As the end of the year rolls around, it's a chance to contemplate what really matters: what great TV shows have you missed out that ended this year?
The long, lazy stretch into the new year gives that perfect opportunity to make some time to work through your ‘must-watch’ series of the year that have evaded you before on the best streaming services. And 2023 has seen the final credits run on some corkers of a show; from high school teen dramas like Sex Education and Riverdale, through to riveting drama and thrillers like Succession and Happy Valley, to superhero capers like Titans or fantasy tales like Carnival Row.
Whether the writers brought their limited series to a natural end themselves, or whether the broadcasters pulled the plug early, here’s our list of all the best TV series to binge-watch on the likes of Netflix, Max, Amazon Prime Video and Disney Plus – and we'll tell you where you can watch each one, of course.
Succession
Watch it on: Max in the US, Sky Atlantic in the UK, Foxtel in Australia.
Not only the best final TV series of the year, but possibly one of the best shows ever, such was the mastery of Jesse Armstrong’s Shakespearean-esque tale of the odious media dynasty, the Roys, and which adult child would inherit the blighted fortunes of Waystar Royco. As the name suggests, eventually it had to land on one [un]lucky family member, and the twist in the final outing – alongside some of the finest insults ever spat out on screen over the years – made sure season four, and the whole show itself, went down as a total showstopper of series.
Ted Lasso
Watch it on: Apple TV Plus worldwide
This heart-warming fish-out-of-water story about a slightly lost American soccer coach (Jason Sudeikis) who finds himself running a footie team over in old Blighty struck a chord with many people stuck at home during the pandemic, when it first launched. In its three seasons, its gentle humor, amiable characters and their progressive dramas pulled a large audience with its charm, and it became so much more than just a sports show about soccer.
Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan
Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video worldwide
Just as John Krasinski had truly settled into the role of the globe-trotting, organized-crime busting CIA hero, it was announced in 2022 that the fourth season, released a year later, would be its final. A shame really, as the stellar cast of Wendell Pierce, Abi Cornish and Ali Suliman and the various politically-driven exploits of the far-reaching plot suggested there was more life in the show, but as it stands, it’s a binge-worthy watch still.
Happy Valley
Watch it on: AMC+ in the US, BBC iPlayer in the UK, Foxtel in Australia.
It was just a brief three series for this British police procedural show, but the thriller caused much nail-biting over the decade it ran for. The sassy and smart Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) was a great entry in the pantheon of spiky detectives, while resident villain Tommy Lee Royce (James Norton) attempts to destroy Catherine and everyone she loves in this BAFTA-award winning show.
Carnival Row
Watch it on: Amazon Prime Video worldwide
Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne fronted this fantastical yarn about mythical creatures who are forced to live as repressed immigrants in a steampunk-type fairytale land. Bloom plays Rycroft Philostrate, an inspector who believes that something dark is afoot, and with the help of Delevingne’s fairie, Vignette Stonemoss, is determined to get to the bottom of it. A short two series make this a perfect weekend’s viewing, if you want to be transported to a completely different realm.
How I Met Your Father
Watch it on: Hulu in the US, and on Disney+ in the UK and Australia.
What happens after you produce one of the most popular and long-running sitcoms in recent years? Create a sort-of sequel that tells a similar story in the same setting. How I Met Your Father has the same concept as – obviously – How I Met Your Mother, with Hilary Duff playing Sophie Tomkins, who's older self is telling her son of how she me his father, with the stories playing out in front of us. Although HIMYF didn’t quite match HIMYM’s star power – commissioned for just two series, rather than the latter’s nine – it’s still an equally fun, irreverent series to dip into.
Endeavour
Watch it on: PBS Masterpiece in the US, ITVX in the UK, Brit Box in Australia.
In an inspired twist, one of the UK’s favourite detective dramas, Inspector Morse, was given a fresh leash of life back in 2012, when a prequel series about a young Morse, Endeavour, was commissioned. Starting off in the ’60s and running through nine seasons until the year 1972 in the final season; the show deftly covered complex murder-mystery cases set among the backdrop of the swinging ’60s, and managing to weave in historical events of that era too, such as the moon landing.
Titans
Watch it on: Max in the US, Netflix in the UK and Australia.
The producers of Titans played a blinder when they got wind that the DC show – initially based on Teen Titans – was in danger of being axed, so the fourth season was quickly rewritten as the final, making sure to leave no loose ends or cliffhangers. They guessed correctly: the series was cancelled in January 2023, making the four seasons a short but sweet complete story for Nightwing, Starfire, Raven and co.
Billions
Watch it on: Showtime/Paramount+ in the US, Paramount+/Sky in the UK, Stan in Australia
Money, power and manipulation were the name of the game in this drama which was inspired by real-life financial crime. Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis head up the cast of billionaire hedge fund managers and US attorneys; many of whom lead two conflicting lives; their pleasant, public-facing front, and then their darker, private lives, which inevitably end up being outed. With 84 episodes over seven seasons; these many true-to-life exploits of the one-percenters are as infuriating as it is enjoyable to watch.
Riverdale
Watch it on: Netflix worldwide
As the six seasons of the teen drama Riverdale progressed, it became more and more outlandish by the episode. Inspired initially by the Archie Comics, it soon veered over to genres encompassing soap opera, murder mystery, fantasy, and gothic horror, making it a wild, often highly camp and unpredictable ride for viewers, which is why so many of them clung on to the finale, which aired in August 2023.
Disenchantment
Watch it on: Netflix worldwide
Following on from The Simpsons and Futurama, the instantly recognizable style of Matt Groening’s brought us Disenchantment. A fantasy series set in the fictional mediaeval kingdom of Dreamland, it followed the story of the adventurous (and alcoholic) princess Bean, played by Broad City’s Abbi Jacobson. Eric Andre brings the laughs as Bean’s own personal demon, Luci, while it’s always welcome to hear the booming voice of Matt Berry pop up as a prince who’s been turned into a talking pig. The five seasons follow the merry (in more ways than one) band of friends as they discover the most mythical of conspiracies, and it carries the torch well from animations like BoJack Horseman in covering very real, adult emotions and experiences through the lens of a brightly-colored cartoon.
Sex Education
Watch it on: Netflix worldwide
A super popular high school-based series comes with the inevitable problem: the actors can’t play teenagers forever. So after the kids from Moordale burst onto our screens in 2019, all their sex, relationship and general teenage angst was wrapped up neatly four years later, as they moved on to The Real World. Hate to tell you this guys, but it doesn’t get any easier as an adult… As one of Netflix’s most popular TV shows though, it’s well worth the watch – especially for stand out talent like Emma Mackey and Ncuti Gatwi, whose performance in this will have played a large part in him being crowned as the new star of Doctor Who.
Reservation Dogs
Watch it on: Hulu in the US, Disney Plus in the UK, on Binge in Australia
Initially created by Taika Waititi and Sterlin Hajo for FX in 2021, Reservation Dogs is a witty, coming-of-age comedy about four Indigenous teenagers who live in rural Oklahoma, but who are desperate to escape to California by doing anything that gets them cash. The series has had a sort of word-of-mouth, slow-burner success but the third and final season this year cemented it up top in many critics’ ‘best of 2023’ lists, which is another reason why you should give this a go from the beginning, too.
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