‘It might break your heart’: Your 7 favourite Michael Sheen TV shows

Michael Sheen is one of the best performers that Britain has ever produced. 

In fact, he’s so fantastic that in my house (a small two-bed flat in Zone 6) we sing a song dedicated to the man.

It goes, ‘Michael Sheen! Michael Sheen the greatest actor we’ve ever seen!’ 

Okay, it’s more of a chant than a song, but you know what? The very fact it exists demonstrates the esteem in which I hold my second favourite Welshman. 

But the question is, what’s the best TV show Michael’s ever made? Well, he’s got quite a few credits under his belt, and has played everything from angels to serial killers, so there are no easy answers.

So we put it to you, our dear readers, to see what you think is Michael’s best small ‘Sheen’ (see what I did there) role. 

Metro readers (and writers) have their say

Of course we would have included his best movie roles, but there’s universal agreement that his scene-stealing turn as Aro in the Twilight movies is his finest performance to date.

No, I will not be taking questions.

Anyway, here are your picks for the best Michael Sheen TV shows (with a few of our own picks sprinkled in for good measure)

Prodigal Son (2020-2021)

Dave Jordan and Kirstie Davies both suggested Prodigal Son, and it’s hard to disagree with them. 

We’ve already mentioned the time Michael played a literal blood-sucking monster on the big screen, but his role in Prodigal Son is just as nefarious. 

In this delightfully debauched series, Michael plays Martin Whitly, a serial killer known as The Surgeon who helps his son, Malcolm – a disgraced FBI profiler turned NYPD consultant – bring other killers and criminals to justice. 

Think of it as Silence of the Lambs meets Law & Order, only with more murder! Dave and Kirstie aren’t the only ones who love it either; Metro’s Soap Editor Duncan Lindsay is also a massive fan who told me that the first season’s jaw-dropping finale is worth the tense build-up alone.

Prodigal Son is available to watch now on Amazon Prime Video.

Masters of Sex (2013-2016)

If you’re less titillated by murder and mayhem, though, you might be more interested in the awards darling, Masters of Sex. 

This award-winning series stars Michael as William Masters alongside Lizzy Caplan as Virginia Johnson, two pioneering researchers of human sexuality as they begin a series of controversial scientific studies in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

The show wasn’t just an award favourite; it was a critical darling as well. The first series alone received an impressive 90% Critic’s Score on Rotten Tomatoes, with TV Guide saying it was the most fascinating and entertaining show released that year. 

Masters of Sex is not available to stream for free at this time.

Staged (2020-2022)

What’s better than Michael Sheen? That’s right, it’s Michael Sheen and David Tennant bickering like an old married couple over Zoom, of course!

This particular show was recommended by Susan Wright, and she’s clearly got excellent taste as this series helped me get through lockdown.

Created by Simon Evans and Phin Glynn, Staged stars Tennant and Sheen as fictionalised versions of themselves trying to rehearse a play during lockdown and let’s just say things get more complicated from there.

What makes Staged so brilliant, aside from it’s metacommntary on the nature of fame, friendship, and family, is how willing David and Michael are to be the butt of the joke. I think lesser performers would have baulked at how unflattering their portrayal is here, but the pair lean into and clearly love playing off each other. 

Which brings me to another Sheen/Tennant double act.

Staged is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.

Good Omens (2019-2026)

If you love Michael Sheen and David Tennant’s Staged double act but wish it had more sexual tension, then I can wholeheartedly recommend Good Omens.

This weird and wonderful series follows the demon Crowley (Tennant) and the angel Aziraphale ( Sheen), two soldiers on the front line of Armageddon on Earth who decide this whole end of the world thing might not be for them.

After all, if all of creation is destroyed, where will they keep their books and wine? 

The first series of Good Omens is legitimately great (it’s got 85% on Rotten Tomatoes), and while it falls off slightly in the second and third seasons, one thing that is undeniably fantastic from start to finish and keeps it watchable is the chemistry between Crowley and Aziraphale. 

There’s just something ineffable about this demon and angel couple…

Good Omens is available to watch now on Amazon Prime.

Quiz (2020)

For a while Michael Sheen was best known, for lack of a better word, for his impersonations. He played Tony Blair (twice), David Frost, and Brian Clough. 

Yet, I like to think as his star has risen that there’s so much more to Michael’s talent than simple mimicry.

And yet, when he played Chris Tarrant on the hit ITV show Quiz, I must admit thinking it was Uncanny. 

But what is Quiz? Well, remember when that guy who won Who Wants To Be A Millionaire was accused of cheating his way to victory? This is a dramatisation of that. 

I know it sounds rubbish, but it’s superb, and if you don’t believe me, maybe you’ll believe Ben Travis from EMPIRE Magazine, who said the series managed to make a near-20-year-old story truly topical.

Meanwhile Lucy Mangan in her Guardian review agreed with me that Sheen’s role was a ‘pitch-perfect Chris Tarrant ’, going so far as to say if you closed your eyes you’d think it was really him. 

Quiz is available to watch now on ITVX

30 Rock (2006-2013)

Now I know what you’re thinking: Michael Sheen was in 30 Rock, and the answer is ‘Obviously, why else would we put this on the list if he wasn’t?’

Anyway, Sheen appeared in four episodes of the fourth season of 30 Rock, where he played a potential love interest to Liz Lemon, called Wesley Snipes (yes, really). 

Unfortunately for Liz, when it turns out that Wesley is one of the most unbearable men to ever walk the planet, the universe keeps bringing them back together, forcing her to ask if he really might be her ‘future husband’.

We won’t spoil where the story goes, but needless to say it’s hilarious with Sheen giving a delightfully irritating performance that’ll have you laughing and cringing at the same time. 

30 Rock is available to watch now on Netflix.

Best Interests (2023)

Did you like Adolescence? Do you love Michael Sheen? If you answered yes to both those questions, then you can’t go wrong with Best Interests.

A heartbreaking drama, the show stars Sharon Horgan and Michael as Nicci and Andrew, a married couple whose teenage daughter has a rare form of muscular dystrophy. 

As her condition worsens and her doctors question whether treatment should continue, the couple start to question their own resolve as they ask themselves what’s really best for their daughter. 

The Daily Telegraph ranked Best Interests one of the best TV shows of 2023, while our old friend Lucy Mangan gave it a 5/5 in her review.

Still, damianos86 on IMDb arguably gave the best review when he wrote: ‘A powerful and heartbreaking drama, the only reason I could advise against seeing it is that it might break your heart.

‘Sharon Horgan is excellent, and Alison Oliver and Niamh Moriarty are no less. Michael Sheen is simply superlative; his performance is devastating, and he managed to make me cry.’

Best Interests is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.