tv & radio
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From Top Gear to The X-Files: the six worst TV shows of 2016The past year has been more abject than most, so it feels fitting to concentrate on its most disappointing television shows as we near 2016’s end. And there were plenty of duds to pick from
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There's a search for a fifth meat – and 19 other things podcasts taught us in 2016Whether it’s asking what happens when you watch Sex and the City 2 more than 50 times or which Oscar has won an Oscar, there’s no question a podcast somewhere hasn’t answered
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Richard Hammond under fire for 'ice-cream is gay' line on The Grand TourMotoring show courts controversy again as co-host tells Jeremy Clarkson he doesn’t eat ice-cream, adding: ‘It’s something to do with being straight’ -
KKK documentary canceled after A&E learns producers paid Klan membersEscaping the KKK spiked after networked discovered third-party producers gave ‘nominal’ cash payments to Ku Klux Klan members in order to gain some access
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The TV binger's guide to surviving the 2016 holidaysFrom the Man in the High Castle to Twin Peaks, the new seasons and reruns essential for tuning out until the new year
what to watch
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The OA review – head-spinning drama skips between life and deathNetflix’s mysterious new offering blends angels, parallel realities and nightmarish imprisonments in a tale of gargantuan imagination and ambition
episode recaps
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The Walking DeadThe Walking DeadThe Walking Dead: season seven, episode eight – Hearts Still BeatingThe half-season hobbled to a close with 10 minutes of hugs and learning. We have to wait till spring for significant carnage? That’s too darn long
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WestworldWestworldWestworld finale recap – robot army, assemble!This theme park just keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. We finally learn the truth about Wyatt – and he wants to murder every human within eyeshot. Truly, this television is perfectly suited to 2016
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South Park finale: trolls create chaos by 'bringing out the worst in humanity'The end of a particularly topical season has an orange-faced president struggling to deal with the power of the trolls who got him elected
videos
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Trevor Noah evening for Guardian Live – full videoTrevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, shares anecdotes on family, religion and growing up ‘coloured’ in apartheid South Africa from his new book Born a Crime
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John Oliver on Donald Trump: ‘A Klan-backed misogynist internet troll’ – videoComedian John Oliver urges viewers not to normalise a Trump presidency in his first post-election edition of The Last Week Tonight
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Jimmy Fallon shocked by David Blaine's 'human aquarium' trick on Tonight Show – videoHost shocked when magician summons live frog from his stomach on NBC’s The Tonight Show
talking points
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Insecure, OJ and The Night Of: how TV tackled race in 2016This year saw BAME characters come to the fore on the small screen like never before
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The comedy of despair: why 2016 was a vintage year for female TV starsFrom Fleabag to Happy Valley; Transparent to Westworld, strong female characters dominated the small screen, leaving countless moments that lingered in the heart and mind
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Is Lee Daniels' rags-to-riches R&B drama Star better than Empire?The show shares similarities with the ratings hit but a more intriguing character arc and a hint of darker issues suggests it might be the savvier choice
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This Is Us emerges as safe winner in terrible year for network pilotsNBC’s sentimental family drama surprised with a set of Golden Globe nominations while other freshman shows failed to provoke water cooler chatter
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The Grand Tour is everything that was wrong with Clarkson-era Top GearClarkson, Hammond and May have too much cash now – and they’re splashing it on pointless explosions and tired scripts. Will the BBC have the last laugh?
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TV for the fake news generation: why Westworld is the defining show of 2016HBO’s sci-fi hit is an ambiguous, amoral tale pored over online by people looking for meaning. If that isn’t a show for our times, I don’t know what is
you may have missed
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Rise of the robots: how tech took over TV in 2016From Westworld to Black Mirror, TV has ceaselessly explored our uneasy, even poisonous, relationship with tech
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Creators of The Man in the High Castle: there are 'deeply disturbing' parallelsThe similarities between the show’s fictionalized fascist America and the incoming Trump administration show just how prophetic Philip K Dick’s novel was
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The OA: revealing the secrets of 2016's most mysterious TV showBrit Marling’s new drama about a blind woman who has her sight restored, has landed on Netflix with barely any notice. Will it be the next Stranger Things?
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Skam: the Norwegian hit that could take US TV into uncharted territoryTo be renamed Shame in the US, this gritty high school drama has developed an intense following for its frank and realistically flawed view of teenage life
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Somali pirates to prison riots: the series on real-life kidnaps holding audiences CaptiveBy getting unprecedented access to people on all sides of notorious kidnaps – from US prison riots to the Bethlehem siege – the new Netflix documentary series sheds light on some of history’s tensest events
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The Bugle: Andy Zaltzman revives 'satire and bullshit' podcast sans John OliverThe popular British comedic news show, which fizzled out when Last Week Tonight took off, returns with new co-hosts that aren’t just ‘two white guys’
The revolution will not be televised: 2016 was the year TV turned upside down