Modern masterpieces

...and how many of these 50 hot new dramas have you seen?

1. THE CROWN

Netflix claims its scintillating royal drama is the most expensive TV series ever – reportedly costing up to €8.5million per episode. Claire Foy and Matt Smith play Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in the first two seasons, which show the Queen growing into her role, learning how to deal with a husband resentful of his subordinate position, a naughty fun-loving younger sister and tricky prime ministers. There’s a watershed moment in the first series when the young monarch finds the confidence and courage to give Lord Salisbury and Churchill a right royal ticking-off for keeping her in the dark. Has the Queen watched the show? It has been reported that one has – and that one enjoyed it, too. Netflix, 2 series

2. TRUE DETECTIVE

The first season offered a ripe, atmospheric slice of Southern gothic as two Louisiana detectives – Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson – investigate ritualistic murders seemingly linked to a quasi-religious cult. McConaughey’s character, Rust Cohle, experiences hallucinations as a result of his years as an undercover drugs cop, and is given to making gnomic pronouncements such as: ‘Time is a flat circle.’ The second season set in California, with a new cast including Colin Farrell, was less well received – but hopes are high for the upcoming third, about missing children in Missouri. DVD, 2 series 3. THE PEOPLE V OJ SIMPSON Mesmerising dramatisation of the highly charged ‘trial of the century’ of the American football star for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. You know the verdict, but that doesn’t make this any less powerful. It won more Emmys than any other show in 2016, including awards for Sarah Paulson and Sterling K Brown, who play the prosecutors. John Travolta is mightily impressive as defence lawyer Robert Shapiro, while Friends star David Schwimmer plays Simpson’s buddy Robert Kardashian – yes, the father of those Kardashians. Netflix, 1 series

5. FARGO

This slick, often surreal and always entertaining black-comedy crime drama was inspired by the Coen brothers’ 1996 movie classic and is set in the same fictional universe. It follows an anthology format, so each season stands on its own, but why not start at the beginning, when ruthless, manipulative killer Lorne Malvo (Billy Bob Thornton, who won a Golden Globe for the role) wreaks havoc on the life of hapless insurance salesman Lester (Martin Freeman) and sends the local cops into meltdown. As with the original film, each episode begins with the superimposed text: ‘This is a true story.’ Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Netflix, 3 series

6. THE HANDMAID’S TALE

The adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel set in the totalitarian society of Gilead is an unflinching feminist horror. Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss simmers with quiet rage as Offred, who is enslaved as ‘breeding stock’ for ruler Joseph Fiennes. Transfixing, dreadfully dark and at times redefining

the notion of a tough watch – season two’s opening sequence tricked viewers into thinking they were about to witness a mass hanging (that’s the nearest the show gets to ‘a joke’). Some critics deemed it ‘misery porn’ or even ‘torture porn’, but Atwood herself would have none of it, complimenting the makers on ‘a tippety-top job’. RTÉ Player; Now TV/Sky (series 1) and DVD (series 2, on Dec 3)

7. NARCOS

The story of Colombian drug enforcement agents’ struggle to bring down the notorious billionaire cocaine baron Pablo Escobar with the help of the US DEA is shocking, brutal and highly addictive. The real-life details of how Escobar became a folk hero to many poor Colombians, paying for schools and hospitals, before they turned against his relentless campaign of killing is astonishing. There’s plenty of humanity amid the carnage, and at times you even find yourself rooting for the criminals – but, of course, we know how it ends... Netflix, 3 series

8. HOUSE OF CARDS

The original streaming phenomenon that heralded Netflix’s emergence as a superpower of on-demand TV. This US remake of the original BBC production is a slick, engrossing political drama following the power-grab of merciless congressman Frank Underwood (a reptilian Kevin Spacey). Series four and five waned once Underwood settled into the White House, so it may be no bad thing that Spacey was fired for the final series, which drops November 2. Netflix, 5 series

9. THE NIGHT OF

The American legal system is under the spotlight in this taut drama about Nasir Khan, the son of a Pakistani immigrant, who wakes up hungover after a one-night stand to find the body of the woman he spent it with. His family can only afford a shabby, low-rent lawyer. Is he defending a guilty man? Brit Riz Ahmed is excellent in the lead role, as is John Turturro as his lawyer. DVD, 1 series

10. TRANSPARENT

Ground-breaking comedy-drama that became the first on-demand series to win an Emmy award. Jeffrey Tambor plays Mort/ Maura, the transgender head of a Los Angeles family whose ongoing struggles to deal with this emotional bombshell made this one of the most moving dramas on TV. The forthcoming season is on hold after Tambor was fired from the series following two allegations of sexual harassment. Amazon Prime, 4 series

11. RAY DONOVAN

Liev Schreiber stars as professional fixer Ray, the go-to guy for the great and the good in Hollywood whose problems are a breeze compared to sorting out his own dubious family. Jon Voight invariably steals the show as Ray’s scheming crook of a dad. Nothing fancy here, just great, oldfashioned, character-driven storytelling. Now TV/Sky, 5 series

12. BABYLON BERLIN

Shell-shocked police officer Gereon Rath and his sidekick Charlotte Ritter tangle with Stalinists, Trotskyists, fascists and the Armenian mob in this lavish drama set in Weimar Berlin. It’s the most expensive German TV series ever, with spectacular and thrilling set- pieces. Now TV/Sky, 2 series

14. A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL

The extraordinary true story of Jeremy Thorpe’s affair with Norman Scott and the Liberal leader’s subsequent trial for conspiracy to murder. Hugh Grant is excellent as the politician. Ben Whishaw is the luckless Scott who really only wants a new national insurance card. Now TV/Sky, 1 series

15. BLACK MIRROR

Charlie Brooker’s anthology series is a modern-day Twilight Zone, with each episode imagining a none too implausible near-future nightmare, when technology leads us into very bad places. ‘Nosedive’, for example, imagines a world in which everyone you meet can rate your personality out of five stars. For approval-obsessed Lacie Pound (Bryce Dallas Howard), the plummeting of her rating towards zero is the beginning of her life falling completely apart. Dark, creepy and utterly compelling, it’s a biting satire on today’s society – and a terrifying predictor of a potential dystopian future one. Netflix, 4 series

16. THE MISSING

Dogged French detective Julien Baptiste (Tcheky Karyo) is the fulcrum of two traumatic, gut-wrenchingly visceral childabduction cases from the rapidly rising Williams brothers. Compelling and haunting, these make for addictive binges, aided by a top cast including James Nesbitt, Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey. Amazon Prime (series 1) and DVD (series 2)

17. PATRICK MELROSE

Benedict Cumberbatch is so dazzling as drug-addled Patrick at the start of this absorbing drama, based on the novels of Edward St Aubyn, you can’t take your eyes off him. What can possibly have happened to put the charming, educated Patrick in this mess? As the action flashes backwards to his privileged but traumatic childhood in the South of France, and we meet his monster of a father (Hugo Weaving), we

begin to find out. DVD and Now TV/Sky, 1 series

19. THE AFFAIR

The emotional fallout from Dominic West and Ruth Wilson’s catastrophic affair has now spawned four series. Complex and glossy, at its best it’s a provocative, deeply involving psychodrama. And if series three veered off piste, series four successfully reined it right back on track.

Now TV/Sky, 4 series 20. MINDHUNTER

The story of two FBI agents (played by Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany) pioneering the art of criminal profiling in the late Seventies is both gripping and chilling. The pair hit upon the idea of interviewing serial killers to try to work out what makes them tick – then use that knowledge to solve new cases. Netflix, 1 series

21. LEGION

This X-Men spin-off stars Downton’s Dan Stevens as a psychiatric patient who has trouble distinguishing hallucinations from reality. But is he mentally ill – or a mutant? We, the viewers, have as much trouble working out what’s really going on as he does but it looks and sounds so great that it doesn’t really seem to matter. Now TV/Sky, 2 series

22. STRANGER THINGS

One of Netflix’s biggest hits. With the help of a mysterious girl with psychokinetic abilities, a group of young friends in Hawkins, Indiana, have to deal with the extra-dimensional fallout of sinister government experiments. It’s an affectionate Spielberg-esque homage to Eighties pop culture and music, with a welcome return to form for Winona Ryder. Netflix, 2 series

23. MARVEL’S JESSICA JONES

Down these mean streets goes Jessica Jones, a spiky superhero turned sarcastic private eye in a stylish and noirish addition to the Marvel universe. Jones (Krysten Ritter) has some great one-liners. ‘Talk about obvious,’ she says to Kilgrave, the bad guy. ‘Was Murdercorpse already taken?’ Netflix, 2 series

24. DOCTOR FOSTER

Suranne Jones is superb as the wronged/ unhinged doc in Mike Bartlett’s compelling, at times bonkers psychodrama, which gave us TV’s most loathsome ever couple in Gemma and Simon. Look out for Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer as Simon’s lover. Standout moment: that dinner party from hell in series one. Netflix, series 1; DVD, series 2

25. FAUDA

Israeli-made Fauda is an almost unbearably tense thriller about an undercover military unit operating in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank. It’s said to be as popular with Arabs as with Israelis and the series shows that both sides are prepared to torture and murder to achieve their aims. It’s edge-of-the-seat entertainment, and a unique insight into what’s really going on in the Middle East. Netflix, 2 series

26. BETTER CALL SAUL

The prequel to Breaking Bad fills in the back story of the charismatic Albuquerque lawyer on his journey to becoming the morally questionable associate of teacher turned meth-maker Walter White (Bryan Cranston). It’s a slowburner, sharing its progenitor’s cinematic grandeur and taking full advantage of the comic chops of Bob Odenkirk. Netflix, 4 series

30. WESTWORLD

time killing and abusing them? Anthony Hopkins is brilliant as the creator of the fantasy world, but it’s Thandie Newton as one of the rebellious androids who steals the show. Now TV, series 1; DVD series 1 and 2

31. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Prisoner Cell Block H for the modern era? Not quite. Netflix’s most popular original series was initially centred on the experiences inside a New York prison of upper middle-class Piper Chapman (Taylor Schilling). But over six series it diversified into gang violence and even transsexual inmates. Netflix and DVD, 6 series

32. BILLIONS

Swaggering, high-stakes financial thriller as two adversaries – hedge-fund king Bobby ‘Axe’ Axelrod and US attorney Chuck Rhoades – face off on Wall Street. It’s a roller-coaster ride between Emmy winners Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti as the power games switch to and fro, with a terrific ensemble cast. Now TV/Sky, 3 series

33. DAREDEVIL

Brit actor Charlie Cox (Boardwalk Empire) plays blind superhero Matt Murdock, attorney by day, saving New York by night, in a Marvel series that crosses the geek divide and has universal appeal. Violent and noir-ish, it boasts brains and brawn. Netflix, 3 series

35. MR ROBOT

A cyber-security engineer is recruited as a hacker by a group of vigilantes taking on corporate power. Starring Rami Malek (now about to appear as Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic) and Christian Slater, it’s a timely conspiracy thriller with an edgily subversive script. TV’s cyber revolution starts here. Amazon Prime, 3 series

36. HANNIBAL

Mads Mikkelsen is mesmeric as the preSilence Of The Lambs Hannibal Lecter, a brilliant psychiatrist by day and creative cannibal by night. The gory set-pieces can make it a challenging watch, but you may just find it deliciously addictive. Serial killing has never looked so artful. Netflix, 3 series

37. ORPHAN BLACK

Smart, scandalously underwatched Canadian sci-fi drama about a female clone’s mission to find her ‘sisters’. A global

conspiracy thriller meets revenge drama, it’s held together by the scintillating, Emmy-award-winning performance(s) of Tatiana Maslany. A one-woman show, and then some. Netflix, 5 series

38. OUTLANDER

A 20th-century nurse (Co. Monaghan’s Caitriona Balfe) finds herself thrown back in time to 18th-century Scotland, where she falls in love with a highlander, is caught up in the Jacobite rebellion and uses her knowledge of medicine and history to her advantage. Romance, action and glorious scenery in equal measure. Amazon Prime, 3 series

39. UNFORGOTTEN

A surprise creeper hit for ITV, DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunny Khan (Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar) have become one of TV’s most popular police pairings. Beautifully crafted and with very human stories, it’s a cold-case detective series with a big heart. Netflix, series 1 and 2; DVD, series 3

41. SHARP OBJECTS

Adapted from Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn’s debut novel. Amy Adams is a reporter with a drink problem who returns to her home town to write about the disappearance of a girl. This disturbing series rewards careful viewing. Be sure to watch the credits of the final episode. DVD mid-November, 1 series

42. THE WALKING DEAD

When something turns the vast majority of people into ‘walkers’ – rotting, flesh-hungry zombies – the few remaining unaffected humans must battle them, and each other, to survive in a ruined, post-apocalyptic world. Starring Andrew Lincoln and David Morrissey, this ongoing show is as gripping as it is gory. Now TV/Sky, 8 series

45. DEUTSCHLAND 83

The DDR’s sinister Stasi was the unlikely subject for the surprise hit of 2016: a German-language drama that saw border guard Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay) being posted to the decadent West to work as a spy. Viewers loved the subtle humour and lashings of cheesy Eighties pop. A follow-up series, set in 1986, will be shown on Channel 4 early next year. All4 and DVD, 1 series

46. GOMORRAH

Imagine The Wire relocated to the grimy streets of Naples and you’re getting close to the vibe of this glamour-free Mafia crime drama following the Camorra syndicate. ‘See Naples and die’ could be the show’s refrain. Makes The Sopranos look cuddly. Now TV/Sky, 3 series

47. MANIAC

Troubled misfits played by Emma Stone and Jonah Hill take part in the trial of an experimental drug supposed to fix all their mental problems. Strap yourself in for a visually stunning, mind-meltingly strange trip. Directed by Cary Fukunaga, who is to helm the next Bond film. Netflix, 1 series

48. OZARK

It’s one crisis after another for financial planner Marty Hyde (a brilliant Jason Bateman) as he scrambles to launder $500m in the Ozark Mountains, Missouri, to pay off a debt to a drug cartel in this darkly comic crime thriller. Meanwhile, wife Wendy (the excellent Laura Linney) and the couple’s two teenage children face up to an equally tough task: making friends with the locals. Netflix, 2 series

49. PENNY DREADFUL

From the writer of Skyfall and Gladiator, this sumptuous horror drama revolves around the evil-fighting exploits of Miss Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) and Sir Malcolm Murray (Timothy Dalton), who battle vampires and witches. Dr Frankenstein, Count Dracula and Dorian Grey all make an appearance. Now TV/Sky, 3 series

50. THE TERROR

A true hidden gem, this icy supernatural horror will gnaw away at your soul. Jared Harris and Ciaran Hinds lead a doomed 1845 expedition to find the Northwest Passage, only to sail straight into a full-on nautical nightmare. Menacing, brutal and not for the faint-hearted. DVD, 1 series