From the most beautiful show Netflix has ever made to a thriller about a menopausal hitwoman and a dazzling documentary set in outer space, here are some TV gems that may have passed you by this year
In a bizarre move, Netflix released this series by Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda – the Palme d’Or winner renowned for movies such as Shoplifters and Nobody Knows – with absolutely no fanfare this year. But Asura was a total knockout – a rich and sumptuously shot drama about four sisters in the 70s who discover that their dad has been having a lifelong affair. It was so good, in fact, that it might even be the most beautiful show they’ve ever released. Talk about selling yourself short. Watch it on Netflix.
Not content with creating TV’s best sitcom about life as a young, 2020s US Muslim, Ramy Youssef decided to create TV’s best sitcom about life as a super-young 00s US Muslim. Packed with retro references to appeal to nostalgic millennials, and full of dark comedy about the US’s anti-Muslim bent in the wake of 9/11, it was a idiosyncratically satirical joy. Easily one of the funniest shows of the year. Watch it on Prime Video.
It’s not often that the year’s best conspiracy thriller is a cartoon. But that might just be the case, given the phenomenal watchability of Mike Judge’s animated tale of fungi expert Marshall, who finds a mushroom that cures all illnesses and even brings people back from the dead. When big pharma weigh in to stop his discovery ruining their profits, it becomes a wild, blackly comic tale of guns, death and love – plus how deeply in thrall the US is to profit. If this phenomenal show was an acted drama, it’s hard not to believe that it would’ve been one of the most watched shows of the year. Watch it on Channel 4.
