The most underrated TV gems of 2022
(Credit: AppleTV+)
1. Slow Horses
Misfits are the heroes in this sleek, irreverent spy thriller. Gary Oldman stars as dishevelled, alcoholic but supersmart Jackson Lamb, who heads up a team of out-of-favor MI5 agents located in Slough House, which earned them the nickname Slow Horses. Jack Lowden plays young, impulsive, daring River Cartwright, whose promising career was reversed when a training exercise went very wrong. The classic spy tropes keep things moving, but it’s the cast that makes the series so glittering. Oldman’s sly, irascible Lamb is actually likeable. The charismatic Lowden seems ready for a breakout role. Kristin Scott Thomas plays the haughty deputy director of MI5, and Jonathan Pryce is Cartwright’s retired MI5 grandfather. The second season (of four that are planned) features Cold War sleeper agents and Russian oligarchs, and we learn the secret behind Lamb’s exile to Slough House. The spy genre is rarely so fresh or fun to watch.
Available on AppleTV+ internationally
(Credit: Michelle Faye/FX)
2. Under the Banner of Heaven
Andrew Garfield gives one of his best performances as a faithful Mormon detective and family man investigating the murder of a young mother and her child, with the main suspects members of his own church. The show is based on Jon Krakauer’s bestselling true crime book about real-life murders in Utah in 1984. But the series creator, Dustin Lance Black, had the brilliant idea of creating Garfield’s fictional character of Jeb Pyre, whose faith is challenged by the investigation, and of inventing his non-religious, Native American partner, Detective Bill Taba (the always solid Gil Birmingham). This thoughtful drama plays out as a murder mystery but is also a timely depiction of how religious extremism, politics and violence can mix with devastating results.
Available on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK
(Credit: HBO Max)
3. Julia
There is no shortage of films about Julia Child, including Julie and Julia (2009) with Meryl Streep and the engaging, thorough documentary Julia (2021), but none as effervescent as this series. Sarah Lancashire embodies the high spirits, occasional self-doubt and tenacity of the woman who in middle age became famous as The French Chef. Focusing on her early, bumpy years on television and her first burst of fame, the show is perfect, buoyant escapism even when Julia is challenged. David Hyde Pierce plays her ever-loyal, much-loved husband, Paul, and Bebe Neuwirth is her best friend, Avis DeVoto. In and out of the kitchen (where there are many culinary missteps) the series never flags. You won’t see anyone appreciate a drag Julia Child impersonator more than Lancashire dancing along as Julia herself.
Available on HBO Max in the US and NOW in the UK
(Credit: BBC)
4. The Responder
British viewers might be familiar with this unrelentingly tense cop drama, but in the US it wasn’t even a blip. Martin Freeman, far from his roles as Frodo or the helpful Dr Watson, plays Chris Carson, a recently demoted police officer in mental anguish, who tells his therapist “I don’t even know what’s right and wrong any more.” Talk about flawed heroes. Already corrupt, he has now been dragged into a dangerous drug deal. The more he helps a young addict avoid the crime lords trying to kill her, the deeper he gets in himself. As the story follows him through a week, each episode is more intense than the one before, the camera often capturing Chris’ tortured face in close up – Freeman gives a fiercely real performance – as he deals with his fractured marriage, his dying mother (Rita Tushingham) and his by-the-book new partner (Adelayo Adedayo). The Responder is one of the most morally ambiguous, tough-minded shows of the year.
Available on Britbox in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK
(Credit: HBO Max)
5. I Hate Suzie Too
The three-episode second season of British comedy-drama I Hate Suzie is even more visceral and mordant than the first, and Billie Piper even more fascinating to watch. She’s a train wreck in action as the one-time teen sensation and current C-list celebrity Suzie Pickles. As season one ended, Suzie’s sex scandal had destroyed her marriage. In this new series, set in the run-up to Christmas, she is a contestant on a show called Dance Crazee (think Dancing with the Stars or Strictly Come Dancing but even more cringe-inducing). While the dances give us dark comedy, the downward spiral of Suzie’s mental state is wrenching. Struggling to get joint custody of her young son, she makes as many bad choices as ever. Co-created by Lucy Prebble (who wrote the play Enron and is a writer on Succession) and Piper, Suzie Too offers a scathing look at the price of celebrity culture, along with a vivid, textured glimpse behind the scenes of a reality show.
Available on HBO Max in the US and NOW in the UK
(Credit: HBO Max)
6. Barry
What began in 2018 as an absurdist comedy about Barry (Bill Hader), a hitman who started a new career as an actor, has gotten progressively deeper and darker. Now it has veered into once-a-killer-always-a-killer territory, but where some shows make you want to run from the mind of a murderer, Barry is sharper, more engrossing and more original than ever as it takes us into Barry’s off-kilter world. Henry Winkler is dynamic as Gene Cousineau, Barry’s acting teacher, who now knows that Barry killed his girlfriend. There is still wit, especially in Gene’s egotistical attempts to resurrect his acting career. But the trajectory is focused on Barry’s increasing rage as he descends into the darkest part of himself. The show is set apart from others by its sharp direction (co-creators Hader and Alec Berg split this season between them) and editing (there is not a wasted scene). Always more of a critical then popular success, Barry deserves a wide audience.
Available on HBO Max and Amazon Prime Video in the UK
(Credit: Hulu)
7. Welcome to Wrexham
If Ted Lasso were a reality show, it would be the witty, endearing Welcome to Wrexham, in which Hollywood actors Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Rob McElhenney (Mythic Quest and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) buy the Welsh football club Wrexham AFC, even though they have never set foot in Wales and still think of the game as soccer. The cameras follow them as they discover just how many millions of dollars it costs to try to boost the team out of its lowest-rank National League tier, explaining British football to viewers in the US along the way. The heart of the series is its focus on the people of the town of Wrexham, which has fallen on hard economic times. We follow them into the pubs, into their homes and to the matches, as they talk about how important the team is in their lives. The reality show tropes are there, with all their apparent artifice, but through 18 half-hour episodes the series acquires genuine warmth.
Available on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK
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