It seems we’ve never been quite so spoilt when it comes to TV shows. Whether it’s Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC or Apple TV, there have been plenty of brilliant, binge-worthy dramas to tune into when we’ve needed it most, particularly as we’ve all been lying fairly low over the past year thanks to the pandemic.
As evenings out were replaced with box-sets, so many of us turned to our favourite streaming giants to deliver the action we needed and they didn’t disappoint. Now as the gong season has officially begun (thanks so far to The Critics Choice Awards 2021 and The Golden Globes 2021), the verdict for the best award-winning TV Shows for 2021 is officially out.
For royal fans, there was Netflix’s The Crown which saw Season 4 drop in November, with the long-awaited introduction of Emma Corrin as Princess Diana. We were treated to the royal rollercoaster of Prince Charles and Camilla’s enduring love affair, terrorist attacks, not to mention the appointment of Britain’s first female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, played by Gillian Anderson.The Crown has already proved to be a big winner, walking away with four Golden Globes including Best Television Series, with stars Josh O’Connor, Emma Corrin and Gillian Anderson picking up awards for their performances. It was also hailed as the Best Drama Series in the Critics Choice Awards too, with Corrin, Anderson and O’Connor also scooping awards for their roles.
Another top award-winning TV show for 2021 has to be Schitt’s Creek which won Best Comedy at The Golden Globes and two Critics Choice Awards so far this year. The hit show has been hailed as a vital and positive representation of LGBTQ+ relationships with a legion of loyal fans. Hardly surprising that it won a record-breaking nine awards at the Golden Globes, received by the show’s creator who also plays David Rose, along with the most of the cast including Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara.
Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit, which proved to be one most watched TV shows of 2020 has not only been a roaring success in the viewing figures department, with many of us hooked on the gripping story starring Anya Taylor-Joy as chess prodigy Beth Harmon, it’s also already won plenty of awards in 2021. The show won two Golden Globes – for best TV miniseries and Taylor-Joy also scoring Best Actress in a Miniseries also.
Other shows that have proved themselves worthy of the top awards this year include HBO’s I Know This Much Is True, based on the bestselling novel about a man whose identical twin has paranoid schizophrenia, Steve McQueen’s gritty anthology series Small Axe and the laugh-out-loud Ted Lasso.
If you’re looking for a new series to get stuck into, here’s a full round-up of the 2021 best award-winning TV shows.