BBC's 100 Greatest Television Series of the 21st Century

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The 100 Greatest TV Series of the 21st Century is a list compiled in October 2021 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), as part of their annual critics' poll, chosen by a voting poll of 206 television experts (critics, journalists, academics and industry figures) from 43 countries.[1]

Statistics[edit]

It was compiled by collating the top ten series submitted by the experts who were asked to list the best series that began airing since the year 2000. Television programmes that began in the 20th century but continued airing in the 21st century were not eligible for inclusion (e.g. Doctor Who, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Sopranos). The third season of Twin Peaks (subtitled "The Return") is eligible due to it being commissioned as a stand-alone miniseries as opposed to a revival of the original series.[2] Breaking Bad (#3) and The Good Wife (#33) are the only programmes to also have spin-off series place on the list, with Better Call Saul (#23) and The Good Fight (#47), respectively. Only 7 programmes did not fall under the scripted live action genre; four animated shows — BoJack Horseman (#11), Avatar: The Last Airbender (#61), Rick and Morty (#76) and Steven Universe (#99) — and three non-fiction shows — the reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race (#67) plus the non-fiction docuseries Planet Earth (#73) and the Academy Award-winning O.J.: Made in America (#81).[3] Damon Lindelof is the creator with the most shows on the list with three; The Leftovers (#7); Lost (#19) and Watchmen (#26).[4]

The majority of show that places within in the top 100 come from the United Kingdom and United State; with three from Denmark (including one co-production with Sweden), two each from France and Germany; with one from Canada; Ireland; Italy; and Spain. Australia and South Korea are notably absent from the list altogether, with the list process beginning before Bluey and Squid Game began a renaissance of culture from their respective countries in international markets. [5][6]

Process[edit]

BBC Culture asked 206 television experts from around the world to rank the ten television programs produced in the twenty-first century that they considered the greatest.[7][8] Participants were permitted to choose from titles released between January 2000 to July 2021 (when all responses were collected). Each program listed in these responses was then given points based on their ranking. If a program was ranked first in a critic's list, that program would get ten points, whereas the one ranked in tenth place would get one point. The list features three ties: Downton Abbey and Band of Brothers for the 36th-place ranking; The Good Place and Pose for the 62nd-place ranking and Narcos and Normal People for the 84th-place ranking.

A total of 206 critics from 43 countries participated in the poll, with the largest number (52) from the United Kingdom, followed by 29 from the United States. Out of the 206, 104 are men, 100 are women, and two are non-binary.[9]

Top 100[edit]

Rank Name of television series Creator(s) Year of premiere Year of latest episode Network Country
1. The Wire David Simon 2002 2008 HBO United States
2. Mad Men Matthew Weiner 2007 2015 AMC United States
3. Breaking Bad Vince Gilligan 2008 2013 AMC United States
4. Fleabag Phoebe Waller-Bridge 2016 2019 BBC Three (S1)
BBC One (S2) 		United Kingdom
5. Game of Thrones David Benioff and D.B. Weiss 2011 2019 HBO United States
6. I May Destroy You Michaela Coel 2020 2020 BBC One United Kingdom
7. The Leftovers Damon Lindelof 2014 2017 HBO United States
8. The Americans Joe Weisberg 2013 2018 FX United States
9. The Office (UK) Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant 2001 2003 BBC Two (S1-S2)
BBC One (specials) 		United Kingdom
10. Succession Jesse Armstrong 2018 2023 HBO United States
11. BoJack Horseman Raphael Bob-Waksberg 2014 2020 Netflix United States
12. Six Feet Under Alan Ball 2001 2005 HBO United States
13. Twin Peaks: The Return David Lynch 2017 2017 Showtime United States
14. Atlanta Donald Glover 2016 2022 FX United States
15. Chernobyl Craig Mazin 2019 2019 Sky Atlantic (UK)
HBO (US) 		United Kingdom
United States
16. The Crown Peter Morgan 2016 2023 Netflix United Kingdom
17. 30 Rock Tina Fey 2006 2013 NBC United States
18. Deadwood David Milch 2004 2006 HBO United States
19. Lost Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof 2004 2010 ABC United States
20. The Thick of It Armando Iannucci 2005 2012 BBC Four (S1-S2)
BBC Two (S3-S4) 		United Kingdom
21. Curb Your Enthusiasm Larry David 2000 present HBO United States
22. Black Mirror Charlie Brooker 2011 present[10] Channel 4 (S1-S2)
Netflix (S3-S6) 		United Kingdom
23. Better Call Saul Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould 2015 2022 AMC United States
24. Veep Armando Iannucci 2012 2019 HBO United States
25. Sherlock Steven Moffat 2010 2017 BBC One United Kingdom
26. Watchmen Damon Lindelof 2019 2019 HBO United States
27. Line of Duty Jed Mercurio 2012 2021 BBC Two (S1-S3)
BBC One (S4-S6) 		United Kingdom
28. Friday Night Lights Peter Berg 2006 2011 NBC
The 101 Network 		United States
29. Parks and Recreation Greg Daniels and Michael Schur 2009 2015 NBC United States
30. Girls Lena Dunham 2012 2017 HBO United States
31 True Detective Nic Pizzolatto 2014 present HBO United States
32 Arrested Development Mitchell Hurwitz 2003 2019 FOX (S1-S3)
Netflix (S4-S5) 		United States
33. The Good Wife Robert King and Michelle King 2009 2016 CBS United States
34. The Bridge Hans Rosenfeldt 2011 2018 SVT1 (Sweden)
DR1 (Denmark) 		Sweden
Denmark
35. Fargo Noah Hawley 2014 present FX United States
36. Downton Abbey Julian Fellowes 2010 2015 ITV United Kingdom
Band of Brothers Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg 2001 2001 HBO United States
38. The Handmaid's Tale Bruce Miller 2017 present Hulu United States
39. The Office (US) Greg Daniels 2005 2013 NBC United States
40. Borgen Adam Price, Jeppe Gjervig Gram and Tobias Lindholm 2010 2022 DR1 Denmark
41. Schitt's Creek Dan Levy 2015 2020 CBC Canada
42. Peep Show Andrew O' Connor, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain 2003 2015 Channel 4 United Kingdom
43. La casa de papel Álex Pina 2017 2021 Antena 3 (S1)
Netflix (S2-S3) 		Spain
44. Community Dan Harmon 2009 2015 NBC (S1-S5)
Yahoo Screen (S6) 		United States
45. The Good Fight Robert King and Michelle King 2017 2022 CBS All Access (S1-S4)
Paramount+ (S5-S6) 		United States
46. Homeland Howard Gordon and Alex Ganza 2011 2020 Showtime United States
47. Grey's Anatomy Shonda Rhimes 2005 present ABC United States
48. Inside No. 9 Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton 2014 present BBC Two United Kingdom
49. The Bureau Éric Rochant 2015 2020 Canal+ France
50. Halt and Catch Fire Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers 2014 2017 AMC United States
51. Small Axe Steve McQueen 2020 2020 BBC One United Kingdom
52. This is England '86, '88 and '90 Shane Meadows 2010 2015 Channel 4 United Kingdom
53. Call My Agent! Fanny Herrero 2015 present France 2 France
54. Happy Valley Sally Wainwright 2014 2023 BBC One United Kingdom
55. The Shield Shawn Ryan 2002 2008 FX United States
56. The Big Bang Theory Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady 2007 2019 CBS United States
57. The Young Pope Paolo Sorrentino 2016 2016 Canal+
HBO
Sky Atlantic 		Italy
58. Dark Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese 2017 2020 Netflix Germany
59. The Underground Railroad Barry Jenkins 2021 2021 Prime Video United States
60. House of Cards Beau Willimon 2013 2018 Netflix United States
61. Avatar: The Last Airbender Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko 2005 2008 Nickelodeon United States
62. The Good Place Michael Schur 2016 2020 NBC United States
Pose Ryan Murphy
Brad Falchuk
Steven Canals 		2018 2021 FX United States
64. Detectorists Mackenzie Crook 2014 2017 BBC Four United Kingdom
65. Orange is the New Black Jenji Kohan 2013 2019 Netflix United States
66. Mare of Easttown Brad Ingelsby 2021 2021 HBO United States
67. RuPaul's Drag Race RuPaul Charles 2009 present LOGO (s1-s8)
VH1 (s9-14)
MTV (S15-present) 		United States
68. Stranger Things The Duffer Brothers 2016 present Netflix United States
69. 24 Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran 2001 2010 FOX United States
70. Battlestar Galactica Ronald D. Moore 2004 2009 Sci-Fi United States
71. Enlightened Mike White 2011 2013 HBO United States
72. Gilmore Girls Amy Sherman-Palladino 2000 2007 The WB/The CW United States
73. Planet Earth —[a] 2006 2006 BBC One United Kingdom
74. Utopia (UK) Dennis Kelly 2013 2014 Channel 4 United Kingdom
75 Babylon Berlin Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten 2017 present Sky One
Das Erste 		Germany
76. Rick and Morty Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon 2013 present Adult Swim United States
77. American Crime Story Various[b] 2016 present FX United States
78. The Killing Søren Sveistrup 2007 2012 DR1 Denmark
79. Mindhunter Joe Penhall 2017 2019 Netflix United States
80. House David Shore 2004 2012 FOX United States
81. OJ: Made in America Ezra Edelman 2016 2016 ESPN (as part of 30 for 30) United States
82. Big Little Lies David E. Kelley 2017 2019 HBO United States
83. Insecure Issa Rae 2016 2021 HBO United States
84. Normal People — 2020 2020 BBC Three, RTÉ One and Hulu Ireland
Narcos Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard and Doug Miro 2015 2017 Netflix United States
Colombia
86. How I Met Your Mother Carter Bays and Craig Thomas 2005 2014 CBS United States
87. The Comeback Lisa Kudrow and Michael Patrick King 2005 2014 HBO United States
88. The OA Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij 2016 2019 Netflix United States
89. Dexter James Manos, Jr. 2006 2013 Showtime United States
90. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Rob McElhenney 2005 present FX
FXX 		United States
91. Westworld Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy 2016 2022 HBO United States
92. Show Me a Hero — 2015 2015 HBO United States
93. Treme David Simon and Eric Overmyer 2010 2013 HBO United States
94. Louie Louie C.K. 2010 2015 FX United States
95. Luther Neil Cross 2010 2019 BBC One United Kingdom
96. Catastrophe Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan 2015 2019 Channel 4 United Kingdom
97. Hannibal Bryan Fuller 2013 2015 NBC United States
98. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Rachel Bloom 2015 2019 The CW United States
99. Steven Universe Rebecca Sugar 2013 2020 Cartoon Network United States
100. The Queen's Gambit Scott Frank and Allan Scott 2020 2020 Netflix United States

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Planet Earth did not have a credited creator. Alastair Fothergill was series producer.
  2. ^ Each season is developed by a different showrunner. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski (The People vs O.J. Simpson), Tom Rob Smith (The Assassination of Gianni Versace) and Sarah Burgess (Impeachment), respectively

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The 100 greatest TV series of the 21st Century". BBC Culture. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  2. ^ "The 100 greatest TV series of the 21st Century: Who Voted?". BBC Culture. 18 October 2021. Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  3. ^ 100 Greatest TV Series of the 21st Century Revealed|Digital Trends
  4. ^ BBC Culture Names 'The Wire' the Best Series of the 21st Century - IndieWire
  5. ^ Bizzaca, Caris (5 November 2021). "Spotlight on kids' TV". Screen Australia. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  6. ^ Sang-Hun, Choe (3 November 2021). "From BTS to 'Squid Game': How South Korea Became a Cultural Juggernaut". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 3 November 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
  7. ^ Why The Wire is the greatest TV series of the 21st Century - BBC Culture
  8. ^ Game of Thrones, Money Heist, Breaking Bad among BBC’s top 100 tv series of 21st century|Financial Express
  9. ^ BBC reveals best TV shows of the 21st century including Succession and Game of Thrones|Denbighshire Free Press
  10. ^ ‘Black Mirror’ Renewed for Season 7 - Variety

See also[edit]

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