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Inspired by my recent post  'Top Five Movies of the Decade’ (which was in turn inspired by my fellow blogger Sascha’s similar post), I am following up  with my top five TV Shows of the decade!

The same rules apply, except given the long-running nature of many shows, if any season was released in the decade 2010-2019 it is eligible. Some of these shows I have blogged about before, others are fresh to these pages. I don’t claim to be a neutral arbiter in any way (who is?) and bring my own pretty clear biases that will probably be apparent, but here goes:

5. Big Little Lies

I am mainly referring to its critically acclaimed first season (the second season holds up better than many critics would have you believe, but is a step down). This HBO adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s novel moves the story from Sydney’s North Shore to the central Californian coast and ratchets up the intrigue and house prices a notch, but captures much of what makes Moriarty’s novel such a voracious read. An absolutely all-star cast led by Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravtiz and Laura Dern bring the juicy plot to life with a sense of fun, mystery and even camp that could have gone so wrong but, in these hands, is some of the most watchable and immersive television of the decade.

4. Girls

A quintessential millennial show, Girls was as polarising as it was influential. TV has not been the same since Lena Dunham brought her unique brand of self-referential yet completely un-self-aware humour to our screens. The show holds up as an artefact of a simpler time, and is far funny and more observant about one perspective on millennial culture, specifically a white perspective, than many give it credit for.

3. The Crown

Epic in scale, budget and indeed story, Netflix’s foray into the most prestige of prestige TV is captivating. I am a history obsessive, but am reassured by friends and family less inclined to spend time thinking about the history of the royal family that The Crown is supremely entertaining. The most compelling aspect of the show is its humanity: it paints a rich, interior picture of perhaps the most (yet in some ways least) known woman in the world and never shies away from the inherent tensions that come from one person being invested with and asked to embody the ultimate power of the Crown.

2. Fleabag

A truly post-modern masterpiece, Fleabag is the type of show that will have you laughing one minute, and crying with despair the next. Acerbic in wit and dynamic in form, Pheobe Waller-Bridge’s show was adapted from her one-woman play and, famously, keeps the theatrical device of ‘breaking the fourth wall’ or speaking directly to its audience. The feature is disarming and produces an incredible degree of warmth for an otherwise fairly spikey character, one of a long line of ostensibly ‘unlikeable’ but ultimately relatable female characters who emerged throughout the decade. When the ‘hot priest’ shows up in season 2, a million hearts race, flutter and ultimately break, only reaching solace in the knowledge that Fleabag will be alright on her own.   

1. Game of Thrones

A lacklustre final season (actually a final two episodes – Season 6 Episode 3 was as good an episode of TV that we saw this decade) does not displace Thrones from my top of the decade list. The last of the truly event TV phenomena, Thrones cultural impact is second-to-none. I came to the series late after much pleading from many devoted fans, and was blown away by the intricacies of the plot and the sheer scale of the production and narrative. Truly revolting at times, but always captivating, Thrones was the TV show of the era.

Honourable mentions: the Up Series (had technically run since the 1960s and follows the lives of a motley crew of Brits, checking in on them every seven years), Parenthood, Grey’s Anatomy (although its best seasons were in the 2000s), American Crime Story: the People vs OJ Simpson, Catastrophe, Pose, Broad City, Chernobyl (nothing tops it for historical gravitas) and The Killing Season (the ABC documentary is compulsory reviewing for anyone interested in politics).