Seven TV shows that made 2020 better.

Afternoon. Nice facial expression!

Like everyone else I have spent most of 2020 gazing at screens and shouting "Please entertain me - all the humans I know are hiding in their houses and won't let me in."

Screens have, obligingly, done their best to make me happy. They can't laugh at my jokes, stroke my face or bring me tea, which is what I mostly want, but they can bring me some reasonable diversions in the form of film, TV programmes and computer games. 

Here are seven of the best TV shows I've seen this year. No, they are not all from 2020. No, there is no real logic to their inclusion. And no, seven is not a sensible number for a list. 

But they are all great, and if you don't know them, you should check them out. 

Bojack Horseman

I avoided this show for a while, because who has time for another animated series about anthropomorphised animals manifesting the joys and terrors of human failure?

This year, due to all the lockdown, I got into the habit of going for an early morning walk and then having breakfast with an episode of Bojack. It soon got its hooks into me, and I joined all the other people who think that it's magnificent. 

Incredibly sharp and funny, desperately true and sad, full of both joyous silliness and profound insight. The line that stays with me is this: "When you meet someone new, you see them through rose tinted glasses. Which means you tend to miss all the red flags."

Cheers

I got a big box set of Cheers DVDs for my birthday. I wondered if it would hold up, nearly 40 years later. I wondered how much of my joy in it came from the associations: Friday nights, no more school for a few days, watching it with the family and allowed to stay up late. 

To my delight and relief, it turns out that it's still brilliant. The characters are utterly believable and relatable. The dialogue crackles with invention and wit. Few sitcoms since have come close to its success, both in terms of gag rate and of genuine human warmth.

Time has not been unkind to the show. Attitudes to gender and sexuality are of their time, but there's a clear will to be progressive within the limitations of the culture. Gay people are strange and unsettling to these characters, but not unwelcome and never the target of cheap laughs. 

In some ways Cheers is the product of a better time. There is an underlying assumption that the audience is intelligent enough to pick up on nuance, and educated enough to understand cultural references. Characters are conflicted and flawed and don't dissolve down to catchphrases and quirks (Friends, Big Bang Theory - I'm looking at you). 

Best of all, it really did take me back to those Friday nights. It's a different family on the sofa now, eating our sausages and chips and rejoicing in the weekend. But there's the same glow of pleasure as the Cheers logo glints in the light, and we visit the place where everybody knows your name. 

The End of the F***ing World. 

Despite the asterisks (which appear to be part of the official title), this is a challenging title for a show, and - as I've discovered - a hard sell when recommending it. But I do recommend it, without reservation.

This is the story of two teenagers who go on the run for no massively good reason, like a very low key British Bonnie and Clyde. They might be in love, though being teenagers it's hard even for them to be sure. They get into a variety of scrapes.

Tonally, we're in 'very black comedy' territory. There's a lot of deadpan humour and the whole thing is very slightly outlandish. But then there is murder, and assault, and all manner of pain. And the brilliance of this show is that it takes these things absolutely seriously without ever abandoning its energy and sense of droll humour. 

The two leads are outstanding. As in "Peep Show" we are privy to their internal monologues and a lot of the joy comes from the dissonance between outwardly stated intentions and private thoughts. Their relationship is beautiful and fumbling and stupid and composed entirely of dark, dark romance. 

Staged

Michael Sheen and David Tennant chat to each other over Zoom during lockdown. They are playing themselves, more or less, and they are both delightful and engaging company for these bite sized little episodes. 

If you've seen the Trip, it's a bit like that but loads cheaper, and rather more loveable. Each instalment is like a little hug. It made me smile throughout.

Gangs of London

This show is not like a hug. Unless the person hugging you is doing it with the intention of crushing you to death. This is, without a doubt, one of the most violent things I have ever seen on screen. 

It is also tremendously exciting. Basically it does exactly what the title suggests. There are many gangs. In London. They exist in an uneasy peace until the Big Gang Leader Guy - played by Chief O'Brien from Deep Space Nine - gets assassinated. That's not a spoiler - that's the premise. 

Then everyone goes mental and starts attacking each other, like if Game of Thrones was set now and everyone was 20% more horrible to each other. The violence is breath-taking, so don't watch it if that's not your thing. But if you enjoy thrilling action, this is edge of the seat stuff, audacious in its ambition and nerve.

Ghosts

You have already seen Ghosts. I know this because, when I discovered it and recommended it to people, they all said, "Yes, we've seen it. We recommended it to you. Why do you never listen to anything anyone ever says?"

Ghosts looks like a kids TV show but isn't - not quite.  A couple inherit a big old house. Alison - played by the luminous Charlotte Richie - has a near death experience and as a result she can now see ghosts! And it turns out the house is full of them. 

Various ghosts live in the house - all having died at different points in the history of the house. They form a kind of dysfunctional family unit, and now Alison is more or less mum. It's fairly basic sitcom business - each week there's an issue with a visitor, or one of the ghosts has a crisis, and it gets sorted out. 

As the episodes progress, there emerges an unexpected warmth and wonder from these fairly standard interactions. We start to learn about the pasts of the characters, and often there's a great deal of sadness underlying the black comedy of their lives and deaths. It's very silly and broad in places, but I've been moved to tears more than once by the brilliance of the writing and the performances of the cast.

Hunters

Another series which has more going on under the surface than is at first apparent. 

Basically, it's the 1970s and a Jewish kid gets involved with a group of Nazi hunters. It turns out that a whole bunch of Nazis escaped arrest after the war, and reinvented themselves as good American citizens. Well, the Hunters have no time for that kind of nonsense, so they seek them out and exact justice, with a strong emphasis on 'poetic'.

It's quite brash and in your face, and kind of hyper-real. Tarantino is a clear influence. And for a while it seems like it might just be an exercise in day-glo wish fulfilment. But then it starts to do all sorts of clever and interesting things which took me by surprise and elevated it substantially beyond my initial impressions. 

There's a strong intent to educate going on. Like last year's excellent "Watchmen", this is a show which wants to tap modern day America on the shoulder and say, "Please remember - your culture is built heavily on foundations of racism and self interest". 

There's also some powerful, tender character work. One episode in particular holds a scene on two characters for an astonishing ten minutes to discuss grief, vengeance and forgiveness. It's one of the most riveting things I've seen all year and it deserves your time, even if it does look daft as a brush.

That's all for now. I have another six, and you can find them here, if you're so inclined. 

Stay warm and safe, for you are great.