2024’s TV heroes on their unmissable cultural picks of the year
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Some of the best stars to grace our televisions this year, from Katherine Parkinson to Lennie James, single out their favourite shows, films, music and cultural moments of the past 12 months. It has been a year of true surprises on the small screen. Danny Dyer astonished us all by serving up one of the most heartwarming love stories of 2024, in Jilly Cooper adaptation Rivals.
![[As Penelope Featherington in ‘Bridgerton’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/06/12/21/newFile-1.jpg)
And who could have guessed that Succession’s Justine Lupe would be back so soon with something even better than her eye-rolling plus-one Willa? Her spiky turn as a straight-talking sex podcaster was the best thing about hot-rabbi comedy Nobody Wants This.
![[As Freddie Jones in ‘Rivals’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/12/13/newFile-2.jpg)
For us, it’s screen stars like these – the ones who had an unexpected, glorious “moment” in 2024 – who are the real TV heroes of the year. Here, they are joined by other standouts, from Mr Loverman’s Lennie James to Big Mood’s Nicola Coughlan, to share their biggest cultural moments and picks from the past 12 months.
![[As Barry in ‘Mr Loverman’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/10/14/22/newFile-5.jpg)
Read on to find out what TV moved them, the films that had them on the edge of their seat, the songs they can’t get out of their heads, and the events they wish they could relive. After winning legions of fans as the “wee lesbian” teen Clare Devlin in cult comedy Derry Girls, Nicola Coughlan graduated to playing grown-up characters this year, with star turns in Channel 4’s dark comedy Big Mood and season three of Netflix’s Bridgerton. The former allowed her to really flex her acting chops in the role of Maggie, a writer wrestling with bipolar, while the latter saw her finally dazzle as a romantic lead. Reprising the role of Penelope Featherington, Coughlan got the full ugly duckling to swan treatment as part of her slow-burn, friends-to-lovers courtship with Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) – plus set pulses racing in an array of tasteful yet raunchy sex scenes. Ding dong. By Helen Coffey.
![[As Morgan in ‘Nobody Wants This’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/12/13/NWT_105_Unit_02274RC.jpg)
