Actor Tatiana Maslany is superb at playing multiple distinct characters in a role that many actors would love to have, but few would be able to handle, in this conspiracy thriller featuring cloning experiments, humour and paranoia. The show's closest reference point would be something like Utopia (see below). Both begin with a mystery that feels utterly obscure and impenetrable, then is revealed to be more credible, involving and relevant, not to mention ruthless. Both shows generate a lot of humour from their situations without sacrificing the danger and tension.
Ludicrously already cancelled, despite winning awards, acclaim, and a David Fincher led remake to come. Bold, theatrical and unlike anything else on the box at the moment – Dennis Kelly's graphic novel-influenced drama was as shocking as a chilli eye-bath, and you need to make sure you see it.
Although as a life long Who fan I was delighted to have the show back on TV in 2005, I didn't enjoy huge swathes of the Russell T Davies era, which concluded on New Years Day 2010. Generally the only episodes from that period that I would happily watch again now were written by Steven Moffat - so lucky old me that he took over as show runner at that point. Although the show does still frequently suffer when Moffat is not the writer, the quantity of his episodes and the influence he has had over the others has made for a much more satisfying experience, and the show is gradually moving back towards the creature it was in the 60s and 70s rather than the Buffy-fied incarnation that was so popular under David Tennant. I regard this unreservedly as a GOOD THING.
This generation's nearest equivalent to the Young Ones, this university based comedy-drama has it all - characters, jokes, pathos, engaging story arcs - and despite being set a decade after I was at uni myself, and the student experience moving on immeasurably since, I find it incredibly nostalgic to watch.
Armando Ianucci's latest genius show concluded this decade and immediately spawned a surprisingly good American re-imagining. But the original was still the one to watch - the vast cast of characters were placed into rather different circumstances post-general election, and the show resolved plot threads and character arcs of genuine depth spanning the whole course of the show in an elegant and thought provoking way, especially in the extraordinary penultimate episode, a double length court based show. And in case I didn't make it clear, this was a comedy - and a mighty fine one at that.
The show that heralded the onslaught of Scandi dramas to British TV, and led to an awful looking American remake, The Killing spanned 40 hours and 3 storylines, and brought a refreshing grittiness and anti-glamour to crime drama. It also managed to intermingle individual crime cases over the course of each season (rather than crimes of the week) while managing to entangle that crime with domestic political machinations of variable levels of interest, managing to make what could have been simple storylines into incredibly convoluted ones that demanded, and rewarded, extreme patience from the audience. The Bridge might've been more fun, but the original is still the best.
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