15 Best New TV Shows Of 2020 (So Far)

There's no denying that there is a deluge of quality shows appearing on the box and making quarantine bearable this year.

But whilst it was tough for any show to secure a spot on this list, there was never any question about which series would nab the top spot.

Room helmer Lenny Abrahamson’s artful and moving adaptation of Conversations with Friends author Sally Rooney’s accomplished second novel is the small screen standout for 2020 so far. A beautifully realized, touching, frank, and tender look at modern romance, Normal People is no less urgent for its small scale.

Sure, the series may focus on (as the title implies) the on-and-off love affair of a pair of normal people, the reserved Connell and troubled Marianne, but thanks to the staggering performances and skilful direction, this story of ordinary people falling in and out of each other's lives becomes something sublime and unmissable.

Following the pair's journey from secret school-years sweethearts to volatile college coupledom, the show portrays both the perpetual stresses of adulthood and mental health issues whilst also illustrating the more contemporary difficulties of class division between the well-to-do Marianne and working class Connell. Often moving and always intimate, the show never shies away from depicting the trouble these two have acknowledging and communicating their feelings to themselves and each other.

Heartbreaking, laugh out loud funny, and intensely real, this essential series is not to be missed.