The weekly Mediaweek podcast TV Gold has reviewed close to 40 TV drama series in 2024 from January to March.
As the first quarter of the year ticks over, hosts Andrew Mercado and James Manning reveal the best so far. Each week we select a TV Gold Show of the Week and so far this year there have been 17 of them.
For 13 weeks we have agreed on the same show eight times. That’s often, but not always!
Best of Netflix
Netflix has provided some memorable TV so far in 2024. It was Netflix drama series that book-ended the first quarter of 2024. Both Andrew and I agreed on these:
Boy Swallows Universe in January and The Gentlemen in March. Both series have spent time at the top of the Netflix TV chart.
One other show from Netflix got a Show of the Week nomination this year. This time only from me though – the comedy series Loudermilk which ended up this year on Netflix after first launching on Prime Video.
The Gentlemen poster set
Stan gets religious
In January this year, both co-hosts got excited by the new Stan Original Prosper.
Also making this Show of the Week list is the US drama Three Women. That was a nomination from Andrew, although both hosts spoke glowingly about the series’ star – Shailene Woodley.
Crime and fashion at AppleTV+
Both co-hosts liked the look of AppleTV+ UK crime drama Criminal Record.
Later on in the quarter, I was the only one to nominate The New Look to Show of the Week status.
A third series from AppleTV+ was a late nominee this quarter with Andrew voting for Manhunt, the drama about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln in the Easter TV Gold episode.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office
Just one FTA commercial TV drama
Australian commercial FTA television is largely the domain of reality programming in primetime. A handful of dramas are either commissioned or acquired. Just one of them made our list for a first-quarter Show of the Week. And what a series it was. Four short episodes that gripped the UK and made politicians squirm about their inactivity – Mr Bates vs the Post Office.
ABC double
Two series feature on the list from the ABC this quarter. It is also worth noting that the third series of Total Control was also screened in that time. Both hosts have enjoyed that series in the past, but second or third seasons of shows rarely get a Show of the Week trophy.
What did get some silverware though was House of Gods (James) and the New Zealand acquisition Double Parked (Andrew).
Best of British on BritBox
BritBox is a platform both co-hosts like prowling for its UK drama offerings. There were two new good finds in the first three months of 2024.
Maryland was chosen by Andrew at the end of January. High on the reasons to watch list was the great cast, including TV Gold favourite Suranne Jones.
Next up from BritBox was one chosen by me just this week – Obituary. A dark Irish comedy about an obituary writer at a village newspaper.
High Country: Aaron Pedersen, Leah Purcell and Sara Wiseman
Three Shows of the Week on Binge
Three series on this Q1 list come from the TV offerings from Foxtel and Binge. The first was the second season of Feud. Both hosts had a few reservations, but the impressive cast won them over.
Next was Mary & George, a British historical drama that stars Julianne Moore.
Then just earlier in March was the Leah Purcell crime drama High Country.
Also on my list was a sole entry from Prime Video – the Nicole Kidman series Expats.
See also: Best streaming services 2024: What’s essential to watch the world’s finest TV
TV Gold Shows of the Week January – March 2024
Boy Swallows Universe (Netflix) Travis Fimmel, Phoebe Tonkin
An epic coming-of-age story set in 1980s Brisbane that blends the magic and innocence of youth with the brutal reality of the adult world. A lost father, a mute brother, a recovering addict mum, a heroin dealer for a stepfather, and a notorious criminal for a babysitter. Eli Bell is just trying to follow his heart and understand what it means to become a good man, but fate keeps throwing obstacles in his way.
Adapted from Trent Dalton’s iconic Australian novel, Boy Swallows Universe explores the crossroads where a boy becomes a man, good toys with evil, and the everyday meets the extraordinary.
Prosper (Stan)
Prosper (Stan) Rebecca Gibney, Richard Roxburgh
Stan Original Prosper follows the Quinns, the founding family behind one of the fastest growing megachurches in the world, U Star, based in Sydney. Poised on the precipice of a lucrative American expansion, the family is about to catapult into a whole new stratosphere of wealth and unchecked power. But behind closed doors, the Quinns are a family protecting shameful secrets – all while preaching a message of faith, love and acceptance to their many thousands of followers. At its heart, Prosper is a study of a damaged family inextricably bound together while tearing themselves apart.
Criminal Record (AppleTV+) Peter Capaldi, Cush Jumbo
An anonymous phone call draws two brilliant detectives into a confrontation over an old murder case – one a young woman in the early stages of her career, the other a well-connected man determined to protect his legacy. The series touches on issues of race, institutional failure, and the quest to find common ground in a polarised Britain.
Maryland (Britbox) Suranne Jones, Eve Best
Maryland is a three-part relationship drama created by BAFTA and RTS award-winning actress, Suranne Jones, and screenwriter Anne-Marie O’Connor, about two sisters who have grown apart over the years, but through tragic events learn to love and respect one another all over again.
Nicole Kidman in Expats (Prime Video)
Expats (Prime Video) Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue
Set against the vibrant and tumultuous tapestry of 2014 Hong Kong, Expats centres on three American women—Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo)—whose lives intersect after a sudden family tragedy. The series interrogates privilege and explores what happens when the line between victimhood and culpability becomes blurred. Brian Tee plays Margaret’s husband Clarke and Jack Huston plays Hilary’s husband David.
Naomi Watts in Feud S2 (Binge)
Feud S2 (Binge/Foxtel) Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny, Calista Flockhart
The second instalment in Ryan Murphy’s Feud anthology, Binge’s Feud: Capote Vs. The Swans is an eight-episode limited series based on the bestselling book Capote’s Women: A True Story of Love, Betrayal, and a Swan Song for an Era by Laurence Leamer.
The cast of Mr Bates vs The Post Office (7plus)
Mr Bates vs the Post Office (7plus) Toby Jones, Julie Hesmondhalgh
The true story of Alan Bates’ 20-year fight against wrongful accusations by the British Post Office, exposing one of the biggest miscarriages of justice in British legal history.
Sharlene Woodley in Stan’s Three Women
Three Women (Stan) Shailene Woodley, Betty Gilpin, Blair Underwood
Three American women from very different walks of life take radical steps to explore their true desires, while struggling to emerge from a prison of expectations.
The New Look (AppleTV+) Ben Mendelsohn, Juliette Binoche
The revelatory dramatisation of how fashion icon Christian Dior and his contemporaries, including Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain and Cristóbal Balenciaga, navigated the horrors of World War II and launched modern fashion.
House of Gods (ABC iview)
House of Gods (ABC) Osamah Sami, Maia Abbas, Safia Arain
An ambitious Iraqi Australian family grapples with newfound power and privilege when their charismatic patriarch is elected head cleric of The Messenger mosque.
Double Parked (ABC iview)
Double Parked (ABC) Madeleine Sami, Antonia Prebble
New Zealand comedy Double Parked follows lesbian couple Steph and Nat who are ready to start a family. After a long and disappointing run of IVF, Steph and Nat decide to take matters into their own hands – quite literally.
Loudermilk (Netflix)
Loudermilk (Netflix) Ron Livingstone, Anja Savcic, Laura Mennell
Grumpy former music critic Sam Loudermilk grudgingly navigates the world of sobriety with surly rants, even as he guides others in recovery.
Mary & George (Binge)
Mary & George (Binge/Foxtel) Nicholas Galitzine, Julianne Moore, Tony Curran
The Countess of Buckingham moulds her son to seduce King James I and become his powerful lover, through intrigue, becoming richer and more influential than England has ever seen.
High Country (Binge/Foxtel) Leah Purcell, Ian McElhinney, Sara Wiseman, Aaron Pedersen
Detective Andie Whitford gets transferred to the High Country, where she is tasked with investigating the mysterious disappearances of five locals.
The Gentlemen (Netflix)
The Gentlemen (Netflix) Theo James, Kaya Scodelario, Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones
Created by Guy Ritchie, The Gentlemen sees Eddie Horniman (Theo James) unexpectedly inherit his father’s sizeable country estate – only to discover it’s part of a cannabis empire. Moreover, a host of unsavoury characters from Britain’s criminal underworld want a piece of the operation. Determined to extricate his family from their clutches, Eddie tries to play the gangsters at their own game. However, as he gets sucked into the world of criminality, he begins to find a taste for it.
Manhunt (AppleTV+) Anthony Boyle, Tobias Menzies
Based on The New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning nonfiction book from author James L. Swanson. Manhunt is a conspiracy thriller about one of the best-known but least understood crimes in history, the astonishing story of the hunt for John Wilkes Booth in the aftermath of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination.
Obituary (BritBox) Siobhán Cullen, Danielle, Michael Smiley, Ronan Raftery
Siobhan Cullen plays the prim reaper in the Irish black comedy Obituary. She’s a young obituarist at a newspaper in the fictional village of Kilraven who must take drastic measures when the locals aren’t dying quickly enough. Cutbacks are biting at the newspaper and her editor can’t afford to pay her a regular wage.
TV Gold bonus episodes
Don’t miss these bonus TV Gold episodes we have released over the past few months where we focus on just one series with a key creative.
Leah Purcell on High Country and The Drover’s Wife
Rebecca Gibney on Prosper
Kick Gurry on C*A*U*G*H*T
Finding the Voice: The inside story on the making of the John Farnham documentary
Inside the making of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
Marta Dusseldorp on Bay of Fires
Find all episodes of TV Gold and Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast platform here.