Radio Times Top 40 TV Shows of 2016: 20 to 11

13. Westworld (Sky Atlantic)

If TV is the new film, then here is the most spectacular recent example. In 1973 Michael Crichton made a film about a robot-populated theme park that malfunctions. Husband-and-wife writers Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy took that pulpy premise and transformed it. Gorgeous Wild West locations, an A-list cast (Anthony Hopkins, Thandie Newton, Ed Harris) and the usual rasping HBO action drove a complex plot about human failings and scientific irresponsibility. Though it sported a powerful, well-crafted arc, Westworld will return in 2018. Mark Braxton