The best TV shows of 2020

From Small Axe and Normal People to Schitt's Creek, Hugh Montgomery and Eddie Mullan pick 25 of the year's greatest series to watch right now.

We Are Who We Are

We're far past the point of having to call TV "cinematic" to prove its worth, but nevertheless there is a frisson of excitement that comes from a full-bodied film auteur like Luca Guadagnino making his first foray on the small screen – and thankfully the end result justified the anticipation. Centring on American teens living in Italy on a US military base, it has certainly proved divisive, with some put off by its languorous pace and the jarring abrasiveness of one of its lead characters, the petulant wannabe fashionista Frazer (Jack Dylan Grazer). But for those of us who loved it, those were two of the many things that made it so special: here was a coming-of-age tale like few others, which in its very form captured both the drift and the erraticism of adolescence exquisitely. Available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and HBO Max in the US.

Small Axe

Meanwhile, here is an entry that should truly be filed under "Cinema", many would argue. Certainly, there is a valid ongoing debate around whether this collection of five feature-length films by Oscar-winner Steve McQueen about London's West Indian community qualifies as TV in any meaningful sense, beyond the fact they have been made available to watch on the small screen. What is indisputable is that they are exceptional individual works of art that each deserve their own discrete appreciation – and in some cases, especially, would be transcendent when watched on the big screen. But equally to consider them as a whole series makes McQueen's endeavour all the more astonishing: from the vital courtroom drama Mangrove to the immersive party film Lovers Rock and Education's piercing school tale, what he has produced is a survey of black British experience that has hitherto been all too sidelined within both popular culture and education, realised with the visual mastery of a visionary. The result is a truly singular achievement that is not only about history, but is itself historic. Available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Amazon Prime in the US.

Industry

Early pre-publicity for this HBO drama about a group of young graduates trying to make it in London's financial world focused on Lena Dunham's involvement, but that turned out to be a bit of a red herring: she merely directed the pilot, and the show has far less in common with Girls' wry exploration of millennial life than it does with a particular 1990s/early Noughties sub-genre of British TV dramas centred on messy young professionals, chief among them This Life. What sets it apart though is a real interest in, and feel, for the politics and ecosystem of its toxically high-pressure workplace, which speaks to creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay's own background in banking. And while, inevitably, a lot of attention has been focused on all the drug-taking and full-frontal nudity that features, beyond the surface titillation, it is the pitch-perfect characterisation that keeps you gripped – from the skilful way it explores intersections of class, gender and race to the fact almost everyone is deeply morally compromised and yet no one is, simplistically, a villain. It has just been announced that a series two is in the works and after the twisty machinations that brought series one to a close, it can't come soon enough. Available on BBC iPlayer in the UK and HBO Max in the US.

The Valhalla Murders

With its lingering dramatic shots of desolate Iceland, atmospheric soundtrack and dark themes, this eight-part Nordic-noir is perfect for winter bingeing. Ambitious detective Kata Gunnarsdottir (Nina Dogg Filippusdottir) aims to become head of the Reykjavik police department – but when two seemingly unrelated victims are found brutally murdered in a similar manner, she finds that she does not have as much control over her career as she thought. After she is snubbed for a major promotion, the police then bring in Oslo detective Arnar Bodvarsson (Bjorn Thors) to find a link between the victims. The two detectives are in a race to find a suspected serial killer, as the investigation appears to lead to horrific events in an abandoned boys' home, some 35 years ago. Available on BBC Four in the UK and Netflix in the US.

Schitt’s Creek

Given the year so far, comfort TV has never felt more essential. Fitting then, that this charming Canadian sitcom ­– celebrated in part for its inclusive and normalised portrayal of LGBTQ characters – made a record-breaking sweep at the Emmys for its sixth and final season, with gongs going to the show’s cast and its writer Daniel Levy. Gaining global appeal after landing on Netflix, the bingeable show follows the impossibly rich Rose family who discover that after losing all their wealth, they have to relocate their lives to a small Canadian town they once bought as a joke birthday present. Former video-store chain owner Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy), soap-star matriarch Moira (Catherine O'Hara) and their two adult children, hipster David (Daniel Levy) and socialite Alexis (Annie Murphy) have to face humiliating hardship and figure out what it really means to be a family. Available now on Netflix.

Lovecraft Country

The 2017 cinema masterpiece Get Out set new standards for using horror to explore racism, so it was no surprise to see its director Jordan Peele listed as executive producer for this new HBO show – given it, too, uses the genre as a particularly potent vehicle for tackling the subject. Adapted from Matt Ruff’s 2016 novel, set in the 1950s, the premise of Misha Green’s show begins with a man (Jonathan Majors) on a mission to find his missing dad, which leads to a road trip through Jim Crow America with a childhood friend (Jurnee Smollett) and his uncle (Courtney B Vance) – and their encounters with an array of monsters, both human and supernatural. The result is gloriously pulpy and sharply knowing in its reclaiming of the work of notoriously bigoted horror novelist, the titular HP Lovecraft. As Caryn James said in her review for BBC Culture, it is at once “a dynamic adventure and a bracing depiction of the power of black culture.” Available on Sky Go/Now TV in the UK and HBO/HBO Max in the US.

Pen15

When it premiered last year, this series from creators and stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle gained attention for its novel central conceit, which saw these thirty-somethings playing versions of their 13-year-old selves at high school around the turn of the millennium, while otherwise surrounded by genuine child actors. But what’s so amazing, and has been at the heart of this show’s success, continuing on into this year’s second series, is just how quickly you forget that they’re adults, so convincingly do they capture the particulars of the teenage demeanour, from their vocal mannerisms to their gawky physicality. What’s more, it navigates an expert line between ever-so-recognisable cringe comedy and poignant reflection on the struggles of adolescence – an inquiry that has deepened yet further in the new run as it has dealt with Anna and Maya becoming victims of slut-shaming. Available on Sky Comedy/Now TV in the UK and Hulu in the US.

I Hate Suzie

If the last few years have seen a heartening, if belated, surge in complex and difficult female characters on TV, then this period of enlightenment has perhaps reached its acme with this astonishing, idiosyncratic, fiercely unpredictable series that is the result of a collaboration between brilliant British writer Lucy Prebble (best known in TV terms for her work on HBO’s Succession) and her best mate, star Billie Piper. The latter plays a well-known actress with a new Disney job and a fraying marriage whose life is truly upended when her phone is hacked and nude photos of her are leaked over the internet. What follows are eight episodes of both accruing frenzy and standalone genius, which veer between genres in a way that perfectly mirrors Suzie’s erratic trajectory. An intensely expressive performer, Piper takes this peach of a role by the scruff of its neck, while a special shoutout should also go to the wonderful Leila Farzad as her supremely sardonic manager Naomi. Available now on Sky On Demand/Now TV in the UK and coming soon to HBO Max in the US.

Dark

Directors Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar took Netflix by storm with the streaming service’s first German-language production back in 2017, exploring the existential implications of time travel on a small town’s tight-knit community. Jonas and his classmates try to discover the whereabouts of children who have mysteriously gone missing in the industrial town of Winden – but what are the strange noises in the woods? A young cast of small-town characters unravelling far-reaching conspiracies drew comparisons to Stranger Things – although in truth, the residents and their double lives would be more comfortable in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. If you look beyond the complex family trees and, at times, bewildering split-screen narrative of this sinister thriller, at its centre is a tragic love story of epic proportions. The series concluded in 2020 with a third and final season, which moved beyond the concept of space and time. Available now on Netflix.

Devs

Ex Machina director Alex Garland made a return to cerebral sci-fi for his first venture for the small screen. The FX series Devs bears all the director’s usual hallmarks, including striking futuristic visuals and a foreboding score, and asks big questions of humanity’s place amid technology’s limitless possibilities. Garland regular Sonoya Mizuno stars as Lily Chan, a software engineer at Amaya, a quantum computing firm in Silicon Valley. When her boyfriend Sergei (Karl Glusman) disappears a day after taking up a position in the company’s vacuum-sealed research division, Lily enlists the help of cybersecurity specialist and ex-boyfriend Jamie (Jin Ha) to discover the truth about Amaya’s secretive laboratory, and the eccentric company CEO Forest (Parks and Recreation’s Nick Offerman) who she believes is to blame. Available now on BBC iPlayer and FX on Hulu.

I May Destroy You

It’s not often that a series comes along that is so utterly idiosyncratic, it defies both categorisation and reference points. But such is the case with this extraordinarily raw and intimate 12-part drama – the work of British actor/writer Michaela Coel, who, if there’s any justice, will be toast of the Emmys next year (having just missed out on date eligibility for this year’s awards). Inspired by a very dark chapter in Coel’s own life, it tells the story of Arabella, a successful writer working on a follow-up to her zeitgeist-y millennial bestseller, whose life is turned upside down when her drink is spiked on a night out. As a study in the effects of sexual assault, it is astonishing – but it would also be an injustice to categorise it as a one-issue drama. Rather it explores the intersections of race, class and gender in Western metropolitan society with both freewheeling energy and breathtaking assurance, while also, more generally, nailing the vertigo-inducing experience of being a young adult with exhilarating authenticity. Available now on BBC iPlayer in the UK and HBO Max in the US.

Normal People

For the many of us who have been stuck in emotional rumination during lockdown, this romantic drama has provided the perfect televisual accompaniment. Based on Irish writer Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel, its story of two star-crossed, class-divided lovers, Marianne and Connell, as they weave in and out of each other’s lives through school and university is swooningly intense, with Rooney and co-writer Alice Birch’s spare, artful dialogue matched by gauzy, visually striking direction from director Lenny Abrahamson. Performance-wise, meanwhile, this is Paul Mescal’s show: as he guides us through Connell’s halting emotional awakening, he is quietly riveting, then heartbreaking, not least when his character is in the throes of depression. Above all, what a joy it is to see a story that is in one sense so small, ordinary and human given the epic scale – over 12 half-hour episodes – that it deserves.  Available now on BBC iPlayer in the UK and Hulu in the US.

Quiz

British playwright James Graham has a knack for digging into the recesses of the UK’s popular cultural history and picking on fascinating episodes to dramatise that somehow speak more widely of the nation’s sensibility: his latest drama in that vein is this three-part dissection of an infamous British TV scandal in 2001, when Major Charles Ingram, a contestant on mega-bucks quiz show Who Wants to be Millionaire, won the top £1m prize, but was later found guilty of cheating via a coughing scheme which alerted him to the right answers. Boasting superb performances from Matthew MacFayden, playing another oleaginous buffoon a la his character in Succession, and Fleabag’s Sian Clifford as his stern wife, it’s at once a media satire, an edge-of-your-seat courtroom drama, and a fascinating inquiry into the relatively recent phenomenon of quizzing. Available on ITV Hub in the UK and AMC in the US.

Mrs America

With a cast led by Cate Blanchett, and including Tracey Ullman, Rose Byrne, Uzo Aduba, and Sarah Paulson, this drama series about US conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly was always hotly anticipated – and thankfully it didn’t disappoint. Tracing the avidly anti-feminist Schlafly’s successful attempt to get an Equal Rights Amendment to the US constitution stopped, it devotes individual episodes to other figures on either side of the political battle. And while there is a certain degree of fun to be had in Blanchett’s arch performance, the story is both grave and extremely pertinent. As Caryn James writes in her four-star review for BBC Culture: “Schlafly’s cultural conservatism included working against abortion rights and same-sex marriage, issues that have become political lightning rods again in the Trump era. The series pointedly reminds us that Schlafly’s blinkered version of the US never really went away.” Available on Hulu in the US and BBCiPlayer in the UK.

Unorthodox

Inspired by Deborah Feldman’s 2012 autobiography, this Netflix drama has been another of lockdown’s most talked-about shows. Telling the story of a young Orthodox Jewish woman who leaves her unhappy marriage in New York and escapes to Berlin, it successfully and rather ingeniously elides an exhilarating coming-of-age story with a tense thriller. And at its heart is an outstanding performance by Shira Haas as its heroine: as Erik Kohn writes on Indiewire: “The 24-year-old actress is an instant sensation who commands every moment she’s on screen with a fiery intensity that transcends the language at her disposal.” Available now on Netflix.

Hunters

The recent, controversially twee Oscar-winner Jojo Rabbit showed just how difficult it can be to reckon with the Holocaust on screen – so all credit to this new Amazon series written by David Weil and exec-produced by modern horror maestro Jordan Peele, for somehow managing to walk a tricky tightrope between providing stylised, suspenseful entertainment and honouring the unimaginable horror of what occurred. Set in 1970s America, it tells the story of a group of Jewish vigilantes, led by Al Pacino, who are on a mission to hunt down various surviving Nazis who have inveigled their way into the heart of the American establishment. As much as anything else, it makes for a stinging parable about how fascism is never far away from us even in our nice old Western liberal democracies. Available now on Amazon Prime.

Sex Education

With fans now acclimatised to its jarringly transatlantic aesthetic, this British Netflix series has really come into its own with its second series, which more than ever mixes up familiar teen comedy with a refreshingly candid and mature exploration of issues from sexual assault to anal douching. Gillian Anderson is once again on casually imperious form, in a selection of killer outfits, as protagonist Otis’ therapist mum, but it’s the younger performers who really shine, notably Emma Mackey’s wonderfully dry but vulnerable Maeve and Ncuti Gatwa’s endlessly charismatic Eric. Available now on Netflix.

Feel Good

Mae Martin becomes the latest comic to blur the lines between fiction and autobiography with this wonderfully warm and well-observed six-part comedy-drama in which she plays, you’ve guessed it, Mae; a struggling, Canadian stand-up, and recovering addict, living in London. The chief focus is on her up-and-down relationship with girlfriend George (Charlotte Ritchie), who is navigating same-sex romance for the first time, while Lisa Kudrow puts in a splendid supporting turn as Mae’s abrupt mother, mostly seen via Skype. This is a microscopic rather than epic show, that shines a light on the foibles of humans as they attempt, falteringly, to live and love – foibles that, in these times, seem more cherishable than ever. Available now on All4 in the UK and on Netflix in the rest of the world. 

This Country

Another perfectly-formed slice-of-life comedy, this mockumentary series about two feckless cousins living in a village in the Cotswolds in South-West England, has been consistently both hilarious and heartwarming through two series – and now its third and final one makes for a fitting conclusion, with its creators and stars, brother and sister Daisy May and Charlie Cooper, adding yet more depth and poignancy to its characters. With so much TV comedy and drama focused on the bright lights of the big cities, there are simply few depictions of rural life quite like it. Series 3 is available now on BBC iPlayer in the UK, and Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Hulu in the US.

Love is Blind

Dating shows do not come more gripping than this Netflix sensation, which dominated social media conversation in the weeks after it debuted in mid-February. Featuring a predictably un-diverse range of heterosexual and conventionally attractive contestants making connections unseen while separated in the show’s hallowed ‘pods’, before declaring their love for each other, getting engaged, and only then getting to see each other in person, it is premise that is at once absurd and makes brilliant TV sense. However the fun really starts when the new couples get down to the nitty-gritty of trying to communicate and forge a proper adult relationship with each other without the advantage of walls between them. Available now on Netflix.

Little America

Anthology series are invariably, by their very nature, a mixed bag, but this effort, co-created by husband and wife team Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon (best known for their hit rom-com The Big Sick) among others, is one of the very best: a series of eight half-hour stories about the life of immigrants in the great cultural melting pot that is the US. Whether the focus is a teenage Mexican squash player or a gay Syrian man seeking asylum, all the stories, as Caroline Framke writes in Variety, stare “down the fundamental questions of what it means to be American and what it takes to build a life from the ground up.” Available now on Apple TV+.

The Plot Against America

David ‘The Wire’ Simon is undoubtedly one of America’s great TV-makers, and his latest project will do nothing to mar that reputation. An adaptation of Philip Roth’s ever more prescient 2004 novel, it is a counterfactual history drama that imagines what would have happened had Nazi-sympathiser Charles Lindbergh become US president in 1940. Zoe Kazan, Winona Ryder and Morgan Spector are among the members of a New Jersey Jewish family from whose perspective the story is told, and for whom the consequences of Lindbergh’s reign are chilling. It all builds to what Darren Franich in Entertainment Weekly calls “one of the most breathtakingly tense episodes of television I’ve ever seen, carrying you on a dark journey through a country on fire.” Available now on Sky On Demand/Now TV in the UK and HBO Max in the US.

Cheer

This Netflix docu-series about the cheerleading squad of Navarro College in the Texan town of Corsicana lifts the spirits as high as its remarkable protagonists throw their teammates in the air. To the uninitiated, cheerleading may seem a wholly alien sport, not to mention terrifying in the perilous tricks that the squad are required to perform, but the series does an excellent job of shading in these young people’s often troubled backstories, and making us understand their obsessive drive and commitment, as they prepare for the National Championships. As Nick Schager writes in the Daily Beast, “Cheer prizes its sports outcome far less than it does its human ones, all the while celebrating the resilience of its young competitors and the beloved coach dedicated to giving them a chance to be the very best version of themselves”. Available now on Netflix.

Better Call Saul

Even though Breaking Bad fans know how it will end, could this gripping spin-off outshine the revered original? Fans had an extended year-and-a-half break since series four concluded, but it returned in February better than ever. Following the origin story of earnest public defender Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) and his transformation into greasy Saul Goodman – better known as Walter White’s crooked lawyer in Breaking Bad – the series has masterfully eked out its protagonist’s creeping character development aided by Odenkirk’s darkly comic performance. In this penultimate series, McGill’s personality change is almost complete – much to the dismay of girlfriend Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) who often cleans up after Jimmy’s mistakes. Available now on AMC/Netflix.

Bojack Horseman

Following the existential crises of former ‘90s sitcom star BoJack, former acting rival Mr Peanutbutter (Paul F Tompkins), journalist Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie), agent Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), and slacker Todd Chavez (Aaron Paul), the greatest animated series of the 21st Century somehow tackles serious issues such as sexual harassment, depression and drug abuse head-on, without ever losing its comic touch. In the concluding sixth series – the final episodes of which launched in January – Princess Carolyn struggles to balance demands of work and motherhood – referring to her daughter as “Untitled Princess Carolyn Project” – while BoJack checks into a $100,000 rehab facility with an addiction to painkillers. “Can’t put a price on clean living”, says the receptionist on check-in, “And yet somehow you’ve found a way”, BoJack replies. The show’s best ideas are often both sincere and cynical in equal measure – and crafted beyond reproach. Available now on Netflix.

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