The beige sofas and brutally lacquered hairstyles of The Newsreader (ABC/BBC/Roku) bely a colourful, multi-layered drama set in a 1980s Australian TV newsroom. Helen Norville (Anna Torv) and Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) are the two emotionally intertwined news anchors who are just about holding it together on screen, as things take a distinctly messier turn off it.
Somebody Somewhere (HBO/Sky) is a beautiful comedy-drama set in smalltown middle America.
Its star Bridget Everett plays a 40-something woman who has returned to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas (from the other Manhattan), to care for her dying sister. But the show refuses to follow predictable redemption arcs in favour of something much more honest and affectionate.
Graham Snowdon, editor
The third and final series of Top Boy (Netflix) came to a poignantly nihilistic end as the rivalry between childhood best friends Dushane (Ashley Walters) and Sully (Kane Robinson) spiralled further from the vortex of Hackney's Summerhouse estate. Brilliantly acted, written and conceived to create empathy amid violence.
If Colin from Accounts (BBC) was one of the fruits of the UK's post-Brexit trade deal with Australia, then it was a welcome benefit. Reallife partners Harriet Dyer as Ashley and Patrick Brammall as Gordon write and star as the odd couple brought together by a collision with Colin, the titular dog whose disability cements and complicates a perfect sitcom set-up.
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