This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

The sleuth drama Sherlock, a modern-day version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's crime-solving stories, has been voted the top TV show of 2012 in a Radio Times poll of writers and critics.

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, the BBC1 series beat the US Emmy and Golden Globe winning thriller Homeland, shown on Channel 4, into second place.

The Olympics comedy Twenty Twelve, the BBC2 mockumentary following a fictitious team behind the Games and starring Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes, was voted third.

Armando Iannucci's political satire The Thick of It, another BBC2 series, was placed fourth in the TV Top 10.

RadioTimes.com editor Tim Glanfield said: "Sherlock delivered the TV event of the year with three perfect episodes. Nothing got people talking more than that cliffhanger series finale."

Fresh Meat, the Channel 4 sitcom plotted around the lives of six students, claimed fifth position, followed by Borgen, the Danish political drama shown on BBC4. The Great British Bake Off, where amateur bakers are put to the test, was seventh, followed by Downton Abbey on ITV1. The Scandinavian crime drama The Bridge, shown on BBC4, and Girls, a US comedy drama following the experiences of a group of twentysomething women, and broadcast on Sky Atlantic, were ninth and 10th respectively.