It's that time again. Having spent hours and hours (and hours) watching telly throughout the year, the Digital Spy TV team has now selected its pick of the very best shows of 2023.
As always, it was tough to whittle it down – Heartstopper's second season, Boiling Point's TV sequel and Emma Corrin's Murder at the End of the World were among those we wish we could have shouted about, because they were bloody brilliant too.
But without further ado, here's our round-up of the best TV of 2023.
The Last of Us
TV Editor's pick – Laura Jane Turner
On the face of it, The Last of Us was billed as a Walking Dead-style post-apocalypse show – and sure, there were fungal-infected monsters and plenty of high-stakes survival missions. But HBO's record-breaking series really transcended its own genre and offered us so much more.
It was in its quieter moments, taking respite from the chaotic backdrop, where the show really sang. We were afforded an episode-long detour to spend time in Bill and Frank's safe place, watching their love story unfold (blossom, even) in spite of what raged on outside. Through flashbacks, we then pieced together Ellie's tragic experience of falling for, and then parting ways with, her best friend Riley. And running centrally through it all was the dynamic between Joel and Ellie – each saving the other in vastly different ways.
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At every turn, the show defied itself and subverted a number of damaging tropes. It also had a keen habit of making you care deeply for its characters, only to then force you to feel their loss – proving that The Last of Us was, when all is really said and done, a story about human connection.
Yellowjackets
TV Editor's pick – Laura Jane Turner
Many people fixate on the cannibalism – and sure, gross.
But Yellowjackets has a lot of layers, and much of what plays out for our stranded squad can be open to interpretation. If you were to ask Lottie, there's a tangible, almost spiritual, presence among the trees that's commanding their increasingly disturbing behaviour. "It" chooses and "it" must be satisfied, or else they'll all pay the price.
For others, Yellowjackets becomes much more interesting when you remove the possibility of the supernatural. In this reading the girls are responding to waves of insurmountable trauma and grief, using the idea of an overarching power as a coping mechanism.
Season two may not have quite lived up to the bar set by Yellowjackets' first season, but it played around with this idea a whole lot more – and gave us a lot of food (sorry, Snackie) for thought.
Succession
Deputy TV Editor's pick – Rebecca Cook
An inevitable pick, but if you don't agree that it belongs here then, frankly, you're not serious people.
Succession's fourth and final outing delivered what was essentially a flawless season of television, as the role of Waystar Royco CEO was definitively and bitterly passed on from the late, not-so-great Logan Roy (Brian Cox). Once he had kicked the mid-air bucket in the masterpiece episode that was 'Connor's Wedding', the show pivoted to the deep, malevolent bench of its supporting cast.
That final run of episodes completely cleared the whiteboard – we had a Davos-style Scandi retreat, the most depressing election-eve party maybe ever, followed by the panic attack of the election itself, then the matter of Logan's baroque funeral and finally the show about this deranged C-suite clan was sewn up with an office brawl during a board meeting vote.
What Succession always did so expertly and precisely was reflect our powerful institutions back at us with tragicomic effect. Sometimes it was hard to tell if Succession was riffing on the news or the news was riffing on Succession, but it only becomes clear how hard this is to master when alternatives like The Morning Show saunter back onto our screens and get it all wrong.
Just as The Sopranos was the beginning of so-called Peak TV, Succession may very well have marked the end – because how are we ever going to top it? If only there were enough Emmys to go around, since everyone here deserves one.
Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies
TV writer's pick – Janet A Leigh
Cut down in its prime, Grease: Rise of The Pink Ladies had no business being on the cancellation chopping block. Nor should it have been unceremoniously removed from the Paramount + streaming platform mere months after its season finale, robbing the audience of the chance to discover the show's charm.
Rise of The Pink Ladies celebrated everything that was intoxicatingly good about Grease and Grease 2 – like the catchy tunes that made you want to do the hand-jive, and the exploration of hot-button social issues – whilst moving the franchise forward from its less-progressive '70s and '80s mindset.
The inclusive exploration of the queer experience, the Black experience and the wider scope of feminist issues felt earnest, both to the Grease legacy and to the diverse groups it aimed to represent. And it still never lost sight of the fun, silliness and passion that is at Grease's core.
Perhaps the prequel's problem was that it imitated the spirit of Grease a little too well. It was too much of a rebel in its daringness to be different and ultimately, too cool for school Paramount.
Poker Face
Deputy TV Editor's pick – Rebecca Cook
If you have already had the utter delight of watching Poker Face, it may have very likely been the most fun you had in front of a TV screen this year.
Starring the orb of charisma that is Natasha Lyonne, Poker Face was an updated take on the classic format of 1970s detective shows like Columbo, with all the wit and style of creator Rian Johnson's blockbuster Knives Out franchise.
This was murder made fun, with an impressive roster of weekly guest stars – Adrien Brody, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Hong Chau, to name a few – for Lyonne's Charlie Cale to bounce off as she pieced together the clues.
Charlie – a human lie detector turned cocktail waitress turned cross-country fleeing drifter – was the standout of the piece, in part because she gave us something so often absent in the well-worn genre of the murder mystery: a character we've never seen before.
What's more, with increased awareness of the issues around 'copaganda' television, detective shows or crime thrillers can be thorny prospects. But Charlie was instead an old-soul citizen detective who had to find justice without simply slapping some cuffs on a suspect and bringing them in for questioning.
If you haven't had the treat of watching Poker Face yet: you lucky, lucky thing, because what a ride you have in store.
Tiny Beautiful Things
TV Editor's pick – Laura Jane Turner
This Kathryn Hahn-fronted Disney+ show may have largely flown under the radar when it released earlier this year, but there's a reason it's part of our pick of the very best television that 2023 had to offer.
Clare is chaotic, flawed and complicated – attributes so rarely afforded to lead female characters, particularly those you're not actually supposed to hate. She no longer sees the world through a naive lens of possibility, but instead has become accustomed to carrying around the baggage of regret, unfulfilled potential and some weighty trauma from her past.
Happenstance (or an old friend) throws an anonymised advice column into her lap, and Clare ends up processing her own grief, and untangling some deep-rooted generational wounds, through the words she shares to help others.
Gen V
TV writer's pick – Janet A Leigh
A school full of super-powered kids is hardly a new concept, but what the creative team behind Gen V did with said concept was… diabolical.
That's hardly surprising from a franchise that is famed for blowing people up by the penis (stepping outside of the box is kind of their thing), but Gen V didn't just rest on the laurels of The Boys.
It built upon the eccentric and brash tone of The Boys and then elevated it, using the lens of adolescence to explore the weight and the pressure of being super-powered through real-life issues. Feelings of inadequacy and toxic child-parent relationships become magnified when filtered through their Supe powers, as do the racial tensions that are intrinsically a part of every ethnic person's lived experience.
In this way, it's how Gen V uses the Supe teens' abilities in order to explore social issues that makes the show smart, unique and fascinating.
Jury Duty
Deputy TV Editor's pick – Rebecca Cook
The Last of Us notwithstanding, Jury Duty might have been one of the biggest surprise TV hits of the year. It was on a streaming service many people hadn't heard of and featured a cast of actors most of us had never seen before – with the exception of James Marsden, in the comedic role of a lifetime as James Marsden.
The supposed 'documentary' successfully conducted a huge reality TV experiment about jury service, which was both hilarious and humanity-affirming at every turn. The only one not acting, Ronald Gladden, was at the centre of it after he was recruited from a Craigslist ad.
Ronald could be cackle-inducing, like when he told Marsden the word-of-mouth about his latest box office outing Sonic the Hedgehog was that it was "not supposed to be good", or when he took the blame for blocking up Marsden's toilet.
But he could also be full of so much warmth you wondered if such a person could exist, like when he took the group's oddball Todd – who was intended to creep Ronald out – under his wing and gave him a cool new makeover after the pair watched A Bug's Life together.
In a year that also served up shows like Loki and Ahsoka, Ronald's ability to do the right thing time and time again cemented his status as the ultimate TV hero.
Happy Valley
TV Editor pick – Laura Jane Turner
After an almost seven-year wait, Happy Valley made a triumphant return for its third and final season. Yes, that really was this year.
With anticipation comes expectation, but when it came to Sally Wainwright's beloved BBC drama, we needn't have worried, as it proved that the elusive 'perfect finale' can still exist.
Catherine Cawood and Tommy Lee Royce's showdown was always going to be the crescendo to see the show on its way, but we don't think anybody expected it to be more emotion than brute strength. Instead of using each other as punching bags, what unfolded was a verbal moment of catharsis for Cawood; a release of the trauma she'd held so close since the tragic passing of her daughter.
While it was a more subtle narrative decision, it was just as powerful. We always knew that one of them would have to go before the credits rolled, but Royce's decision to be the source of his own undoing gave Sergeant Cawood the closure she needed so desperately – and she didn't need to compromise her integrity to get it.
Silo
TV writer's pick – Janet A Leigh
Post-apocalyptic shows are plentiful, but Silo was a sensational watch that's up there in the same class as The Last of Us.
Rebecca Ferguson leads as the dejected, sceptical Juliette Nicholson, who is forced into having hope for the future when, after the loss of a loved one, she embarks on a mission to find the truth. That's something those in power are desperate to bury, even if it means taking a life or two.
The tension holds throughout, thanks to the expert pacing. The more of the mystery that unfolds, the more compelled you are to get to the truth quicker.
The top-tier acting from the lead cast is made better by its overall diversity. The ethnic make-up of the surviving human race being blended may not seem like an important thing narratively speaking considering humanity should feel united by their dire end-of-the-world predicament, but to have that world be representative is edifying.
Silo will leave you afraid to hope, yet incapable of not hoping in equal measure.
The Bear
Deputy TV Editor's pick – Rebecca Cook
After the spectacular success of The Bear's first season, the chaotic kitchen drama could have easily fallen victim to the sophomore slump. How else was it going to top that helter-skelter one-take penultimate episode?
But thanks to a heap of heavy-hitting guest stars and a readiness to pull the camera away from the soulful gaze of Jeremy Allen White's Carmy, season two of The Bear delivered one of 2023's best collection of episodes.
As the Chicago sandwich joint underwent a drastic refurb to become a Michelin-worthy restaurant, the Disney+ show also strove to become more ambitious and complex, while keeping a steady hand on its heartfelt centre.
This came to a head most memorably during the supersized Christmas flashback episode, but was also present in spades in the follow-up 'Forks', which served up Cousin Richie's (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) redemption arc with enough of a punch to merit shortlisting for the Digital Spy Reader Awards. It was storytelling and character development at its pinnacle.
The Bear just keeps getting better and better. We can't wait to see what's in store for the third course.
One Piece
TV writer's pick – Janet A Leigh
One Piece's live-action remake is like those surprise toys you used to get as a kid at the bottom of a box of cereal – the ones that would fill you with euphoria. And the Netflix hit managed to capture and sustain that feeling through its 10-episode run, no mean feat.
Its path to success is littered with the remains of remake flops that came before.
Yet the show's ability to harness the grand, adventurous spirit of the anime is what keeps you frozen in that bubble of kid-like joy.
Iñaki Godoy's Luffy and his straw hat crew have a playful, offbeat energy that makes their chemistry so much fun to watch. But it is the sincerity of the characters' hopes and dreams and growing bonds that underpin their friendship, giving it heart. A necessary ingredient – after all, adventure without emotional currency is just hollow.
Its special effects were more than ambitious, yet Luffy's Gum Gum stretch powers and Buggy's chop-chop dismemberment showed how the creators were able to bring sincerity even to the outlandish without coming off tacky or silly.
One Piece succeeded by embedding its homage to the origins of the franchise into something inspired and new.
TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK's biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world's oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).
Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
