2022 TV Drama Shortlist

Canada    CBC/SRC

The Porter

Set in the early 1920s and inspired by real events, The Porter follows friends and family of train porters Junior Massey and Zeke Garret as the death of a fellow porter sends them on starkly different paths to a better life. While Junior takes advantage of a broken system to pursue money and power in gambling and bootlegging, Zeke fights the railway to change the system from within by unionising the Black porters. As it becomes clear that Junior and Zeke's goals are in direct conflict with each other, their once unbreakable bond is stretched to its limits. Can a friendship forged in the trenches of war survive this new fight for freedom - or will they have to betray each other and their community to make their dreams reality?

France    FRANCE 2

Le tour du monde en 80 jours (Around The World In 80 Days)

When our trio find themselves stranded on the coast of Yemen, Fogg decides to take a risk and travel across the Empty Quarter with a guide - leaving Fix behind. But when their guide turns out to be a thief, Fogg and Passepartout are abandoned in the desert, and find themselves caught in a sandstorm. Fix is furious at being left behind, and turns to disgraced English Aristocrat Jane Digby and her husband Sheik Medjuel el Mezrab. But when Jane reveals some unwelcome home truths, Fix wrestles with whether to continue the journey

Germany    ARD

Ich bin dein Mensch (I'm Your Man)

Alma (Maren Eggert) is a scientist at the famous Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In order to get research funds for her work, she allows herself to be persuaded to take part in an extraordinary study. For three weeks she is supposed to live with a humanoid robot that is tailored to her character and needs, whose artificial intelligence is designed to be the perfect life partner for her. Alma meets Tom (Dan Stevens), a sophisticated human-shaped machine created solely to make her happy.

Germany    ZDF

Systemsprenger (System Crasher)

She is small, but dangerous. Wherever Benni ends up, she is immediately expelled. The wild 9-year-old girl has already become what child protection services call a "system crasher". And she is certainly not looking to change her ways. Because Benni has one single goal: to be back at home with her mommy!

South Korea    KBS

Siren

"Nautic Wave" is a virtual facility that processes noise. One day, Mr. Oh, who works at the facility, commits suicide amid compensation negotiation with the locals. Taeseung, who replaces him also tries hard to finish the negotiation, but the owners of a local factory and farm nip in the bud. As the suspicious behaviour of the two men continues, Taeseung starts to wonder if it's related to the death of Mr. Oh. From that point, Taeseung starts to investigate the village full-on, and the case becomes the wheel within wheels.

United Kingdom    BBC

Time

Mark is a teacher. A husband. A father. And he killed a man. He enters into the British prison system consumed by guilt and wanting to be punished for his crime. But he is about to find himself in a world for which he is completely unprepared. Eric Reid has worked as a prison officer for twenty years. But trying to protect those in his charge is getting harder and harder as officer numbers are cut and drug dealers more innovative. His own family will be threatened forcing him to make an impossible choice. Time is an emotional and unflinching portrayal of guilt, forgiveness, and modern prison.

United Kingdom    CHANNEL 4

Help

Sarah has few qualifications or prospects. But she finds confidence working as a care assistant in a home for the elderly. She has a special talent for looking after the residents, in particular Tony, whose early on set dementia causes moments of confusion and aggression that other members of staff can't handle. They begin to build a real bond. But everything Sarah has gained is thrown into doubt with the arrival of the Coronavirus pandemic. She has to fight tooth and nail, ill equipped, badly lead by an overwhelmed manager, and left helpless by the powers that be. Sarah goes to extraordinary lengths to protect the residents. But the staff's heroism can only do so much and Sarah faces impossible choices in her fight. Confronted with the grim and imminent reality of losing Tony, she may have to go to extremes to save her friend.