From serial killers and zombies, to private school and prison, this is a list of Polari Magazine’s Favourite TV of 2013.
Breaking Bad, Season 5 • Netflix
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Breaking Bad has to be the darkest series to have aired in the last 5 years – if not ever. It is about desperation, with the chemistry teacher Walter White turning meth cook after he is diagnosed with cancer, and it continues on that path as Walt digs himself in deeper and deeper into the meth underworld. As a series it asks what happens when our lives spiral out of control, and what lengths to people will go to assume control again. Brilliant. – Christopher Bryant
The Walking Dead, Season 5 • Channel 5
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Since watching Dawn/Day of the Dead as a kid, I’ve been a zombiephile. You can keep your campy Draculas, your rom-com Twilights, I want to see apocalyptic worlds, where the dead limp along in swarms, where your mother would rip your belly out. I want to be so stressed that I’m chewing my bottom lip. That’s my idea of fun. The Walking Dead delivers all these goodies. Character driven, gory and upsetting. Here’s to another year of eating eyeballs. – Clayton Littlewood
Ripper Street, Season 2 • BBC 1
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The BBC often claims to be renowned for quality period drama series, a boast for which there is not much evidence, but their series Ripper Street was excellent. Yet after only two exceptional series they have decided to cancel a show that actually lived up to their boasting. With its brave vernacular dialogue, beautifully detailed production values and clever, intelligent writing, it was a noteworthy and exceptional piece of television that I will mourn the loss of. – Bryon Fear
Ja’mie: Private School Girl • BBC 3
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Chris Lilley has created one of the most memorable personalities of television. With an ability to wrap people around her finger, Ja’mie will step over anyone to reach her goals, “help the poor” and fight with anyone that gets in her way. Ja’mie’s humour is both vicious and hilarious. She will remind you of the bitch you knew in highschool that always got her way. It’s a show a best described with the words of the school girl herself: “Quiche”. – Andrew Darley
The Big C: Hereafter • Showtime
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The Big C is an exceptional series that overflows with laughter and pain. It is brave to create a series about a character dying of cancer, with the end of the story a sad, as well as a foregone, conclusion. Laura Linney is one of the finest actors around, and she deserves to be showered with awards for her performance. The final season was as emotional, rewarding and harrowing as I expected it to be. As a drama it does not flinch. – Christopher Bryant
Catfish • MTV
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We now know that one can never trust someone off the Internet. After his own experience of being “catfished” (i.e. online dating someone with a false identity), Nev Schulman decided to help others meet or expose the people they had fallen in love with online. There’s no shortage of eyebrow-raising and jaw-dropping moments at the extent people go to become a ‘catfish’. Besides the personal drama, Nev and his side-kick Max Joseph are endlessly entertaining together, documenting their travel antics and bromance. – Andrew Darley
Orange Is The New Black, Season 1 • Netflix
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This is not what you would expect from a series set in a woman’s prison. First of all there’s the title track, Regina Spektor’s terrific ‘You’ve Got Time’. Then there’s Kate Mulgrew, as the ruthless (dyed) redhead Russian who runs the kitchen and controls the contraband that comes into the prison. The 13 episodes are an hour each, which allows for strong story and character development. The story of the trans inmate Sophia (Laverne Cox) is handled with an extraordinary grace and dignity. – Christopher Bryant
Atlantis, Season 1 • BBC 1
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When it loomed in the Saturday evening schedule to replace the hole left by Merlin I was not impressed. I don’t like my ancient Greek myths and lore being messed with. But week by week the surprisingly good effects, well crafted stories and (the real draw) endearing ensemble cast have won me over. I have become invested in the characters and am even enjoying the retelling of the much loved stories I read as a child. A pleasant surprise. – Bryon Fear
Stacey Dooley Investigates • BBC 3
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Stacey Dooley does not hold back making documentaries. The 26 year old pushes herself into the epicentre of the world’s most dangerous and underground issues affecting young people today, including gun culture, drugs and prostitution. What grabbed me most about her BBC 3 series is her apparently effortless approach of going headfirst into foreign countries to interview and connect with the people who are both causing and tackling these problems. Her investigative techniques and interview style are refreshing, shining an honest light on criminal issues. – Andrew Darley
Dexter, Season 8 • Showtime
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Dexter is a rare series in that it never lost its way, and proved engaging year after year. The character of Dexter, the serial killer with a heart, is always changing, developing and learning, which could easily not have been the case. Season 8, with the wonderful Charlotte Rampling as its guest star, was a fearless resolution to the story. The core cast is outstanding. And Jennifer Carpenter, as Dexter’s sister Deb, always gives a master class in how to swear with real impact. – Christopher Bryant
House of Cards, Season 1 • Netflix
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At first, I didn’t like it at all. I found Francis Underwood’s (Kevin Spacey) asides to the camera grating. Yet by the second episode it started to click into place. Robin Wright is compelling as Spacey’s cold, calculating, yet vulnerable wife; and Kate Mara is unnerving as the ambitious journalist looking to make a career from her association with Underwood. It is about the harsh, back-stabbing, amoral game of politics, in which the only rule is power. Wondering what they’ll do next makes it compelling. – Christopher Bryant
Downton Abbey, Season 4 • ITV
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Downton Abbey is such a guilty pleasure. Every episode plays out like classic French & Saunders (think House of Idiot) and I revel in the utter nonsense of it all. Each week a fresh new tragedy befalls the Crawleys and their staff, a distraction from the inherent vileness of the class system on which the series is founded, and each week (within a 55 minute window) all is miraculously resolved. I’m already faint with excitement to see what hideous calamity will strike on Christmas day, as Maggie Smith curls delicious one-liners through her pursed lips. – Bryon Fear
Girls, Season 2 • Sky Atlantic
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Lena Dunham’s smash-hit television series returned with its second season early on in 2013. It embraced a noticeably less comical and more personal tone, shifting away from the girls as a collective to them as individuals. The season captured the senselessness and isolation people can endure at this age, from Marnie’s clinging to others for self-definition and Hannah’s experience of anxiety and OCD. The girls are becoming women. – Andrew Darley
