The 10 best TV moments of 2016: from Ed Balls doing Gangnam Style to Candice Brown’s Bake Off win

From the fascinating to the farcical, here are this year’s must-see moments
National treasure: Ed Balls won the nation's heart when he took part in Strictly Come Dancing
BBC / Guy Levy
Ben Travis|Amy Ashenden4 January 2017

As the outside world seemed to fall apart through a lot of 2016, TV became an even more welcome distraction than usual this year.

From huge dramas with major twists to car-crash reality TV spectacles, the last 12 months had it all.

Here are the top 10 moments you need to see.

The Great British Bake Off – Candice Brown wins the BBC’s final series

Candice Brown winning the Bake Off was among the happiest moment of 2016. The nation came together to watch a talented woman live up to her awe-inspiring lipstick choices.

We forgot about everything that had happened outside that white tent (as the show’s move from the BBC to Channel 4 caused all kinds of repercussions), and cheered an ex PE teacher to baking victory.

We’d seen Candice develop into a professional over the series – from the gingerbread replica of her parents’ pub to her incredible peacock cake, complete with multi-coloured marzipan tail in Tudor week.

She proved a more than worthy winner BBC’s final ever Bake Off series. In 2016, it felt like she might have been the only person qualified to win the thing she was competing for.

Henry Wong

Who Do You Think You Are? – Danny Dyer discovers royal ancestry

Unequivocally the greatest television moment of the past 12 months came as our lord and saviour of the Queen Vic got his wish to, as he says, “freak a few people out, you know, be related to aristocracy or something”.

This year will forever go down in history as the one in which Danny Dyer discovered he was directly descended from royalty on BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are.

Needless to say, his reaction was absolutely perfect: "This is stupid, innit? I need to get my nut around it. And then I’m gonna treat myself to a massive ruff.”

While old genealogy does not often make for the most hilarious of telly programmes, Danny Dyer’s Danny Dyer-isms propelled the BBC history show to the lofty heights of a must watch.

Ellen Stewart

Planet Earth II – Iguana vs Snakes

If you hadn’t been following Planet Earth II by the time this clip slithered its way onto your Facebook, you sure as hell started afterwards.

The world watched in ultra-high def as a hatchling Iguana tried to keep its nerve against a passing snake. It was all too much; the Iguana’s courage failed and suddenly the screen was showing the Grand National from hell as a nest of snakes uncoiled themselves and sprang from the shadows in hot pursuit of our little hero.

Even if the music was basically lifted from The Apprentice, hearts stopped as the plucky Iguana sprinted and – oh. The snakes leapt, knotting themselves around the poor thing. Everything smelt of cruel death.

But then! Freedom! Running, grit flying, legs flailing past jaws snapping. Our champ conquered the hill like he was Rocky on the library steps... And then came Attenborough’s whisper, telling us everything was alright, and everyone burst into tears.

David Ellis

Game of Thrones – Jon Snow’s resurrection

2016 was the year that HBO’s Game of Thrones officially overtook George RR Martin’s book series. The last thing everybody knew, Jon Snow had been stabbed and left for dead at The Wall by his own brothers.

But we all knew he wasn’t really dead, didn’t we? Jon Snow was a corpse for the first episode but fan theorists around the world were rewarded as the Red Woman brought the Lord Commander back from the dead amid rising tensions at Castle Black.

Kit Harington’s gasp for air was the first of many plot advancements in Season 6 and could be one of the most epic moments in Game of Thrones history. Book readers and TV show watchers can argue all day and night about which is better, though none can say that this moment wasn’t what we all deserved.

Edward Hyatt

Christmas TV Highlights 2016 - in pictures

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Celebrity Big Brother – David’s Dead

David Bowie’s shocking death loomed over 2016 as an omen of everything to come – but among the tragedy of the Starman’s passing came a TV moment of farcical, horrifying brilliance in the Celebrity Big Brother house.

Angie Bowie, David’s long-estranged ex-wife, was a housemate at the time, and was told of his death by the producers. She decided to stay in the house and, unable to keep the news to herself, confided in a consoling Tiffany Pollard: “David’s dead.”

A stunned Pollard assumed that ‘David’ was housemate David Gest – who at the time was asleep in the bedroom under his duvet. Believing that Gest had in fact suddenly died, Pollard screamed the house down in hysteria.

It was a tragicomedy of epic proportions – made all the more bizarre when David Gest did in fact pass away later in 2016, shortly after announcing a tour named ‘David Gest Is Not Dead… But Alive With Soul’.

Ben Travis

Come Dine With Me – Sore loser gets angry

We really should have taken more notice; if there was any indication as to the downward trajectory 2016 was about to take, this moment from a January episode of Come Dine With Me was the television equivalent of Nostradamus.

As he read out the results on the final night, participant Peter Marsh could not hide his contempt for winner Jane – accusing her of sabotaging his evening and saying she had “all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on.”

Ouch. Sick burn Peter.

But Peter wasn’t done! He insulted fellow contestant Charlotte’s intelligence before demanding Jane “take [her] money and get off [his] property.” But in Peter’s defence, how many of us haven’t ended a night with those words?

This is what reality television was made for. Thank you Channel 4.

Dan Orton

Strictly Come Dancing – Ed Balls does Gangnam Style

Moments of pure joy and happiness have been hard to come by in the treacherous year that has been 2016, so Ed Balls’ appearance on Strictly Come Dancing was basically an act of social philanthropy.

For around two and a half minutes every Saturday, all was silent as the nation watched in awe as he busted some moves. His Gangnam Style was the pinnacle – a terrifying prophecy of the years to come from current frontline politicians, but euphoric wonderment for audiences watching at home.

When he was voted off, it was a reminder that 2016 was too cruel and happiness would always be fleeting. Next year, pray for Ed Miliband in a sparkly shirt dancing to Carly Rae Jepsen.

Jessie Thompson

EastEnders – Peggy Mitchell’s death

Soapland gave us a long-awaited farewell this year as beloved EastEnders icon Peggy Mitchell returned to the show in May, only to be killed off in typically heart-rending fashion.

A nation wept as the Mitchell matriarch, played by Barbara Windsor, was told by doctors that she only had a few months to live after her cancer had returned.

After some predictably fiery confrontations with her burly slaphead sons Phil and Grant, obviously resulting in a punch up, Peggy decided that the only way out was to take her own life.

In moving scenes, the landlady swallowed a handful of tablets in the bedroom at Phil’s house, saying: “I will go as I have lived. Straight back, head high, like a queen.”

Shout out to the ghost of Pat Butcher who made a fleeting return to have one last chinwag with her best pal.

Never to bellow “Get outta ma pub” to anyone ever again, Peggy’s last words were simply ‘thank you’. RIP, Peg.

Jennifer Ruby

Stranger Things – Eleven flips the van

The surprise hit of the summer was Netflix’s nostalgic sci-fi drama Stranger Things. Conjuring up vintage Spielberg and Stephen King, this story of smalltown American kids looking for their buddy trapped in an alternate reality was gripping and full of amazing characters.

One of the best was Eleven, a mysterious young girl with a shaved head – and telekinetic powers not to be messed with.

Within just eight episodes, the show was packed with memorable moments – but the real punch-the-air victory came as Eleven saved Mike and his friends by flipping over a huge truck with her mind.

More thrilling than most of the big-screen blockbusters that flopped through the summer.

Ben Travis

The X Factor – Honey G shuts it down

It’s hard to remember a time before the jingle ‘H to the O to the N to the E to the Y to the G it’s Honey G’ was lodged into your brain.

North Weezy rapper Honey G was written off as a joke act when she first performed Missy Elliott’s Work It at The X Factor auditions, but she went on to reach the quarter finals and bag herself a record deal.

Her cover of Will Smith’s Men in Black won over resident Mr Nasty, Simon Cowell, who hailed her as “the greatest”. The comment was branded “delusional” by viewers, and celebrities from Professor Green to Lily Allen accused her of “taking the mickey” out of rap and being “so wrong on so many levels”.

But despite the criticism, she won over Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent before signing with Syco to release her debut single The Honey G Show – and a merchandise range in time for Christmas.

Emma Powell

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