10 Most Memorable TV Drama Moments Of The 2010s

We're well and truly into the 2020s, and when it comes to television, business is booming. The rise of streaming supergiants Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime has whetted the appetites of viewers constantly hungry for content to consume with ravenous relish.

Of course, the decade to come has a lot to live up to compared to what we’ve seen on our screens over the last ten years.

As more and more people have become accustomed to binge watching, premium importance has been placed on keeping viewers addicted, and preventing them from so much as raising a finger to click “back to browse”.

Yet there’s one thing that drives the traffic of viewer eyeballs more than any other: it’s “the moment” that creates explosions of buzz and hype amongst critics and fans alike. The scenes which generate endless waves of tweets, bleats and comments, keeping fans coming long after the fact to see just what all the fuss was about.

These are the moments that live long in the memory, even as the 2010s disappear in the rear view mirror.

It would have been all too easy to fill such a list entirely with one or two shows, such was the quality of entertainment available, but to present a better picture of the decade as a whole, feast your eyes on ten frenzy-fuelling moments from ten great dramas of the 2010s.

Or at least, they irrevocably changed all perceptions of him with a few simple, devastating words.

Much like his South Park namesake, poor old Kenny goes through quite the wringer throughout “Shut Up and Dance”, one of the more stunning chapters of Charlie Brooker’s pitch dark technology-tinged anthology.

All he’d wanted was to rub one out in the privacy of his bedroom, but after installing anti-malware software on his computer, young Kenny quickly finds himself menaced by a malevolent, voyeuristic hacker.

Under threat of the five-finger footage being released to the world, Kenny is forced to jump through numerous hoops for the (literally) troll-faced techie, ranging from cycling miles away in mere minutes, to robbing a bank and then fighting a similarly trolled victim to the death.

This is all a lot of work just to avoid a bit of embarrassment, but since Kenny seems like such a nice lad, we’re pulling for him to succeed. So it’s quite a nasty shock when he receives a call from his hysterical mother, who delivers a blow with the force of a sledgehammer: “kids, Kenny!”

It’s not an exaggeration to say that this turns absolutely everything on its head. Yes, the tape has been leaked despite Kenny’s best efforts, and it turns out he’d been perusing child pornography all along.

As the resounding voice of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke croons with severe judgement after the final cut to black: “We hope that you choke…” He could just as well be addressing the viewers. Congratulations, you were rooting for a paedophile!