Review of 2016

Politically a shit year which probably had nothing to do with me falling out of love with film. There’s hope, for me, in that I’m managed to watch, and enjoy, a few films recently. However, not enough for me to declare with a scintilla of sincerity that I can judge the year’s top movies.

Top TV

1. The Bridge – series 3
2. The Night Manager
3. War and Peace
4. Undercover
5. Happy Valley – series 2
6. In the Line of Duty – series 3
7. Marcella
8. The A Word
9. Follow the Money
10. Trapped

Top live

1. Anna Meredith – Belgrave Music Hall – Leeds
2. Melt Yourself Down – Wardrobe, Leeds
3. A Night at the Museum – Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
4. Orff: Carmina Burana – RLPO, Liverpool
5. The Bad Plus – Howard Assembly Rooms, Leeds
6. Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra – Vladimir Fedoseyev, Leeds Town Hall
7. Rachael Yamagata – King’s Head, Salford
8. A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennesse Williams, Royal Exchange – Manchester
9. Laura Cortese and the Dance Cards, The Live Room – Saltaire
10. Making Mischief, The Other Place – Stratford

Top books

1. Satin Island, Tom McCarthy
2. Olive Kitteridge, A Novel in Stories, Elizabeth Strout
3. The Establishment, Owen Jones
4. Prodigal Summer, Barbara Kingsolver
5. But You Did Not Come Back, Marceline Loridan-Ivens
6. The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross
7. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, Maggie O’Farrell
8. The Other Hand, Colin Cleave
9. A Whole Life, Robert Seethaler
10. 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare, James Shapiro

Top albums

1. Shostakovich: Symphones 5, 8 & 9 – BSO -Nelsons
2. Laura Gibson, Empire Builder
3. Maarja Nuut, Une Meeles
4. Melt Yourself Down, Last Evenings on Earth
5. Rachel Newton, Here’s My Heart Come Take It
6. Christian Scott, Stretch Music
7. Phronesis, Parallax
8. Ruby Hughes and Joseph Middleton, Nocturne
9. Lisa Hannigan, At Swim
10. Auntie Flo, Theory of Flo