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4 days ago
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A Very Royal Scandal
Yes, the Prince Andrew/Emily Maitlis head-to-head was the TV moment of 2019, and it is unlikely that any television interview will ever be as jawdropping again. But why did we need not just one but two screen recreations of it this year? This one came with Maitlis’s blessing, but sadly already existed in the shadow of Netflix’s Scoop. Despite excellent turns by Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson, it never felt anything other than slight and superfluous.
Meet the Rees-Moggs
Just the fact that this series exists at all is a letdown. To recap: faced with a historic election wipeout, and the likelihood of losing his seat, Jacob Rees-Mogg made the slightly craven choice to invite a reality TV crew into his home to help transition himself (and his family) into full-blown media personalities. It didn’t work. The show came and went without any buzz whatsoever.
The Bear
So tense, touching, funny and idiosyncratic were the first two seasons of Carmy and co’s kitchen nightmares that each one was hands-down the best TV of the year. And then came this directionless, subpar third season. It might not have been quite as bad as some of its harsher critiques suggested (although no one needed the extended Fak clan’s clumsy comic relief) but its irksome cliffhanger ending felt like a jarringly attention-grabbing move from a show that previously oozed class. And when the earlier outings had been so brilliant, how could we fail to feel short-changed?
Bad Sisters
Living up to the standards set by Sharon Horgan’s blackly hilarious first season was always going to be tough going given that it was a faithful adaptation of excellent Flemish drama, Clan – which had no second series. Sadly, it proved a stretch too far, with this follow-up never matching the zip of its initial outing due to convoluted plotting and a darker turn that robbed this once-thrilling sisterhood of its sparkle. Some things are best left alone.
Ludwig
Sure, this was the most watched new scripted series on the BBC in 2024, but that reeks of a sub-par year for quality. We’re huge fans of both David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Martin, but this was one of the silliest concepts ever seen on screen: any detective worth their salt would have clocked that Mitchell’s awkward, agoraphobic puzzle-setter was not the same man as his disappeared hotshot detective brother in five seconds max. We know that was the ‘bit’, and we know that overall it was just a piece of watchable cosy crime, but it did make it feel faintly lame and ludicrous from start to finish. The BBC should do better.
Sherwood
There’s no denying that this season of James Graham’s Nottingham-based crime drama featured its fair share of clangers. Why on earth would Scott Rowley give up the location of his money? And surely Daphne Sparrow – who has spent decades running a nihilistic crime syndicate – wouldn’t suddenly be so bothered by the Bottomleys’ potential death that she’d risk bringing gang vengeance on her entire family (which seems to be her raison d’etre)? Yes, Lorraine Ashbourne’s performance as Daphne was breathtaking and there were numerous moments that left your jaw hanging open, but at times, this show’s plotting felt scream-at-the-screen stupid.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
Adapting a bestselling novel is always a risk; it was always going to be particularly difficult to get it right with a romance story set in Auschwitz – one that has been criticised by the Auschwitz Memorial Research Centre. That said, there’s no denying that a lot of care went into producing this drama starring Jonah Hauer King and Anna Próchniak as Lali and Gita, who fall in love when they meet at the concentration camp. But – as we saw their longing stares amid the unravelling horrors – it just didn’t work as entertainment. How could it?
The Sympathiser
This one stung. Since the moment it was announced, The Sympathizer had all the makings of incredible television. A Park Chan-wook directed adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer-winning novel, starring Robert Downey Jr? What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, as it turns out. The book was too dense to easily adapt for television, the stylish trickery that Park employs so well in film came off as gimmicky and indulgent on television, and Downey Jr’s multiple roles were all equally one-dimensional and insufferable. Anyone who watched all the way to the final episode deserves a medal for endurance.
Sweetpea
Ella Purnell is the hottest actor of the moment, thanks to Yellowjackets and Fallout. So when it was announced that she’d be playing a Killing Eve-style serial killer in an adaptation of hit young adult BookTok series Sweetpea, an instant hit was promised. But what a waste! Rhiannan (Sweetpea) was just plain boring from start to end. It wasn’t Purnell’s fault, though – she didn’t have much to work with. Not even Nicôle Lecky and Jon Pointing in the supporting cast could bring life to what should have been a thrilling, gleeful killing spree. Villanelle would give a disgusted eyeroll at such a dull comparison.
House of the Dragon
Given how little actually happened this season, it’s hard not to feel that they could’ve condensed it into about three episodes – and saved us hours of plodding, event-free viewing. There’s no denying that a potentially explosive showdown has been set up for series three, but it would’ve been nice if they hadn’t decided to make viewers wait an extra couple of years for the action.
Daddy Issues
David Morrissey as a newfound divorcee and eternal manbaby being trained up by his pregnant daughter to help around the house and, er, not befriend toxic men? It sounds like the stuff of timely comedy. In fact, Daddy Issues did not make us laugh once. It had a cracking cast, from Morrissey as the hapless Malcolm and Aimee Lou Wood as his daughter Gemma to Strictly’s Sarah Hadland as a horny hairdresser, but it just didn’t nail the tone. If it had been billed as a drama, we would have been much more on board with it.
The Perfect Couple
Given that Susanne Bier was at the helm, we had high hopes that this would be a borderline classy affair. How wrong we were. It was so bad that even the entire cast kicked off about being forced to do that terrible dance routine on the beach for, let’s face it, the most incongruous opening credit sequence ever. Still, it had some spot-on class satire (vodka in the green juice, anyone?)
