Image by Lucrezia Carnelos on Unsplash.
In a year that was history making itself, historical and political TV shows dominated our screens. While cinema was largely at a standstill, television could thrive through various lockdowns.
Whenever there was the need to escape the realities of 2020, television could transport us into different eras – whether to a chess tournament in the 1960s or the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
With award season underway and Golden Globe nominations out, let’s take a look at what I think were 2020’s best historical and political TV series.
Little Fires Everywhere
1990s / USA
Little Fires Everywhere trailer. Amazon Prime Video.
Little Fires Everywhere: this series opens on the burnt remains of a mansion on fire. The dishevelled Elena Richardson is told, “someone intentionally burned down your house with you inside.”
We are transported back four months and watch the events that led to the fire unfold.
Set in 1990s Ohioan suburbia, Little Fires Everywhere follows two polarised mothers. Elena Richardson is a wealthy, white matriarch who works diligently to make her family seem picture-perfect. Mia Warren is a black woman, photographer and mother to Pearl with whom she mysteriously arrives in Shaker Heights – an arrival that upends the town and Elena’s pristine image.
Little Fires Everywhere, which is based on the novel by Celeste Ng, explores race relations, motherhood, identity and secrecy. It is written and mostly directed by women, which is evident in the women in the story, who are rich and layered characters with complex histories and relationships.
Through the episodes, the question on everyone’s mind remains, who will set the fire and why?
Where to watch in Australia: Amazon Prime Video
The Queen's Gambit
1950s–1960s / USA
The Queen’s Gambit trailer. Netflix.
The Queen’s Gambit is a period drama based on Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel of the same name.
Orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon dominates the chess world of the mid-century era. After losing her mother in a car accident at age 9, Beth moves into an orphanage. Here she meets Mr Shaibel, the janitor, who teaches her to play chess.
In this 1950s orphanage, the girls are given daily tranquiliser pills. The tranquilisers augment Beth’s imagination as she visualises chess moves on her ceiling. She becomes addicted to practicing plays and so, addicted to the pills. They become the gateway for Beth’s drug and alcohol addiction, a constant battle through her career and often the source of her downfalls. Through her struggles, Beth competes across America, and internationally, in her endeavour to become a chess grandmaster.
The special effects used to animate the enormous chess board suspended from the ceiling are astounding, so that you never tire of their grandeur. With these effects, and the authentic and meticulous set and costume design, every detail of The Queen’s Gambit transports you straight into the mid-century era and inside Beth’s mind.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
Stateless
2000s / Australia
Stateless trailer. ABC.
Stateless is an Australian drama that is based on the true story of Cornelia Rau and the thousands of refugees in Australia’s controversial immigration detention system.
Cornelia Rau is a German-Australian woman who in 2004 was unlawfully incarcerated in a detention centre for 10 months, despite being an Australian citizen. She is the inspiration for the character Sofie Werner. While escaping a suburban cult, Sofie gives a false identity to authorities and subsequently also finds herself in detention. Once in, Sofie cannot get out.
The series follows three other characters in this system: Afghan refugee Ameer as he flees persecution, detention centre security guard Cam and government bureaucrat Claire.
Cornelia and Sofie’s story is compelling to Australian viewers because it seems incomprehensible – a white Australian woman held in indefinite detention without cause. As the character Javad says: “They will want to know why a person who looks just like them, is trapped in a place like this.”
All the while there are still thousands of international detainees that are largely disregarded and forgotten.
Where to watch in Australia: ABC iview
Unorthodox
2000s / Germany & USA
Unorthodox trailer. Netflix.
Unorthodox follows 19-year-old Esty Shapiro as she leaves her Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg for a liberating life in Berlin. This mini-series is inspired by the autobiography of Deborah Feldman who, like Esty, moved to Berlin to leave her ultra-Orthodox lifestyle.
Intermittent flashbacks show Esty’s life before Berlin, where she struggled with the expectation to conceive a child in her arranged marriage. In her new life, Esty befriends a diverse group of music students. They introduce her to a secular life that is worldly and progressive. Taking off her sheitel, wearing jeans and dancing in a club, every new experience is cathartic for Esty. And while her sense of belonging to this new city and these new friends grows, her husband, Yanky, sets out to find Esty and bring her back.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
Deutschland '89
1989 / Germany
Deutschland ’89 trailer. UFA Fiction.
In this third and final instalment of the Deutschland series, we follow fictional East-German Agent Martin Rauch through the events surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall and the GDR.
Deutschland follows various characters from both East and West allegiances. The focus, however, is always on Martin as he navigates and influences historical events.
Deutschland ’89 plays with our existing understanding of history. In our history, at a late-night press conference on the 9th of November 1989, East German politician Günter Schabowski prematurely announced that East Germans could finally cross their borders. This accidental announcement led to the immediate fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequently the GDR. Though in Deutschland ’89, it’s not as accidental as it seems. And Martin isn’t uninvolved either.
The season goes on to explore the aftereffects of the fall and Martin’s part in these tumultuous events.
Through the series, Martin struggles with his alliances to numerous actors of international intelligence and secrecy. And learns, his true loyalties should only be to himself.
Where to watch in Australia: Stan
Grand Army
Present Day / USA
Grand Army trailer. Netflix.
Grand Army centres on the lives of five students at Grand Army High School in New York City. This adaptation of Katie Cappiello’s play Slut explores sexual and racial politics through issues like poverty, sexual assault and the school-to-prison pipeline.
Grand Army is visceral and authentic, far from the glamorised norm of many shows in the teen genre. The characters are real teenagers, dealing with real issues, who make mistakes and are given the space within the narrative to learn and grow.
The series is written by a diverse cast of writers, which is a must in any contemporary series, especially to correctly represent the diverse characters in the story. However, it is important to note that some writers of colour left the show after racist mistreatment from the showrunner.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
The Crown (Season 4)
1980s / UK
The Crown Season 4 trailer. Netflix.
It was the season that sparked controversy and debate on what is real and what is fiction in this historical depiction of 20th Century British monarchy.
As we venture into the 1980s, the fourth season of The Crown begins with election of Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s first female Prime Minister. The season plays out her full reign and with it the establishment of Thatcherism: conservative politics of individualism that still permeates British society today. Episode 5: Fagan in particular exposes the consequences of these policies on the working class.
We are also introduced to Diana Spencer, later Princess Diana, and begin to delve into her tragic life as she joins the royal family in her marriage to Prince Charles. Charles is no longer the lost young prince from last season, but a cunning and often cruel man in his relationship to Diana.
With new actors set to step into the upcoming final seasons, we leave this cast behind. And with them, perhaps also the sense that what we are watching is history. Instead, the contemporary crown will be unravelled.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
2020 was a great year for TV. And lockdowns could be a time for discovering and binging new shows. But with filming halted for much of 2020, it will be interesting to see what the scene will come up with for 2021.
In a year that was history making itself, historical and political TV shows dominated our screens. While cinema was largely at a standstill, television could thrive through various lockdowns.
Whenever there was the need to escape the realities of 2020, television could transport us into different eras – whether to a chess tournament in the 1960s or the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
With award season underway and Golden Globe nominations out, let’s take a look at what I think were 2020’s best historical and political TV series.
Little Fires Everywhere
1990s / USA
Little Fires Everywhere trailer. Amazon Prime Video.
Little Fires Everywhere: this series opens on the burnt remains of a mansion on fire. The dishevelled Elena Richardson is told, “someone intentionally burned down your house with you inside.”
We are transported back four months and watch the events that led to the fire unfold.
Set in 1990s Ohioan suburbia, Little Fires Everywhere follows two polarised mothers. Elena Richardson is a wealthy, white matriarch who works diligently to make her family seem picture-perfect. Mia Warren is a black woman, photographer and mother to Pearl with whom she mysteriously arrives in Shaker Heights – an arrival that upends the town and Elena’s pristine image.
Little Fires Everywhere, which is based on the novel by Celeste Ng, explores race relations, motherhood, identity and secrecy. It is written and mostly directed by women, which is evident in the women in the story, who are rich and layered characters with complex histories and relationships.
Through the episodes, the question on everyone’s mind remains, who will set the fire and why?
Where to watch in Australia: Amazon Prime Video
The Queen's Gambit
1950s–1960s / USA
The Queen’s Gambit trailer. Netflix.
The Queen’s Gambit is a period drama based on Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel of the same name.
Orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon dominates the chess world of the mid-century era. After losing her mother in a car accident at age 9, Beth moves into an orphanage. Here she meets Mr Shaibel, the janitor, who teaches her to play chess.
In this 1950s orphanage, the girls are given daily tranquiliser pills. The tranquilisers augment Beth’s imagination as she visualises chess moves on her ceiling. She becomes addicted to practicing plays and so, addicted to the pills. They become the gateway for Beth’s drug and alcohol addiction, a constant battle through her career and often the source of her downfalls. Through her struggles, Beth competes across America, and internationally, in her endeavour to become a chess grandmaster.
The special effects used to animate the enormous chess board suspended from the ceiling are astounding, so that you never tire of their grandeur. With these effects, and the authentic and meticulous set and costume design, every detail of The Queen’s Gambit transports you straight into the mid-century era and inside Beth’s mind.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
Stateless
2000s / Australia
Stateless trailer. ABC.
Stateless is an Australian drama that is based on the true story of Cornelia Rau and the thousands of refugees in Australia’s controversial immigration detention system.
Cornelia Rau is a German-Australian woman who in 2004 was unlawfully incarcerated in a detention centre for 10 months, despite being an Australian citizen. She is the inspiration for the character Sofie Werner. While escaping a suburban cult, Sofie gives a false identity to authorities and subsequently also finds herself in detention. Once in, Sofie cannot get out.
The series follows three other characters in this system: Afghan refugee Ameer as he flees persecution, detention centre security guard Cam and government bureaucrat Claire.
Cornelia and Sofie’s story is compelling to Australian viewers because it seems incomprehensible – a white Australian woman held in indefinite detention without cause. As the character Javad says: “They will want to know why a person who looks just like them, is trapped in a place like this.”
All the while there are still thousands of international detainees that are largely disregarded and forgotten.
Where to watch in Australia: ABC iview
Unorthodox
2000s / Germany & USA
Unorthodox trailer. Netflix.
Unorthodox follows 19-year-old Esty Shapiro as she leaves her Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg for a liberating life in Berlin. This mini-series is inspired by the autobiography of Deborah Feldman who, like Esty, moved to Berlin to leave her ultra-Orthodox lifestyle.
Intermittent flashbacks show Esty’s life before Berlin, where she struggled with the expectation to conceive a child in her arranged marriage. In her new life, Esty befriends a diverse group of music students. They introduce her to a secular life that is worldly and progressive. Taking off her sheitel, wearing jeans and dancing in a club, every new experience is cathartic for Esty. And while her sense of belonging to this new city and these new friends grows, her husband, Yanky, sets out to find Esty and bring her back.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
Deutschland '89
1989 / Germany
Deutschland ’89 trailer. UFA Fiction.
In this third and final instalment of the Deutschland series, we follow fictional East-German Agent Martin Rauch through the events surrounding the fall of the Berlin Wall and the GDR.
Deutschland follows various characters from both East and West allegiances. The focus, however, is always on Martin as he navigates and influences historical events.
Deutschland ’89 plays with our existing understanding of history. In our history, at a late-night press conference on the 9th of November 1989, East German politician Günter Schabowski prematurely announced that East Germans could finally cross their borders. This accidental announcement led to the immediate fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequently the GDR. Though in Deutschland ’89, it’s not as accidental as it seems. And Martin isn’t uninvolved either.
The season goes on to explore the aftereffects of the fall and Martin’s part in these tumultuous events.
Through the series, Martin struggles with his alliances to numerous actors of international intelligence and secrecy. And learns, his true loyalties should only be to himself.
Where to watch in Australia: Stan
Grand Army
Present Day / USA
Grand Army trailer. Netflix.
Grand Army centres on the lives of five students at Grand Army High School in New York City. This adaptation of Katie Cappiello’s play Slut explores sexual and racial politics through issues like poverty, sexual assault and the school-to-prison pipeline.
Grand Army is visceral and authentic, far from the glamorised norm of many shows in the teen genre. The characters are real teenagers, dealing with real issues, who make mistakes and are given the space within the narrative to learn and grow.
The series is written by a diverse cast of writers, which is a must in any contemporary series, especially to correctly represent the diverse characters in the story. However, it is important to note that some writers of colour left the show after racist mistreatment from the showrunner.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
The Crown (Season 4)
1980s / UK
The Crown Season 4 trailer. Netflix.
It was the season that sparked controversy and debate on what is real and what is fiction in this historical depiction of 20th Century British monarchy.
As we venture into the 1980s, the fourth season of The Crown begins with election of Margaret Thatcher, the UK’s first female Prime Minister. The season plays out her full reign and with it the establishment of Thatcherism: conservative politics of individualism that still permeates British society today. Episode 5: Fagan in particular exposes the consequences of these policies on the working class.
We are also introduced to Diana Spencer, later Princess Diana, and begin to delve into her tragic life as she joins the royal family in her marriage to Prince Charles. Charles is no longer the lost young prince from last season, but a cunning and often cruel man in his relationship to Diana.
With new actors set to step into the upcoming final seasons, we leave this cast behind. And with them, perhaps also the sense that what we are watching is history. Instead, the contemporary crown will be unravelled.
Where to watch in Australia: Netflix
2020 was a great year for TV. And lockdowns could be a time for discovering and binging new shows. But with filming halted for much of 2020, it will be interesting to see what the scene will come up with for 2021.