Ninety-two series feature English as their primary language, with Danish, Swedish, French, Spanish and German among the other languages featured. At the same time, while the list is wide-ranging by some metrics, there are also ways in which it reflects significant biases. The result is a list that stands as a true testament to the power, versatility and innovation of the medium over the last two decades, from smalltown saga Gilmore Girls and caustic meta-comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, which both kicked off in the immediate shadow of the new millennium in October 2000, to the most recent entry, Barry Jenkins' transcendent adaptation of alt-history epic The Underground Railroad, which premiered in May 2021. Each voter listed their 10 favourite TV series of the 21st Century, which we scored and ranked to produce the top 100 listed below. Of these voters, 100 were women, 104 were men, and two were non-binary. In total, 460 different series were voted for by 206 TV experts – critics, journalists, academics and industry figures – who came from 43 countries, from Albania to Uruguay. While in no way definitive, the answers we have collated are fascinating – and, we hope, will inspire TV lovers everywhere to both seek out titles they haven't seen before, and further reflect on and discuss ones they have. And so, in order to mark TV's ascendancy, we have decided to ask the question: what are the greatest TV series of the 21st Century?

– Why I May Destroy You is the future of TVīut also it felt like the right time to survey the television landscape because arguably it has been the defining art form of the past 21 years: where once, rightly or wrongly, it was largely patronised as cinema's younger, more rough-and-ready sibling, today its artistic credibility is unassailable, while the advent of streaming platforms has also given shows the ability to reach unprecedented global audiences all at once. – Twenty-five series that define the 21st Century – What makes The Wire such a great number one Read more about BBC Culture's 100 greatest TV series of the 21st Century: That's in part because TV has played such a crucial role in many of our lives over the past 18 months, when we have relied on it for information, entertainment, solace and inspiration in equal measure. However, this year, it felt about time that we turned our attention to another art form: television. In recent years, BBC Culture has conducted an annual poll of film critics, experts and industry figures from around the world to decide on the greatest films in a particular category: you may have come across our 100 greatest films directed by women list in 2019 and our 100 greatest non-English language films in 2018, among others.

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