Our favourite TV shows of 2025, from Adolescence and All Her Fault to Pluribus and Physical: Asia

From buzzy global hits to quieter shows that lingered long after the final episode, 2025 offered plenty for television fans.

It was a year shaped by ambitious storytelling and strong performances across streaming platforms and formats. Prestige dramas, reality competitions, sci-fi, romance and even a YouTube series were among The National's favourites.

Here, we look back at the shows that we kept recommending to friends, stayed up late to finish or even watched all in one weekend.

The Pitt

ER alumnus Noah Wyle stars in and produces The Pitt. Photo: HBO Max

We’ve seen so many variations of the medical drama over the years – along with cop shows, it’s a genre that seems to have endless stories to tell – that it feels almost impossible to imagine there’s anything genuinely new left to say under the LED lights.

And yet The Pitt, created by ER alumnus R Scott Gemmill in collaboration with his former star and producer Noah Wyle, makes the genre feel new again – and more rigorously true to life than it has been in years.

Structured around a doctor's single 15-hour emergency-room shift at a Pittsburgh hospital, unfolding in near-real time, the series reinvents the genre at a formal level. Patients drift in and out unpredictably, rather than conforming to the familiar template of neatly contained cases introduced and resolved within an episode. The effect is disorienting, immersive and quietly radical.

More importantly, The Pitt is made with a palpable respect for the lived experience of the professionals it depicts. It engages directly with post-pandemic realities, systemic strain and moral fatigue, while lingering on granular details most medical dramas smooth over or ignore. Yes, the doctors and nurses still do less paperwork than their real-world counterparts – it needs to remain watchable, after all – but the balance it strikes is remarkable.

Fully formed from its opening episode, The Pitt is exhilarating and heartbreaking in equal measure – a rare medical drama that feels not just revitalised, but essential.

William Mullally, arts & culture editor

Task

Mark Ruffalo and Fabien Frankel in Task. Photo: HBO

The 2021 limited series Mare of Easttown was one of those golden moments of modern streaming, connecting a stellar cast (led by Kate Winslet and Jean Smart) with an extraordinary script to deliver seven episodes of gripping television and scoop several awards.

While this year’s Task is not quite what screenwriter Brad Ingelsby did next – he also wrote the excellent film Echo Valley, among other projects – it is a compelling companion piece of crime drama to Easttown, albeit set in rural Pennsylvania this time around, played out once again over seven episodes.

Marc Ruffalo, Tom Pelphrey and Emilia Jones lead a quality cast in a complex tale of crime and punishment. Ruffalo is a flawed and world-weary FBI agent leading a task force investigating a series of armed robberies on trap houses, or drug dens. Pelphrey is at the heart of those violent robberies, while Jones is bound to his character by family ties and a sense of duty.

Task immerses the viewer in a particular view of America. Its characters are well built, even if the other members of Ruffalo’s task force could be labelled as representing predictable pillars of competence, incompetence and hubris. No matter, though, this was seven hours well spent. Marvel at the dialogue and the cinematography and wrestle repeatedly with Task’s knotty moral code.

Nick March, assistant editor in chief

Adolescence

Mark Stanley, left, Owen Cooper and Stephen Graham in a scene from Adolescence. Photo: Netflix

While it is hard to say that such a difficult watch is a favourite, Adolescence has been, without a doubt, the most impactful drama of 2025. As a mother of two boys, I viewed this through a particularly sensitive lens. And as a Brit, I felt the gritty reality in my bones – from the familiarity of an English comprehensive school to the recognisable scenes of a northern town under oppressive grey skies.

But for the international audience, parents or not, the show's production mastery and universal themes that speak to the core of our times rightly catapulted it into the global conversation.

The limited series of four episodes, each shot in one continuous take, is breathtaking on multiple levels, from the cinematography to the masterful acting, particularly from Stephen Graham. His performance, both on-screen and as a co-creator, has cemented his status as a British TV national treasure.

Nicola Leech, head of audience

Last Samurai Standing

From left: Junichi Okada, Yumia Fujisaki, Kaya Kiyohara and Masahiro Higashide in Last Samurai Standing. Photo: Netflix

Last Samurai Standing is a live-action television show adapted from the novel of the same name by Shogo Imamura.

It delivers a gripping blend of high-octane action and measured, character-driven storytelling. From the opening sequence, the series sets an impressive pace, combining sharp swordplay with striking cinematography that highlights both the beauty and brutality of its world.