It was the year Big Brother was finally evicted, leaving the Strictlys and BGTs, Apprentices and X Factors to bloat the schedules with their dreamers and wanters, and the residents of C4's hopeless new reality show, Seven Days, to witter largely to themselves. Friday nights aren't the same without Jonathan Ross, though Claudia Winkleman brought a breezier sort of Film 2010. Elsewhere, Daybreak power couple Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley got lost down the back of ITV's sofa and property downsized, forcing Beeny and Kirstie to focus on DIY and junkshop interiors. In the kitchen, Gordon Ramsay had a quiet year and with no big project from Jamie most of the excitement was left to MasterChef.

We've not lacked for inspiring figures: an unlikely hero arrived in Professor Brian Cox, who looked like a student but walked us through the universe in the outstanding Wonders of the Solar System. Gareth Malone, too, re-emerged (he did The Choir last year) to bring a tear to the eye in his Extraordinary School for Boys, teaching the unteachable scamps at an Essex primary how to read and write by turning it into a sport .

In American drama, the peerless Mad Men marked its fourth season by effortlessly going up a gear. You had to look to comedy for other top US imports: Glee got Britain singing loudest, while Nurse Jackie brought sex, drugs and guilt to the caring profession.

British comedy was strong with new offerings Rev and Simon Amstell's likable Grandma's House (Rebecca Front was terrific), while Miranda and Jo Brand's Getting On returned for successful second outings. Armstrong & Miller topped the sketch shows for laughs per minute, while Michael Winterbottom's The Trip, with Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan, was the best hard-to-categorise comedy.

There were good factual programmes, notably the life-affirming Welcome to Lagos, the Genius of Britain and Robert Macfarlane's brilliant gem, The Wild Places of Essex.

Shane Meadows's explosive four-parter This is England '86 was the best British drama, closely followed by Julie Walters morphing uncannily into Mo Mowlam for BBC4's biopic Mo, Peter Morgan reviving Blair (again) for The Special Relationship, and BBC4's brilliant The Road To Coronation Street. At the lighter end, ITV's Downton Abbey gripped the nation and Sherlock dazzled, with double act Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

Special mentions? Excluded was a shining light of the BBC schools season, while Dive was a tender account of a teenage Olympic contender choosing pregnancy over glory. On the downside, I take no pleasure in saying that I found the psychobabbling cop series Luther – starring Idris Elba (so mesmerising as The Wire's Stringer Bell) and Ruth Wilson – too, too preposterous, with some of the worst pouting and emoting of the year.

TOP 10

Mad Men. Photograph: Lionsgate/Supplied by LMK

Mad Men BBC4

This is England '86 E4

Welcome to Lagos BBC2

Mo C4

Glee E4

Sherlock BBC1

Wonders of the Solar System BBC2

Downton Abbey ITV1

Rev BBC2

The Trip BBC2

TURKEY

Luther BBC1