2014 saw the current 'Golden Age Of Television' continue unabated, with a number of truly wonderful new shows making their bows throughout the year. Television is now the premier medium for gifted writers to tell long-form stories and this year saw the beginnings of quite a few that will be around for many years to come, if there's any justice at least. As well as these quality newcomers, audiences were also treated to brilliant seasons of returning favourites, and the likes of Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant Video continued to cement their reputations as destinations for many viewers to binge watch entire seasons of the best shows, as well as putting out their own incredibly popular shows. In 2014, the distinction between movie talent and TV talent continued to disappear, with many established film stars taking on their own shows, spurred on by the benefits of shorter seasons on cable shows coupled with the abundance of brilliant and innovative writing. Shows like Game Of Thrones and The Walking Dead continued their quests for world domination; both are now cultural touchstones with ever-increasing fan-bases. On UK TV, fans were treated to Peter Capaldi's new Doctor Who and also the second season of Belfast-set serial killer drama The Fall. 2014 also brought the curtain down on a few popular shows such as Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom and Kurt Sutter's biker epic Sons Of Anarchy (which, with some judicious cutting, would have made our top ten list, but alas). That they didn't indicates exactly how good a year the small screen had...
