We obsessed over...

The Crown

As Queen Elizabeth, Claire Foy looked like she’d stepped straight off an old postage stamp in this mesmerising retelling of the monarch’s first decade on the throne, a very human exposition of regal privilege that felt exactly like peering behind a curtain in Buckingham Palace.

The Night Manager

Predating the PDAS of Tay-to by minutes only added to the jeopardy of Tom Hiddleston’s audition for James Bond. Amoral glamour oozed in this drama of espionage and treason, with the bonuses of a pregnant Olivia Colman, Hugh Laurie doing his best Tony Blair and probably a closer proximity to Hiddleston’s perfectly angled posterior than taylor Swift ever got.

Divorce

Sarah Jessica Parker’s re-entry to HBO was the definition of occasion television. Scripted by the smartly idiosyncratic Sharon Horgan, this break-up saga wasn’t just about the anatomy of one relationship. It felt like it carried universal, consequential truths for anyone who’s ever self-sabotaged in love. Isn’t that all of us?

Fleabag

The beguiling tale of the nameless anti-heroine, sexing her way lovelessly through a cruel London, dotted with heartbreak, bereavement and without any familial shoulder to cry on was whipsmart, funny and heartbreaking. Writer and actress Phoebe Waller-bridge wrote herself into a new kind of authorial stardom with it. See our interview, page 38

Master Of None

Aziz Ansari honoured the purpose he hinted at as both stand-up and Parks And Recreation’s goon-ish Tommy in an exposition of race, America and the media in a year it needed it most. It had a Friendsish feel but, under the warm exterior, Ansari skewed his industry with the force of an iron fist in a velvet glove. Perfection.