showrunner, creator, and manager Rapman's Netflix bid is yet here, and it's a dynamite caller attack to the superhero genre. Supacell sees 5 Black strangers successful South London — Michael (Tosin Cole), Sabrina (Nadine Mills), Andre (Eric Kofi Abrefa), Rodney (Calvin Demba), and Tazer (Josh Tedeku) — who make antithetic superpowers, each portion navigating the realism of mundane life. Some usage their powerfulness to support those they emotion (including an fantabulous Adelayo Adedayo arsenic Michael's woman Dionne) oregon simply to enactment nutrient connected the table, portion others crave powerfulness and respect. When Michael's quality to question done clip gives him a glimpse astatine a unspeakable future, helium needs to find and unite the 5 arsenic sinister forces statesman to circle. With profoundly compelling performances, a tightly woven story, and immoderate awesome ocular effects deployed crossed London, Supacell shakes up the superpowers format. — S.C.
How to watch: Supacell begins streaming connected Netflix June 27.
5. 3 Body Problem
Gang's each here. For now. Credit: Ed Miller / Netflix
Sometimes you privation a airy comedy; different times, you privation to thin into perchance world-ending existential terror. The second is firmly connected connection successful 3 Body Problem, a sci-fi epic based connected Cixin Liu's trilogy and brought to the surface by Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and The Terror's Alexander Woo. The bid tells the communicative of an alien contention called the San-Ti, who person been forced to permission their location satellite and are respective 100 years distant from landing connected their caller home: Earth. 3 Body Problem is awesome due to the fact that it asks immoderate beauteous large questions of the beingness portion besides creating a precise quality communicative astir however radical mightiness respond erstwhile faced with imaginable aboriginal extinction. Oh, and determination are immoderate sequences that volition ne'er permission your caput — hello, episode 5. * — Sam Haysom, Deputy UK Editor
How to watch: 3 Body Problem is present streaming connected Netflix.
4. We Are Lady Parts, Season 2
Faith Omole, Sarah Kameela Impey, Juliette Motamed, Anjana Vasan, and Malala Yousafzai successful "We Are Lady Parts." Credit: Saima Khalid / Peaco*ck / NBC International / C4
After 3 agelong years connected hiatus, We Are Lady Parts is backmost with a 2nd play that was good worthy the wait.
Created by Nida Manzoor, this sensational drama bid centers connected Lady Parts, a punk set made up of Muslim women who are figuring retired life, love, friendship, and religion successful modern London. Between the mounting and immoderate acquainted themes, Season 2 has echoes of Bridgerton, but with an irreverent consciousness of wit that is not lone wholly modern but besides perfectly hilarious. Whether pursuing wallflower guitarist Amina (Anjana Vasan), hard-headed frontwoman Saira (Sarah Kameela Impey), warm-hearted bassist Bisma (Faith Omole), mercurial drummer Ayesha (Juliette Motamed), oregon their ever-strategic manager Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse), We Are Lady Parts rocks, peppered with playful punchlines, rapturous phantasy sequences, rousing philharmonic numbers, and a cameo from the one-and-only Malala Yousafzai. Whether you're caller to this bid oregon not, Season 2 is excessively bully to beryllium missed.* — K.P.
How to watch: We Are Lady Parts is present streaming connected Channel 4 successful the UK and Peaco*ck successful the U.S.
3. One Day
Leo Woodall and Ambika Mod successful "One Day." Credit: Matt Towers / Netflix
In February, we did a full batch of TV-induced crying, arsenic Netflix's One Day broke our damn hearts. An ambitious, romantic, and caller adaptation of David Nicholls' novel, this impeccable, dilatory pain bid gave the communicative much country to respire than Lone Scherfig's 2011 film. Following students Emma and Dex (magnetic, lived-in performances by Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall) crossed decades of their analyzable friendship, One Day makes a cinematic epic of long-game emotion portion unpacking the politics of privilege successful relationships. Even proceeding the sanction of the bid volition induce starry-eyed looks into the skyline and a thenar to the heart.* — S.C.
How to watch: One Day is present streaming connected Netflix.
2. Doctor Who, Season 14
The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) and Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). Credit: James Pardon / Bad Wolf / BBC Studios
Showrunner Russell T Davies returned to Doctor Who this season, bringing with him plentifulness of panache. Not lone did helium acquisition audiences the splendor of Ncuti Gatwa arsenic the ever-charming Fifteenth Doctor and Millie Gibson arsenic the irrepressible Ruby Sunday, helium besides offered thrilling impermanent stars, similar Broadway's Jonathan Groff arsenic the dashing Rogue, Susan Twist arsenic the season's biggest mystery, and RuPaul's Drag Race two-time champion Jinkx Monsoon arsenic the melodic and maleficent baddie called Maestro.
Week aft week, Davies and his institution introduced compelling caller creatures to the Whoniverse, similar Bridgerton-obsessed bodysnatchers, portion tapping into classic lore for caller reveals. And with each caller adventure, Davies presented a antithetic spirit for fans established and marque new. So, "Space Babies" gave america a creepy yet silly monster-of-the-week fairy tale, portion "Devil's Chord" got boldly theatrical. Want a warfare story? A people fearfulness story? A Black Mirror episode? A play romance? No substance what benignant of Who you hunger for, Davies kept the children fed in "the queerest season" the bid has ever seen. And it's been marvelous. —K.P.
How to watch: Doctor Who is present streaming connected BBC iPlayer successful the UK and connected Disney+ wherever available.
1. Baby Reindeer
Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning successful "Baby Reindeer." Credit: Ed Miller / Netflix
For amended oregon worse, Baby Reindeer is simply a amusem*nt that sticks with you: It's amusing successful parts, tense successful others, and emotionally shattering overall. Based connected creator Richard Gadd's ain acquisition of being stalked, the bid follows the budding comedian (who plays a mentation of himself) arsenic helium balances vocation disappointment with his occupation successful a London pub — until a pistillate named Martha (a superb and terrifying Jessica Gunning) comes successful 1 time and develops an obsession with him. "This isn't the benignant of amusem*nt with a wide resolution," I wrote successful my reappraisal for Mashable. "It's messy, thought-provoking, and — similar a imagination that's hard to shingle — you'll find your caput going backmost to it agelong aft the credits person rolled."* — S.H.
How to watch: Baby Reindeer is present streaming connected Netflix.
