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Looking back, we reflect on the television landscape of the recent year, a selection of series emerge not for their excellence, but for their notable shortcomings. From awkward spin-offs to confusingly bad docuseries, here are the programmes that left us utterly bewildered or just reaching for the remote.

And Just Like That

How to start with this divisive follow-up? Plagued with dreadful writing, cringe-inducing character development (we demand better for Miranda!), and a mere 71 seconds of fan-favourite Samantha, the series struggled to find its footing. Briefly, as the third series started, it looked like it had at last found its groove. Then came an episode centered on Seema’s natural deodorant. Little surprise the showrunner declared this would be the last series. It concluded on a bum note; the closeup of Miranda’s toilet flooded with poo was just way too on-the-nose. Yet, fans certainly had a hoot picking apart every single “what on earth?” episode. And as Carrie – a single woman once more – danced around her palatial townhouse to Barry White, who didn’t release a small sob?

The Kim Kardashian Drama

‘Is Kim Kardashian an actress? Of course she can’t.’

But that was practically the smallest of this show's problems. The recipient of a exceedingly uncommon no-star assessment, it was difficult to know where to begin listing the problems. The laughably wooden dialogue? The mind-numbing glorification of wealth and consumption? The seemingly wilful parade of cliches? Performances so poor they felt almost malicious? Let’s just say “all of the above” and never speak of this show again. Except, a new season has been ordered, so we’re likely going to have to.

AKA Charlie Sheen

Considering the restraining orders, abuse allegations and parental shortcomings, it’s fair to say Charlie Sheen has been a bad boy. Not that you’d truly have gleaned it from this three-part docuseries which smirked its way at Sheen’s various episodes of reckless excess while struggling to tell us anything we didn’t already know. Instead, it felt as if this volatile personality was being pandered to, so any sympathy this show might evoke should be saved for the people who have had to suffer close contact with this charismatic but flippant egotist.

The Iris Affair

Of course we understood it was preposterous from the outset: a drama about a supercomputer known as Charlie Big Potatoes that could either solve global crises – or destroy all of humanity. We stuck with it out of pure love for its leads … but by the end, it felt like even they had stopped bothering. One scarcely cared when his character died, and the other ultimately hacking Charlie with an axe … in painfully slow-motion. Talk about admitting defeat.

The Gangster Drama

Dodgy characters meeting in empty boxing gyms? A certain band's Firestarter jackhammering away in club scenes? The late 90s called and wants its gangland drama back.

Actually, that is harsh on the crime shows of the late 90s. Many look a little dated now, but at least they didn’t suffer the ignominy of having to indulge unconvincing accents. But there were many other issues. Mainly that it was just really boring; a dispute over drug-selling territory between various cockney rogues which seemed a bit basic.

With Love, Meghan

Considering the extent to which she grinds the gears of certain performatively angry commentators, it’s temptingly tempting to applaud the Duchess of Sussex’s televised forays into twee homemaking as deliberate statements. But then you watch them and are forced to concede that in this case, they may have a point. It’s like watching a lifestyle magazine animated; a poster for wine o’clock with delusions of grandeur; a procession of snoozing dogs, humming beehives, sentimental platitudes and pointless crafting “tips” you’ll not remember instantly. All underpinned by immense, mostly unearned wealth. Ugh.

Victoria Beckham

There are clearly fascinating things to be discussed about both Victoria Beckham and her struggles with vocation, identity, self-acceptance. But for some reason, this three-part series chose not to explore them. Instead, the experience was like consuming a marketing catalogue. She clearly has every right to bridle at what she describes as her “stern” image. But sadly, she failed to do herself any helps with this cagey non-event of a series.

The Inheritance

It had the potential to be the next cultural phenomenon – except even camper, with a glamorous star as a deceased benefactor and a well-known personality managing her estate. What more could you want? As contestants competed, there was plenty of backstabbing and squabbling. But the rules quickly became incomprehensible: it’s even now too complicated to explain what precisely was happening. Even more regrettably, we only saw glimpses of the star via prerecorded videos. The show ended up smelling of a production that was straining desperately to live up to something way beyond it.

Too Much

How do you succeed a show that captured a generation? The pressure was enormous for this starry romantic comedy about Jessica, a rosy-eyed New Yorker who arrives in London with a broken heart. The star seized the opportunity by the horns and was a delight to watch, embodying Austen levels of romantic notions. But it was all very glossy and, ironically, was insufficient. Plus, the sheer amount of famous friends involved felt icky.

The Sketch Show Return

Not good enough to be ‘patchy’.

Given the smart recruitment of gifted younger comics, expectations were high. But sadly, most of it fell flat. A particular sketch was a single joke milked to a husk but repeated in every episode. One star seemed too willing to slip into a well-known ranting mode. The writing room sketches, meanwhile, simply provoked the idea that they should probably have stayed in there a bit longer.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

This retelling of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much exclusively showcased the viewpoint of Amanda Knox. So, while there probably is an interesting drama to be made about the horrific 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The subject matter needed to be handled sensitively. Rather, the series struggled painfully to find the right tone, lurching from oddly jaunty, somewhat stylised farce to ultimately, real-life horror. Complex? Arguably. A total mess? Very much so.

The Maths Genius Thriller

We love the star … but did we buy him playing the most brilliant maths genius since, a man so smart he’s on the brink of a discovery that could ruin society? No! This international thriller about secret services spying on – and eliminating – intellectuals frankly got more absurd by the second. Formulaic nonsense.

1000 Men and Me: The Bonnie Blue Story

This uncritical portrait followed the online personality renowned for sexual exploits as she undertook her most extreme feat yet. What on earth would possess her? What we craved was far greater examination of her actual psychology, plus those of the men in the queue. They could at least have interviewed the legendary mum who appeared to drag her son out of the queue. What we got was horrific imagery and zero interrogation of her infamy whatsoever. It's staggering to consider, the documentary-maker has a teenage daughter too.