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27 December 2022

The New Statesman’s best TV shows of 2022

The highlights of the year, from The English to The White Lotus.

By Rachel Cooke

Marriage (BBC One)

Stefan Golaszewski’s plangent, exquisitely observed masterpiece, starring Nicola Walker and Sean Bean as a couple muddling along.

The English (BBC Two)

In which Hugo Blick tips his Stetson, circles his wagons, and brilliantly reinvents the Western for the Brexit generation.

The White Lotus (Sky Atlantic/HBO)

Mike White’s delicious satire of the spoiled, anhedonic rich returns – with added nastiness.

The Newsreader (BBC Two/ABC)

Who could resist the Poison-scented embrace of this winning Australian import set in an Eighties TV newsroom?

Sherwood (BBC One)

James Graham’s crime drama set in a Nottinghamshire village haunted by the miners’ strike: rich, complex, utterly gripping.

The Dropout (Hulu/Disney+)

Could Amanda Seyfried have been any more superb – or weird – as the biotech fraudster, Elizabeth Holmes?

Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams (BBC One)

In which a famous cricketer uses a bat and a ball to change young lives. Impossible to watch without weeping.

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Big Oil vs the World (BBC Two)

Serious, long-form journalism about climate change and corruption that was revelatory, important and – above all – insomnia-inducing.

Chloe (BBC Two)

Click start: drama about self-invention and social media starring Erin Doherty that should have grabbed far more attention than it did.

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! (ITV)

Like it or not, Matt Hancock’s appearance told us innumerable things about ourselves, as well as about him – every single one of them bad.

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This article appears in the 07 Dec 2022 issue of the New Statesman, Christmas Special