Now we can watch TV via streaming or on demand, the idea of “appointment TV” – the shows you HAD to watch, at the time they were broadcast, or run the risk of missing out or being spoiled – can feel like a thing of the past.

But with so much excellent stuff on the telly, you do still need to tune in to the best and most popular programmes as soon as you can. Otherwise you’ll find yourself literally running away from conversations. “NO! I can’t hear anything about episode 4! I’ll start it soon, I promise!”

The good news is that the must-see shows are available for you to watch right now – and the past couple of months has brought forth another batch of top-notch telly that we recommend you get stuck into ASAP. Here are our picks.

Mary & George

Find it now in On Demand

What it is: A historical romp starring Oscar winner Julianne Moore as a scheming noblewoman trying to climb the social ladder by encouraging her son (Nicholas Galitzine) to seduce King James VI and I (Tony Curran).

Number of episodes: 7 x 1 hour

Why you should stream it: When you get the chance to watch a movie star like Moore do her stuff over seven full hours of television, you definitely should – and she’ll reward you with a tour de force, all cunning and charm and charisma. Rising star Galitzine (Red, White & Royal Blue, Bottoms and the upcoming The Idea Of You) is impressive too, and Curran (Mayflies) has great fun as the king, demonstrating why he’s one of the UK’s most reliable character actors.

Mary & George is a cracking tale, directed with style and up-close intimacy, and the shifting balance of power in all the relationships will keep you on your toes. Plus, and let’s not mess around here, it’s very sexy.

Ripley

Find it now in Apps > Netflix

What it is: An eight-part adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s classic novel The Talented Mr Ripley (previously made into a 1999 film), starring Andrew Scott as a penniless conman who will stop at nothing when presented with an opportunity to improve his status.

Number of episodes: 8 x 44-76 minutes

Why you should stream it: Andrew Scott’s in it. Need we say more? Oh, all right. Scott is an actor at the absolute peak of his powers after the phenomenal All Of Us Strangers, and finds unexpected subtleties and shades in every role.

Like Mary & George, it’s a story about social climbing featuring a twisted kind of love triangle as Tom Ripley inserts himself between Dickie (Johnny Flynn) and Marge (Dakota Fanning) to see the sparks fly. Created, written and directed by Oscar-winning Schindler’s List scriptwriter Steven Zaillian, it’s bursting with talent, as well as intrigue, suppressed violence and breathless tension, and shot in stylish monochrome as a homage to classic film noir.

Fallout

Find it now in Apps > Prime Video

What it is: A sci-fi epic based on the wildly popular video game set in a post-apocalyptic world of robot armies and human mutants.

Number of episodes: 4 x 45-74 minutes

Why you should stream it: Gamers and sci-fi fans alike (there’s probably a bit of a crossover there) agree that Fallout is one of the best video game adaptations ever produced. As in the game, you feel totally immersed in the violent and terrifying, yet oddly familiar, world thanks to an ingenious mix of practical and CGI effects.

It’s executive-produced and partially directed by Jonathan Nolan, who’s collaborated on many of his brother Christopher’s smash hit movies, and was also the brains (alongside partner Lisa Joy) behind the similarly epic sci-fi series Westworld. But the one thing you won’t want to miss is perennially underrated actor Walton Goggins in a gonzo double role as pre-catastrophe movie star and a mutated gunslinger known as The Ghoul.

Big Mood

Find it now in Apps > Channel 4

What it is: Best friends Maggie (Nicola Coughlan) and Eddie (Lydia West) strive to keep their existential balance as the pressures of work, life and maintaining mental health mount up.

Number of episodes: 6 x 25 minutes

Why you should stream it: It’s another brilliant addition to the recent rash of emotional comedy dramas (aka “sadcoms”) about the tumultuous lives of young adults – joining the likes of Feel Good, Starstruck, Juice, Ladhood and This Way Up. It’s often outrageously, raucously funny, but grounded with an undercurrent of poignancy that elevates it.

Coughlan has shown she’s capable of great comedy and great pathos in Derry Girls and Bridgerton but West, who’s previously been in serious dramas like It’s A Sin and Inside Man, proves comically dextrous as well. They’re a terrifically enjoyable duo to watch and we already hope there’s going to be a second series.

Passenger

Find it now in Apps > ITVX

What it is: Former Met detective Riya Ajunwa (Wunmi Mosaku) is bored with small-town life until a local woman goes missing. But when she turns up again and refuses to talk about what happened, things start to get weird.

Number of episodes: 6 x 1 hour

Why you should stream it: We love those offbeat US dramas that aren’t exactly supernatural but definitely unsettling and eerie – Fargo, True Detective, Wayward Pines and the daddy of them all, Twin Peaks – but sometime we wish they were set in a small town in the north of England. Passenger has filled that gap perfectly.

Its fabulously talented cast includes David Threlfall (Shameless) and Jo Hartley (After Life), but where it’s struck gold is by putting Mosaku – an eye-catching supporting actor in Luther, Kiri, The End Of The F***ing World and more – in the lead. Passenger’s Lancashire location gives it a Happy Valley feel, but really there‘s nothing else like it around at the moment. It’s one of the most original British TV dramas in years.

Race Across The World series 4

Find it now in Apps > BBC iPlayer

What it is: Five pairs of competitors see who can travel from Japan to Indonesia fastest, without getting on a plane and while sticking to a strict budget. But the physical journeys are very much secondary to the emotional ones.

Number of episodes: 9 x 1 hour, with episodes 1-3 now streaming in Apps > BBC iPlayer and the remainder on BBC One HD (CH 101) on Wednesdays at 9pm (plus series 1-3, 24 x 1 hour)

Why you should stream it: The charm that made Race Across The World such a joy should be wearing thin by series 4 (plus a celebrity special). We know the couples will go on journeys, both literally (the distance) and figuratively (their relationships). We know the bickering mother and daughter will become closer than ever and the guy who needs to control everything will learn how to let loose. But knowing the cheat sheet doesn’t make the show less magical.

Few shows, and we’d include travel shows, can give you wanderlust like RATW. But not only that, it teaches how compassion and being more open-hearted, to experiences as well as each other, can make this gloomy world a little bit less grey. It’s truly gorgeous, life-affirming TV – and one of the few reality TV shows where age is no barrier to entry – and it might just nudge you into your own adventure.

Blue Lights series 2

Find it now in Apps > BBC iPlayer

What it is: The acclaimed Belfast police drama that was a breakout hit in 2023 returns for another series, as the new (or now new-ish) officers navigate law enforcement in the city.

Number of episodes: 6 x 1 hour (plus series 1, 6 x 1 hour)

Why you should stream it: Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson’s drama succeeds because it balances three fascinating elements extremely cleverly. First, there’s the unique challenges inherent to police work in post-Troubles Northern Ireland, with its clearly defined factions, hidden manipulators and “double-O B” (out of bounds) areas. Second, there’s its refreshing view of modern policing in general, dealing with drugs offences, domestic violence and everything in between, which it presents as an impossible job but one still bravely attempted by (mostly) well-meaning officers.

And then there are the relationships between the officers – not just potentially romantic ones, but the everyday interactions that make the characters so relatable. Blue Lights is a hard-hitting police series that doesn’t shy away from unpleasantness. But it’s also a superior workplace drama with people and situations we can all recognise.

Girls5Eva season 3

Find it now in Apps > Netflix

What it is: A one-hit-wonder girl group reunites after 25 years and attempts to break back into the music industry in this gag-packed sitcom from the people behind Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

Number of episodes: 6 x 30 minutes (plus seasons 1+2, 16 x 30 minutes)

Why you should stream it: Netflix knew what it was doing when it rescued this underappreciated comedy from potential cancellation. Girls5Eva is an absolute scream, one of the funniest shows of recent years, and the only real problem we have with it is there are so many jokes that you’re bound to miss a few. (So… you’ll have to watch it again!)

Creator Meredith Scardino has great fun with the idea of middle-aged women trying to be pop stars, but also mocks an industry that tries to exclude people like them. It’s got songs, it’s got satire, it’s got 30 Rock’s hapless Lutz (John Lutz) as an unpredictable man-child, but most of all it’s got ebullient, witty performances from four perfectly cast women: Sara Bareilles, Paula Pell, Busy Philipps and especially Renée Elise Goldsberry as the endearingly irritating diva Wickie Roy.

The Red King

Find it now in On Demand

What it is: A crime drama from Being Human writer Toby Whithouse set in a remote community where nothing is what it seems and everything is connected to a pagan god known as The Red King.

Number of episodes: 6 x 1 hour

Why you should stream it: Where some police dramas might look to US series or real-life cases for inspiration, The Red King feels more like cult horror movie The Wicker Man. Newly arrived officer Grace Narayan (Anjli Mohindra) is feeling like a fish out of water in the remote community of St Jory, but that’s normal. What isn‘t normal is events that become ever more macabre and inexplicable.

A strong cast including Marc Warren (Van Der Valk), Jill Halfpenny (The Long Shadow) and a fantastically disdainful Adjoa Andoh (Bridgerton) helps establish the unsettling atmosphere, and the wild landscape of Northumberland – standing in for Wales – gives the whole series an untamed, savage feel. This is no cosy rural crime drama: like Passenger, it stands out from the police series crowd by offering something genuinely different.

Baby Reindeer

Find it now in Apps > Netflix

What it is: Writer/actor/standup Richard Gadd dramatises his real-life four-year stalking ordeal for a series that’s as gripping as it is unsettling.

Number of episodes: 7 x 27-45 minutes

Why you should stream it: Gadd has written articles and performed stage shows about his experience of being stalked, but seeing the whole storyline play out over seven episode hits even harder – especially with Gadd playing a version of himself, lending an uncanny authenticity that few fact-based TV dramas can manage. It’s also got a bravura turn from Jessica Gunning (The Outlaws) as Martha, lending the character depths that audiences won’t expect.

It’s understandably dark and sometimes almost unbearably twisted, as well as provocative – but less predictably, it’s absolutely hilarious in places. It’s not often such a multifaceted, thought-provoking TV show comes to our screens, and it’s to be relished when it does.

Binged the lot already? Here are 10 more TV shows to add to your watchlist

• The Regime – Find it in On Demand
• Taskmaster series 17 – Find it in Apps > Channel 4
• 3 Body Problem – Find it in Apps > Netflix
• Shōgun – Find it in Apps > Disney+
• This Town – Find it in Apps > BBC iPlayer
• The Great Celebrity Bake Off For SU2C 2024 – Find it in Apps > Channel 4
• The Gentlemen – Find it in Apps > Netflix
• Mammals – Find it in Apps > BBC iPlayer
• The Cuckoo – Find it in On Demand
• Renegade Nell – Find it in Apps > Disney+

And if you want even more essential 2024 TV, have a look at our must-see shows from January and February.