As streaming giants like Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV+ have evolved into truly global operations in recent years, the money they’ve been pouring into international originals is finally hitting the screen — and it shows. A number of the titles on this year’s list have originated from streamers, and these local stories, told with elevated subject matter and slick production values, are certainly resonating. But don’t count out broadcasters and regional streamers just yet. Heavy hitters like the BBC, Italy’s RAI, Korea’s tvN and Spain’s Movistar+ have once again proven why they remain the stalwarts of international drama. Check out the top international TV shows of 2022, as selected by Variety’s team of international correspondents around the world.
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Exterior Night
Marco Bellocchio’s limited TV series about the 1978 kidnapping and assassination of former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro by the Red Brigades really resonated with the home crowd, playing well in a brief theatrical run following its Cannes premiere, and then on public broadcaster RAI in November when it ran head-to-head in ratings with Mediaset’s “Big Brother VIP” as the top primetime draw. Veteran helmer Bellocchio — who previously recounted Moro’s still-mysterious abduction in the 2005 film “Goodmorning, Night” from the viewpoint of one of his captors — this time reconstructed the 55 days of Moro’s imprisonment from the perspectives of Italy’s president at the time, Giovanni Leone, as well as Pope Paul VI, Moro’s friends and family, and the country’s police and secret services. — Nick Vivarelli
Original Broadcasters: RAI Fiction/Arte France
U.S. Home: None yet (Screened at New York Film Festival)
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Extraordinary Attorney Woo
Image Credit: Astory, Netflix Woo Young-woo, an autistic rookie female lawyer with an unflattering pudding bowl haircut turns her poor social skills and her outsider’s perspective into formidable problem-solving tools in “Extraordinary Attorney Woo.” The hit show has delivered heroic viewership numbers for Korean cable channel ENA and Netflix; won over the boys from BTS; and even sparked local debate about autism, mental illness and Korean society’s pervasive pressure to conform – or remain invisible. Like “Squid Game” before it, the show raises societal issues, but does not probe them deeply. Rather, it is a classic ‘idiot savant’ tale that charms and entertains as its plays with pastel colors, neat solutions and the audience’s willingness to root for a whale-loving under-dog. — Patrick Frater
Original Broadcaster: ENA
U.S. Home: Netflix
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Finding Ola
Image Credit: Credit: Sima Diab Tunisian-Egyptian superstar Hend Sabry plays a happy divorcee who embarks on a journey of self-discovery in this ground-breaking Netflix Arab original. The show sees Sabry reprise her career-defining role as the widely beloved Ola Abdel-Sabour, whom she played a decade ago in the celebrated social drama “I Want to Get Married” (“Ayza Atgawez”). But while in the original Ola was under social pressure to get married before turning 30 – and explored a lot of options – a decade later, she is divorced and juggling responsibilities as a mother, a daughter, her job as a pharmacist, and new attempts at finding love, as she gently moves the female empowerment needle in the Arab world and possibly beyond. — Nick Vivarelli
Original Streamer: Netflix
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Funeral For a Dog
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sky Deutschland Sky’s raunchy thriller “Funeral for a Dog” sees Hanno Hackfort and Bob Konrad adapt Thomas Pletzinger’s mind-bending novel. Troubled journalist Daniel (Albrecht Schuch) travels to Italy to interview reclusive novelist Mark (Freidrich Mucke). Here, he meets Tuuli (Alina Tomnikov), and learns about the tempestuous love triangle that existed between Mark, Tuuli and their friend, Felix (Daniel Strasser), who died in murky circumstances. The show jumps between various times and locations, including Colombia, New York and the Arctic Circle, as Daniel attempts to piece together what happened. The stylish show, which won a Series Mania award, is beautifully shot. Tomnikov will be one of the European Shooting Stars at the Berlinale. — Leo Barraclough
Original Broadcaster: Sky U.S.
Home: None yet
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The Head (Season 2)
Spain’s Mediapro Studio’s biggest achievement to date in production values, commercial punch and artistic ambition, “The Head” is set for a 90-country roll-out after its Dec. 22 premiere on HBO Max in the U.S. and Spain. A step-up in scale from Season 1, the propulsive murder mystery-suspense thriller is this time set on a hulking freighter in the mid-Pacific. Celebrated biologist Arthur Wilde (John Lynch) is once again hell-bent on stopping climate change as the body count mounts, and the series plumbs its characters’ layered traumas, hidden fury and misguided ambitions that spell their collective demise. — John Hopewell
Original Partners: Mediapro Studio, Hulu Japan
U.S. Home: HBO Max (Dec. 22)
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Little Women
Only very loosely based on the 19th-century Louisa May Alcott novel, “Little Women” is at the very top end of the Korean TV production scale. Three very different sisters from poor backgrounds are confronted with the power, greed and deviousness of Korean high society after they are connected to a huge corporate slush fund that has gone missing and find themselves faced down by the ultra-rich Park family. Playing out over 12 episodes, the plot is suspenseful, murderous and deeply twisty, with writer Chung Seo-kyung maintaining the pace of a traditional Korean soap opera. Script, cinematography and performances (of the three leads and the antagonists) are all freeze-frame excellent. Reviewers have proposed “Little Women” as a lesson to the Korean TV industry (and its male-dominated commissioners) that female-led shows can be suspenseful and exciting. Audiences will appreciate the ride. — Patrick Frater
Original Broadcaster: tvN
U.S. Home: Netflix
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Marie-Antoinette
Image Credit: Banijay Oscar-winning screenwriter Deborah Davis (“The Favorite”) delivers a feminist take on Marie-Antoinette, the last queen of France who’s often been depicted as a frivolous airhead. Directed by Pete Travis, the lavish French-produced costume drama was created, co-written and executive produced by Davis, with an international cast, including Emilia Schüle and James Purefoy. Schüle pulls off a riveting performance as Marie-Antoinette, an Austrian noble who is married off to Louis-Auguste, the future king of France, while she’s still a girl and wreaks havoc with the court’s peculiar customs. Produced by Capa Drama, Banijay Studios France and Les Gens, the show owes its French flavor to the fact that it shot on location at the Versailles Palace, among other places, with top-notch artists such as costume designer Marie Fremont (“Jackie,” “The Last Duel”). — Elsa Keslassy
Original broadcaster: Canal+
U.S. Home: PBS (March 2023)
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Mystery Road (Season 3)
Image Credit: All3Media International The “Mystery Road” franchise has had to overcome major hurdles to become the multi-award-winning TV success story of 2022. The outback crime drama started out as Ivan Sen’s two feature films “Mystery Road” and “Goldstone,” both featuring Aaron Pedersen as Jay Swan, an Aboriginal detective working the vast and hard-as-diamonds West Australian mining region. It then made a jump to become two six-episode TV seasons (released in 2018 and 2020) that narratively fitted in between the two movies. As its title suggests, the third season leaps chronologically backwards to the 1990s to meet freshly-graduated Swan. Achieving this means ditching the extraordinarily likeable Pedersen (tough but kind, masculine but softly spoken and insightful) for a younger Mark Coles-Smith, while keeping the all-denim costume and the iconic Akubra (Aussie cowboy hat). Cleverly, the origin story does not attempt too many explanations and instead gives Swan a chance to explore his dual policeman-Native Australian identity while chasing down a gang of robbers. — Patrick Frater
Original Broadcaster: ABC Australia
U.S. Home: Spectrum TV (on Roku)
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Offworld
Image Credit: Credit: Emilio Pereda Movistar+’s big hit at San Sebastian and a sign of still resilient innovation on the international TV scene, “Offworld” is a realistic, sophisticated disaster thriller with all five stories conceived collectively by some of Spain’s foremost film and TV writers, and orchestrated by Fran Araujo (“Hierro”). The result: Episodes all unspool in a world afflicted by a massive power outage. However, they contrast in tone, genre and setting and are laced by common concerns, such as conflict negotiation. Top Spanish movie directors including Rodrigo Sorgoyen, Raúl Arévalo, Isa Campo, Alberto Rodríguez and Isaki Lacuesta direct with unfettered cinematic flair. — John Hopewell
Original Streamer: Movistar+
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Sherwood
Image Credit: BBC/House Productions/Matt Squire The stars well and truly aligned for BBC crime drama “Sherwood,” a devastating crime thriller featuring a bevy of top-tier actors such as Lesley Manville, David Morrissey, Adeel Akhtar and Claire Rushbrook delivering knock-out performances. The drama is set in a Nottinghamshire mining village that is rocked after an outspoken ex-trade unionist is killed with a crossbow. The brutal act sets off a chain of shocking events that uncover the town’s dark past and brings to a head a series of festering, decades-old conflicts. Created and written by James Graham, “Sherwood” is one of those rare stories that reflect modern British history back to audiences without being too heavy-handed. Elevated by its all-star cast, the show’s crime thriller wrapping easily sustains audiences over six episodes, and builds up to a barnburner of a finale. — Manori Ravindran
Original Broadcaster: BBC
U.S. Home: BritBox
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Slow Horses
Image Credit: Photo courtesy of Netflix “Veep” writer Will Smith is on form with this darkly comic adaptation of Mick Herron’s spy novel series “Slow Horses.” Oscar winner Gary OIdman stars as the reluctant ringleader of a group of misfit spooks relegated from the hallowed halls of MI5 headquarters to the dilapidated Slough House. Despite being allocated the grunt work their HQ counterparts won’t sully themselves with, Oldman and his crew occasionally find themselves saving the day. Produced by See-Saw Films and co-starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Jonathan Pryce, “Slow Horses” is poignant, laugh-out-loud funny and rarely predictable. Seasons 1 and 2 are currently on Apple TV+ with two more currently in production. — K.J. Yossman
Original Streamer: Apple TV+
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Suzhal: The Vortex
Image Credit: Amazon Prime Video India The trope of an investigation around an underage missing girl might be a familiar one for Scandi noir aficionados, but in the hands of creators Pushkar-Gayathri, known for blockbuster film “Vikram Vedha,” it is transformed into something vibrant and seething. Set during the 10 days of a temple festival in small town Tamil Nadu in southern India, the investigation is just an excuse to explore wider themes of industrial unrest, religion, superstition and abuse. The temple festivities provide an explosion of color that provide a vibrant facade to the murky secrets that come tumbling out. The central performances, from seasoned actors R. Parthiban, Kathir, Aishwarya Rajesh and Sriya Reddy, are outstanding and the strong writing ensures that there isn’t a single predictable moment in the series. – Naman Ramachandran
Original Streamer: Amazon Prime Video