Critic Clarisse Loughrey rewinds the year in British TV so far, picking the best locally made shows of 2021.
A year spent largely indoors has, unsurprisingly, equated to a lot of time spent parked in front of the television set. At the height of lockdown, media watchdog Ofcom reported that the use of streaming services in the UK had doubled. That won’t surprise anyone.
On the bright side, it’s given us all an incentive to get adventurous and seek out the new and unfamiliar. Here are critic Clarisse Loughrey’s picks for the best new British TV shows of the year so far—see what you might have missed out on.
We Are Lady Parts
Nida Manzoor’s sitcom about an all-female, all-Muslim punk band is, quite simply, one of the funniest things you’ll watch all year. Originally commissioned as a single, speculative pilot for Channel 4’s Comedy Blaps strand, the show has since been given room to breathe and expand. It tells the story of Amina (Anjana Vasan), a talented guitarist who finds both a creative outlet and a supportive network in bandmates Saira (Sarah Impey), Ayesha (Juliette Motamed), Momtaz (Lucie Shorthouse) and Bisma (Faith Omole).
The series has rightly been heralded as a triumph for representation, but it never reduces these women to the mere markers of their identities. These are messy, proud, gloriously loveable characters—proof that you can change the world and have a riot while doing it. Good luck getting “Bashir with The Good Beard” out of your head any time soon.
Time
Sean Bean and Stephen Graham turn in two equally mesmeric performances as men standing on either side of the prison bars in this taut three-part drama from acclaimed writer Jimmy McGovern. Teacher Mark Cobden (Bean) sees his entire world crumble in an instant, after he’s found guilty of the death of another man.
But there’s a strange kinship to be found in the officer, Eric McNally (Stephen Graham), charged with his care. Each does what he can in impossible circumstances. McGovern’s screenplay always stops short of the overtly sensational or emotionally manipulative: this is considered, empathetic writing that considers both individual suffering and the wider flaws of the prison system.
The Pursuit Of Love
A must-see for anyone addicted to the arch pleasures of a playful period romance, Emily Mortimer’s adaptation of the 1945 Nancy Mitford novel unspools like the most luxurious of silks. The costumes are an attraction in themselves, inspired by Cecil Beaton’s portraits of young socialites and drenched in diamonds borrowed from the Bulgari archives.
There’s a thrill, too, to be found in the wild escapades of the high-class Linda Radlett (Lily James), a romantic idealist when it comes to the matter of marriage, as observed by her more practical cousin Fanny Logan (Emily Beecham). Oh, and Andrew Scott’s incandescently eccentric Lord Merlin is worth the watch alone.
It’s A Sin
Watched in record-breaking numbers on All 4, Channel 4’s streaming service, It’s A Sin has become one of this year’s great conversation starters: a portrait not only of the joy and resilience of the LGBT+ community in 80s London, but of the devastation it suffered at the hands of the AIDS epidemic.
A five-part miniseries from Russell T Davies (who currently has all of geek fandom in the palm of his hand after announcing his return to Doctor Who), it’s served as a winning showcase for its young and talented cast—including Olly Alexander, Nathaniel Curtis, Lydia West, Omari Douglas and Callum Scott Howells, with Stephen Fry and Neil Patrick Harris on standby in cameo roles. It’s A Sin is a glitter-drenched invite to the best party of the year—if you’re ready for some tears by the end of the night.
The North Water
Shot on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, this five episode series is said to be the furthest north a television drama has ever dared to venture. Andrew Haigh, known for directing 45 Years and Weekend, adapts Ian McGuire’s 2016 novel with a keen eye for the primitive brutality, frost-bitten isolation and intense claustrophobia of life on a 19th-century whaling ship.
Jack O’Connell stars as a disgraced ex-army surgeon who joins a risky expedition up to the Arctic, only to realise that the true danger doesn’t live out in the waters, but onboard—in the form of ruthless harpooner Henry Drax (Colin Farrell). Word of warning: the show’s seal-hunting sequence is unrelenting, and not for the faint of heart.
Starstruck
“A nobody falls for a film star” may just sound to you like the premise of Notting Hill (directed by the late, great Roger Michell)—but New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo’s Starstruck delivers a witty, warm and thoroughly millennial spin on the concept. Starstuck both uncynically embraces its romcom origins while giving us a central heroine who isn’t just another workaholic ditz with a job at a fashion magazine and an unrealistically large apartment.
Jessie (Matafeo) has a one-night stand with a man named Tom (Nikesh Patel), who she slowly realises is actually one of the world’s most famous actors. She, on the other hand, is, as her flatmate informs her, “a little rat nobody”. It’s a recipe for chaos.
