Looking back: the best TV shows of 2023
From medical K-drama Daily Dose of Sunshine with Park Bo-young to culinary gem The Bear, season 2, starring Jeremy Allen White, here are the best TV shows of 2023
10. Daily Dose of Sunshine, Netflix
The brilliance of K-dramas is in coalescing the grim mundane with some glorious fantasies. Whereas plenty of British and American medical dramas emphasise the tangible in a rational, scientific environment (aside from the occasional hallucination), Daily Dose of Sunshine utilises expressionistic visions to demonstrate the realities of mental health problems. In doing so, the drama of the mind reaches you closer than mere facts and statistics.
The series follows Jung Da-eun (Park Bo-young), a 20-something nurse who’s transferred from internal medicine to a psychiatric unit for being too nice. She goes the extra mile for patients, while many other nurses just want to get the job(s) done. By caring for those with varied disorders, including one patient who imagines he's in a fantasy game, she grows to understand her own mental health – revealing the prejudice and stigma around admitting when something is wrong. Daily Dose of Sunshine is funny, romantic, educational and occasionally traumatic.
Photo: Netflix
9. Doctor Who, BBC One
Favourite doctors among Whovians tend to vary across generations. Those old enough to remember the classic Doctor Who will probably opt for Tom Baker. Zoomers might pick Matt Smith or Peter Capaldi. But if you’re a millennial, David Tennant is the undebatable King of the Doctors. He made a surprise return after Jodie Whittaker’s iteration regenerated, and then reunited with his energetic BFF companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate).
The three 60th anniversary specials – serving as the transition into Ncuti Gatwa’s new Doctor – became a wonderful comeback for the series. Not only has the writer/showrunner Russell T Davies returned, but the international collaboration with Disney increased the budget to Avengers-level sci-fi. This culminates in one of Doctor Who’s most thrilling episodes, The Giggle, starring Neil Patrick Harris as the psychopathic Toymaker – a family-friendly amalgamation of Jigsaw and Pennywise the Clown, wrapped in a German fairytale demeanour. This is event television of galactic quality.
Photo: BBC
8. World on Fire, series 2, BBC One
With the War in Ukraine and the rise of far-right populism in Europe, World on Fire provides a sobering history lesson – a reminder of how bad things can turn. Whereas many WWII dramas focus on the English war effort, writer Peter Bowker’s ambitious project expands across the continent: to France, to Germany, and even to the Sahara Desert.
Each character speaks in their native language with country-specific idiosyncrasies, giving the series a weight of genuineness. This becomes clear as Kasia (Zofia Wichłacz), a Nazi-killer-turned-refugee, tries to assimilate into English society – with scant success. English soldier/translator Harry (Jonah Hauer-King) heads to the Sahara to help the Indian Sappers against the Italians. And in Berlin, the 16-year-old Marga (Miriam Schiweck) submits herself to the horrendous Lebensborn program, designed to produce the most eugenically appropriate heirs to the Nazi empire. As well as revealing the good achieved during the war, Bowker shows the true horrors of that time.
Photo: BBC
7. The Last of Us, Sky Atlantic
Prior to 2023, it was a truth universally acknowledged that video game adaptations stank. Games are built with a user interface in mind, whereas movies and TV shows merely observe – turning adaptations into clunky experiences. The Last of Us is a hallowed PlayStation game that provides a semi-cinematic experience while using the gameplay for human empathy: walking in the characters’ shoes, almost literally, is a new level of storytelling. Its translation into an HBO series was met with scepticism, but original writer Neil Druckmann and Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin reshape the story perfectly for TV – creating an intense, terrifying, and humanistic post-apocalypse drama.
As the world is overcome by a parasitic zombie fungus, the blunt 50-something Joel (Pedro Pascal) exists day to day in a militarised zone. But then he meets the fiery 14-year-old Ellie (Bella Ramsey) and becomes accidentally embroiled in a resistance movement. Although the premise is in Joel delivering Ellie to a group of scientists on the other side of the US, it's their growing relationship on the road that pulls you in week by week. And occasionally, Druckmann and Mazin love to blindside you with a crushing episode like Long, Long Time to change the perception of what this genre can do.
Photo: Sky/HBO
6. Happy Valley, series 3, BBC One
With British TV, certain decisions would be impossible across the pond. Despite fewer episodes and longer gaps between seasons in this ‘prestige’ era, popular US shows can’t break for too long. But Sally Wainwright’s raw, gritty and gruelling northern cop drama Happy Valley allowed seven years to elapse between series two and three. And this wasn’t a case of cancellation and return – it was a deliberate creative decision by Wainwright herself. It’s a risky move, but one that pays off immensely.
Series three returns to the story of police sergeant Catherine Cawood (a sternly unforgettable Sarah Lancashire), who's raising her grandson Ryan (Rhys Connor) with her sister Clare (Siobhan Finneran). Ryan’s mother was driven to suicide by the horrific Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton), now in prison for his crimes. But as Ryan enters adolescence, he grows more curious about his father and sets out to meet him – not knowing the full story. This leads into one of the best scenes of the year, maybe one of the best on British television, where Catherine finally confronts Tommy in a powerful, incendiary dialogue that still burns months after watching. The series cements Wainwright’s status as a vital force for the small screen.
Photo: BBC
5. Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland, BBC Two
With its examination of religious and political sectarianism, James Bluemel’s latest documentary Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland achieves a deeper resonance given the ongoing Israel/Palestine conflict. And despite the intense complexities on both sides, the scale of morality-shredding violence is hard to justify.
Bluemel interviews ordinary people on all sides of The Troubles from the late 60s to the late 90s and even further. Many continue to seek justice or peace or even forgiveness for that abhorrent period, the episodes populated with explosions, gunfire and coffins. Some interviewees cut your heart apart; others struggle to generate sympathy for their actions, including those who have likely committed murder.
The five-part series draws from bountiful clips and reels from archive footage, astutely and often poetically edited together. One scene uses the Milltown Cemetery attack by UDA member Anthony Stone, organised into a chaos of bullets and grenades. Despite the impossibility of knowing what it was truly like to live under those conditions, Bluemel places you as close to the action as possible.
Photo: BBC
4. Dead Ringers, Prime Video
Bodies are beautiful, and they’re also disgusting. Cult horror filmmaker David Cronenberg clearly thinks the same, but Alice Birch’s new remake of his 1988 film Dead Ringers feels it harder. The Prime Video series brings together intense satire and colourfully vulgar language for a dark take on the future of childbirth via twin gynaecologists Beverly (Rachel Weisz) and Elliott (also Rachel Weisz).
It’s wise to say here: trigger warning. Dead Ringers features miscarriages and dead babies as well as a vivid montage of sprogs making their bloody entrance into the world. Birch has little interest in showing the beauty of the process, only its darkest and dirtiest aspects, with the twins' fervency to improve it. Bev is the introverted, big-vision sister, while Elliott is impulsive with a constant appetite for food, sex and controversy. They share almost everything together, and even swap into each other’s personalities when they feel like it. Friction comes between them as Bev sees a famous actress and their dream of a radical birthing centre comes under the control of corporate giant Rebecca (Jennifer Ehle).
Yes, it’s weird and bleak and often nauseating – strong stomachs required – but needles into an engrossing psychosexual nightmare. Cronenberg’s original is a shy shadow in comparison.
Photo: Amazon
3. Fleishman is in Trouble, Disney+
Woody Allen’s tales of eloquent, middle-class Manhattanites became somewhat tainted by accusations levelled at the filmmaker, so the job now is to find adequate replacements. Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel) is a good shout, as is Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale). But after adapting her 2019 novel Fleishman is in Trouble, writer/creator Taffy Brodesser-Akner more than deserves to stand in the same list – she even approaches a skilful, post-modern superiority over the rest.
Although voiceover narration should be avoided in general, it's essential in Fleishman. You don’t realise it at first, but the series is a fascinating study in perspective and differing angles of reality. The disoriented story of Dr Toby Fleishman (an extroverted, if anxious, Jesse Eisenberg) is told by his college friend Libby (Lizzy Caplan), discussing his recent single dad lifestyle after divorcing talent agent and social climber Rachel (Claire Danes). He’s an Old Millennial, only now discovering the infinite opportunities of modern-day dating apps – speeding through an orgasmic flurry of sexual partners. He’s also an enviably excellent father, even if his eldest daughter Hannah (Meara Mahoney-Gross) hates him and shares her mother’s upper-class pomposity.
But when Rachel disappears after dropping the kids off, Toby is forced to ascend out of his hedonistic daze to look after his kids permanently, find Rachel, and figure out where their marriage went wrong. You’re eventually enlightened on Rachel’s version, the point of view shifting to a frightening, upsetting and psychologically warped experience – opening your idea of her, limited by Toby’s biased recollections.
Photo: Disney
2. Succession, season 4, Sky Atlantic
Jesse Armstrong’s corporate family satire isn’t the absolute best show of the year, but it’s certainly the most talked about. Each episode drew meticulous attention, spawning memes for every occasion. Succession could’ve continued for three more seasons without much complaint, but Armstrong’s decision to leave it at four is a wise and prudent move. It allowed him and the other writers to focus all their attention on a decent conclusion, resulting in the show's finest season.
Some episodes will be held in the trophy case of American television for years to come, bolstered by scenes that are impossible to forget: the last confrontation between father and siblings (‘You are not serious people’); Shiv saying goodbye to her father over the phone; Tom and Shiv fighting on the balcony; Roman’s breakdown; Shiv’s betrayal against Kendall (‘I’m the eldest boy!’). All culminate in a gripping prestige drama that explores the nuances of family love and trauma, the corruptive adjoining of politics and corporate capitalism, and the psychological implications of being wealthy and powerful but untalented.
By the end, the Roy siblings topple under the weight of their own arrogance – the company pushed into more duplicitous hands. In a series that makes you wonder why you’re still watching for such awful human beings, an unhappy ending was the only one possible. And yet, watching a family torn apart by money and power – life purposes and expectations shattered – is nonetheless an enduring and empathetic one. You won’t lose sleep over their loss, but their story has been constantly compelling.
Read our review of the series finale
Photo: Sky/HBO
1. The Bear, season 2, Disney+
Whereas the first season of Christopher Storer’s wonderful culinary series The Bear only just made Culture Whisper’s Top 10 last year, it’s now firmly in first place. By many people’s estimations, season one deserved higher praise. But this writer stands by it. The first volume in the story of The Bear restaurant is a series of introductory vignettes leading to probable demise: pressured with anxiety, depression and grief – no exit to see. But then a preternatural financial solution opened a hopeful window for the chefs in the kitchen, leading into a second season so driven, so redemptive and so engaging that – like pride for the members of one’s family – you crave these characters’ success in their careers and in themselves.
This is a journey with a near-impossible objective, but these courageous cooks are willing to risk everything. As well as being about real and surrogate families, The Bear embraces the struggle and brilliance of creativity. As a result, their dishes come out as ephemeral and visually satisfying pieces of art – born out of effort, trauma and love despite the odds.
All the characters are vivid and idiosyncratic, but this season belongs to Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) – both looking to better themselves after bad starts. Carmy’s new and risky relationship with childhood friend Claire (Molly Gordon) is warm and sweet and seasoned with connective, directionless dialogue. Equally, you’re rooting for Richie as he outgrows his former anger to make something of his life, to shed the middle-aged existentialism that shadows his sense of worth.
Even if opening a restaurant is a doomed endeavour, these gastronomic artists find hope in looking to the stars from a chaotic gutter.
Photo: Disney
Honourable mentions:
Archie, ITVX
Colin From Accounts, BBC iPlayer
The Crown, season 6, Netflix
Daisy Jones & The Six, Prime Video
The Fall of the House of Usher, Netflix
The Gold, BBC One
Great Expectations, BBC One
Heartstopper, season 2, Netflix
I’m A Virgo, Prime Video
Lessons in Chemistry, Apple TV+
A Murder at the End of the World, Disney+
Nolly, ITVX
Poker Face, Sky Atlantic / NOW
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Netflix
Rain Dogs, BBC iPlayer
Sex Education, season 4, Netflix
Silo, Apple TV+
Time, series 2, BBC One