5. Manhattan
Starting out with this incredible show. 'Manhattan' has existed for one season and it has been renewed for a third which will be coming in 2015. For a brief description this show centres around Manhattan in 1943 (one of my favourite periods for television shows) around the people who were to assined to be the first to create a nuclear bomb and the life and the people in their life which are affected by this and the life they lead in a small community where they must stay. There are many things about this show which I love. It's very different to usual period pieces, I haven't seen anything on this particular part of the war and it is complex in how it explores the relationships, and the complexity of masculinity and the literal weight of the world to get it right and who is left in the sidelines. (Wifes and families, for example.) With great actors such as Olivia Williams and in fact, everybody is spectacular and it's very good in themes such as the struggle of domesticity and the evolution of women at the time especially in homosexuality and freedom and mental health during so much suppression. I adore this show and the weight of actions are always really prominent. Australia are turning out to be amazing at period shows (Bomb Girls being another which is incredible.)
Trailer for Manhattan:
4. Transparent
God, I wish the world had more television shows like these. As soon as I knew about Transparent, I knew it would be a show for me. I watched it really fast. Each episode is approximately thirty minutes so it follows in the footsteps of shows like 'Girls' and 'Looking' and they are full of such ground-breaking portrayal of gender-identity in a really moving, normalised way and in a mixture of comedy and seriousness of changes a family go through when confronted with something they knew to be true, which isn't and also how lonely a family can be and how ultimately, in a revolutionary way for television shows, show that what they think doesn't matter. You accept it, or you don't. This show brings trans awareness to the mass and does it so sensitively. It also brings in the secrets and the insecurities that the family have and how they fit together. This show is one of the few rising amazon prime original series which are really great. It's a beautiful show and I adore it.
3. Outlander
Outlander, a starz original series (which has brought to us shows like Spartacus and Camelot.) and I fell head over heels for this show in so many ways. It is insanely atmospheric, incredibly detailed and just full of so much interesting concepts and joy of the mythical which is really hard to feel from most things sometimes but with Outlander, I feel it in waves of goodness. Outlander surrounds a woman called Claire who lives in the 1940s and upon finding a , she is transported into time to 1743 Scotland. Ah, I can't review it properly without gushing about it so it's probably best to just watch the trailer.
Outlander Trailer:
2. Intruders
How can something John Simm is part of not be great? Intruders is an insanely good show which is based on the concept of past people/past souls which have the ability to inhabit living and existing bodies. Everything is done so impeccably, it's genuinely frightening and fascinating and full of depth and I love it a lot.
1. The Leftovers
My favourite show of the year goes to 'The Leftovers' which was a show I had been following for quite a whole before it premièred and nothing could have prepared me for how good it would be. It ranks with the top of post-apocalyptic tv shows but in a much more intense commentary and symbolism. The Leftovers centres around the event of a large amount of the population of the population disappearing and there being no explanation. The show focuses on the world left behind and the repercussions and the mentality the world has taken on in its wake. The cast is talented and the themes of religion, death and grief (and lack of it) and disasters and controversy and the supernatural's role in that are unrivalled.
The Leftovers Trailer:
