Oprah’s tête-à-tête with the Sussexes made history, and in a year of heartbreaking dramas, Russell T Davies reigned supreme with It’s a SinSarah Crompton’s best dance of 2021Read the Observer critics’ review of 2021 in full hereWe couldn’t afford for television to let us down in 2021 and – SPOILER ALERT! – it didn’t. It unleashed a torrent of inspiration, dedication and invention, not to mention defecting royals and deadly children’s games.
With Covid uncertainty ever present, the most heartbreaking lockdown drama was Jack Thorne’s care home tragedy Help (Channel 4), starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham. In pandemic documentaries,
Actor David Harewood stood out with the forceful Why Is Covid Killing People of Colour? (BBC One).