#Daniela Nardini

[consanguinitatum]

David Tennant audios: a plethora of Macbeths (but this one's just MacB)!

It's been a while since I've delved into a lesser-known David Tennant project, so let's see if we can't fix that, shall we? And especially since he's currently at the Donmar Warehouse doing Macbeth, I've got just the thing to showcase! (And no, it isn't his 2005 role as the Porter in Arkangel Shakespeare's audio version of Macbeth, though that IS cool! And it's not the more recent April 2022 version of Macbeth he did for Radio 4 with Daniela Nardini as Lady Macbeth and Stuart McQuarrie as Banquo - two actors he's worked with in the past; Nardini in Antigone for the 7:84 back in early 1993, and McQuarrie in a 1994 production of John Byrne's The Slab Boys Trilogy at the Young Vic in London.)

No, this is yet another Macbeth-adjacent project. It was something David did in September of 2009 for a BBC Radio 7 programme called Big Toe Books. I'll say up front that I wish I knew a LOT more about this project than I do...but I just don't. So I'll tell you what I do know.

But first, a bit of history:

The Big Toe Radio Show - a children's programme aimed at children aged 9 to 11 and which featured games, music, and stories read from well-known books - ran on BBC Radio 7 from 2002 to 2007. When it ended in 2007, the BBC created another show with an adapted format to replace it called Big Toe Books.

Big Toe Books was an hour long show of book readings for older children 8+, which transmitted at 4pm. It featured presenters Kirsten O'Brien (2007-2009) and Chris Pizzey (2010-2011) and lasted until 2011, when it was axed. At the same time, Radio 7 was rebranded as a BBC Radio 4 spin-off station, Radio 4 Extra. At the time, Big Toe Books' listenership was about 136K, but only 21K were children.

Now you're probably wondering how all my ramblings about children's programmes ties in with Macbeth, right? Well as I said previously, David was a guest reader on Big Toe Books, and at 4pm on 14 Sep 2009, he read a book by Neil Arksey called MacB!

And there's the tie-in!

Here are a few blurbs from various newspapers featuring the listing for the show - and oh, incidentally, if you look at the 6pm slot, you'll see a show called Seventh Dimension. That show was a speculative fiction show of various kinds - and in early 2007, it featured a series of original Doctor Who audio dramas starring Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor!

But back to David and MacB. Now Arksey's book wasn't the Macbeth we're familiar with…not really. Firstly, his book was written for young adults. Secondly, it was based on Macbeth the play, but Arksey set it on the football field rather than the Royal Court. Here's a summary of the plot: "It tells the tale of two best friends, Banksie and MacB. The two train together at football all summer in the hopes of getting onto the football team. When a fortune Teller tells them both that each would be captain, it seems unlikely, especially as they are up against star striker Duncan King, the most likely man for the job. When Duncan has a terrible accident that means he can't play, Banksie has suspicions about whether it really was an accident after all. Was it fate, or did MacB have a hand in it?"

And that's pretty much all I know about David's stint as a guest reader for BBC Radio 7 programme Big Toe Books, reading Neil Arksey's book MacB (which was originally published by Puffin in 1999). Like I said, I wish I had more information about this audio drama. But this little bit is all I've been able to find. And oh, if you want to hear it, go here! I won't tell if you won't!

[scotianostra]

Happy birthday actress Daniela Nardini born 26th April 1968 in Largs.

Nardini was educated at Largs Academy school, then trained as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. Her parents owned Nardini’s, an ice cream parlour and restaurant in Largs. She was on the point of giving up acting and training to become a drama teacher when she was offered the part of Anna in This Life.

Other roles for Danniela have been in Taggart, of course, Big Women and Waterloo Road. as well as Bob Servant, we last saw he in Sunset Song with Peter Mullen. Nardini currently lives in Glasgow with her partner, Ivan Stein, a former civil servant-turned-chef, and their daughter. She had previously lived in Notting Hill in London, but moved back to Scotland after the birth of her daughter.

Daniela has been a bit quiet on the acting front, apart from a couple of shorts in the last couple of years, we have to look back to 2015 and Bob Servant for anything regular. I poked around further and found she is narrating Priest School, a documentary on BBC Scotland that follows a group of seminarians for a year as they train at the Scots College in Rome. It’s the first time the college – Scotland’s oldest overseas institution – has opened its doors to TV cameras. The best part of the filming however has been left out. The footage featured the Holy Father Pope Francis accepting a bottle of Oban malt from some students and proclaiming it “the real water of life”

Following a feud, the big Art Deco Nardini’s ice cream shop on the prom in Largs is no longer run by the family. It was founded by Pietro, her great-grandfather, who came to Scotland from Barga in Tuscany. He ended up in Paisley and then moved to Largs to open the shop that still bares the family name, I think anyone who has visited Largs will have visited it, at least just admire the shop itself.

Daniela had a health scare a couple of years ago when abnormalities showed up following a mammogram, she said in an interview in The Sunday Post;

“It was a huge shock to be told I had breast cancer, and it was another shock to learn I needed to have a mastectomy. All these decisions that have to be made come at you, like whether or not to have reconstruction at the same time as the surgery.

“I was in shock. After all of it is done, you can get over the physical side, but mentally, well, you are just a bit off. Now I look at it and think I was very lucky. After the treatment I’ve had nothing – no other symptoms – and I’m in the clear.”

She admits to seeking professional help after the death of her father, and her divorce, but has come out of it and is now embarking on her own journey into counselling. She says it’s always been something that interested her, so she completed an HNC during lockdown and is now studying for a diploma.

In 2022 Daniella teamed up with fellow Scot David Tennant to play Lady Macbeth, David playing the title role.for the play, which was aired on BBC Radio 4. That's about all I could find of her recent work online unfortunately, Nardini currently lives in Glasgow with her partner, Ivan Stein, a former civil servant-turned-chef, and their daughter

[travllingbunny]

Who is your all time favorite ficitonal character?

It's impossible to narrow it down to just one.

Some of my top favorites include (literary characters first!) Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games trilogy),multiple characters from A Song of Ice and FIre (Sansa, Arya, Dany, Sandor, Jaime, Brienne...), Tess from Tess of D'Urbervilles, Nastassia Filipovna from The Idiot, Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights (blah blah they are awful people who cares?)

Of the TV characters: Joe MacMillan and Cameron Howe (Halt and Catch Fire), halt and catch fire,Spock, Kira Nerys (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Buffy, Spike, Faith and Darla from the Buffyverse, Nora Durst (The Leftovers), Jonas Kahnwald (Dark), Elizabeth and Philip Jennings (The Americans), Logan Echols (Veronica Mars), Kendall and Shiv (Succession)...s I would've counted Clarke Griffin and Bellamy Blake from The 100 if the show hadn't ruined their characters...

and one character that not many people will recognize, but who may just be my favorite ever character, and she certainly was for a long time, is Anna Forbes, played by Daniela Nardini, in the UK 1990s drama This Life.

(No, this is not Fleabag! I know that Phoebe Waller-Bridge kinda looks like her, and there's some similarities, but Anna came first, and is still the best)

[lamilanomagazine]

Civitanova Marche, la Polizia di Stato ha presentato l'agenda scolastica "Il Mio Diario" 2024/2025

Civitanova Marche (Macerata), la Polizia di Stato ha presentato l'agenda scolastica "Il Mio Diario" 2024/2025 La Polizia di Stato in collaborazione con il Ministero dell'Istruzione e del Merito e il sostegno del Ministero dell'Economia e delle Finanze, ha presentato la nuova edizione dell'agenda scolastica "Il Mio Diario", destinata a 50.000 alunni delle future classi quarte di alcune province del territorio nazionale. L'agenda scolastica si presenta come strumento di supporto alla didattica nella formazione dei cittadini di domani e si pone come obiettivo, attraverso contenuti ed un linguaggio semplice, di avvicinare i giovanissimi cittadini alla cultura della legalità, fornendo un contributo nell'educazione al rispetto delle regole e ai valori della convivenza civile. Fino ad oggi il progetto, giunto alla 11^ edizione, ha consentito di raggiungere oltre 630.000 studenti di scuole pubbliche e paritarie. Quest'anno il diario verrà distribuito nelle province di Agrigento, Alessandria, Avellino, Catanzaro, Cremona, Foggia, Macerata, Parma, Perugia, Prato, Treviso e Trieste. Protagonisti dell'agenda sono i supereroi della legalità Vis e Musa che, con l'aiuto dei loro amici a quattro zampe Lampo e Saetta, della pappagallina Gea e del gattino Cosmo, accompagneranno i giovani studenti durante l'anno scolastico con le loro avventure attraverso le quali vengono affrontati i temi della salute, dello sport, della cura dell'ambiente, dell'inclusione sociale, dell'educazione stradale, del corretto utilizzo di internet e dei social network, ma anche dei fenomeni di devianza giovanile più comuni, quali il bullismo e il cyberbullismo. Otre agli amici della Polizia di Stato, tra gli interpreti figura anche il noto personaggio della letteratura per ragazzi Geronimo Stilton, che offrirà a sua volta importanti contributi valoriali e di intrattenimento. Per l'edizione dedicata all'anno scolastico 2024-2025, oltre ai temi che da anni costituiscono la struttura del diario, verranno affrontati gli argomenti che il Ministero dell'Istruzione e del Merito ha inserito nei programmi della materia dell'Educazione Civica: la Costituzione, lo sviluppo sostenibile e la cittadinanza digitale. In tale ottica "Il Mio Diario" può rappresentare anche un efficace complemento didattico per insegnanti e genitori e per il personale della Polizia di Stato quotidianamente impegnato sul territorio nelle attività di educazione alla legalità. Alla cerimonia nazionale di presentazione, condotta dalla presentatrice Daniela Gurini, che si è tenuta nella mattinata di ieri presso l'Istituto "Marche International School" di Civitanova Marche (MC), hanno partecipato il Ministro dell'Interno, Prefetto Matteo Piantedosi, il Prefetto di Macerata Isabella Fusiello, il Questore di Macerata mpaolo Patruno e il Fondatore dell'Istituto "Marche International School" Dott. Iginio Straffi che ha ospitato l'evento, Presidente di Rainbow eccellenza creativa del made in Italy nel mondo. Il diario è stato consegnato ad una rappresentanza di 400 studenti. Sono intervenuti il Dirigente dell'Ufficio Scolastico Provinciale Prof.ssa Stefania Nardini, in rappresentanza del Ministero dell'Istruzione e del Merito, e la scrittrice Elisabetta Dami, presidente della "Geronimo Stilton Fondazione". Presenti anche gli atleti delle Fiamme Oro della Polizia di Stato, l'atleta Maria Centracchio, bronzo nel judo alle Olimpiadi di Tokyo 2020, e l'atleta paralimpico Edoardo Giordan, argento nella spada a squadre agli Europei di Parigi 2024 e l'ex calciatore ed ora allenatore Francesco Montervino. Nell'Istituto che ha ospitato l'evento è stata allestita un'area espositiva con il Camper Azzurro, la Lamborghini Urus della Polizia Stradale, alcune auto storiche della Polizia di Stato e il Fullback della Polizia Scientifica. Gli studenti hanno assistito all'esibizione congiunta di squadre cinofile e team di artificieri.... #notizie #news #breakingnews #cronaca #politica #eventi #sport #moda Read the full article

[etakeh]

Y'alllll The Fades is on Kanopy.

"Seventeen-year old weirdo Paul" that should read.

One of those "restless spirits" was STUCK in the living world, that's the whole point.

also:

The fuck's up with that bald guy.

His sister goddam you want to punch her.

His poor hapless mom.

Why does Daniela Nardini look so good in that collar. Damn.

His best friend (yeah Daniel Kaluuya by the way) and he are absolute nerds. Dorks. Dweebs. And absolutely neurodivergent. No question.

Check out the matching jammies.

Anyway if you want a...I guess "coming of age" story/fucked up ghost mashup, here you go.

One season, 6 episodes. Ends in a way that should have given it a another season, but what doesn't.

[chattering-magpie-uk]

Macbeth (radio) - Starring David Tennant & Daniela Nardini.

[themovieblogonline]

Best Shows to Watch on BBC iPlayer

There is truly something for everyone in 2022's slate of high-profile dramas for the BBC, from the suspenseful second season of The Capture to the contemplative and meticulously crafted Marriage. New seasons of well-liked programmes like Death in Paradise and Call the Midwife have also debuted this year, along with other brand-new additions like This is Going to Hurt and The Control Room. In addition to providing its clients with security, BBC iPlayer has always been at the forefront of presenting high-quality media material. Because of this, UK residents can only access iPlayer services. You can watch BBC iPlayer shows using free VPN if you are traveling or live outside of the UK.  You can use a VPN to access the streaming service; it will hide your IP address and secure your private data. There are many more boxsets of iconic modern shows and classic television series available to binge-watch on BBC iPlayer if you don't feel like waiting to watch any of these right now. The entire run of Killing Eve, the complete run of Doctor Who's most recent seasons, and the just concluded Peaky Blinders are all accessible. If you're a lover of thrillers or prefer sci-fi or period dramas, we've put together a list of all the top series now airing so you can find something to suit you without all that time-consuming wandering. The Best Shows to Stream on BBC iPlayer  The top iPlayer shows of all time are listed below: The Fades   In the fantasy horror film "The Fades," Iain De Caestecker plays Paul, a teenager plagued by end-of-the-world visions that neither he nor his best buddy Mac (Daniel Kaluuya) can explain. Paul begins to notice the Fades in the first episode—the ghosts of the dead—all about him.  Daniela Nardini, Tom Ellis, and Natalie Dormer are all featured in the six-part series. In September 2011, BBC Three and the BBC HD Channel both debuted it. Observing The Fades for the following reasons: The Fades, a 2012 production by writer and producer Jack Thorne, was one of the undervalued shows on BBC Three before the channel was shut down in 2016.  Responsible Child  A drama based on facts that tell the tale of Ray, a pre-adolescent youngster who gets arrested along with his older brother Nathan for killing his mother's violent spouse. Ray is on trial for murder in an adult courtroom because the legal drinking age is ten.  Both the events leading up to the crime and the boy's experience during the trial are followed in the movie. starring James Tarpey, Tom Burke, Michelle Fairley, Billy Barratt, and Observing Responsible Child for: When does a youngster take complete ownership of their behavior? Can they ever take accountability? What happens if those behaviors involve something gravely harmful? A crime like murder? That is one of the inquiries made in the factual drama by documentary filmmaker Nick Holt. Peaky Blinders  Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill star in this historical gangster drama about a Birmingham family that manage a feared criminal ring and profit from illegal gambling, protection work, and the black market. Why watch Peaky Blinders? Peaky Blinders was the little show that could, growing from modest beginnings on BBC Two to become a global success story.  It is, without a doubt, one of the biggest crime dramas of the twenty-first century. Now that all six seasons are accessible on iPlayer, you can follow Tommy Shelby's development from a petty gang leader to a wealthy Member of Parliament. The characters in the series—whether they were played by Tom Hardy's Alfie Solomons, the late great Helen McCrory's Polly Shelby, or Sam Claflin's cunning Oswald Mosley—were what really drew viewers in.  The Control Room  Thriller starring Joanna Vanderham and Iain De Caestecker. A woman who seems to know him calls an emergency call handler in a distressed manner. What draws you to The Control Room? Iain De Caestecker is the star of this brand-new BBC drama, which is a suspenseful thriller from the get-go. De Caestecker plays Gabe, a call handler for emergency situations whose life is flipped upside down when he receives a call from a troubled woman who seems to recognize him from his past. Any further narrative details would be giving the game away, as the show keeps its cards close to its breast and wants to wow viewers along the way with its many twists and shocks.  Life  A drama based on the interconnected tales of the residents of a Manchester home separated into four flats. featuring Adrian Lester, Peter Davison, and Alison Steadman. Why watch Life? Do you recall the infamous Doctor Foster episodes where scheming and steamy escapades tore a family apart? Well, the intense thriller has a startling spin-off in the BBC series Life.  While Victoria Hamilton plays Anna Baker (now known as Belle Stone) from the Suranne Jones-hosted programme, don't anticipate Gemma Foster to make an appearance and stir some trouble midway through.  As the series explores mental health, alcoholism, and of course, love, life centers around a Victorian mansion made up of four different flats with four different tenants, each with its problems and challenges. Bloodlands Preserving the harmony in the present while looking for solace in the past. The stakes have never been higher for DCI Tom Brannick than when unsolved cold cases raise the possibility of revealing a notorious killer. Why watch Bloodlands? Bloodlands is the latest crime drama you need to watch if you're pining for something to engross you while you wait for the confirmation of Line of Duty series seven.  Be ready for some unexpected turns in this James Nesbitt-starring series from executive producer Jed Mercurio of Line of Duty and Bodyguard. Conclusion  In this article, we have enlisted the top shows on BBC iPlayer. Hope you would have enjoyed reading the article and would have learned briefly about TV shows. Read the full article

[veryslowreader]

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

This Life: "Sex, Lies and Muesli Yoghurt"

[billdecker]

This Life | Series One (1996) 

Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a long bath and a short dress to get into.

[marlaredo]

These all entertained me at some point but funnily they seem to share some timeless features. Is this a type of face? Of bone structure? A style? What do you think?

1. Eleanor Bron, sixties actress who appeared in Help! along the Beatles.

2. Justine Frischmann from Britpop band Elastica.

3. Daniela Nardini from 90s series 'This Life'.

4. Tamsin Greig from comedy Black Books.

5. Phoebe Waller Bridge of Fleabag fame.

[kwebtv]

Jack Davenport, Daniela Nardini, Jason Hughes, Amita Dhiri and Andrew Lincoln in “This Life”

[scotianostra]

Happy birthday actress Daniela Nardini born 26th April 1968 in Largs.

Nardini was educated at Largs Academy school, then trained as an actress at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. Her parents owned Nardini’s, an ice cream parlour and restaurant in Largs. She was on the point of giving up acting and training to become a drama teacher when she was offered the part of Anna in This Life.

Other roles for Danniela have been in Taggart, of course, Big Women and Waterloo Road. as well as Bob Servant, we last saw he in Sunset Song with Peter Mullen. Nardini currently lives in Glasgow with her partner, Ivan Stein, a former civil servant-turned-chef, and their daughter. She had previously lived in Notting Hill in London, but moved back to Scotland after the birth of her daughter.

Daniela has been a bit quiet on the acting front, apart from a couple of shorts in the last couple of years, we have to look back to 2015 and Bob Servant for anything regular. I poked around further and found she is narrating Priest School, a documentary on BBC Scotland that follows a group of seminarians for a year as they train at the Scots College in Rome. It’s the first time the college – Scotland’s oldest overseas institution – has opened its doors to TV cameras. The best part of the filming however has been left out. The footage featured the Holy Father Pope Francis accepting a bottle of Oban malt from some students and proclaiming it “the real water of life”

Following a feud, the big Art Deco Nardini’s ice cream shop on the prom in Largs is no longer run by the family. It was founded by Pietro, her great-grandfather, who came to Scotland from Barga in Tuscany. He ended up in Paisley and then moved to Largs to open the shop that still bares the family name, I think anyone who has visited Largs will have visited it, at least just admire the shop itself.

Daniela had a health scare a couple of years ago when abnormalities showed up following a mammogram, she said in an interview in The Sunday Post;

“It was a huge shock to be told I had breast cancer, and it was another shock to learn I needed to have a mastectomy. All these decisions that have to be made come at you, like whether or not to have reconstruction at the same time as the surgery.

“I was in shock. After all of it is done, you can get over the physical side, but mentally, well, you are just a bit off. Now I look at it and think I was very lucky. After the treatment I’ve had nothing – no other symptoms – and I’m in the clear.”

She admits to seeking professional help after the death of her father, and her divorce, but has come out of it and is now embarking on her own journey into counselling. She says it’s always been something that interested her, so she completed an HNC during lockdown and is now studying for a diploma.

Last year Daniella teamed up with fellow Scot David Tennant to play Lady Macbeth, David playing the title role.for the play, which was aired on BBC Radio 4 just over a year ago. In a recent interview, she said spending time in lockdown at her home with her teenage daughter helped her focus on two new pursuits - painting and training as a mental health counsellor.

[blogdeepbelieverbouquetworld]

Preview of Macbeth on Radio Four 23 April with David Tennant and Daniela Nardini

Duncan

[p-isforpoetry]

David Tennant makes his first ever venture into playing the tyrannical Scottish King.

The new radio production of Shakespeare's famous play will be broadcast in two parts - today at 3pm with the second part premiering at the same time tomorrow (Sunday 24th April). 

2023 will be the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare's First Folio which contained 36 of his plays. Macbeth is thought to have been written in 1603.

A brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders the reigning King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia. Forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of madness and death.

Cast: Macbeth: David Tennant Lady Macbeth: Daniela Nardini Banquo/Caithness: Stuart McQuarrie Macduff: Alec Newman Lady Macduff/3rd Witch/Apparition: Naana Agyei Ampadu Malcolm/3rd murderer: Owen Whitelaw Ross: Stuart Bowman Lennox: John Hollingworth Duncan/Old Man/2nd Murderer: Ron Donachie Porter/Angus: Forbes Masson Captain/1st Murderer/Siward: Fergal Mcelherron Doctor: Richard Wilson Menteith/Seyton/Donalbain: Jos Vantyler Young Siward: Ty Tennant 1stWitch/Apparition/Gentlewoman: Genevieve Gaunt 2nd Witch/Apparition/Servant: Ayesha Antoine Young Macduff: Alexander Ryan

Music by 0171 Sound design by Joe Bedell-Brill

Produced and Directed by Clive Brill A Brill production for BBC Radio 4

[stripyhorse23]

TV of 2020

1) I May Destroy You

I May Destroy You might not have been written during the pandemic, but when it arrived in June it felt like the sort of complicated, cathartic show that could have been.  Detailing one woman’s experience of rape and its aftermath, Michaela Coel (who wrote every episode) continually found rich narrative avenues in which to explore her characters’ individual experiences of sexual assault and consent.  If that makes the series sound concept-driven, it always placed its characters first; the push-and-pull between Arabella, Terry and Kwame is key to the ways in which Coel’s tender, curious writing is able to explore power dynamics within relationships, friendships and hook-ups.  Other, lesser shows that are this deliberately open-ended might feel opaque: it’s testament to the show’s confidence of voice that isn’t the case here.

2) Normal People

Like plenty of others, I binged the entire series of Normal People in a weekend, although one of its many pleasures is how Sally Rooney and Alice Birch’s adaptation teases out the episodic nature of the former’s bestseller.  From Connell’s early days at university, to a Tuscan holiday turned sour, and an exchange year in Sweden, Normal People was about the ways in which the people we love move in and out of our lives over the years.  It wasn’t immune to mis-steps (the show draws something of a crude line between the abuse Marianne suffers at home and what she seeks out in romantic partners), but the sheer emotional heft of the show was undeniable, nowhere less so than Paul Mescal’s floodgate-opening performance in Episode 10.

3) Adult Material

Perhaps one of the year’s most overlooked shows, Adult Material follows Hayley Burrows as she attempts to balance life as the harassed mother-of-three and the twilight years of her career as adult performer Jolene Dollar.  The slyly comic edge of the first episode is quickly eroded after Jolene becomes embroiled in the abuse of another actor on-set.  A stark portrait of alcohol abuse and loneliness, it’s also a sharp indictment of how little the so-called ‘culture wars’ surrounding pornography are meaningfully impactful on sex workers themselves.  Hayley Squires gives the sort of white-hot star performance usually reserved for 90s Hollywood rom-coms, a veneer of frustration and resignation overlaying even her character’s most abrasive moments.

4) Cook, Eat, Repeat

Why not in this interminably shitty year, choose the one show that offered the sort of balm it’s impossible to reverse engineer?  Following hot on the heels of a disappointing series of The Great British Bake-Off, Nigella Lawson’s warm, inviting half-hour new series was the televisual equivalent of a long bath and a facemask.  Her fish finger bhorta, brown butter colcannon and black pudding meatballs have already made it into this household’s repertoire, but there’s something innately comforting about the luxurious silliness of Nigella that almost transcends criticism.  Whether it’s the giddy nonsense of her liquorice box, the ‘did I hear that right’ moment when she revealed her pronunciation of ‘microwave,’ or the seductive self-care of making a creme caramel for one, no other show elicited such pure enjoyment from me this year.

5) I’ll Be Gone In The Dark

The true crime documentary series boom has increasingly leaned into a focus on the victims, from last year’s The Yorkshire Ripper Files to Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, but none so effectively or compassionately as I’ll Be Gone In The Dark.  Less a story about the hunt for the Golden State Killer and more a study of trauma and obsession, the series splices together home footage of the late Michelle McNamara’s investigation with survivor testimony to create a haunting portrait of one man’s legacy of pain.  The early episodes are replete with skin-crawling tension, anguish and tears, but the later episodes allow that to fall away, focusing on the mental fortitude necessary for the survivors at its centre and the sense of community fostered by meeting other women like them.

6)The Salisbury Poisonings

I had no interest in watching this BBC limited series initially: the advertising made it look dry, the story itself (the Novichok poisonings of 2018) seemingly devoid of juicy narrative material.  That I’ve watched this three times in the space of a year speaks to its robust, urgent filmmaking.  Like several other shows on this list, it arrived into the context of a pandemic it couldn’t have foreseen, but watching the rapid, careful response of local government (crucially and deliberately obstructed by Whitehall) to this crisis presented a sort of horribly watchable what-if scenario.  What seemed at first blush to be middle-of-the-road programming evolved over three episodes into the sort of spare, quietly terrifying journalistic drama that invites comparison to last year’s Chernobyl.

7) We Are Who We Are

It turns out that Luca Guadagnino’s woozy, seductive style transfers perfectly to television, and despite We Are Who We Are lacking the timelessness that typifies I Am Love or Call Me By Your Name it thrillingly captured the turbulent adolescence of its teenage characters.  Equally effervescent and raggedly emotional, the show’s joy always felt hard-won, bumping heads with the often cynical, unreadable motivations of the adult characters.  A tender and frank depiction of queer identities within traditionally restrictive environments, it’s also a love letter to young friendship and the lifeline that can provide during our formative years.  Spellbinding.

8) Selling Sunset

Perhaps the year’s most impressively constructed reality show, I was slow on the uptake with Netflix’s Selling Sunset only to have it take over my life for a few weeks during the summer.  Manufactured reality series are tough to get right, but much like The Hills (surely this show’s biggest influence) Selling Sunset gains a lot of mileage from gaming pre-existing friendships for maximum impact.  Christine and Mary’s beleaguered relationship and, obliquely, their respective responses to fame continued to provide wildly watchable fireworks, but the build-up to Chrishell’s separation from husband Justin Hartley was exquisitely handled.  Suddenly Davina’s strangely uncharismatic shit-stirrer and Christine’s predictably OTT wedding were forced to take a back seat to something approaching genuinely moving television.  Trying to tease out what was real and what wasn’t, and following the ways this all spilled out onto social media, was pure, unmitigated pleasure in a year sorely lacking in just that sort of unfettered escapism.

9) My Brilliant Friend

Two seasons in and there might not be another character on TV that I’m as continually frustrated and fascinated by as Lila, the eponymous ‘brilliant friend’ of the show’s title.  Sparingly warm, often cruel, seductive, Season 2 of HBO’s masterful adaptation sees her trapped in a loveless, abusive marriage but as ever it’s her fractured relationship with Lenù that forms the emotional spine of the show.  There’s often a strange sort of snobbery around the term ‘prestige drama,’ as if all that money on the screen is a smokescreen for a dearth of anything to say; My Brilliant Friend uses every colour in its paintbox to portray the yawning void that opened up between Lenù and Lila as they entered adulthood, from the lavish, provocative outfits Lila’s adopts after she marries Stefano to Max Richter’s evocative score and the detail poured into the show’s supporting characters.  Rewardingly complex.

10) Mrs. America

I laboured over what would take my tenth spot this year since there was so much TV that I loved, and especially this year so much of it felt essential to how I was receiving the world around me.  Ultimately, Mrs. America’s mixture of astute political commentary, character-driven writing and host of enjoyable performances tipped the scale in its favour.  Cate Blanchett’s all-timer of a performance as Phyllis Schafly understandably received the majority of attention, but Mrs. America gave us so many memorable moments: Sarah Paulson’s Alice ringing the bell at reception whilst high, Uzo Aduba’s Shirley Chisholm speaking to a potentially bugged hotel ventilator, Margo Martindale’s Bella Abzug quietly realising she’s no longer the radical of her youth on a busy New York street.  This sort of deft, smart political drama isn’t often this much fun to watch, and what an ending...

11) This Life

An honourable mention to a show made almost twenty-five years ago that nevertheless helped define the year in TV for me.  Shows that were once considered part of the zeitgeist can often feel quaint and old-fashioned in retrospect, but Amy Jenkins rambunctious flatshare drama isn’t one of them.  Whilst it can sometimes feel like the show’s characters are universally adverse to making even one good decision between them, there’s a compassion and care underpinning This Life that means it never comes across as overly cynical or sneering.  There’s also a lot to be said for discovering a performance that you genuinely consider to be one of the best of the decade, and no other character this year frustrated and moved me in the ways that Daniela Nardini’s Anna did.  Bonus points for the genuinely chaotic final episode, perhaps one of the best I’ve ever seen.

And FWIW, these are ten performances from shows not on the list above that I loved this year: Marielle Heller in The Queen’s Gambit, Nicholas Hoult in The Great, Sarah Lancashire in Last Tango in Halifax, Poorna Jagannathan in Never Have I Ever, Michael Sheen in Quiz, Imelda Staunton in Talking Heads, Leila Farzad in I Hate Suzie, Alison Pill in Star Trek: Picard, Gillian Anderson in The Crown and Andy Allo in Upload.

And ten episodes of TV that I loved too: ‘Terry and Korvo Steal a Bear’ (Solar Opposites), ‘The Gang Deals With Alternate Reality’ (The Good Fight), ‘Uncle Naseem’ (Ramy), ‘The View From Halfway Down’ (Bojack Horseman), ‘The Vat of Acid Episode’ (Rick and Morty), ‘I Am’ (Lovecraft Country), ‘No Small Parts’ (Star Trek: Lower Decks), Seven-Spotted Ladybug’ (Everything’s Gonna Be Okay), ‘Daytona’ (Cheer), ‘Whenever You’re Ready’ (The Good Place).