Normally I don’t cave to peer pressure, but everyone is doing top ten lists at the moment and I’m not strong enough to go against the flow (EDITOR’S NOTE: Also, I made him do it). Welcome to the top ten new TV shows of 2015. This year we’ve seen a plethora of new series’, from snoozefests that will leave you asleep on the couch, to addictive binge fuel that keeps you on the edge of your seat until you realise it’s not dark outside anymore and you’ve actually stayed up all night.
If you’re behind on your telly though, I’ve got you covered. Consider this your guide to getting into the next Mad Men or Breaking Bad on the ground floor. Anyone can jump onto a brilliant show midway through season three, but only you will be able to say you were there from the very beginning, and it all started in 2015. Your friends and colleagues will look at you as some kind of TV god.
Now, come with me if you want to live.
10. The Last Kingdom
barjonas.org
Game of Thrones has been challenged by many pretenders in recent years, but none with quite the same scope as The Last Kingdom. Following the warrior Uhtred, torn between the worlds of the Saxons and the Vikings, the Bernard Cornwell adaptation takes the Westeros model of a land in conflict and overlays it with a stark aesthetic.
Uhtred’s story is the story of a man at the centre of a war of conflicting world views, fought with swords and shields. Alexander Dreymon lends a wolfish performance to the show’s protagonist, always looking for ways to get ahead but not quite as ruthless as he would like people to believe. Dreymon should be commended for making us care about Uhtred’s trials and tribulations, which could have come off as unsympathetic with a less talented actor.
Taking real historical figure and events and folding them around the story of a fictional character is something that Bernard Cornwell has spent decades perfecting, and even in adaptation, The Last Kingdom demonstrates this. The show’s interpretation of Alfred the Great, as well as various historical Vikings, is intriguing.
9. Catastrophe
standard.co.uk
When Sharon and Rob have a short fling neither thinks much of it, and Rob heads back to America. Except suddenly it’s a month later and Sharon is pregnant. Films like Knocked Up have told this kind of story before, but never in such a relatable way. The perfect back and forth between the two leads pulls off being both hilarious and grounded at the same time.
Written by the show’s two leads Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, Catastrophe follows the pair through Sharon’s pregnancy and their developing relationship. The couple are often thrown into awkward situations with unnerving characters just ordinary enough to be believable. What sets Catastrophe apart though, is that Rob and Sharon basically behave how we would in their less than ideal situation.
Rob becomes a bumbling do-gooder trying to make up for the pregnancy he’s caused without fully knowing how, while Sharon struggles with how a baby and an American boyfriend are suddenly interloping on her steady life. From a story that’s been mined so many times before, Catastrophe manages to be one of the best new comedies of the year.
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
