BEST DRAMAS

BEST COSTUME DRAMA

Bridgerton fan? give this a twirl... Bridgerton isn’t back until

May, and Apple’s energetic breeze of a costume drama is well worth a twirl in the meantime. Based on Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel,

The Buccaneers (right) are US brides marrying cash-poor British lords in the 1870s, and the eightpart culture clash that follows is funny, sad, brutal, romantic and utterly addictive.

BEST ACTION THRILLER idris elba stars If you’ve ever had a book you just couldn’t put down… well, Idris Elba’s airline thriller is the TV equivalent. What do the hijackers want? Are the crew harbouring secrets? Will the hulking

passenger played by Elba (above) prove to be the hero we all want him to be? Such are the questions that keep you glued to a seven-parter with all the big-budget moments you could hope for, but which feels authentic and unpredictable, too. Quite the feat. modern-day king lear

Succession is a bit like The Sopranos – the characters are horrible and every series is pretty much the same, but you watch and love it anyway because they’re all such charismatic, mesmerising wrecks. This was the swansong year for Logan (Brian Cox, centre) and his unworthy heirs, and it bowed out with ten parts, set over ten brutal days, that finally answered the succession question. 21st-century columbo If you like watching a puzzle being solved, this thoroughly addictive murder-mystery drama from the US is absolutely for you. Essentially a 21stcentury take on Columbo, Poker Face was created by Knives Out writerdirector Rian Johnson and stars Russian Doll’s Natasha Lyonne as Charlie (above), an old-soul cocktail waitress who can tell when people are lying – and spends each episode figuring out why the murder we see at the start was committed. She’s due back for another round in 2024. apocalyptic epic

Video game adaptations had a ropey reputation until this HBO drama came along. Geared around the surrogate father-daughter relationship of two survivors (Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey) wandering a ravaged Earth, what strikes you first about The Last Of Us is the sheer scale of the world they’ve created on screen – it’s totally believable. What you notice next is Ramsey’s remarkable acting skills.

FAN OFTHE AFFAIR? TRY THIS marital collapse in

New york

Claire Danes adds another level to any show she’s in – think what Homeland would have been like without her – and that’s certainly true of this drama, which tells the story of a marital collapse from multiple perspectives. We hear from the man first – principled doctor Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg, left), who is convinced he’s in the right. But just wait until you hear from his ex-wife, Rachel (Danes)...

It looks like sci-fi, but Silo is actually more of a murder mystery set in a richly realised, paranoid underground society.

This real-life contest based on the deadly South Korean drama captured people’s attention, and the £3.63 million prize may be a big part of why. If you’re after another big money contest, Amazon’s lavish 007: Road To A Million has its moments.

Often comic but ultimately tragic, HBO’S drama about the incompetence at the heart of the Watergate scandal stars Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux as a pompous E Howard Hunt and a terrifying G Gordon Liddy.

This seriously stylish revenge thriller was oddly underappreciated in 2023. Jenna Coleman really makes you feel the emotion as wronged woman Liv and the backdrop (an American road trip) is sensational.

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