Radio Times Top 40 TV Shows of 2016: 10 to 1

3. Happy Valley (BBC1)

How could Sally Wainwright’s game-changing police thriller cope without its main antagonist? Easily. James Norton’s monstrous Tommy was still a menace from behind bars, with Shirley Henderson and a surprisingly cast Kevin Doyle as new evil-doers for Sgt Catherine Cawood to cope with, while she came to terms with the events of season one. The focus of the show blurred a little but the core was intact: utterly believable dialogue, and Sarah Lancashire as a magnificent heroine, deeply affected by all the nastiness and despair in the world, but determined not to let it bring her down. Jack Seale