Best TV shows of 2024: Shogun, English Teacher, Ripley, Slow Horses and more

The streaming industry is changing.

With studios and media companies contracting their spending and shifting priorities to less expensive productions and more broad-appeal series, there’s this spectre hanging around that suggests timid executives with an eye on the profit and loss statement are taking less creative risks.

The so-called “Golden Age of TV” is a decade in the rear view mirror and we’re over the hump of peak TV. Add to that febrile environment the dual Hollywood writers and actors strikes of 2023 and it can feel like a bit of a letdown.

But even in a slate dominated by forgettable, mediocre Netflix shows, an explosion of indistinguishable young adult fare and the tsunami of reality TV on platforms that previously provided sanctuary from such trifle, there are still gems.

Shows that either took those risks, created absorbing universes or threw its heft behind character-building — or all of the above. This is the class of 2024 in fantastic TV.

SHOGUN

If you’ve ever really looked at a piece of Japanese ceramics, you’d be astounded at the level of detail and care that goes into its craft. Shogun may actually be an American production that was filmed in Canada, but its meticulously built world is worthy of its subject.

An adaptation of James Clavell’s 1975 novel, which was based on 17th historical figures, the universe of Shogun is both brutal and gentle, finding beauty in violent battles and contemplative tea ceremonies.

It’s a game of scheming lords and feudal ladies, vying for victory and survival in a power vacuum created by the death of the former ruler. It’s an intricate dance and Shogun revels in every step and side-step.

The production values are astonishing but core of this wonderful show are the performances, especially from Anna Sawai as Lady Mariko, who carries the guilt of a tainted family legacy but sees more than she lets on, and Hiroyuki Sanada as the dignified and clever Lord Toranaga.

RIPLEY

Patricia Highsmith wrote one of the great characters of modern literature that was unbothered by conventional morality. Conman Tom Ripley is slippery and calculating, but always on the verge of panic. With the eight-episode Ripley, Steve Zaillian’s handsome series gets to luxuriate in the character’s stormy soul.

A stark departure from Anthony Minghella’s lush 1999 movie version, this iteration is patient, it delights in each scene like the cat that watches Tom’s misdeeds from the foyer of his Rome apartment, and asks you how complicit are you, as the audience, in his actions.

Its black-and-white cinematography makes the most of Italy’s baroque spaces, drawing on Caravaggio’s paintings with an emphasis on chiaroscuro in its mise-en-scene. You could literally frame any moment in this incredible to-look-at show.

SLOW HORSES

One of the great joys of TV in the past three years has been Slow Horses, and this taut spy thriller never misses. Gary Oldman as the curmudgeon but still sharp Jackson Lamb has the best one-liners as he condescends his way through the latest catastrophe.

For a team of MI5 rejects, they’ve proven themselves particularly adept at the spy game, and, thank god, because this season, the case is very personal, connected to River’s grandfather’s past.

Slow Horses always manages to balance high-octane action sequences of gun-fights, bomb blasts and foot chases with the wheeling and dealing wordplay of espionage, as well as keeping its droll sense of humour.

ENGLISH TEACHER

Brian Jordan Alvarez has been hanging around the business in supporting or guest roles but it was likely his viral TikTok videos that convinced the upper-ups to give him his own show. Finally, something we can thank TikTok for.

English Teacher was an under-the-radar gem when it premiered but as it dropped new episodes weekly, more and more people caught on to how funny and smart it was, how clever it was at tackling Big Issues such as gun control, gender identity and other political hot potatoes.

It does it with compassion and punch-up humour, and through an ensemble of well-developed characters, any of whom could carry their own show.

THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

This under-watched Australian show was a surprise delight, but maybe we shouldn’t have been so shocked. Its co-creator and director, Dylan River, has already proven himself to be a talent to watch with his previous work, including the snappy web series, Robbie Hood.

Thou Shalt Not Steal stars Sherry-Lee Watson as Robyn, an Indigenous teenager who breaks out of juvie when she hears her dying grandfather has a message for her.

That secret sets her off on a quest during which she teams up with the runaway Gidge (Will McDonald) as they’re chased by Maxine (Miranda Otto), a sex worker whose car Robyn, Gidge’s fire-and-brimstone dad (Noah Taylor) and the cops (Sharri Sebbens and Darren Gilshenan).

It’s a madcap road trip ride across the Northern Territory’s stark landscapes to Coober Pedy, all while bringing acerbic humour and fresh perspectives to a range of subjects including crime and justice, religion, addiction and Indigenous experiences.

MR & MRS SMITH

When you’re cast in the shadow of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s palpable screen chemistry in the original Mr & Mrs Smith movie, it can be intimidating. The smarter thing is to not try and replicate it but do your own thing.

Donald Glover and Maya Erskine’s series did exactly that. It up-ended the story that the two spies meet as strangers posing as a married couple, which allowed them to find their attraction to each other, taking us along for the ride. It was pure magnetism and sensuality, and you just wanted to eat it up.

It was also just an undeniably cool show, and not just by virtue of having two Millennial comedic talents who ooze allure. Everything — from the fabulous New York City brownstone to the ski slopes of the Italian, their wardrobes, and the list of guest stars including Parker Posey, John Turturro, Wagner Moura and Michaela Coel — is cool.

THE PENGUIN

Apart from Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, DC doesn’t have a great track record in acclaim for its TV and film output. Most of its TV shows in the past have been in the Arrowverse, which, while popular among fans, was more pulpy broadcast fun than prestige.

The Penguin is a definite outlier. If it hadn’t been a spin-off from Matt Reeves’ Batman and featured characters named Oswald Cobb and Sofia Falcone, you would never have been clued in that it even was a comic books show.

The Penguin is a straight-up gangster crime thriller with the tone, storylines and complexity that could’ve easily lived in The Sopranos or The Godfather universes as it followed the ambitions of the Penguin in trying to make a man of himself in a vicious business.

Colin Farrell had already impressed in the role on the big screen so it was Cristin Milioti as the dangerous Sofia that was the real revelation. She’s a small package but she packs a powerful punch. Plus, it had a finale that will literally make you gasp.

HACKS

Hacks had already won plaudits for its first two seasons, exploring the generational conflict between a defiant ageing stand-up comic and the self-sabotaging Millennial writer she hired to freshen up her act. Jean Smart is, and always will be, a superstar and her energy matches perfectly with Hannah Einbinder’s spikier vibe.

This third season has been a series high point (so far) as it broke down their relationship, giving them room to breathe as themselves without each other but bringing them back in a way that further complicates their already thorny bond.

It’s also a series about growth — like, genuine, believable, earned character growth — as both women are confronted with and held accountable for their past mistakes, and make choices on how they can move forward in their world. Also, it’s funny.

NOBODY WANT THIS

Light doesn’t have to mean lightweight, and Nobody Wants This came along at the exact moment everyone wanted a bit of froth and joy in their lives. In a genre that has increasingly demanded less, this series proves that you can meet a standard set by the classics.

The show is centred on Joanne, a sex podcaster, and Noah, a rabbi. On paper, they’re not supposed to work, but their chemistry is undeniable and they’re determined to cross cultural lines. It’s intoxicating because Kristen Bell and Adam Brody sizzle as if it’s real.

Npbody Wants This was something of a renaissance for Brody, especially because the character he’s playing feels like such a unicorn in the real world of dating in 2024 — a nice, emotionally mature man who is open to other people’s vulnerabilities and doesn’t flee at the first sign of something messy.

BABY REINDEER

Baby Reindeer promised at the start that it wasn’t just based on a true story but that it was a true story – a disclaimer that may yet prove to be very costly in court. But it gave the show stakes. Could this really be real? Could these people exist?

On the surface, it’s a story about an aspiring comedian who is stalked by a mentally unwell woman, but this is not another drop in the ocean of true crime titillation, it’s a raw confessional dark comedy that is taking a big artistic swing.

The fourth episode where everything about the character’s past trauma comes to the fore is one of the most gut-wrenching 45 minutes of TV this year. Creator Richard Gadd stands before us, metaphorically naked, and we’re all changed for it.

PACHINKO

Cultural displacement and how the experience and memory of it is passed down through the generations is at the heart of Pachinko, a lush and considered historical drama adapted from Korean-American writer Min Kin Lee’s book.

The saga spans from 1916 until 1989 across several generations of a Korean family who migrated to Japan during the imperial power’s occupation. They are treated as second-class in a land that will not accept them. Striving for acceptance is less urgent than just survival, but with each generation, those ambitions change.

Wonderful performances from the likes of Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung make this vivid story come alive but even though it is specific to this particular slice of 20th century history, the emotions are universal.

Honourable mentions: Somebody Somewhere, Say Nothing, Industry, Rivals, Colin From Accounts, The Bear, The Diplomat, Blue Lights, The Sympathiser, The Day of the Jackal, A Man on the Inside, Boy Swallows Universe, Elsbeth and Fantasmas