The best TV shows and series to catch up on from 2023

The Last of Us

Video game adaptations are not normally as revered and critically acclaimed as The Last of Us. That is perhaps because this game has not been made for the screen solely for jump scares, action, and violence (though there is plenty of that), but has instead been given the serious, brooding and smart treatment typically reserved for a serious HBO drama. Which is, of course, what this is. Featuring blisteringly good central performances from Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, this is an emotional rollercoaster of beautifully rendered human moments amid extraordinary circumstances.

The Last of Us is available to watch on Now TV

Succession

We can safely assume that, if you missed the dramatic final season of one of the most talked-about shows on the planet, you probably missed it in its entirety. That makes the Christmas holidays the ideal opportunity to see what all the fuss is about. Rest assured, the fuss is warranted. Jesse Armstrong’s wildly entertaining dramedy about warring siblings and corporate greed with Shakespearean undertones and biting British humour is undoubtedly one of the best small-screen creations of the last decade. Its final episodes, which aired this spring, were some of the most widely discussed moments on TV this year. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Succession is available to watch on Now TV

Beckham

Autumn 2023 was defined by what might accurately be described as Beckham fever. What happened to bring the football legend back to zeitgeist dominance was this four-part Netflix documentary. With unfettered access to David and his family, as well as copious amounts of archival footage, this caused a serious resurgence of nineties and noughties nostalgia as well as some much-deserved revisionism regarding the press treatment of Victoria. A gorgeous, undemanding watch, it is the perfect post-Christmas slump viewing.

Beckham is available to watch on Netflix

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The Bear

Yes Chef! The Bear is one of those rare television gems: a series that just gets better and better. The second season of this lauded show – about a struggling restaurant in Chicago, its tempestuous workers, and the tragic and complicated family behind it – arrived this year and was explosively good, cementing the series as one of the best things on TV right now. It shrewdly eschewed the established format of its first season (all fast-paced kitchen scenes and exquisitely scripted arguments) and opted to slow the pace, with standalone episodes focusing on individual characters and one corker of a Christmas flashback which deserves every award going. If you haven’t yet explored this brilliant drama, now is your chance.

The Bear is available to watch on Disney+

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story

This Bridgerton prequel was the show we all needed and just didn’t know it. Spotlighting the story of the ‘ton’s fiery regal matriarch (and the narrative's only real historical figure) this limited series captures her early romance with George III so touchingly that it was a breakout moment. Movingly rendered, beautiful to watch and a gorgeous escape from reality, this made stars of its central actors and surprised us all by cementing itself as a jewel in the crown of the Bridgerton universe. If you didn’t catch it, Christmas is the perfect time for a period drama of this charming quality.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is available to watch on Netflix

Fleishman is in Trouble

Based on the bestselling book by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, this is a thoughtful, witty, and riveting depiction of the disintegration of a marriage and how one picks up the pieces afterwards. It may not sound like the cheeriest of fare, but this somehow manages to be funny as well as quietly tragic and is as laudable for its sharply observed depiction of old friendships as it is about beginning again. With brilliant performances from Jesse Eisenberg, Claire Danes, Lizzy Caplan and Adam Brody, this limited series is a smart, compelling, and highly satisfying binge watch.

Fleishman is in Trouble is available to watch on Disney+

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Daisy Jones and the Six

The year kicked off with something of a seventies’ moment, thanks to Daisy Jones and The Six, the riotously brilliant limited series based on the book by Taylor Jenkins Reid. The genius of the novel lies in its ability to make you believe that this was a real rock band, and the show mirrors this treatment, with faux documentary moments slid in between flashbacks. It is sumptuous to look at, with covetable costumes and an incredible original, chart-topping soundtrack – which made the cast (including a never-better Riley Keough and Sam Claflin) into a real band after all. For a thoroughly entertaining and escapist watch, you can do no better this Christmas.

Daisy Jones and The Six is available to watch on Prime Video

Beef

This off-beat miniseries was a sleeper hit of the year, thanks largely to knockout performances from its leads, Ali Wong and Steven Yeun. They play a mismatched pair – a lifestyle brand entrepreneur and a down-on-his-luck tradesman – caught in a seemingly endless and increasingly destructive feud that began over a moment of blind road rage. A show this original has not come around in a long while and its irreverent charm and bitingly good script should not be missed.

Beef is available to watch on Netflix

Sex Education

It was a show that irrevocably changed the way we think and talk about sex and delightfully refreshed the stale teen-drama genre with a much-needed injection of wit, representation and irreverence. This year, the show – which has launched some of Britain’s brightest stars, from Ncuti Gatwa to Aimee Lou Wood and Emma Mackey – bowed out in its fourth season. If you missed the finale, or indeed any of the show, now is the ideal opportunity to get into the raunchiest TV production to have ever been so relentlessly heart-warming or consistently clever.

Sex Education is available to watch on Netflix

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The Crown

And so, the time has come. After first debuting in November 2016, the final episodes of The Crown finally landed in December 2023. Netflix’s royal behemoth has done everything from courting national controversy to launching some fairly seismic careers (see Vanessa Kirby and Emma Corrin) and now its six-season, multi-decades-long arc has come to an end. The first slice of season six dropped in November, with a four-episode farewell to Princess Diana, embodied eerily faultlessly by Elizabeth Debicki. The Crown’s last collection of episodes focuses on a university-age Prince William and Kate Middleton, as well as the wedding of Charles and Camilla. Love it or hate it, this show has never not been peerlessly stylish and perfectly performed (who could forget Olivia Colman and Helena Bonham Carter's star turns, or Gillian Anderson's transformation into Margaret Thatcher?) Monarchy has never been so entertaining.

The Crown is available to watch on Netflix

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