Night Manager named best TV programme in Radio Times critics' poll

The Night Manager has scored another victory this year by being named the best television programme of 2016 in a Radio Times critics' poll, just weeks after it picked up four Golden Globe nominations.

The BBC One thriller, starring Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Colman and Hugh Laurie, has beaten popular shows such as The Great British Bake Off and The Missing to win the top spot in the annual poll conducted by the television magazine.

The mini-series, adapted from the John le Carre novel of the same name, concluded at the end of March. It was a hit with high-profile people such as the Duchess of Cornwall.

The show is nominated for next year's Golden Globes for best limited series or film made for television, while Hiddleston, Colman and Laurie have received nods in the acting categories.

The second-most popular television show was the third series of police drama Line of Duty, with the second series of Sally Wainwright's police thriller Happy Valley taking the third position.

Radio Times website editor Tim Glanfield said: "2016 has been a fantastic year for television, from primetime homegrown dramas that have gripped the nation to classic series of Strictly and Bake Off that have shown that live linear TV still has the power to draw big audiences and create water-cooler moments.

"We'll look back on this decade as a golden age of TV - and drama in particular - as the arrival of pretenders like Netflix and Amazon has fired up the traditional channels to raise their game."

The only comedy to secure a place in the Top 10 was Fleabag, which was first shown on BBC Three before being aired on BBC Two.

Lavish drama War and Peace, starring James Norton and Lily James, was in fifth position while Sir David Attenborough's nature triumph, Planet Earth II took the eighth spot.

The full top 10 list is:

1 The Night Manager

2 Line of Duty

3 Happy Valley

4 Fleabag

5 War & Peace

6 The Missing

7 The Crown

8 Planet Earth II

9 National Treasure

10 The Great British Bake Off

:: The complete Radio Times Critics Top 30 TV Programmes of 2016 list is in the new issue of Radio Times.