The Game of Thrones episode Battle of the Bastards has won a record seven Emmys, which prompted a Guardian article on six of the best hours of TV drama ever made.
Some of you agreed; quite a lot of you, not so much. Many of you couldn’t even agree on the best episodes of the series listed.
There were hundreds of counter-suggestions for era-defining moments on other telly shows, some even made before the year 2000.
Here are 10 of our favourites. A warning: there are some final episodes and plot twists discussed below, so if you’re the kind of person who is worried about spoilers for shows broadcast 20 years ago that you never quite got round to, tread carefully.
1. Boys from the Blackstuff – Yosser’s Story
The bleak and occasionally surreal last episode of Alan Bleasdale’s angry drama about Thatcherism’s effect on the working classes got plenty of mentions below the line, but Yosser’s Story won out for its memorable central character, Yosser Hughes.
“There will never be daring politically-charged drama like BFTB again, never,” said one commenter. “The older this series becomes the more haunting and raw it comes across ... each episode makes you laugh out loud and cry with despair.”
2. Doctor Who – Heaven Sent
We got quite a few Doctor Who propositions, spanning decades of the rambling Gallifreyan’s adventures. Blink was also popular, and “how about the first episode of Doctor Who with the intrigue of the two teachers following up on the problematic pupil Susan.”
But let’s go with Heaven Sent, brutal though it is.
Doctor Who's own Heaven Sent - Peter Capaldi's masterful one-hander. Simply sublime.
3. Twin Peaks – Beyond Life and Death
There are some of us who are still haunted by images from Twin Peaks 25 years on. Who knows whether the much-mooted comeback will be any good, but we’ll always have that glorious final hour.
The last episode of Twin Peaks. Bold, bewildering, brutal, beautiful. Nothing like it before or since.
As I once said, only David Lynch would have his protagonist walk into the realm of ultimate evil and then begin the scene with an illusion of a guy singing a song about sycamore trees.
Other great moments:
- The ominous tone of the meeting at the sheriff's office as Cooper pieces everything together.
- Mulder and Scully were not the first FBI agents to cast a flashlight into the darkness as they prepare to confront the great unknown - Cooper did it first and perhaps most memorably. (And I'm a big X-Files fan too.)
- The whole Red Room sequence is fantastic because it really does feel like another plane of reality. Sometimes the supernatural in fiction can be a bit bland when the supernatural entities behave and speak like they're just humans with magical powers. Definitely not the case here.
- "How's Annie?" Heartbreaking but fittingly frustrating open-ended conclusion (it wasn't scripted to be one, strictly speaking, though I think they knew cancellation was likely).
4. Cracker – To Be a Somebody
The death of Christopher Eccleston’s police inspector at the hands of Robert Carlyle’s burgeoning psychopath in Jimmy McGovern’s Cracker came about because Eccleston was fed up playing “second fiddle” to Robbie Coltrane’s brooding genius psychologist Fitz. But he was lured back for the second series so he could be written out in style.
That Cracker was devastating. It really rewrote the rule book on crime drama. I'm still in shock. Great choice.
5. Hill Street Blues – Grace Under Pressure
Michael Conrad, who played the philosophical Sergeant Phil Esterhaus in this memorable 1980s cop drama, had been suffering from urethral cancer. His workload in the series was gradually reduced, and after his death, it was decided no other actor should step in to replace him. The character was duly written out as having had a heart attack while having sex with his girlfriend.
Hill Street Blues. Season 4 Episode 17. First episode I ever saw of this.
Michael Conrad who played the station Sergeant, had just died in real life, so was given a heart attack in the show, and all the actors were struggling throughout to try to keep composed. It struck a nerve with me (whilst I was waiting for the new Frankie Goes To Hollywood video premiere, and off my face on acid.)
Since then, I have watched the whole series a couple of times, and it is up there with the best television ever created.
6. The Prisoner – Fall Out
Certainly one of the most influential – and most parodied – British series ever made, The Prisoner’s unsettling, surreal and disturbing themes of Cold War paranoia seem as important today as they ever were.
Plus, Portmeirion is lovely for a nice day out.
Yes, OK, you're absolutely right 23rdturnoff, 16 has a lot of 'answers' if that's how you want to think of it, but don't you think the last episode is *so much more surreal - and even shocking - than Once Upon A Time? I've always felt it was the one I loved most. I remember vividly all those years ago sneaking out of bed to watch it, it was on quite late and my mum had said I had to go to bed, but I watched it anyway, with the sound on really low. (In second place I might have the first episode, Arrival.)
7. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Best of Both Worlds (part one)
It’s now fondly remembered as a classic, though like a lot of Trek series, TNG took a while to get going. But nothing prepared viewers for the cliffhanger end to Best of Both Worlds, with Captain Picard assimilated into the Borg and acting Captain Riker making the order to fire upon him.
Admittedly the conclusion wasn’t quite so good, but hey.
Best of Both Worlds - Star Trek: The Next Generation.
As much as I love both episodes of that Star Trek: The Next Generation story it's far from being the best. ST:TNG's "Darmok", "Yesterday's Enterprise", "The Inner Light" and "Chain of Command, part 2" are all arguably superior.
Don't get me wrong, "Best of Both Worlds" is a great story but part 2 has an anticlimactic ending, especially the way that the Borg are eventually defeated.
If you love space battles and conflict in the Star Trek universe then Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has some pretty good episodes, too.
8. The West Wing – Noel
You argued the toss over quite a few West Wing high points, but seemed to agree on this one in the end.
The West Wing's season 2 episode 'Noel' was brilliant TV. Dealing with Josh's PTSD and the emotional trauma of the shooting at the end of S1.
And Leo's story about the guy in a hole.
Also Season 1's 'In Excelsis Deo'. Toby's one man mission after the homeless veteran died due to the cold winds off the chesapeake, Mrs Landingham's heartbreaking story about her two sons being killed in DaNang on Christmas eve and the finale of the military funeral in Arlington over the sounds of 'the little drummer boy'
9. ER – Love’s Labour Lost
So many ER tips. Among them, Hell and High Water – “the making of George Clooney”, according to BennyBlanco:
“ER is woefully neglected here. It was unbelievable TV in the early days, before it got bogged down trying to ruin Carter’s life at every single turn.”
But we’re going with Love’s Labour Lost. “The one where the woman dies in childbirth after Greene makes an error? Killed me when I first saw it,” said RichardNixon. No, not that one.
10. Deadwood – Deadwood
The late, lamented frontier psychodrama Deadwood was cancelled unforgivably early, and we wait with optimism for a follow-up movie. But what a cracking show it was while it lasted – six seasons of Gold Rush machinations and Ian McShane’s brutal brothel owner Al Swearengen gave our readers plenty to pick over. But the swaggering, profanity-heavy opening episode gets the nod.
And any other episode of any other season, most especially those featuring Ian McShane's soliloquies, Timothy Olyphant's dashing good looks and urbane politeness, Geri Jewel's wise, crippled servant girl in a whorehouse, and Robin Weigert as the flamboyant, talented ,troubled, terminal alcoholic, Calamity Jane . Deadwood is Shakespearean brilliance.
Sue S
Sue S
I'm desperate father.
Call me Dan.
I'm Desperate Dan.