All’s well that ends well: TV’s most satisfying finales

As national irritation continues to simmer over what many viewers felt was the disappointing denouement to BBC1’s hit police drama Line of Duty, here’s a look at ten shows that bowed out on a more satisfying note.

A good ending is comparatively rare, as the tendency in TV is to squeeze every last drop out of a hit series until audiences are in terminal decline; witness AMC’s The Walking Dead, which continues to limp on.

In contrast to shows that drag on beyond their natural lives, many felt that Game of Thrones’ final 8^th season was a rush job, prompted by the desire of showrunners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss to cash-in with deals for Star Wars movies and their own series.

Here are the shows that, in my opinion, got it right:

Vikings (Amazon Prime, 2013-20)

Although the last two seasons of Vikings lacked the charismatic perma-smirking presence of Travis Fimmel’s Ragnar Lothbrok, the final sixth run brought the show to a gratifying conclusion, one which contrasts well with GoT.