Watch, listen and be inspired by Calum Henderson's definitive list of what's hot in 2022.
Hacks (TVNZ+)
The best new comedy of 2021 finally arrived on TVNZ+ earlier this year, along with the hot-off-the-satellite second season. Jean Smart (last seen playing Mare of Easttown's Fruit Ninja-obsessed mum) stars as an old-school Las Vegas stand-up icon who, in a very unwelcome effort to "freshen up" her tried and tested act, gets paired up with an edgy young LA comedy writer (Hannah Einbinder) who's been cancelled for tweeting an inappropriate joke. The odd-couple spend most of the incredibly strong pilot episode trading insults before becoming – not friends exactly, but let's just say they each have a few things they can teach the other.
Pachinko (Apple TV+)
Adapted from Min Jin Lee's epic 2017 bestseller about a Korean family that immigrates to Japan, Pachinko's story of hardship, discrimination and the struggle to build a better life for the next generation spans the best part of the 20th century. Characters come and go over that time, but the one consistent presence throughout the series is the matriarch Sunja, played by three different actors but mostly Youn Yuh-jung (the grandma from Minari). One branch of her family tree does go into the pachinko business, but that's just one tiny part of an impressively vast yet emotionally resonant story.
Reacher (Prime Video)
If you've never read one of Lee Child's outrageously popular Jack Reacher novels before and wanted to know what all the fuss is about, just watch the first half hour of Amazon's TV adaptation and it'll all make sense. Alan Ritchson's Reacher is more faithful to the books' descriptions than Tom Cruise's movie version – just a massive, musclebound ex-military policeman who walks around like a character in a video game, solving crimes with a combination of Sherlock Holmes-style logic, world's-strongest-man feats of strength and a remarkable economy of language. This series was based on Child's first Reacher novel, Killing Floor – the good news is there are at least 24 more where that came from.
The Responder (TVNZ+)
Maybe not since the stressful heights of Breaking Bad has a character been as under-the-pump as Tim from The Office (Martin Freeman) is in the grim BBC police thriller The Responder. Fair to say he's coming apart at the seams: his personal life's a right mess, he's been demoted from inspector and put on night shifts patrolling central Liverpool on his own. and of course has also got himself into an extremely precarious rock-and-a-hard-place situation trying to help out his old friend, a local drug addict. It's as exhausting as it sounds, but Freeman's performance is magnetic – probably the best thing he's ever done.
Severance (Apple TV+)
A surgical procedure that permanently separates your work memories from home memories is not without upside, but it's fair to say mind-bending Ben Stiller-directed Apple TV+ series Severance mostly focuses on the downside. Adam Scott stars as one of the office drones who spend their day contentedly pushing numbers around a computer screen at the mysterious Lumon Industries, until a man on the outside claiming to be his recently-fired work friend Petey (Yul Vazquez) gives him a cryptic letter. Not since Lost have so many fans had so many convoluted theories about what on earth is going on in a TV show.
Sherwood (TVNZ+)
Not a modern-day retelling of Robin Hood but a hugely compelling crime drama set in a Nottingham mining village where everybody knows everybody – and they pretty much all hate each other's guts. Most of the bad blood and mistrust among the community dates back to the miners' strikes of the 1980s, a backdrop that lends extra layers to what is ostensibly a classic police procedural. Between the brilliant cast and the compelling script (which is loosely based on an incident in the village where writer James Graham grew up), it's hard to disagree with the general consensus that Sherwood is the British drama of the year (so far).
Somebody Somewhere (Neon)
Comedian/actress/singer Bridget Everett has popped up in all sorts of things over the years (she was "Drunk Party Girl" in the Sex and the City movie, for example) but the semi-autobiographical dramedy Somebody Somewhere finally gave her the main role she always deserved. Everett plays Sam, a directionless 40-something who moves back to her rural Kansas hometown after her sister's death, and languishes there until she discovers a community of other misfits thanks to her workmate Joel (the equally outstanding Jeff Hiller – "Naked Guy" in the Ricky Gervais movie Ghost Town). It's a coming-of-middle-age series with a huge amount of heart.
You Don't Know Me (Netflix)
If the number one thing you want from a TV show is to be gripped from the very first minute, four-part BBC courtroom thriller You Don't Know Me won't disappoint. Samuel Adewunmi keeps us in the palm of his hand with his performance as Hero, a young Londoner standing trial for the murder of a notorious drug dealer on his estate. With all evidence pointing firmly in the direction of a guilty verdict, he dismisses his barrister and delivers his closing statement himself – starting from the beginning and explaining how he's actually innocent in such riveting detail it takes up four whole episodes.
One to watch out for: The Bear (Disney+, coming in August)
Of course, the next big show is always just around the corner – and right now, that show is The Bear. Like a lot of the other shows on this list it could broadly be described as "stressful", but here the stress comes from the day-to-day operations of an old-fashioned Italian sandwich shop in Chicago, which has just been taken over by sandwich heir Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), who's put a high-flying career as a fine dining chef on hold to take over the family business. It's basically like a gritty, authentic version of Overcooked, the popular co-op video game where players are constantly under the pump in the kitchen – and people can't seem to get enough of it. See what the fuss is about when it lands on Disney+ here next month.
