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Looking back, we consider the television offerings of the recent year, a selection of shows stand out not for their excellence, but for their spectacular shortcomings. From cringe-inducing spin-offs to bafflingly poor docuseries, here are the programmes that left us scratching our heads or just reaching for the remote.

And Just Like That

How to start with this divisive follow-up? Burdened with dreadful scripts, painful character development (we demand better for Miranda!), and a paltry 71 seconds of fan-favourite Samantha, the show fought to justify its existence. Briefly, as the third series started, it looked like it had at last found its groove. Then came an episode all about Seema’s natural deodorant. Little surprise the creator declared this would be the final series. It ended on a bum note; the lingering shot of Miranda’s toilet flooded with poo was just way too on-the-nose. Still, fans undeniably had a hoot dissecting every single “wtf?” moment. And as Carrie – a single woman once more – danced around her sprawling townhouse to Barry White, who didn’t release a small sob?

The Kim Kardashian Drama

‘Can Kim Kardashian act? Of course she can’t.’

But that was almost the smallest of this drama's problems. The recipient of a exceedingly uncommon no-star review, it was difficult to know where to start enumerating the problems. The laughably wooden writing? The mind-numbing veneration of wealth and materialism? The seemingly deliberate procession of tropes? Performances so bad they felt almost malicious? Let’s just say “each and every one” and forget about this series again. However, a new season has been commissioned, so we’re probably going to have to.

The Charlie Sheen Documentary

Given the legal troubles, abuse claims and fatherly failures, it’s reasonable to say Charlie Sheen has been a troubled figure. Not that you’d really have gleaned it from this multi-part documentary which chuckled along at Sheen’s various episodes of reckless hedonism while failing to tell us a single thing we didn’t already know. Rather, it felt as if this loose cannon was being pandered to, so any sympathy this show might induce should be saved for the people who have had to suffer close contact with this charming but flippant narcissist.

The Iris Affair

Naturally we knew it was preposterous from the get-go: a thriller about a supercomputer known as Charlie Big Potatoes that could either solve global crises – or annihilate all of humanity. We persevered out of sheer admiration for its leads … but by the end, it felt like even they had given up trying. One scarcely reacted when his character died, and the other ultimately hacking Charlie with an axe … in super slow-motion. Talk about admitting defeat.

The Gangster Drama

Dodgy characters convening in deserted boxing gyms? The Prodigy’s Firestarter blaring in club scenes? The late 90s called and wants its gangland drama back.

Actually, that is harsh on the gangland dramas of the late 90s. Many look a bit dated now, but at least they didn’t suffer the embarrassment of having to indulge baffling dialects. But there were many other problems. Primarily that it was just really boring; a dispute over narcotics territory between various London rogues which seemed rather simplistic.

With Love, Meghan

Considering the degree to which she provokes the ire of the nation’s ostentatiously angry commentators, it’s temptingly tempting to applaud the Duchess of Sussex’s various ventures into quaint homemaking as deliberate provocations. But then you watch them and are forced to admit that in this case, they might have a point. It’s like watching a lifestyle catalogue come to life; a poster for wine o’clock with ideas of grandeur; a parade of snoozing dogs, buzzing beehives, sentimental sayings and forgettable crafting “tips” you’ll forget instantly. All underpinned by immense, largely undeserved wealth. Ugh.

The Beckham Documentary

There are clearly interesting things to be said about both Victoria Beckham and her struggles with career, identity, self-acceptance. But for some reason, this three-part series chose not to say them. Instead, the viewing was like consuming a sales catalogue. She obviously has good reason to resent what she describes as her “miserable cow” image. But unfortunately, 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 big hit – except even more extravagant, with a famous star as a deceased benefactor and a well-known personality overseeing her inheritance. What more could you ask for? As players competed, there was plenty of backstabbing and arguing. But the rules quickly became bewildering: it’s even now too confusing to detail what precisely was happening. Even more disappointingly, we only saw brief appearances of the star via prerecorded videos. The show ended up smelling of a programme that was trying way too hard to live up to something way beyond it.

The Lena Dunham Romcom

How do you follow a show that captured a generation? The expectation was enormous for this starry romcom about Jessica, a rosy-eyed New Yorker who arrives in London with a broken heart. The star took her biggest role by the horns and was a delight to watch, embodying Austen levels of romantic notions. But it was all very slick and, paradoxically, was not enough. Plus, the abundance of celebrity friends involved felt uncomfortable.

The Sketch Show Return

Not good enough to be ‘patchy’.

Given the shrewd inclusion of gifted younger comics, hopes were high. But unhappily, most of it fell flat. A particular sketch was a one-note joke stretched to a husk but recurring in every episode. One star seemed too ready to slip into a familiar ranting mode. The behind-the-scenes sketches, in contrast, simply inspired the idea that they should probably have stayed in there a bit longer.

The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox

This dramatisation of the story of Amanda Knox was executive produced by Amanda Knox and pretty much exclusively presented the perspective of Amanda Knox. So, while there undoubtedly is an interesting drama to be made about the horrific 2007 murder, this isn’t it. The material needed to be treated with care. Rather, the series struggled painfully to find the right voice, lurching from strangely jaunty, slightly mannered farce to inevitably, real-life horror. Complex? Perhaps. A complete mess? Absolutely.

The Maths Genius Thriller

We love the star … but did we buy him playing the most brilliant maths genius in history, a man so smart he’s on the verge of a discovery that could destabilise society? No! This international thriller about secret services spying on – and killing off – academics honestly got more absurd by the second. Formulaic nonsense.

The Bonnie Blue Documentary

This uncritical portrait followed the content creator notorious for sexual exploits as she prepared for her most extreme feat yet. What on earth would possess her? What we wanted was way more interrogation of her actual psychology, plus those of the men in the queue. They could at least have spoken to the legendary mum who appeared to drag her son away from the queue. What we got was disturbing shots and absolutely no critical analysis of her notoriety whatsoever. It's staggering to consider, the filmmaker has a teenage daughter too.