As we head toward the new year, we begin to announce the results of this year’s Geektown Awards! It’s been another year of fabulous TV shows, and the choices were not easy, so I wanted to say a huge thank you to the thousands of people who voted! Also a massive congratulations to Caroline who won the enormous main prize, and Stuart who won the runner-up mystery box. Both have been contacted.
With the prize winners announced, we move on to the awards themselves. This year, we’ll be splitting the announcements over a few days running up to New Year’s Eve, but we begin, as ever, with the ‘Best New and Best Returning Drama’ categories. A reminder – everything in the awards is voted for by visitors to this website, not picked by us.
Best New Drama
Nominees: Blue Lights, Season 1 – BBC One; Boiling Point, Season 1 – BBC One; Citadel, Season 1 – Prime Video; Gen V, Season 1 – Prime Video; Interview With The Vampire, Season 1 – BBC Two; Poker Face, Season 1 – Sky Max; Silo, Season 1 – Apple TV+; The Diplomat, Season 1 – Netflix; The Last of Us, Season 1 – Sky Atlantic; The Night Agent, Season 1 – Netflix; Will Trent, Season 1 – Disney+.
Bronze: The Night Agent, Season 1 – Netflix
Silver: Blue Lights, Season 1 – BBC One
Gold Winner: The Last of Us, Season 1 – Sky Atlantic
The show which proves that you can actually make a good TV show out of a video game if you put people who understand the property in charge of it… ‘The Last Of Us‘. This is a second Geektown Award for Chernobyl’s Craig Mazin and a first award for Neil Druckmann, co-creators of the series. It was astounding from start to finish. From costumes to casting. From acting to directing. Any show which basically throws away actors of such calibre as Christopher Heyerdahl and John Hannah in an opening scene just to set up the science of the series, you know is going to be good!
Whilst Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey do an amazing job as Joel and Ellie, we really can’t mention this series without highlighting the “Frank and Bill” episode starring Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett, “Long, Long Time”. Quite possibly the best episode of TV made in the past 10 years. Beautiful. Joyful. Tragic. Heartbreaking. A phenomenal series throughout.
Best Returning Drama
Nominees: Billions, Season 7 – Sky Atlantic; For All Mankind, Season 4 – Apple TV+; Foundation, Season 2 – Apple TV+; Jack Ryan, Season 4 – Amazon Prime; Outer Banks, Season 3 – Netflix; Slow Horses, Season 2 & 3 – Apple TV+; The Crown, Season 6 – Netflix; The Lazarus Project, Season 2 – Sky Max; The Lincoln Lawyer, Season 2 – Netflix; The Morning Show, Season 3 – Apple TV+; Time, Season 2 – BBC One; Unforgotten, Season 5 – ITV; Vikings: Valhalla, Season 2 – Netflix.
Bronze: Unforgotten, Season 5 – ITV
Silver: Jack Ryan, Season 4 – Amazon Prime
Gold Winner: The Crown, Season 6 – Netflix
It has had its criticism in recent years, but proving you can’t keep a good Queen down, ‘The Crown‘ takes, well… the crown… this year for its final season.
Imelda Staunton saw out the series as Queen Elizabeth II, having taken over the role from Olivia Colman in Season 5, who took the role from Claire Foy in Season 3. Despite the changing of the cast every two seasons the show has maintained its quality throughout, with this last season tackling the difficult issue of Diana’s death, and handling reasonably well. The later seasons have come under criticism for how much they had played with the truth and timeline of events. However, I rather suspect it had done that throughout the series, it’s only that the audience started to notice it more as the show drew closer to the present day and the audience actually remembered those events happening. A consistent, quality drama from start to finish.
