Happy Valley, Becks and Beef - TV highlights of 2023

Here we take a look back at the top 10 shows of the year, from haunting post-apocalyptic dramas to side-splitting romantic comedies and plenty in between.

HAPPY VALLEY

The top of many of our must-watched of the year.

Happy Valley was a triumph – and Sarah Lancashire brilliant.

fans had to wait a long time for a new fix of the BBC One crime drama after series two ended in 2016, but 2023 was the year that saw police sergeant Catherine Cawood, played by Sarah Lancashire, back on screen.

Picking up seven years after the events of series two, we saw Catherine, who’s now close to retirement age, called to investigate human remains found near a reservoir. She came to realise that the murder suspects share a history with the incarcerated rapist and murderer Tommy Lee Royce, played by James Norton, who raped Catherine’s daughter and who she holds responsible for her suicide.

As Catherine unravelled the mystery, viewers and critics were enthralled. It might have been the final series of the crime drama, but fans won’t be forgetting Happy Valley in a hurry.

THE LAST OF US

Video game fans have long been arguing that the medium be taken seriously as a mode of storytelling, and with HBO’s The Last of Us - based on the Naughty Dog game of the same name - breaking the hearts of viewers across the world, they may have just achieved their wish.

The post-apocalyptic drama, starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey as Joel and Ellie, is set 20 years into a pandemic caused by a fungal infection - Cordyceps - which has caused the collapse of society. Ramsey’s Ellie is immune to the infection, and Pascal’s Joel is tasked with smuggling the teenager across a post-apocalyptic United States as she may be the key to creating a vaccine.

The series was nominated for a string of awards, including 24 Primetime Emmys, and received acclaim from critics praising the writing, performances and production design. A second season is expected in 2025.

THE BEAR

The second season of comedy-drama The Bear, streaming on Disney+, saw Carmy and Sydney, played by Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri, take on the monumental challenge of ripping the guts out of The Original Beef of Chicagoland and transform it into a fine dining establishment. Of course, this wasn’t your typical kitchen drama - the impeccably written episodes contained intricate character studies, intimate portraits of family and friendship, and an omelette recipe that had everyone digging out their frying pans to have a go for themselves. And with The Bear officially renewed for a third season, set to land in 2024, there’s plenty more to come from Carmy and the gang.

COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS

While Australian comedy series Colin from Accounts delighted viewers Down Under in late 2022, it wasn’t until 2023 that it made its way onto BBC iPlayer in the UK – but it soon won Brits over, too.

The romantic comedy follows Ashley and Gordon, played by the series’ writers Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, who are brought together when Gordon runs over a stray dog after being distracted by Ashley on the street. They are then faced with a choice: put the dog down, or fork out thousands of dollars in medical bills and take care of the high-needs dog - who needs wheels to get around - themselves.

Needless to say, with the series being named after little Colin the terrier, Ashley and Gordon find themselves no longer strangers, but forever bound by their new fluffy friend. What follows is a hilarious story about two funny, flawed, brilliantly-written characters as they navigate bizarre situations.

SUCCESSION

Also returning for a final season this year was HBO’s Succession.

The satirical comedy-drama from British screenwriter Jesse Armstrong followed the Roy family - owners of global media and entertainment conglomerate Waystar RoyCo - for four seasons, the final of which began airing in March, as the members of the family vied for control of the company as patriarch Logan, played by Brian Cox, experienced a decline in health. The show was consistently popular and well-received, earning an incredible 75 Primetime Emmy Award nominations throughout its tenure, and wrapped up this year with an explosive finale.

TOP BOY

2023 also saw the end of British gang crime drama Top Boy, which follows drug dealers on the fictional Hackney estate of Summerhouse, culminating in a fifth season on Netflix. Dushane and Sully, played by Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson respectively, returned for another season of criminal activity that was as raw, gritty and authentic as ever.

BOILING POINT

Philip Barantini’s 2021 film Boiling Point brought a new level of kitchen drama to screens with its one-shot technique which brought a hectic restaurant to life.

This year, stars Stephen Graham, Vinette Robinson, Hannah Walters and more returned to their roles for a four-part miniseries on BBC One, which picked up six months after the film left off and followed Robinson’s Carly running her own restaurant.

BEEF

Critics and fans alike loved Steven Yeun and Ali Wong in Beef, a Netflix comedy-drama which follows two strangers, Danny and Amy, as their involvement in a road rage incident escalates into a full-on feud.

The show received 13 nominations at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.

And while there’s no further seasons confirmed, writer Lee Sung Jin has revealed he’s planned for three seasons of Danny and Amy’s story - so here’s hoping for more.

BECKHAM

The world watched as footballer David Beckham charted a meteoric rise to global sporting stardom throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In Netflix docuseries Beckham, we relived the moments that made him through never-before-seen footage and interviews with his nearest and dearest including his wife, Spice Girl and fashion designer Victoria Beckham - a roller coaster journey from working-class beginnings to status as a living legend.

COLEEN ROONEY: THE REAL WAGATHA STORY

Who needs fiction when real life can be more entertaining?

In 2023, we saw WAG Coleen Rooney tell the story of the libel case dubbed ‘Wagatha Christie’ in Disney+ documentary Coleen Rooney: The Real Wagatha Story.

“It’s... Rebekah Vardy’s account” were four words that broke the internet in 2019, when Rooney claimed Vardy, wife of Leicester City captain Jamie, was leaking posts from her private Instagram account to The Sun.

Vardy sued Rooney for libel, but the court dismissed Vardy’s claim, and in this explosive documentary series we heard Wagatha herself tell all about her investigation.