Radio Times Top 40 TV Shows of 2016: 30 to 21
The votes have been counted and the results are in... here's our critics' countdown of the year's best telly
Published:
21. The A Word (BBC1)
It could have been a worthy-but-dull Issue Drama. But Peter Bowker took the subject of a child with special needs and made it emotional and compelling. The crux of this six-parter was the impact on Paul (Lee Ingleby) and Alison (Morven Christie) of the discovery that their five-year-old son Joe was autistic. But a typically intelligent script from Bowker meant the boy was never stigmatised, and his entire family came across as rounded, flawed individuals. Anyone in the same boat will have recognised the insecurities, the simultaneous relief and heartbreak of diagnosis and the discomfort of children’s parties, and probably had a good cry about it. Mark Braxton
