REWIND THE TV HIGHS OF 2018
Pass the remote! MARION McMULLEN looks back at a year of TV thrills and spills
1 THE stand-out drama series of the year was The Bodyguard.
Writer Jed Mercurio’s political thriller for the BBC saw Richard Madden and Keeley Hawes (pictured left) as troubled bodyguard and police officer David Budd and controversial Home Secretary Julia Montague.
The final episode reached an audience peak of 11 million, the biggest overnight drama figure since 10.5m saw Downton Abbey’s series two finale in 2011. 2 IT WAS the end of an era as Channel 5 confirmed that the 19th series of Big Brother would be their last. Norwich vlogger Cameron Cole was crowned the final winner of the regular version, while this year’s second celebrity edition was won by soap star Ryan Thomas. He beat American actress Kirstie Alley in the final. 3 DOCTOR
Who fans were introduced to the first female Timelord, played by Jodie Whittaker, when the sci-fi series returned to BBC1. A total of 10.54 million people watched her first adventure in October, more viewers than any episode that featured her predecessor Peter Capaldi. 4 ALMOST 18 million viewers across the UK watched Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tie the knot at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in May. Around 29 million people also watched television coverage of the royal wedding in America. 5 IT WAS all change on I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! as Holly Willoughby took on the presenting duties of Ant McPartlin. Ant said he would be taking a break from TV until 2019 after a drink-driving charge earlier in the year. Harry Redknapp, right, was crowned king of the jungle. 6 EASTENDERS star Danny Dyer’s rant went viral as he aired his political views on the evening spin-off show to ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Danny, below, laid into former PM David Cameron over his part in Brexit. He said of Cameron: “Where is he? He’s in Europe, in Nice with his trotters up. Where is the geezer? I think he should be held accountable for it.” 7 CORONATION STREET said goodbye to Shayne Ward’s character, Aidan Connor, in an emotional storyline focusing on male suicide. The ITV soap was widely praised for raising awareness of mental health issues and male suicide and Shayne said he has been overwhelmed by the response from fans. 8 MATTHEW WRIGHT announced in May he was leaving his role as host of Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff after almost 18 years. The show was renamed after its new host, Jeremy Vine, pictured, who took over in September. Jeremy said his new show was going to be better than Question Time. 9 THE X FACTOR announced a new judging panel of One Direction star Louis Tomlinson and singer Robbie Williams and his wife, Ayda, to join head judge Simon Cowell. The show will reportedly continue to be on air until at least 2022, despite the current series’ audience falling to its lowest level since the programme began in 2004. 10 AFTER screening to critical acclaim in the US, Killing Eve arrived on the BBC in September. The spy thriller starring Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer (pictured), has received more than 26 million “requests” on iPlayer so far. The pair will be back for a second series next year.