As 2019 begins, it is a good time to look back to the best of 2018’s television. Remind yourself of some of your favourites, or what you still need to catch up on, and plan for the year ahead.
2018 was an unbelievable year for television. Whether you’ve curtail the cord in approval of pouring services or still tune in to transmitting networks for paramount time programming, there were innumerable valuable returning and brand new series on the air this year. But as the TV scenery has become enhancing dispersed across networks and services, there appear to be fewer and fewer shows that entice a compatible, huge audience week to week.
- Call the Midwife
Period drama Call the Midwife continues to capture hearts for the BBC with 9.6 million viewers in 2018.
9. Great British Bake Off
Channel 4 proved it had made the right decision when it acquired Bake Off, seeing the show top the channel’s standings with top figures of 9.9 million viewers.
8. Doctor Who
The BBC science fiction staple saw its most successful opening episode in ten years. Viewing figures peaked at a record 10.5 million.
7. Britain’s Got Talent
With 11.2 million viewers, Britain’s Got Talent might not have dominated Saturday night, but it shows no sign of losing its popularity for ITV.
6. New Year’s Fireworks
The annual celebration is always popular, with 12.3 million people joining the BBC for the changing year.
5. Strictly Come Dancing
The BBC dancing extravaganza managed to beat its ITV rival Britain’s Got Talent, with its top viewing figures reaching 12.9 million.
4. I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!
Reality television’s biggest success was I’m a Celebrity. 13.7 million viewers represented the ITV show’s biggest year ever.
3. The Bodyguard
In drama, thriller The Bodyguard had everyone talking. 14.3 million people tuned in to find out if Richard Madden could discover who was targeting the Home Secretary.
1 & 2. FIFA World Cup
It’s one of the biggest sporting events in the world, so the World Cup was always going to be near the top of the ratings. Add England’s unexpected success, and it’s no wonder that England vs. Sweden had 17.4 million viewers, beaten only by the 20.7 million who watched the England vs. Croatia semi-final.
If you want to make sure you do not miss any of 2019’s biggest hits, you may want to install a new aerial.
Most of these shows will see another season in 2019, so you will have more opportunities to find out why they are at the top of the ratings. There are also plenty of ways to catch up on what you missed.
We won’t even start to search into the quarrel that surrounded Roseanne, but one thing that every program on this list has in usual is how conventional they weigh. Multi-camera humorous series and strategy dramas still rule the day, even as serialized storytelling has become the standard on cable, premium, and pouring networks. At the end of the day, tens of millions of Americans are contented watching the similar shows they’ve always watched.
