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.
Denne historien er fra December 22, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra December 22, 2023-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
The Saudi football World Cup is an act of violence and disdain
Well, that's that then. In the event there were only two notes of jeopardy around Fifa's extraordinary virtual congress last week to announce the winning mono-bids, the vote without a vote, for the right to host the 2030 and 2034 football World Cups.
AI has made the move into video and it's worryingly plausible
I recently had the opportunity to see a demo of Sora, OpenAI's video generation tool, which was released in the US last Monday, and it was so impressive it made me worried for the future.
With tyrant Assad ousted, Syrians deserve support and hope
Last week, time collapsed. Bashar al-Assad's fall recalled scenes across the region from the start of the Arab spring almost 14 years ago. Suddenly history felt vivid, its memories sharpened. In fact it no longer felt like history.
TV
The Guardian Weekly team reveals our small-screen picks of the year, from the underground vaults of post-apocalyptic Fallout to the mile-high escapism of Rivals
Albums
Murky love stories, nostalgic pop and an in-your-face masterpiece captured our critics' ears in 2024
Film
Visual language, sound, light and rhythm are to the fore in the best movies of the year
Hidden delights Our 24 travel finds of 2024
Guardian travel writers share their discoveries of the year, from Læsø to Lazio
'It's really a disaster' The fight to save lives as gang war consumes capital
Dr James Gana stepped out on to the balcony of his hospital overlooking a city under siege. \"There's a sensation of 'What's next?'. Desperation is definitely present,\" the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medic said, as he stared down at one of scores of camps for displaced Haitians in their country's violence-plagued capital.
Trailblazers The inspiring people we met around the world this year
From an exuberant mountaineer to a woman defiantly facing the guns of war, here are some of the brave individuals who gave us hope in a tumultuous 2024
Votes of confidence
From India to Venezuela and Senegal to the US, more people voted this year than ever before, with over 80 elections across the world. With rising authoritarianism and citizen-led resistance revealing its vulnerabilities and resilience in the face of unprecedented challenges, has democracy reached its breaking or turning point?
