The Cutprice Guignol

I know we’re meant to be moving forward in the spirit of the New Year and all that, but there are a few parts of 2024 I am not willing to let go of yet. Unsurprisingly, the ones that were on TV. While it’s been an amazing year for great, bad television (Rivals, The Perfect Couple, Nightsleeper, Red Eye, to name but a few), there’s also been some genuinely outstanding great good TV, too. And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about today! Let’s take a look at some of the best TV episodes of 2024.

5. We Are Lady Parts – Funny Muslim Song

We Are Lady Parts is, rightly, one of best-reviewed comedies to come out of the last few years of British TV. And, while it’s undoubtedly ridiculously funny and in general wildly entertaining, as a slice of witty musical drama, the second season stretched out into some really interesting meta places that lifted it into something even more ambitious. I’m a sucker for any media that uses meta-storytelling as a way to explore themes within the show, and the production of this episode delved in to the political pressures faced by media that covers the ground WALP stands on. Throw in a season-best performance by Sarah Kameela Impey, and, for me, it’s the most memorable episode of the entire show.

4. Inside No. 9 – Curse of the Ninth

Watching one of my favourite shows come to an end this year was certainly bittersweet (not that I’ve exactly let go of it entirely, but you know what I mean), but at least there were some great episodes to see us out in this final season. While Boo to a Goose and Mulberry Close were both contenders, it was this episode, Curse of the Ninth, that I found myself pondering on the most after the show’s finale. A strange little curio, a blend of gothic horror, Carry-On comedy, and quiet reflection on creativity and invention after years in the same business, it’s such a completely unique creation that feels so distinctly Inside No. 9.

3. Ripley – V Lucio

I feel like I’m one of about three people who’s actually seen this year’s adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith Tom Ripley novels, because what else could be the reason that everyone isn’t talking about it? It’s an embarrassment of noir riches, an outrageously and outstandingly beautiful drama-thriller that gives Andrew Scott one of the most impressive roles of his career. And he’s never better in the show’s run than the fifth episode, as he disposes of a potential problem – the slow build leading to the murder, the meticulous handling of the details left in their wake, the cinematography, the set design, the costuming, ugh – it’s pure, sumptuously-crafted television in every sense of the word. And there’s a cat! No notes.

2. Alma’s Not Normal – Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien

Alma’s Not Normal, Sophie Willan’s surreal black comedy, is one of those special little shows that exists very close to my heart for a number of reasons – but none more so than for its depiction of the generations of women of the Nuttall family. So, this episode, that draws them together in the wake of a terminal cancer diagnosis for Joan (Lorraine Ashbourne), was always destined to be a standout for me. But God, it’s just such a masterpiece – the pathos, the humour, the complicated and often messy family history that comes together in these last weeks before her passing…when it comes to huge moments like this, it’s so easy for show’s to lose themselves in the face of the loss of a major character, but Alma’s Not Normal, like Joan, stays true to the end. I can’t think about this too long or I’ll start crying and humming Edith Piaf at the same time, and those are not pleasant noises by anyone’s estimation. Moving on!

1. Wolf Hall – Obedience

If you couldn’t tell from my rhapsodic reviews of the last season of Wolf Hall, there’s pretty much not an episode from the second series, The Mirror and the Light, that couldn’t be on this list. But, since I’m limiting myself to just one, it’s got to be this – the extraordinary second episode, where everything starts to come apart for our favourite privy councillor Tommy Crommy (Mark Rylance). Not only is this one of Rylance’s most singularly impressive turns in the role (and, if you’ve seen anything of the show, you know what a big statement that is), but it’s the tipping point that puts into motion the rest of the exquisite season. There’s not an inch of the production, the writing, or the acting out of place here, truly a show totally in its stride, and I’m already sad that it’s truly over as of a few weeks ago. Please, if you haven’t yet: go watch it. It’s so fucking good.

What TV blew you away last year, and what are you looking forward to for the next? I would love to hear about your favourite episodes of 2024 in the comments!

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(header image via BBC)