2011: Farce, Fire and Fast Cars

ADAM SWEETING'S 2011: From the streets of Hackney to global sport in one giant bound

From the streets of Hackney to global sport in one giant bound

Every now and again there's a TV series that lives up to the hype, and in 2011 it was Channel 4's Top Boy.  Although this crushing saga of gang violence, drug dealing and conflicted loyalties in Hackney was written by Irishman Ronan Bennett, it felt hauntingly authentic, though Bennett admitted that he'd almost despaired of getting the street-level patois right.

2011: Glastonbury, Gaga and Charlie Sheen

THOMAS H GREEN'S 2011: Music, film and TV sometimes provided light relief from the hard truths of world affairs

A year when music, film and TV sometimes provided light relief from the hard truths of world affairs

2011 was a year when the wheels of global history cranked noticeably forward, the news always full of images that will be in school text books within a decade. It was also the year when, for most of us, “a bit peeved” became “utterly livid” that greedy, over-privileged vermin had gambled and lost all our money and were clearly getting away with it, unhindered.

2011: All Watched Over by Matilda and Melancholia

ALEKS SIERZ'S 2011: A musical and a comedy head this year's theatre, but film and TV have more imaginative reach

A musical and a comedy head this year's theatre, but film and television have a more imaginative reach

At its best, theatre is enthralling, and this year's offerings were led by one brilliant musical and one amazing comedy. With the West End immune to the chills of the recession, its profits went up, and it warmly welcomed a couple of hits from the subsidised sector: enter Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly’s Matilda, a gorgeous RSC musical, plus Richard Bean’s hilarious One Man Two Guvnors from the National. And then Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem (pictured above) returned for yet another must-see run to become the signature play of our times.

CD of the Year: Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys!

Mancunian masters follow up their Mercury winner with another high-flyer

The Mercury-winning Seldom Seen Kid was a truly formidable recording to follow. And when the metronomic beat of extended play opening track "The Birds" kicked in on Build a Rocket Boys! I thought about giving Elbow the elbow. There was a little too much Peter Gabriel-soundalike prog rock pomp in the eight-minute overture. But this is an album that has really grown on me over 2011.

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