In yesterday’s blog, I shared my 12-title shortlist for my 2023 top 10, which I presented as my final reckoning “barring any last-minute revelations”. Well, guess what? At the last minute, I have another title to add to the list. It is not something I saw on TV in the last 24 hours, but a series from earlier in the year which I was catching up with on BBC i-player on a trusted friend’s recommendation and have noticed appearing in the “best of year” lists. I had already seen 4 episodes and thought it was pretty good (I was still watching, after all) but the terrific last two episodes raised it to shortlist status, so I need to start this blog with a brief reaction before giving you my top 10 of the year.

Blue Lights (BBC1) follows three new recruits to the Belfast police and features a main storyline involving intelligence agencies, a drugs gang and the legacy of the Troubles. This would make it interesting enough, but it is the general ambience of the piece which most caught my attention. British TV spent much of the 80s and 90s trying to create a cop show which could replicate the success of Hill Street Blues and failed miserably. But this reminded me most of that seminal series. It is only a six-parter, but it quickly established the camaraderie, the patrol-car teams, the briefings at base, the romances and the background air of threat which were staples of Hill Street. And, like Hill Street, it had the sudden plot-shifting potential of gun violence which had not really been possible in previous British cop series. All was very neatly set up for a second series and I suspect it will run and run.

So, with this added to yesterday’s shortlist to make 13, here are my top 10 selections for 2023:

Happy Valley (BBC1)

The excellent third series wrapping up the saga and standing for the whole.

Three Minutes – a Lengthening (BBC4)

A riveting and moving forensic examination of a fragment of archival footage.

Best Interests (BBC1)

Jack Thorne’s latest phenomenal 4-parter, with Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen on top form.

There She Goes (BBC2)

A superb and moving special to conclude Rosie’s story, though I’d still like to see it back some time.

The Piano (Channel 4)

Wonderful human stories and great musical performances in the most enjoyable reality show I have ever seen.

Colin From Accounts (BBC2)

Blunt Aussie humour combined with terrific performances from the husband-and-wife team of Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall.

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland (BBC2)

Revelatory documentary series about the Troubles in Northern Ireland, with witnesses only now able to speak about it.

The Long Shadow (ITV)

Sensitive dramatic exploration of the effect of the Yorkshire Ripper’s crimes in the 1970s and the police failure to apprehend him.

Boiling Point (BBC1)

A brilliant film transformed into an even more intense 4-part series.

Blue Lights (BBC1)

See above

My choice for best thing of the year would be Best Interests, which I hinted at in yesterday’s blog, while bemoaning its complete absence from the Guardian’s top 50 of the year. 

All my picks come from traditional broadcast TV this year. As before, there was plenty I missed from the streaming platforms, but what I did watch seemed to me to be becoming repetitive and unoriginal. Maybe there will be something more inspiring from them in 2024. Let’s hope so and Happy New Year.