2024’s TV heroes on their unmissable cultural picks of the year

It has been a year of true surprises on the small screen. Danny Dyer astonished us all by serving up one of the most heartwarming love stories of 2024, in Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals.

And who could have guessed that Succession’s Justine Lupe would be back so soon with something even better than her eye-rolling plus-one Willa? Her spiky turn as a straight-talking sex podcaster was the best thing about hot-rabbi comedy Nobody Wants This.

For us, it’s screen stars like these – the ones who had an unexpected, glorious “moment” in 2024 – who are the real TV heroes of the year.

Here, they are joined by other standouts, from Mr Loverman’s Lennie James to Big Mood’s Nicola Coughlan, to share their biggest cultural moments and picks from the past 12 months.

Read on to find out what TV moved them, the films that had them on the edge of their seat, the songs they can’t get out of their heads, and the events they wish they could relive.

After winning legions of fans as the “wee lesbian” teen Clare Devlin in cult comedy Derry Girls, Nicola Coughlan graduated to playing grown-up characters this year, with star turns in Channel 4’s dark comedy Big Mood and season three of Netflix’s Bridgerton. The former allowed her to really flex her acting chops in the role of Maggie, a writer wrestling with bipolar, while the latter saw her finally dazzle as a romantic lead. Reprising the role of Penelope Featherington, Coughlan got the full ugly duckling to swan treatment as part of her slow-burn, friends-to-lovers courtship with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) – plus set pulses racing in an array of tasteful yet raunchy sex scenes. Ding dong. By Helen Coffey

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Coughlan’s picks of 2024

Babygirl – Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson are ridiculously good in this. It could seem like well-trodden ground – powerful older woman starts affair with hot younger man – but in Halina Reijn’s hands it’s so much more than that. It’s funny and awkward and sexy and suspenseful.

Daughters – This documentary will tear your heart out. Filmed over eight years, it deals with a group of young girls preparing for a Daddy-Daughter Dance with their incarcerated fathers. So affecting and beautiful.

Challengers – Everyone in it is hot and talented, Luca Guadagnino is a master of what he does and the soundtrack is amazing. Loved.

MAFS UK – I watched every episode and wished for more. The phrases “I’m celibate” (spoiler alert: she didn’t understand what celibate meant), “Bottom Bin” and “Narkisist” (sic) are said daily in my house, and if none of those make sense to you, please watch all episodes post haste.

Danny Dyer delivering one of the most tender romantic storylines of 2024 was not on my bingo card this year. But that’s exactly what he did in Rivals, Disney+’s riotous, ribald adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s 1988 “bonkbuster” novel. Complete with a bushy moustache, a red fringe and a magnificent, enormous heart, the actor known for playing hardmen in EastEnders and The Football Factory transformed himself into Freddie Jones, a Japanese-talking businessman who starts to fall for the loveliest woman in the Cotswolds: Katherine Parkinson’s Lizzie Vereker. The role beautifully demonstrated his range, and is hopefully a sign of things to come now that he’s free from the mega commitment of the soap world. By Ellie Harrison

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Dyer’s pick of 2024

The Oasis reunion – I think the moment for me this year has to be this announcement. There is nothing that excites me more than the prospect of jumping around at an Oasis gig off me nut like the old days. Nostalgia is a beautiful thing.

Bernadine Evaristo’s novel Mr Loverman seems an unlikely candidate for a TV adaptation, its story relying heavily on interior monologues and external silences, exploring a protagonist weighed down by the complexities of culture, sexuality, and a lifetime of regret. Yet, in the hands of Lennie James, these profound themes are transformed into a visual and emotional triumph. Take, for example, one of the early standout scenes: a seemingly mundane kitchen sink setting that becomes electric through its all-Black ensemble debating the morality of homosexuality. James’s portrayal of Barry, a 74-year-old gay man of Caribbean heritage hiding a decades-long secret relationship with his childhood best friend, is a masterclass in restrained emotion. He rails against the conservative Christian values of his wife’s friends with a mix of weary swagger and island machismo. Yet, beneath the bravado, his eyes reveal a lifetime of anguish and inner conflict. It’s a stunning performance by one of Britain’s finest – and most criminally underrated – actors, breathing new life into a story as heart-wrenching as it is necessary. By Rod Ardehali

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James’s picks of 2024

Mr Bates vs The Post Office – Television almost never really changes anything, almost never alters events in the real world, almost never ignites a collective rage or sparks a movement that seeks, and actually gets, justice. Mr Bates vs The Post Office did all that and more. It was really bloody great TV of consequence. I never thought Toby Jones could ever be as brilliant as he was as Neil Baldwin in Marvellous – one of my favourite performances ever – but as Alan Bates he is yet again at his flawless best.

Rachel Chinouriri – A 26-year-old female south Londoner of Zimbabwean heritage who writes songs about exactly where she is at and what she’s thinking and feeling right now. I’m certainly not typical of Rachel Chinouriri’s fan base, but I caught her set at Glastonbury this year and was blown away. She writes funny, revealing, honest, heartbreaking songs and knows how to put them across. She is a beautiful performer – a full-on indie rockstar in the making. She seemed really chuffed to be there and it felt like she truly offered up something of herself in her performance.

Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter – I’m not a huge country fan, but I lived and worked in Texas and Georgia for a good few years, so I’ve heard my fair share. What Beyoncé did with this album is nothing less than genius and a call to arms. It’s like she stuck a flag in the genre and said, ‘This land is my land, in case you didn’t know!’ Bangers from start to finish.

Tottenham’s 4-0 win over Man City – I love the Olympics and the 2024 games in Paris were brilliant – up there with London – but I’m a Tottenham Hotspur fan, so my sporting moment of 2024, and probably of the decade so far, has to be our dismantling of Man City in their own backyard. 4-0 and we properly deserved it for how we took the game to them. On the day we were better than them in every single position. Joyous!

If Justine Lupe chose to exit Hollywood after Succession, leaving us with only her superb performance as sugar baby Willa to remember her by, it would’ve been enough. But the actor stole scenes once again this year in Netflix’s bolt-from-the-blue hit series Nobody Wants This. Lupe plays Kristen Bell’s riotously funny, foul-mouthed sister and sex podcast partner – and their sororal chemistry is so fizzy, it rivals that of the show’s main love affair. Pregnant at the time of filming, Lupe also took the opportunity to speak out against the narrative that motherhood is a death sentence for actors. If I were a betting man, I’d say Lupe (so far, an ensemble favourite) is gearing up for a new year full of leading roles for herself. By Annabel Nugent

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Lupe’s picks of 2024

All Fours by Miranda July – I read it in a rush of postpartum hormonal changes, and it just sunk deep into me. It felt both intimate and epic. I took screenshots of entire spans of pages and sent them to my girlfriends.

Adrianne Lenker’s Bright Future – I think she’s an incredible lyricist. I’m most likely too sentimental and she writes a wildly good love song (“No Machine”, “Free Treasure”), so I listened to those on repeat throughout the year. Her Big Thief track from 2023, “Vampire Empire”, is visceral. You feel the thrill of her seemingly smashing something, but it also breaks your heart.

Bad Monkey – I had so much fun with seeing Vince Vaughn doing the thing that only he can do, and watching Meredith Hagner do yet another golden performance. I’ve only seen two new movies since having my baby in August but I really enjoyed both Conclave and Baby Girl.

Sabrina Carpenter’s “Bed Chem” – Such a good time, and so, so sexy.

“I’m an antisocial grumpy old b**** and my favourite movie is Terminator 2.” This quote from Robyn Malcolm’s Penny, in the shattering drama After the Party, gives a sense of her character, a woman who is raging at the world after seemingly witnessing her husband commit sexual assault. But she is so much more than grumpy. Her guttural turn as Penny, which has been roundly heralded as the best TV performance of the year, drips with anger. And I suspect it feels all the more authentic, and steeped in raw emotion, because the New Zealander is starring opposite her real-life husband, the Scottish actor Peter Mullan. Dark, passionate and brimming with bravura – Malcolm deserves all the plaudits for this scalp-prickling tour de force. EH

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Malcolm’s picks of 2024

Lioness – This is a novel by my pal (and NZ Book of the Year winner 2024) Emily Perkins. Once again, a middle-aged woman, but nothing like the one I played in After the Party. Wealthy, married, middle-aged, furious (but doesn’t know it) and lost (but doesn’t know it). I’ve said all year it’s like if Anton Chekhov and Katherine Mansfield had a baby and moved to Wellington NZ. It’s a sharp and crackingly funny satire, written with the most startling contained rage and a profound understanding of the choices afforded and lost in life – and the quiet need for reckoning and freedom. You’ll read it twice, maybe three times…

Shogun – I LOVED Shogun. Cosmo Jarvis was the best non-hero hero. Funny, buffoonish and heroic, he played the lead swashbuckler with no ego and all humility. A tricky thing to do. And the women, the central women!! Those performances are a masterclass in how still you can be while overwhelming volcanic emotion threatens just under the skin. I worshipped Anna Sawai and Fumi Nikaido’s performances.

Hikoi mo Te Tiriti – If we are talking cultural in the broader sense, then the Hikoi mo Te Tiriti here in Aotearoa New Zealand was a massive highlight. NZ Maori walked the length of the country to protest the attempted introduction of a new Treaty principals bill outside the Beehive (our parliament building). There were well in excess of 50,000 people inspired in part by MP Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke ripping up the bill and delivering the most powerful haka of the year in parliament. It was a moment where politics and cultural power met perfectly – art and protest.

Watching her in Noughties shows like The IT Crowd, you always got the sense that Katherine Parkinson was far, far funnier than the script was allowing her to be. Thankfully, TV has moved on a bit since then, and this year brought plenty of opportunities for Parkinson to put her impeccable comic timing to good use. First, there was season two of the gloriously chaotic family sitcom Here We Go (standout episodes including her character Rachel attempting to bond with the Gen-Z students on her therapist training course and organising an eye-watering “hag” do ahead of her brother’s wedding). Then came Rivals, in which she played novelist Lizzie Vereker, an author with a chaotic Eighties perm, a dreadfully Partridge-esque husband and a wardrobe full of Laura Ashley florals, who eventually ends up as one-half of the show’s sweetest romance, alongside Dyer’s Freddie Jones. Their slow-burn love story gave the show some much-needed emotional heft – a second series has just been confirmed, and we can’t wait to see what it brings for Parkinson. By Katie Rosseinsky

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Parkinson’s picks of 2024

One Day – I’ve rarely been so addicted to a television series. It resonated deeply even though I couldn’t really explain why. I did have a hamburger phone? The performances and writing were so exquisite, it was perfect. I was affected by it for days. I have of course gone and bought the book, and am sorry I didn’t read it sooner.

After the Party – It’s been amazing to end the year on a similarly addictive and thrilling TV show, and what an absolute star Robyn Malcolm is.

Wolf Hall – I do happen to be going through a Tudor phase, but my goodness this show sucks you in with the complexity and detail. I’m annoyed I’m not in it.

Late January, two words resounded in living rooms around the country: “Mollie, noooooo!” One of the most compelling subplots of series two of The Traitors – the TV equivalent of an exquisite panic attack – was that Harry and Mollie were besties, but Mollie was a Faithful and Harry was a Traitor. In the show’s climactic roundtable, where the contestants decided who to banish, we saw Mollie tentatively write a H. The nation collectively held its breath. “Do you promise it’s not you?” she asked her BFF. He assured her it wasn’t. Moments later, she was in tears and he was walking away with the £95k prize pot. It was a lesson in following your instinct, but, afterwards, Mollie also gave us a lesson in humble sportsmanship; she refused to accept any of the money from Harry, who was desperate to win her forgiveness, and held her head high, using her new profile to raise awareness around living with a stoma. What could be more heroic than that? By Jessie Thompson

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Pearce’s picks of 2024

Lucky by Louise Thompson – I don’t usually read autobiographies, but this one was absolutely incredible. It was gripping and honest, offering a rare glimpse into someone in the public eye being so real. Louise uses her platform to normalise important conversations, and her fight with health challenges deeply resonated with me. I admire her bravery in sharing her story to help others.

Unfiltered Women – I love this new ITV series, it’s fantastic how the women talk so openly about disabilities, each bringing unique life experiences to the table. I love the humour throughout, and I think all three women are absolutely amazing.

Industry season three packed a myriad of stellar performances into eight episodes. But none outshone Sagar Radia’s as Pierpoint’s most volatile desk trader, Rishi Ramdani. After two seasons of simmering in the background, Radia stole the series in “White Mischief” – a frenetic 56 minutes following Rishi over two cataclysmic Uncut Gems-coded days, which play out like a panic attack. While balancing a £625m position at Pierpoint and a personal £200,000 debt to a loan shark, Rishi pivots between abhorrent, triumphant, and downright infuriating as his recklessness and self-sabotage see him slip further into financial ruin. But Radia plays Rishi with such dexterity and desperation that, despite all his lies, bullying and misogyny, you’re still left feeling inexplicably sorry for him. By Lydia Spencer-Elliott

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Radia’s picks of 2024

Chef’s Table: Noodles – Evan Funke – As a vegetarian, pasta is life. I was fortunate enough to be in Italy over the summer where I tasted some of the best pasta around. But actually, my favourite spot is Felix, in Venice, Los Angeles. And to my surprise, Netflix has featured the chef/owner, Evan Funke, in their docuseries, Chef’s Table. Evan Funke is a master pasta maker and culinary storyteller, and on his episode, they take you on a journey from a pasta-making school in Bologna, to bankruptcy, to the opening of one of the most popular restaurants in Los Angeles. If you love your pasta as much as I do, you don’t want to miss this episode.

Paris 2024 Olympics/Euros Football final – I couldn’t decide between the two sporting juggernauts. Sport has been a big part of my life from as far back as I can remember. But the older I get, the more I’m reminded about how sport can bring us closer together, especially during a time where so much is trying to divide us. The Olympics in Paris and the England men’s football team getting to the final of the Euros this summer created a shared moment of hope and joy that transcended any political and/or cultural boundaries. Cheers to more great sporting moments in 2025.