The Best TV of 2023 is the name of two TV Gold year-in-review episodes now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other podcast platforms.
Listen to TV Gold here. Please follow the podcast for automatic updates.
TV Gold’s Best TV of 2023
TV Gold Year in Review Part 1: Best Australian series
There were so many great TV shows this year we have recorded two episodes listing them all. Joining Andrew Mercado and James Manning in both these episodes is TV Tonight founder David Knox. There is a list of over 20 shows we all enjoyed including The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Prime), Scrublands (Stan), Bay of Fires (ABC iview) and While the Men Are Away (SBS On Demand).
Don’t miss the other TV Gold Year in Review podcast episode which covers International TV.
TV Gold Year in Review Part 2: Best International series and Documentaries
There were so many great TV shows this year we have recorded two episodes listing them all. Joining Andrew Mercado and James Manning in both these episodes is TV Tonight founder David Knox. There is a comprehensive selection of over 40 international dramas, comedies and documentaries to choose from if you are catching up on the best of 2023. Those series include Stonehouse (Britbox), Beef (Netflix), The Sixth Commandment (Binge), The Long Shadow (Stan) and The Last of Us (Binge).
C*A*U*G*H*T (Stan)
Best TV of 2023: The Lists
Andrew Mercado
Mercado’s full list is too long to list here. Luckily we have already published the complete list here.
The Mediaweek columnist and TV historian tracks Australian drama closely and this is his list of the best from 2023:
C*A*U*G*H*T (Stan) was the wildest and most original series of the year. Written and directed by actor Kick Gurry, an incredible Aussie cast assembled alongside A-list talent like Sean Penn playing Sean Penn, and Susan Sarandon as the US President.
Mercado highly recommends:
The Newsreader Series 2 (iview)
Australian Epic (iview)
The Artful Dodger (Disney+)
Colin From Accounts (Binge)
Scrublands (Stan)
Neighbours (10)
RFDS Series 2 (Seven)
In Our Blood (iview)
Love Me Series 2 (Binge)
Ten Pound Poms (Stan)
David Knox
TV Gold’s special guest on both of the Best TV of 2023 episodes was TV Tonight’s David Knox.
He had a much shorter list of the year’s best. Leading Knox’s Top 5 for 2023 was:
The Sixth Commandment, BBC First.
This four-part UK drama centred around the Maids Moreton Murders, a case that gripped the UK in 2015 when retired, lonely English teacher Peter Farquhar (Timothy Spall) was courted by a strapping, charismatic young student, Ben Field (Éanna Hardwicke). At once a tale of romance, deception and tragedy, it was also a masterclass in acting from Spall and Hardwicke. They were simply mesmerising on screen, as was Anne Reid as spinster Ann, whose world of tea and scones and quiet retirement was also thrown asunder by the devious Hardwicke. A special mention goes to Conor MacNeill in the difficult role of Hardwicke’s accomplice, Martyn. If you Google the victims and the actors, the casting dept is to be congratulated for the uncanny likeness. Riveting.
Read the rest of the TV Tonight Top 5 here.
TV Tonight readers are also being asked to choose their favourites in the TV Tonight Awards 2023 here.
James Manning
I detail the reasons for my Best of 2023 TV list on the two TV Gold podcast episodes.
Here is my list of those best series:
Australian series
Scrublands (Stan)
One Night (Paramount+)
Last King of the Cross (Paramount+)
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Prime Video)
The Appleton Ladies Potato Race (10/Paramount+)
No Escape (Paramount+)*
Far North (Paramount+)*
While the Men Are Away (SBS)
Black Snow (Stan)
Bay of Fires (ABC)
Not strictly Australian series!
Daisy Jones and the Six (Prime Video)
International series
Stonehouse (Britbox)
Daisy Jones & The Six (Prime Video)
Beef (Netflix)
Dead Ringers (Prime Video)
The Diplomat (Netflix)
Lioness: Special Ops (Paramount+)
The Sixth Commandment (Binge/Foxtel)
The Long Shadow (Stan)
The Last of Us (Binge)
Lessons in Chemistry (AppleTV+)
Archie (Britbox)
The Hunt for Raoul Moat (Britbox)
Documentaries
John Farnham: Finding the Voice (Seven)
Beckham (Netflix)
Love to Love You, Donna Summer (Binge/Foxtel)
Stock Aitken Waterman (SBS)
The Supermodels (AppleTV+)
Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles (Prime Video)
The Last Daughter (Netflix)
Returning series worthy of a mention
Morning Wars (AppleTV+), Billions (Stan), Vigil (Binge/Foxtel), Succession (Binge/Foxtel), Time (Binge/Foxtel), The Crown (Netflix), The Newsreader (iview), The Bear (Disney+), Hotel Portofino (Binge/Foxtel)