From true stories that forced public reckonings, to genre pieces that smuggled big ideas inside gripping entertainment, 2025 delivered an extraordinary range of series that demanded our attention – and, in many cases, lingered long after the credits rolled.
Below, our team of expert critics count down the 25 dramas that stood out above the rest – series that sparked conversation, provoked outrage, offered comfort or simply reminded us why great television still matters. From slow-burn thrillers to all-too-urgent true stories, this is Radio Times’ definitive ranking of the year’s must-watch drama.
25. Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes
Electrician Jean Charles de Menezes was making his way to work in the wake of the 7/7 terrorist attacks when he was shot and killed by Metropolitan Police officers. The catalogue of failings that led up to the events of 22 July 2005 (covered brilliantly by BBC Two documentary 7/7: the London Bombings, still available on iPlayer) is dramatised in this unflinching four-part drama, including the actions of key figures Ian Blair (Conleth Hill), Brian Paddick (Russell Tovey) and Cressida Dick (Emily Mortimer). It’s startling how quickly fiction became fact following the tragedy and how – 20 years on – many inaccuracies still percolate. Hopefully, this drama has gone some way to definitively righting those wrongs. – Frances Taylor
24. Trespasses
When young primary schoolteacher Cushla (Lola Petticrew) meets charismatic but married barrister Michael (Tom Cullen), they’re instantly attracted. But she’s Catholic, he’s Protestant and this is Northern Ireland in 1975. From the start this love affair is doomed. Adapted from Louise Kennedy’s novel, Trespasses portrays the unbearable stress of living under intense divisions with an ever-present threat of violent retribution. With strong support from Gillian Anderson as Cushla’s drunken, flinty mother and Martin McCann as her brother, it packs a heck of a dramatic punch. – Jane Rackham
23. Smoke
This drama based on real events is a – forgive us – slow burn, since the revelation at the close of episode two turns the humdrum detective drama on its head. Taron Egerton and Dennis Lehane (the star and creator of the excellent Black Bird) reunite here with Egerton as Dave Gudsen, an arson investigator hunting down serial fire-setters in the Pacific North West. With Jurnee Smollett and Rafe Spall as Gudsen’s reluctant co-investigators, a darkly twisting, handsomely filmed drama keeps finding new ways for its imperfect characters to surprise us. – Jacke Seale
22. Bookish
The aftermath of the Second World War is a high time for lovers of crime, as morals often seem as grey as the rubble-strewn streets. Amid scarcity come those seeking to profit, and down these roads of supposed peace walk people, considered to be heroes, who are harbouring secrets from their years spent in conflict. Into this morally murky world comes the likeable Gabriel Book (Mark Gatiss), who very much embodies a sense of duality. He’s a London bookshop owner with a sideline in sleuthing, and a married man (Polly Walker plays his wife Trottie) who’s gay at a time when homosexuality was illegal. This last detail is a smart touch, allowing a subtle, poignant exploration of his private life. – David Brown
21. Hacks
This may be the funniest comedy you’ve never heard of. Hacks has won Emmys, Golden Globes and many fans, but still goes unnoticed on this side of the pond. Jean Smart is sublime as Deborah Vance – a stand-up comedian whose star was on the wane until she was paired with young writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder). The end of season three saw Deborah finally having achieved her ambition of hosting a late-night chat show. Ava’s career is also soaring, having secured the position of head writer on the show. So, what could possibly go wrong in season four? Well, quite a lot – given Ava’s trying to play Deborah at her own wily game. A game Deborah has been playing for 50 years, and never loses. – Frances Taylor
20. Reacher
Another belting season of the thriller based on Lee Child’s novels. As ex-military police officer Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) infiltrates a criminal organisation, his exploits include a swim through raging surf, an assassination using office equipment and a punch-up with a henchman who is even bigger than Reacher. It’s the usual satisfying action, punctuated with superb one-liners and a dash of romance: this year, with DEA agent Susan Duffy, played with some finesse by British actor Sonya Cassidy. – Jack Seale
19. Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue
Lost meets And Then There Were None in this crime drama from Anthony Horowitz, an undoubted master of his craft. Here, he crashes a plane in the Mexican jungle and starts to pick off the survivors, dispatching them at the hands of a killer who could well be one of the passengers. It’s a traditional murder mystery set-up that, if written by Agatha Christie, would be crammed with cut-glass accents and Art Deco glamour. But in setting his story in such a grimy, hostile environment, it feels as though Horowitz is reminding viewers that, despite whodunnits essentially being one big guessing game, murder itself shouldn’t always be presented so palatably. – David Brown
18. Your Friends and Neighbours
A perfectly cast Jon Hamm is the anti-hero of an entertaining comedy drama that begins with thrusting, hunky finance guy “Coop” (Hamm) losing his wife, job and status, but still trying to keep up appearances with his super-rich pals in upstate New York. He needs money and secretly hates his friends… so he starts burgling their mansions, stealing expensive trinkets they won’t miss. Mainly a satire on the vulgarity of people who have more money than they can spend, the show never quite hates its characters, who are all more damaged than they first appear – but the outrageous intrigue keeps on coming. – Jack Seale
17. Untamed
Eric Bana is ostensibly the lead star of this hit mystery thriller, but special agent Kyle Turner would be diminished were he to be deprived of his backdrop, as the vastness of Yosemite National Park also makes for an impressive key player in events. This expansive patch in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains may be a familiar sight to Turner, but there’s a sense throughout this easy-on-the-eye whodunnit that, no matter how hard he tries to enforce the law, those surroundings will remain both wild and brutish – which doesn’t bode well when there’s a murder case to unpick. – David Brown
16. Unforgivable
The formidable Jimmy McGovern has tackled many difficult social issues in his work. This time it’s about the devastating aftermath of sex abuse perpetrated on a 12-year-old boy by his uncle. There’s shocking scenes of painful conversations and depictions of self-hatred, disgust and despair as a powerful cast – Bobby Schofield, Anna Friel and Anna Maxwell-Martin giving realistic performances – struggle to process what happened. But it also asks us to think deeply about the subject and question whether the abuser, who refers to himself as “a piece of s**t”, deserves any form of forgiveness. – Jane Rackham
15. House of Guinness
Peaky Blinders, A Thousand Blows, This Town… and now Steven Knight does it again with this gritty saga about the Irish brewing dynasty. It has everything: a cracking cast (James Norton, Louis Partridge), darkly lit cinematography, a good storyline that’s as compulsive as Succession and a steampunk soundtrack that’ll knock your socks off. We are in Dublin in 1868 where the head of the unbelievably wealthy Guinness family has just died, leaving his four children to fight over their inheritance, with the help of the ruthless brewery foreman (Norton) who oozes sex appeal alongside inherent violence. – Jane Rackham
14. The Newsreader
When it comes to depicting the thrill of fame and its accompanying anxieties, few dramas do it better than this high-quality Australian export. It has remained frustratingly under the radar over the course of its three-series run, but do seek it out, for while its setting in Australian commercial newsrooms of the 1980s may seem far removed from the lived experience of many, all human frailties are here. This final run sees the self-worth of News at Six anchorman Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) hit the floor, thanks to damning audience feedback. With his boss Lindsay exhibiting a sadistic dereliction in his duty of care, it’s left to fellow host Helen Norville (Anna Torv) to come to the aid of her TV rival. – David Brown
13. Squid Game (Netflix)
After an odd second season that replaced the deadly children’s games with a mass shoot-out, the Korean megahit – about a secret contest that gradually eliminates its players until only one remains, and by “eliminate” we really mean they die – returns to basics for its third and final run. Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) is once again trying to win a colossal cash prize, while subverting the game from the inside in the hope of destroying it. Throw in the curveball of one of the other contestants being heavily pregnant and you have a swansong that successfully refreshes the formula, persistently outflanking viewers who think they know what’s coming – before delivering a final shot that you’ll be thinking about for a while afterwards. – Jack Seale
12. The Bear
Having been hyped, lauded and pilloried depending on whether that year’s episodes were stunningly brilliant or merely very good, Christopher Storer’s intense drama triumphs anew in its fourth season, mainly because these episodes are less intense and less about the startup Chicago restaurant. Yes it’s still set in The Bear, a high-end eaterie struggling to flourish and run by chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), but this new Bear is driven more by emotion than such fripperies as whether a filet mignon will arrive at a table on time. Storer has created an extended family of characters who care about each other deeply – and, more than ever, we feel the same. – Jack Seale
11. This City Is Ours
If you initially gave an episode or two of this drama a go but decided not to stick with it, I wouldn’t have blamed you. It was easy to write off as slightly throwaway gangland fare (a “Scouse Sopranos” was the reductive phrase bandied about) but persevere and you’re rewarded with a knotty patchwork of flawed antiheroes. Oh, and a fun dance routine (who didn’t try and re-create The House of Bamboo in their kitchen?). Sean Bean and Julie Graham star as the heads of the Phelan family and their organised crime ring. But it’s James Nelson-Joyce as Michael who shines brightest (the actor’s star rose and rose this year), as he grapples with his murky past – and present – while trying to make a better life for himself and partner Diana (Hannah Onslow). – Frances Taylor
10. Code of Silence
Police canteen worker Alison (Rose Ayling-Ellis) is asked by the CID to use her lip-reading skills to decipher surveillance conversations of a gang plotting a high-stakes heist. But, although Alison is smart, she becomes so embroiled in the investigation she puts herself at risk. Catherine Moulton’s ground-breaking script depicts the thoughtless attitude of others towards deaf people, while partial subtitles, that gradually start to make sense as Alison pieces the sentences together, help us understand the daily challenges faced by the deaf community. A crime story with an edifying aspect, told by a strong cast that also includes Andrew Buchan. – Jane Rackham
9. Death Valley
Comfort-blanket TV of a high quality, thanks to its casting of Timothy Spall as John Chapel, a retired actor and one-time television detective, now living as a kind of reclusive Droopy in Wales. Keen to utilise his observation skills is DS Janie Mallowan (Gwyneth Keyworth) who, following a shooting, leans into her line in droll self-deprecation to draw him out of his shell. John, however, sees himself as slumming it while in her company, as though a classically trained actor solving mysteries with the police is equivalent to an Olympic athlete running in an egg-and-spoon race. – David Brown
8. Prisoner 951
The true story of how Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was returning to Britain after visiting her parents in Iran with her young daughter when the Revolutionary Guard detained her at the airport. No reason was given, although it was suggested that she was a spy. In fact, Nazanin was being held to force Britain to pay Iran a decades-old debt. It would be six years before her family was reunited. This drama brilliantly evokes the fear, helplessness and frustration felt by Nazanin (Narges Rashidi) and her British husband Richard (Joseph Fiennes) as she was kept in solitary confinement, and then moved, blindfolded, from one prison to another while, back in Britain, he campaigned for her release. It’s an inhumane, immoral and very harrowing story. – Jane Rackham
7. Dept Q
In the perfect marriage of actor and character, Matthew Goode stars as a gifted police detective with a biting wit and buried trauma, who operates out of a dank Edinburgh basement alongside a ragtag bunch of colleagues. Tasked with investigating cold cases, Goode’s DCI Carl Morck soon finds himself allied with Syrian-born civilian employee Akram Salim (a scene-stealing Alexej Manvelov) and eager-to-please DC Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne), as they probe the disappearance of an ambitious prosecutor. The series channels the same underdogs-against-the-system vibe of Slow Horses, but adds some flavoursome gothic flourishes of its own. – David Brown
6. Down Cemetery Road
A drama led by Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson, based on the debut novel by Slow Horses creator Mick Herron? No prizes for guessing that this would be excellent. A mysterious explosion near the Oxford home of art restorer Sarah (Wilson) brings her into the orbit of jaded private investigator Zoë (Thompson). Once it’s clear they’ve stumbled upon a dangerous government conspiracy, they need to improvise furiously, and maybe even bond a little, to survive. Witty, ambitious and bursting with hilarious or terrifying supporting characters, this is simply a treat. – Jack Seale
5. A Thousand Blows
Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight once again draws on the exploits of a real-life criminal gang. This time it’s a late Victorian all-female pickpocket crew led by fierce Mary Carr (Erin Doherty). When she meets Jamaican immigrant Hezekiah Moscow (Malachi Kirby) and gets him to take up bare-knuckle boxing, it puts them on a collision course with local champ Sugar (Stephen Graham). It’s stuffed with sharp dialogue, thrilling fights and a tender ear for the woes of the disenfranchised. – Jack Seale
4. Slow Horses
All is rosy in the world of tech specialist Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung). Yes, the man who’s normally as sensitive as a malware infection has somehow got himself a girlfriend, and fellow spook Shirley (Aimee-Ffion Edwards) is trying to convince their boss Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) that the situation is not as it seems. Such is the set-up for this fifth outing for the Slough House spies, which, as it unfolds, also takes in a killing spree at a shopping precinct and an acrimonious London mayoral race. As ever, the series pulls off the high-wire feat of treating drama and comedy as equals, without stinting on either thrills or laughs. – David Brown
3. Blue Lights
Each series of the top-drawer Northern Irish police drama widens the scope, with this third run zooming out from street gangs and sectarian tensions to focus on those who really hold power in the Belfast of 2025. There are also changes within the team itself, including the promotion of cupcake-baking Stevie O’Neill (Martin McCann), who’s now elevated to the rank of sergeant. But remaining a key feature throughout are the life-or-death situations in which the officers often find themselves. No matter how primed viewers now believe themselves to be, these stand-offs always feel fraught with unpredictability and as tense as a clenched fist. – David Brown
2. I Fought the Law
Sheridan Smith delivers a tour de force performance as Ann Ming, the mother who campaigned for decades to change the double jeopardy law so her daughter Julie Hogg’s acquitted killer could be tried again for the crime. This is no dry legal/courtroom drama, however. Much of the focus is on the traumatic months and years after Julie’s brutal murder in 1989. It starts with Ann’s discovery of her daughter’s body and the police’s inept investigations, followed by the harrowing years of injustice the family endured in the courts. While you will cheer on Ann’s fortitude and resilience, this will tear you apart. – Jane Rackham
1. Adolescence
Radio Times' reviewers don’t always agree, but when it came to deciding what should take the top spot in ranking our dramas of the year, we were unanimous. Away from the adulation and the awards (Stephen Graham, Erin Doherty and Owen Cooper all won Emmys, the last becoming the youngest ever male recipient), this Netflix series had a profound real-world impact. It brought pertinent topics to the fore, including knife crime, violence and misogyny among today’s teenagers, with discussion reaching the police and government. The show’s creator and writer Jack Thorne was invited to speak at Parliament, while Keir Starmer called for the four-part drama to be shown in schools.
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