Bit of a shameless plug, but every year I run a series of polls to find the greatest new TV Show of 2024. The finalists are decided by myself, based on which shows I most enjoyed that were completely new productions in the previous year.
Essentially, to qualify a show must have:
Aired its very first episode in 2024.
Broadcast in the UK.
Not be a returning series.
There are a few exceptions to the third rule. For example, if the show has returned after at least two years on TV, and the behind-the-scenes production changes are different enough to be considered a new show, then they qualify. This is why You Bet and Bullseye made it as finalists this year: they had completely new presenters, were made by new production teams, and offered fresh updates of their original formats.
I should have started this thread before, but anyone can vote in these polls here, and we currently have tie-breaker battles because some shows tied in the votes in the first round: x.com
The latest polls close in 24 hours, as they are to break ties in the voting, but usually you have a week to vote. It’s always a good bit of fun to find out which new show my Twitter followers enjoyed the most, out of the ones that piqued my interests.
I would have said nothing on telly really grabbed me last year (honestly, I think my favourite 2024 viewing was the old Space Patrol puppet show getting a repeat run on Talking Pictures channel). But there was a late entry that blew me away.
A Man on the Inside is a gentle comedy about a lonely widower who becomes a private investigator (or ‘spy’ as he would have it), to investigate a theft in a retirement home. The premise might not sound like a barrel of laughs but it most certainly is. Oh, and it will charm your socks off if you give it a try.
Like all truly great comedies, the humour rides atop some profound truths. It’s not crude and it’s not gross out, instead the laughs come from the script being genuinely funny. Funny and heartwarming. I actually cried during one scene towards the end of the series (thank goodness I was watching on my own).
It feels like a very, very long time since I’ve watched anything on television as good as A Man on the Inside. Apparently it’s been renewed for a second season but it will be hard to top the first.
I agree with pretty much everything you say about A Man on the Inside. It’s one of those shows that you think they shouldn’t do a second season, because it can’t possibly be as good as this one.
