The best TV shows of 2023 so far – science fiction and documentaries

Struggling to choose what to watch? Whether it’s sci-fi, medical dramas or documentaries about the natural world, we have you covered on the CultureLab podcast. New Scientist‘s TV columnist Bethan Ackerley shares a rundown of her top TV choices from 2023 so far, as well as what to look out for the rest of the year. 

Reviews of some of the shows featured in this episode:  Foundation (Apple TV+), The Last Of Us (HBO Max and Sky Atlantic), Best Interests (Sky Go, Amazon, Apple TV+), Wild Isles (BBC iPlayer, Amazon), Dead Ringers (Amazon), Silo (Apple TV+).

To read all of Bethan’s TV columns visit newscientist.com/author/bethan-ackerley

Transcript

Christie Taylor: Alright, so you’re a television columnist, what does your day involve? I’m assuming you’re not just putting your feet up and watching TV all day long.

Bethan Ackerley: I mean that’s a big part of it, I’m not going to lie, but yes a lot of it is just researching what is coming out, and what I think is going to be the most, sort of, exciting thing for New Scientist readers in particular. Yes, so I find out options, I obviously watch the TV show, I hunt down screeners for the TV show, and I try to think about it in a context of where it falls in the history of television, like, the shows that have come before it that might have influenced it, and often what it is based on because we have a lot of TV shows these days that are based on books or franchises that already exist. And yes just trying to say something coherent, and hopefully entertaining about those.

Timothy Revell: We’ll move onto in a second you’ve brought a list of some of the best TV from this year, but before we get to that, I just want to ask you, coming from this science-y perspective, how important is it for you that the science is accurate? 

Bethan Ackerley: Yes, like, I’m definitely more on the side of let the art live and do what it needs to do to further the story, I am really impressed when show does the work and tries to make sure that the it’s stuff depicting is pretty accurate. The examples I would always think of are shows like The Expanse, which is (a) awesome, and (b) it does a pretty good job, from what I understand, of keeping things pretty accurate within a dramatic licence. There are things like how the ships accelerate and decelerate in The Expanse that’s really interesting. I think another person who is quite good at this across multiple shows is Ronald D. Moore, so he’s in Battlestar Galactica, and in For All Mankind, which is currently still airing. He plays with our, sort of, expectations and the myths that we have about how people can survive in space, and we have this idea that the minute you went into space without a spacesuit on, your head will explode and you will die. And that isn’t true, it would be awful and you wouldn’t be able to survive very long but, you know, you could survive for a limited period of time, and that comes up in several of his shows. So as I say, yes I do really respect it when people do it but it’s not the be all and end all for me.

Christie Taylor: Well I feel like one of the biggest science-y spin off or show that I’ve seen the most, like the science of explainers this year has been The Last of Us, and we’ve all learned so much about fungus as a result. How does that rate on your list?

Bethan Ackerley: I loved The Last of Us, I thought it was fantastic, and, as you say, the effort that they went to to provide a basically plausible explanation for why this fungus, so it’s based on a fungus that can’t survive in humans and has these mind control-y effects, a cordyceps fungus, and it can’t presently survive in humans because of the temperature of our body is too high. So the show, sort of, provides a quasi-plausible explanation that the fungus in question would be incentivised to, sort of, adapt to warmer temperatures because of climate change, which I think is really interesting. I can’t speak to, like, the pin point accuracy of that but it’s certainly a really interesting concept to play with. And that helps round the show, and then once you’ve established all that stuff, you can just focus on the story. And I was lucky enough to speak to a fungal pathogen expert about The Last of Us, Matt Fisher at Imperial College London, and he spoke at great length about how The Last of Us has done it’s fungal pandemic, and yes it was really interesting talking to him about it.

Timothy Revell: Yes, the show opens with a scientist forewarning that this might be possible, and it gives it that sense of rigour that maybe this is scientifically accurate. When you spoke to this fungal expert, was that his feeling about it too? That there was some accuracy in this? Or should we not worry about fungi too much?

Bethan Ackerley: I won’t say he took it 100% as read that that was a really plausible idea, but the, kind of, fundamental idea of fungi adapting in terms of the temperatures they can survive in, that makes sense. And obviously our brains are a lot more complex than the things that the cordyceps fungi are infecting at the moment. So, like, it requires several leaps, but those leaps are rounded in an idea that is sound.

Christie Taylor: I want to say I’ve been hesitant to take this one up because I loved Station Eleven a couple of years back so much, and it also looked like it could be very stressful as many zombie adjacent shows tend to be. I mean what was your read on the actual storytelling? Where the show actually takes us with this scientific premise?

Bethan Ackerley: First of all to say that Station Eleven is a really good show as well and a very different, kind of, tone and take on that sort of thing, but yes, I think the story of Joel and Ellie, the two main characters of The Last of Us is really solid and it’s quite a simple one in a lot of ways, it’s kind of a classic, it’s a sort of odyssey across the United States, they’re faced with threats, their relationship builds into this quasi father-daughter relationship. In many ways, it’s quite a classic story even though it’s obviously got this, kind of, zombie element to it going on. And I think the TV show did a really good job of adapting the game and what was good about the game while also adding in, kind of, extra details that don’t exist in the game, like there are a couple of characters whose relationship gets massively fleshed out in one of the episodes. And I think it shows that it has a right to exist, that it does offer something in addition to the game, it’s not a rehashing of the game.

Timothy Revell: Alright, so that’s The Last of Us, what else is on your list of great TV from 2023?

Bethan Ackerley: Well, so one of my favourite shows of the year was a show called Best Interests, so it’s a BBC show, it’s a four part drama, and it’s about a teenager called Marnie, who has quite a severe form of muscular dystrophy, and her family. So her family are played by Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen, those are her parents, and then it’s also about her sister Katie. And as Marnie’s health, kind of, worsens, they are forced to begin thinking about whether it’s time for them to withdraw care for Marnie, and for her to be allowed to die peacefully. It is obviously a very sad show, but it is also very funny, and sweet, and it’s written with great nuance by Jack Thorne, who is a disability activist himself. So there are no villains in the story, there is no easy scapegoat for this is the right way of thinking about this, and this is the wrong way of thinking about this, it’s all very nuanced. And it’s a really interesting take on how disabled people are treated in the UK at the minute in particular, in light of the pandemic, and how when health systems are stretched, who gets de-prioritised, and invariably that tends to be, you know, vulnerable people. So it does a lot in a very short space of time, and it’s a very interesting drama about medical ethics, and features just some really amazing performances.

Christie Taylor: It really does feel like there’s so many more conversations about those ethics in the wake of the way the pandemic drew I think disparities into light, and maybe the under-resourcing of health systems, both in the UK and the US. There was another show on your list, Dead Ringers, which is a different kind of medical ethics, what was so compelling there?

Bethan Ackerley: Totally yes, I mean you could not get two shows that are more different tonally, but yes, so Dead Ringers is a, sort of, loose adaptation of the David Cronenberg film Dead Ringers from the late eighties. In that film Jeremy Irons plays identical twin gynaecologists called Beverly and Elliot Mantle and they, sort of, seduce women and they swap identities, and they get embroiled in this identity crisis by the end of the film. And in this TV adaptation, the twins are played by Rachel Weisz instead, and there is still that, kind of, identity crisis at the heart of it, but it’s also much more cerebral. It’s about misogyny, and reproductive health, and the dangers of giving birth, particularly for people of colour and other vulnerable communities, in lots of different healthcare settings where people’s pain and distress are often, kind of, downplayed or completely ignored. And it, sort of, focuses on how technology could really revolutionise reproductive health, and make a lot of people’s lives better, but it could also make a lot of people’s lives worse, depending on how access to that technology is given it. It’s really interesting the approach it takes towards how the wealthy in society could use technologies that ought to be revolutionary and liberating, and create further inequality with them. And it’s only a six part series, and it’s completely wild, and it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, there is a lot of blood at points, and yes it’s a twisty complicated series, (TC 00:10:00) and it packs to much in, but I really recommend it. It might be my favourite show of the year so far.

Timothy Revell: When I first read about it, I was like, ‘I am definitely going to watch this, this sounds exactly up my alley.’ And then the review got to the bit that you mentioned just at the end of your summary there, where it’s very gruesome in parts, and I’m very squeamish. So for someone who is quite squeamish, but I can watch horror films but if it becomes a bit too plausible, that’s when I have to go and lie down and have a cold compress patted on the top of my head. Is this a show that I can watch? Or am I better off just reading about it and enjoying other people’s thoughts on it?

Bethan Ackerley: I think it is a show that even if you are a bit squeamish, it’s quite important to watch because when I say it is quite bloody, what I mean is that blood is coming through scenes of birth. And part of the reason for showing all of that, and showing what a quite violent process it can be for the people who are going through it, is that this is a really dangerous thing for anyone to do is to give birth. And I think making us actually see birth as it really is and not the, kind of, sanitised version that you see in a lot of dramas is quite important. So yes I found it quite full on at a lot of points, but it’s not exaggerating anything, it is just the reality of birth, and it’s so unusual to see it. And I think we do have a specifically connected reaction to it being birth rather than any, sort of, act of violence, it feels almost harder to look at because we see violence on TV all the time but we don’t see people giving birth in a way that is realistic. So yes, so I think if you can push through Tim, I mean, don’t faint or anything, but yes, like, if you can give it a go, I would really recommend it, I think it is worth your time.

Timothy Revell: Yes this sounds like exactly the sort of thing that is going to make me a bit queasy but at the same time it feels like here there’s a real good reason to push through that rather than just the shock factor.

Bethan Ackerley: Yes it’s not gratuitous, it’s absolutely not.

Christie Taylor: Let’s get a palate cleanser in, what about on the documentary front, do we have anything that can help us reset after maybe a gruesome birth scene?

Bethan Ackerley: Sure, absolutely there have been lots of good documentary series out this year, and two that really stood out for me. So the first was a show called Wild Isles, which is a BBC documentary with David Attenborough, its on Amazon Prime in the US I believe. So it’s a five part documentary about the, kind of, flora and fauna of the UK and Ireland, and it’s so beautiful, it’s so beautifully made. So most of the episodes, they focus on, like, a different environment, so you’ve got oceans, freshwater, grasslands, woodlands. So not only do you see the things that are living in these environments, you’re also seeing what threats they face. And there are so many different plants and animals in the UK and Ireland that I had no idea about, that I learned about through this documentary, and the footage itself is just gorgeous. So, like, I think the first episode of the show opens with this sequence of orca up in Shetland hunting seals, and it is so dramatic, and so terrifying you can really place yourself in the moment. And every episode is like that, like it’s just wall to wall amazing footage. So even if you’re not in the UK, I think it is such a well made show that I think you will really get something out of it.

Timothy Revell: One of the scenes from that that really sticks with me is the one where the baby toads get eaten by the leeches, do you remember that one?

Bethan Ackerley: God I’d forgotten about that.

Timothy Revell: It’s like something from nightmares, I could not believe that this happens in the UK, absolutely crazy.

Christie Taylor: My jaw is on the floor right now, and when I said palate cleanser, I don’t know that leeches were part of what I was envisioning.

Timothy Revell: I have got another scene that I’ll describe that is maybe, I don’t know whether palate cleanser is the right word but is more in a beautiful category. But this one is these little toads, they all get born in a pond, and then they live most of their lives in a forest, so they’ve got to hop across this little bit by the side of the pond before they get to the forest. And then out of nowhere dramatic music starts playing, and these black long blobs, and they’re jet black, they’re so dark, they look like monsters from almost like a kids TV show, they are that one colour. And they slide towards these tiny little toads and then they can grab them from either end, either end of the leech. And then they suck them in whole, and it is gruesome, it is quite something, I think Attenborough calls it the killing zone when he describes it. And obviously, like, many more of the toads make it past than get caught by the leeches but it’s really, like, what a way to start, ‘Hello world. Oh no, got to go past the killing zone.’

That they look like monsters from almost, like, a kids’ TV show, they’re that one colour. And they slide towards these tiny little toads and then they can grab them from either end, either end of the leech. And then they suck them in whole, and it is gruesome, it is quite something, I think Attenborough calls it the killing zone when he describes it. And obviously, like, many more of the toads make it past than get caught by the leeches but it’s really, like, what a way to start, ‘Hello world. Oh no, got to go past the killing zone.’

Christie Taylor: I mean, that’s so much of nature though, right? This is why so many species invest in quantity over quality when they reproduce, right?

Timothy Revell: Yes, for sure, you’ve got to make it to the forest but then it’s a little bit nicer after that. But the one that really stuck with me is, like, isn’t nature strange? Was when the slugs have intercourse, do you remember this one, Beth?

Bethan Ackerley: Yes, of course.

Timothy Revell: Yes, I don’t know whether intercourse is the right word here. I have seen it going round, like, little clips of this going round on social media because even if you’ve not seen the whole show you’ve seen this one.

Christie Taylor: I think I’ve seen that too.

Timothy Revell: Because they’re hermaphrodites, the slugs, and so they have both reproductive parts. And then, like, hey meet on top of a branch quite high up in a tree, if I remember rightly and then they have very long penises, as long as their whole bodies and they’re blue, appear, and they dangle them underneath the branches and then intertwine together and then they pass sperm packages to each other before then going their separate ways. But it’s like in the darkness of night and they’re almost luminescent, it’s almost like a lava lamp that is slug penises, it’s quite something.

Christie Taylor: What do we have for music playing during this? I’m just picturing something very dramatic, and romantic and overwrought, like Tchaikovsky or something like that.

Bethan Ackerley: As I recall, it is quite, sort of-,

Timothy Revell: Is it slap bass?

Bethan Ackerley: Oh, I wish, yes, the kind of Seinfeld theme underneath (talking over each other 16.05). No, yes, it has got a beautiful score, that’s a wonderful way of brining that up. Yes, it’s quite the scene, I defy you to find any other show where you can see something as weird and beautiful as those slugs having sex, there’s nothing like it has aired this year, I don’t think.

Timothy Revell: So you’ve mentioned two nature shows, or two documentaries, what was the other one?

Bethan Ackerley: So, the second one is a really science-focused show, it’s called Earth, it’s another BBC five-parter and this time it’s presented by Chris Packham who you may know. And it’s, sort of, the story of our planet over the more than 4 billion years that it’s existed told through key moments in its life. So, things like the development of the atmosphere and the rise of humans, and the end-Permian extinction, which was, like, the most intensive extinction event that we know to have ever happened. And it’s just really full of new science and ideas and what I like about it is that it shows you what the evidence is for the things that we think, it’s not just telling you, ‘Oh, this is what we believe to have happened,’ it’s showing you, ‘This is why we think that this has happened,’ and it’s not afraid to say, ‘Well, this is the prevailing idea but, you know, some other people, they have a dissenting view.’ It’s made with that, kind of, scientific process as part of the structure of the show, which I really liked. Yes, so there’s one really good moment, I think from the first episode where, so, Chris Packham’s talking to us and he’s showing you some fossilised pollen from the time of the end-Permian extinction, and he’s showing you why that shows that UV radiation may have had a role in the extent of the destruction in that event. And I just can’t think of another TV show recently that has done such a good job of explaining the steps like that without it feeling-, you know, you’re not overwhelmed with information, you’re just presented with it and it’s really, really interesting.

Christie Taylor: What else is on your list for, let’s maybe go back into the more fantastical side of things, away from real life, what else would you recommend we look at?

Bethan Ackerley: So, one of the shows that I have really grown to love is Foundation on Apple TV, it’s the adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s books. I will say that I am little bit biased because I love Jared Harris, another of Expanse actor, who is the best.

Christie Taylor: Also Mad Men.

Bethan Ackerley: Oh my God, Mad Men, The Terror, what a guy, love the guy. Yes, so I’ll watch anything with him in it. But, yes, I think over the course of the two seasons that it’s been on now I have really grown to love it, and I haven’t read the books so I can’t tell you how well it adapts from those books but my understanding is that the books are very cerebral, very ideas heavy and they’ve had to do some work to make them more TV friendly, to get more of a sense of action throughout. Yes, I think it’s done a decent job of that, and it has been a bit of a slow burn, it’s a lot of characters and you have to grow to love them but, yes, I really have done. And now it contains, alongside all the fantastic visuals and everything, and the ideas, it contains some of my favourite characters in any show currently airing, so I really recommend that guys check it out.

Timothy Revell: And of course one of the best bits is it’s about a mathematician.

Bethan Ackerley: Of course, Tim, why didn’t I think of that? So, for anyone who doesn’t know, essentially it’s the story of a, kind of, galactic empire ruled by three clones who are decanted at different ages, so there’s a younger one, middle aged one and an older one of the original emperor. So, a gallant mathematician, as Tim pointed out, has figured out through this field of psychohistory, which is a combination of maths and sociology to sort of predict the behaviour of very large groups of people. He has figured out that the empire will fall, sometime (TC 00:20:00) soon, and he is attempting to create another civilisation called The Foundation to try and lessen the period of chaos after that collapse inevitably happens. And yes, some of the implications of that idea are explored really, really interestingly and, as I say, yes, they’ve had to build in some more actiony sequences but, yes, from not having read the books, as far as I know they’ve done a really good job of adapting it.

Timothy Revell: Alright, before we move onto some things that you’re looking forward to, is there anything else on your list of best things for 2023? Perhaps a little quick-fire few things we haven’t mentioned yet.

Bethan Ackerley: I would like to just give, like, a little tiny shout-out to Swarm, which is an Amazon Prime show. It’s not the most sciencey show on this list but it’s to do with internet culture. It’s the story of a, sort of, obsessed fan of a Beyonce like figure. I mean, the title is Swarm, obviously Beyonce’s fans refer to themselves as the Beyhive or the Beyhive, I’m never sure, I’ve only ever seen it written down. Yes, so it’s a kind of satire of that internet Stan culture, as you follow this girl in her obsession, she grows more and more violent and her inability to deal with people who do not love her idol in the same way that she does. And, yes, it’s not a perfect show, it has been a little divisive, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea but I think the central performance by Dominique Fishback is just so powerful and, you know, I think it’s worth watching for that alone.

Christie Taylor: I know you don’t like just ripping people for not reason but is there anything that you would, perhaps, not recommend? That may be high on people’s lists but you may have some reasons they should reconsider their priorities, perhaps?

Bethan Ackerley: Well, I’m going to get myself in trouble probably but I didn’t like Silo, which has been quite a big hit, I think, with most people. So, essentially, it’s the story, it’s to do with a community who live in an underground silo and have lived there for at least 150 years, and they can’t go on the surface because the surface is toxic and irradiated from some unknown event. And they don’t know how long the silo has been there, all they know is that there was a rebellion at one stage and all the records got wiped at that point. And you were allowed to say that you want to leave the silo but you can’t change your mind, you then have to go outside and that is that. And there are lots of things about the, sort of, concept of it that I really liked, like, the silo was a really cool idea and the cast is incredible, you’ve got Rebecca Ferguson, you’ve got David Oyelowo. Yes, so there were so many assets to this show but I found the first episode to be genuinely very bad and, while you get sucked back into it through the mysteries, there are all these mysteries of who built the silo, what happened in this rebellion, is the outside really toxic or are they being lied to? But then the answers you get at the end of the first season seem so hinged on implausibilities and really big leaps of what you would expect human behaviour to be that I found it so frustrating, and it builds up so much to reward you with so little and I really, really didn’t like it.

Timothy Revell: Alright, what are you looking most to come out and why is it Severance, season 2?

Bethan Ackerley: Definitely Severance, you’re right, it’s completely Severance. Yes, whenever Severance gets off the ground, I’m hoping so, I’m desperate for more Severance. There was this little, maybe about six month, fugue state that I was in February last year where all I would talk about was Severance and I was alienating people in my life, quite frankly, it was not good. Yes, so we should hopefully get some more Severance in 2024 unless something catastrophic happens. But, yes, it’s quite hard to tell when things are going to get released at the moment, obviously because there are very big, unprecedented scale strikes going on and we don’t know how that’s going to affect the release of new TV shows. But hopefully, you know, we will get some good resolution that helps the talent soon and then we will get some more Severance. Yes, some other shows, kind of in the immediate term I’m very much looking forward to a show called Lessons in Chemistry, which will be coming out on Apple TV on 13th October. So, that’s a show about a woman in the 1950s who’s a chemistry, and she gets fired from her lab and she ends up having to host her own cooking show on television across America. And she, sort of, ends up using the cooking show to teach housewives about chemistry. And it’s a really interesting story and I think it’s going to be a really fun watch, which we’re kind of lacking in at the moment, there’s a lot of depressing TV shows out there, as I have just spent a long time talking about. And it’s headed up by Brie Larson, who’s going to be playing the main character so, yes, I think that’s going to e really, really promising, I’m looking forward to that. And then further out there’s stuff lie the The Three Body Problem, so that’s coming to Netflix in January 2024, hopefully. And then there are a few other shows, there’s a show called Bodies, which is another Netflix show, that’s about the same person being murdered in four different timelines and it’s about four detectives trying to solve the same murder across space and time, which will be really, really interesting. There’s stuff like the upcoming Taika Waititi adaptation of time Bandits with Lisa Kudrow, that’s going to be really fun, hopefully. There’s Dark Matter, that’s going to be Joel Edgerton, he’s playing a physicist how ends up in an alternate timeline. It’s another multiverse show but he ash to prevent the ultimate version of himself harming his family, so I think that’s quite a cool way of looking at it. Yes, so there are loads of shows but it’s difficult to know when we’re going to get them.

Christie Taylor: I also want to put a pin in about Loki season two, you know, the Marvel oeuvre is doing whatever it’s doing, I know it’s another multiverse story but I’ve been waiting to see what they do with that next, for sure.

Bethan Ackerley: Yes, the first season of Loki I really enjoyed, yes, and I know they’ve got Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who were involved in Moon Knight and then who have also done some really cool indie films like Synchronic and Something in the Dirt, those are tow really good films. And they have a real knack for that, kind of, trippy visual that you saw a lot in the first season of Loki, so I think that will be a really interesting show. I mean, it’s been weighed down a bit by the controversy around one of its stars, which I won’t go into but, yes, the show itself looks really, really interesting. And Marvel is in a bit of a slump, particularly with TV, Secret Invasion came out recently and that hasn’t been well received at all, so Loki could be the show to end that. And yes, things like Marvel and Disney, Marvel and Star Wars, they have some big shows coming up soon. We’ve got Ahsoka, that’s coming up very, very soon, 23rd August and, yes, there are plenty of Marvel and Star Wars show sin the pipeline, it will be interesting to see which ones are really, genuinely good shows and not just a good Marvel show or a good Star Wards show. Because we have shows like Andor, which came out last year, which was just stunning and that was a Star Wars Show and even for non-Star Wars people they found it a really beautiful, amazing show to watch. So, it will be interesting to see if any of the Marvel and Star Wars shows can reach that height that Andor has reached, so I’m looking forward to seeing where that goes.

Christie Taylor: Thanks for listening to this episode of CultureLab from New Scientist podcast, I’m Christie Taylor, with Timothy Revell and Bethan Ackerley. You can find the list of everything we talked about today plus links typo Bethan’s reviews in the show notes.

Timothy Revell: If you liked is episode, make sure you subscribe to the New Scientist feed for more like it, that’s where you’ll also find our weekly news podcast and the incredible Dead Planets Society, all dropping there like clockwork. To keep up with Beth’s reviews and all of our other journalism, please visit newscientist.com. Bye for now.