Given how rare event television is in the streaming era, watercooler moments are far and few between. While Celebrity Traitors is agripping exception to this rule, the field of other possibilities is vast. Mammoth franchises sit alongside original storytelling in aTV schedule of your own making as the medium continues to adapt to the evolving entertainment landscape. Some year-defining titles have still not yet made it to UK shores (The Pitt and The Lowdown being two to look out for come 2026). Nevertheless, the array of gripping dramas, comedies, documentaries – and everything in between – will keep you entertained far into the new year. Final seasons, long-awaited returns, and daring newcomers are all on offer. Be prepared to gasp, laugh, and cry. Sometimes all three atonce.
10. Mr. Scorsese (Apple TV)
Five hours with Martin Scorsese, his collaborators, and family discussing his roots, influences, and large volume of work is time well spent. In fact, Rebecca Miller’s docuseries would benefit from being even longer to cover all bases (justice for the absent Hugo). Still, the meditations on death, religion, filmmaking and the toll specific projects took on the director’s mental health offer profound insight into the man who has shaped the film industry for six decades.
9. Andor (Disney+)
Knowing where this Star Wars story is heading only increases the tension as Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) barrels towards his fate. Four three-episode chapters play with the parameters of television structure, with Tony Gilroy’s Rogue One prequel giving space to the different factions of the rebellion – and the fascist forces within. Not to mention the year’s hottest dance track comes courtesy of composer Nicholas Britell, with Genevieve O’Reilly’s Mon Mothma channeling her pain into frenetic, mesmerising moves: 10s across theboard!
8. Task (HBO/Sky Atlantic)
Brad Inglesby’s follow-up to Mare of Easttown replaces awhodunnit with alayered cat-and-mouse game. Broken families link Mark Ruffalo’s priest-turned-FBI Agent and Tom Pelphrey’s petty criminal, Robbie Pendergrast; their eventual showdown is not as on-the-nose as the themes linking the two men. Ruffalo is reliably excellent, but it is Pelphrey and Emilia Jones as Robbie’s niece, Maeve, who stand out as actions and consequences become more desperate. The penultimate episode has an edge-of-the-seat 20-minute sequence that ensures its place on thislist.
