The Economist’s pick of the best television shows of 2023
recent history. Viewers already know the dismal ending to the romance between Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla), but the drama is tightly drawn and mesmerising on screen. A gender-swapped remake of the film of 1988.
By turns funny and unsettling, the mini-series revolves around twin sisters and gynaecologists, Elliot and Beverly Mantle (both played by Rachel Weisz), as they open their own birthing centre and conduct ethically dubious research. Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) becomes America’s ambassador to Britain shortly after a hostile power has blown up a British warship in the Persian Gulf. Witty, tense, glossily melodramatic and full of terrific performances, this show is remarkably bingeable.
This is the sort of show Netflix was made for. Of all the TV spin-offs and sequels of recent years, “Fargo"—based on the black-comedy film of 1996—has been the most surprising. The fifth season, which stars Jon Hamm and Juno Temple, once again enthralls viewers with unique crime capers set in America’s Midwest.
A dramatisation of the Brink’s-Mat gold-bullion heist in London in 1983. (The haul was worth £26m, about $100m today.) In Neil Forsyth’s hands this becomes a panoramic tale of class, social mobility and police corruption. Hugh Bonneville, Dominic Cooper and Jack Lowden give excellent performances.
Set in 2010, this show tells the stories of women who dared to defy the ’Ndrangheta, the mafia of Calabria. It has none of the insidious glamour that clings to the “Godfather" movies—and to many productions made since. This is noir that is uncompromisingly dark.
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