We continue our countdown of the best shows to have graced our TV screens this year (have a look at the rest of our list right here) and now it’s time to reveal our next three picks of TV heaven.
Our second set of cracking shows contains a dive into Danish politics (trust us on this one) and two comedies so funny, they occasionally robbed us of our ability to breathe.
9 – Borgen
The second of the Scandinavian thrillers to make our list, Borgen was the surprise package that showed that the Danish could make more than a cracking murder mystery and made a show with more political intrigue than a years’ worth of Newsnight.
It’s all centred around the incredible performance of Sidse Babett Knudsen, who is incredibly magnetic as the Prime Minister trying to not let the grimy world of politics drag her in. Fantastically enough, she’s a character we can all get behind, a rounded human being without horrific demons who actually makes a fantastic stab at a normal life.
Simply describing it as the Scandinavian West Wing, doesn’t do it justice. Who would ever have thought that Danish politics could be so incredibly gripping?
You can buy Borgen on DVD here and Blu-Ray here
8 - Community
The quirky comedy may have only just gotten a fourth year due to poor ratings, with its creator Dan Harmon being forced to jump ship, but the latest series of Community was the best there’s currently been.
As time goes on, the show seems to get more and more confident in its own ability. Community was always willing to take massive risks, with the show designated entire episodes to a Glee parody, the construction of an enormous blanket fort, had all of characters become a videogame and had a romance featuring the human embodiment of the sandwich company Subway.
Community just kept managing to make the mundane into the fantastical and the fantastical into a thing of real beauty, with the most perfectly judged use of pop culture references and a fantastic central comedic crew keeping the show a constant bright spot.
A brilliant series that yet again mystified critics and fans as to why it’s not embraced by more people.
You can buy Community on DVD here
7 – Archer
While Archer has the ability to divide people over its risk taking humour, series 3 of the animated comedy took it’s tried and tested formula for insanity and turned it up to eleven.
From Archer and co having to fight a crazed mad man hunting them down, fighting in space, beating a gang of Yakuza street racers or being hunted down for sport by a crazed drug lord, the show never let anything like reality ever enter the fray and ruin things.
While this may get tiring with other shows, Archer continually finds new ways to make the ridiculous simply insanely hilarious. Not a single episode went by without us keeling over with a fit of the giggles. In any book that’s got to count as a home run.
No other show induced quite as many full blown, pain making fits of laughter this year and in the form of Burt Reynolds may just have made the single most amazing guest appearance on TV in years.
Pre-order Archer Season 3 on DVD here and Blu-Ray here
That brings our second batch of shows to a close, but make sure to see what else made our top twelve here and come back tomorrow to see what shows came in 6th, 5th and 4th places on our list.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
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