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Hallo. I'm going to recommend box sets for company, starting with...
1) Giri/Haji - Joe Barton's broad-shouldered crime thriller moves with balletic grace in dual cases across London and Tokyo, and is stacked with gong-worthy performances https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0009dzp/girihaji
1) Giri/Haji - Joe Barton's broad-shouldered crime thriller moves with balletic grace in dual cases across London and Tokyo, and is stacked with gong-worthy performances https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0009dzp/girihaji
2) Stath Lets Flats - Jamie Demetriou's painfully hapless yet all too plausible lettings agent is a near-folk hero in this comedy, his rivalries real and imagined leading to mostly doomed exercises in proving competence
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/stath-lets-flats
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/stath-lets-flats
3) The Boys - a satirical version of superhero lore, where heroes are corporate shills & marketing tools, used to whip up the religious right, these demi-gods using their powers to murder, extort, and abuse. Oh, and it's funny https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/B07QRXJ1Y2/ref=atv_hm_hom_1_c_RdMk00_brws_3_1
4) What We Do In The Shadows - Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi's film makes a triumphant transfer to TV with a new set of vampire housemates who are both reluctant and too lazy to enslave New York. You'll be *ahem* cross if you miss it https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0005bky/what-we-do-in-the-shadows
5) Our Friends in the North - Eccleston. McKee. Strong. Craig. Nine episodes covering the UK from 1964 to 1995, as experienced by a group of pals. Arguably home to the greatest ending to a British TV drama of the 1990s (available on @BritBox_UK)
6) Unbelievable - In the over-saturated true-crime genre, where every story is more sensational than the last, Marie Adler's experience is treated with responsibility. A powerhouse trio of Toni Collette, Merritt Wever, and the incredible Kaitlyn Dever https://www.netflix.com/title/80153467
7) Save Me - Lennie James's frantic scurry in search of his missing daughter is through a London you can taste, the scripts humming with lingo you'd hear bowling down the street. An ensemble cast of dreams, too ( @skyatlantic & @NOWTV)
8) Taskmaster - Probably the seventh or eighth best TV show ever made, a source of endless creativity as comedians are set challenges which require ingenuity & a proper read of the instructions. Also, a true & worrying insight into thought processes https://uktvplay.uktv.co.uk/shows/taskmaster/watch-online/
9) Garth Marenghi's Darkplace - What began as a Perrier-winning character in 2001 mutated into a spot-on parody of low-budget horror films, all set within a Romford hospital. Bow before the cast - Matthew Holness, Alice Lowe, Matt Berry, & Richard Ayoade
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/garth-marenghis-darkplace
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/garth-marenghis-darkplace
10) House of Cards - 23 years before Netflix's blockbuster reboot changed TV forever, Andrew Davies & Ian Richardson delighted and appalled audiences with Francis Urquhart's conniving strategems to steal power. Some in that audience, though, were taking notes (S1 on @BritBox_UK)
11) Fargo - To take the Coen Brothers' snow-white noir & adapt it for TV was a crime. That was until the first episode arrived in this anthology series, Noah Hawley honouring & expanding the Coens' cold-blooded rogues gallery. Minnesota nice & Minnesota oh-so nasty ( @NetflixUK)
12) This Country - The mockumentary was dead. Then, as advised by Belle & Sebastian's Legal Man - "Get out of the office & into the springtime", released in the same year The Office aired - the format decamped to the Cotswolds. Comedy icons for this country were born @BBCiPlayer
13) The Americans - It's fitting for a series about deep cover Soviet agents living in America during the Cold War that it generally flew under the radar. Matthew Rhys & Keri Russell are magnetic as Russian operatives juggling parenthood & their own American dream @primevideouk
14) It's Kevin - 10.30pm on a Sunday night was no place to conceal one of this century's best sketch series. The Actor Kevin Eldon, portrayed by The Actor Kevin Eldon, is the lynchpin & it's home to one of the best-ever British sketches - The Amish Sex Pistols @primevideouk
15) Marion & Geoff - Five years before cab driver Keith might have become an early YouTube sensation, he was sharing details of his marriage breakdown to a dashcam. Despite being the narrator to his story, the audience was always one step ahead of him. Brydon excels @BritBox_UK
16) Nighty Night - Julia Davis's brand of cul-de-sac terrorism took flight in this savage black comedy, where hairdresser Jill emotionally profiteers from her husband's cancer diagnosis. Her cruelty isn't to be kind, & her cruelty is indecently entertaining @BBCiPlayer
17) Informer - From the start, we know a horrific event is coming, this artful & wily thriller working backwards towards a fateful morning. Nabhaan Rizwan shines as Raza, coerced into working for the security services. So taut, you'll hold your breath like a freediver @BBCiPlayer
18) Deutschland 83 - Six years before David Hasselhoff's pipes were the Californian surf-rescue tinged Horns of Jericho which split the Berlin Wall asunder, an East German soldier was sent undercover into West Germany. This is fiction, but its (all-seeing) eye is so sharp @All4
19) Dickensian - Ambitious crossover events are rarely as ambitious as treating Dickens's characters as contemporaries living cheek by jowl in, erm, Dickensian London. It begins on Xmas Eve with the death of Jacob Marley, a case which introduces a roster of stars @NetflixUK
20) Detectorists - Lance and Andy's search for the past does so much to dictate their present, and even their future, in Mackenzie Crook's matchless comedy. For its gentle, bucolic pace, it contains a large number of punch-the-air in joy moments in 19 perfect episodes @BBCiPlayer
21) Cracker - A one-man therapist's waiting room, Dr Edward 'Fitz' Fitzgerald has more issues than WH Smith. Yet his own failings allow him a deep understanding of criminal mindsets, explored over some of the most unforgettable series in British TV drama @BritBox_UK
22) Chewing Gum - Nowhere near as disposable as its title, Michaela Coel's comedy is a relatable coming-of-age story as Tracey breaks the fourth wall to comment and narrate her life choices. Coel won a Bafta for her performance in 2016, so get chewing @All4
23) The New Statesman - Alan B'Stard is a complete, an utter, Alan. Selfish, venal, mendacious, sadistic, murderous - his good points - B'Stard embodied the worst of Tory excess. Today, he'd be PM. Rik Mayall's finest performance, every sinew projecting arrogance @primevideouk
24) The Defiant Ones - Producers Jimmy Iovine & Dr Dre had been innovators in the studio, but when their talents combined, they formed an epic tech partnership. Director Allen Hughes documents their pop culture shaping-careers, using some super-rare archive footage @NetflixUK
25) Twin Peaks - Years before the 'TV is the new film' yawnsome chat, the Oscar/Bafta-nominated David Lynch made TV his plaything. In academic terms, he fucked shit up. In asking 'Who killed Laura Palmer?', he created an enduring hero, a terrifying villain, & a huge legacy @NOWTV
26) The Terror - Ship's timbers crack like the lips and skin of the sailors in this supernatural account of Franklin's lost Arctic expedition of 1845. Jared Harris, Tobias Menzies, & Ciarán Hinds are among the ice-bound crew stalked by hunger, fear, & something else @primevideouk
27) Vic Reeve's Big Night Out - A smarmy host who may or may not be Satan. Bob Mortimer. A petri dish under a squirrel. This spoof of variety shows moved with the speed of a late-for-work mayfly, cramming in catchphrases & characters which constructed a comic encyclopedia @All4
28) Utopia - 'Where is Jessica Hyde?' was the question not to be asked in Dennis Kelly's vivid graphic novel, where a lost comic holds a prophecy of mankind's future. An A1 ensemble cast features a disturbing turn by Neil Maskell as wheezing assassin Arby. Pure art @primevideouk
29) Thirteen - Before Villanelle, there was Ivy (yes, there was a shot in Killing Eve referencing this image). Jodie Comer shines in this psychological thriller from Marnie Dickens, where Ivy escapes a captor after 13 years locked away. But what's really taken place? @BBCiPlayer
30) PhoneShop - The staff of Sutton's most incident prone phone shop will ring your bell time and time again in this comedy, which will change the way you say 'owl'. Flimsy bravado & quiet mania rules; tariffs change, contracts expire, but people still have their hang ups @All4
31) Around the World in 80 Days - Michael Palin's ripping yarn allowed the Python to coil around the globe in a punishing race against time. In the course of his trip he starred in an Egyptian film, worked as a freighter deckhand, and never lost his Michael Palinness @BBCiPlayer
32) Batman: The Animated Series - Gotham is a forest of Art Deco redwoods in this superb small screen interpretation. Few concessions to its intended audience are made & the voice cast is unforgettable, Kevin Conroy's Batman and Mark Hamill's Joker perfection @itunes
(BONUS: Batman: Mask of the Phantasm - Perhaps Batman: The Animated Series' high-point, this is in the top four of best-ever Batman films. A story with arcs for both Batman & Bruce Wayne, driven with noir themes, it packs an emotional depth in its short running time @primevideouk
33) Murder in Successville - A true original, this experiment in improvisation aids & abets a riot of belly laughs. A city populated by celebs is policed by DI Sleet (Tom Davis), a soft-boiled cop accompanied by an actual celeb rookie for a series of bizarre cases @BBCiPlayer
34) Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - There's magic in this adaptation of Susanna Clarke's novel, not just in this 19th Century England where spells are weaponised. Sparks fly between Bertie Carvel & Eddie Marsan as rival conjurors in this daring & sprightly adventure @primevideouk
35) Yonderland - After providing definitive accounts of the past in Horrible Histories, the writing & performing team produced this spoofy homage of fantasy. One of the funniest family comedies in British TV history, the vast raft of characters provide a vast range of gags @skytv
36) The Good Fight - Some shows attain iconic status when their place in history is better understood from distance. The Good Fight is not one of these shows. Defiantly anti-Trump & his values, it is wickedly inventive, passionate, & full of humour. The goodest of fights @All4
37) Orphan Black - Tatiana Maslany is tremendous in this twisty psychological thriller. As is Tatiana Maslany. And not forgetting Tatiana Maslany. In portraying multiple clones, Maslany fully vanishes within each iteration in a work addressing identity & humanity @NetflixUK
38) Wild Wild Country - In 1981 a cult purchased a ranch in Antelope, Oregon. Locals raised an eyebrow; the cult raised hell, even dabbling in bio-terrorism. Frequently disturbing, especially the glint in the eyes of some former devotees as they share their accounts
@NetflixUK
@NetflixUK
39) The Jinx - 'The thing about a shark, he's got lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes,' says Quint in Jaws, a quote which floats to your mind's surface during interviews with Robert Durst, real estate mogul & murder suspect. You've *never* seen a doc like this @NOWTV
40) The City and The City - Simply, one of the most beautiful series to have aired on TV in years. Inhabitants of twin cities Besźel and Ul Qoma are directed to ignore the other for ideological purposes, a directive an officer struggles with during a case. Enigmatic @primevideouk
41) Happy Valley - A seam of salty humour runs through Sally Wainwright's snappy thriller, where Sarah Lancashire delivers a career high as weary but relentless copper Sergeant Catherine Cawood. James Norton, too, is at his best, all blue-eyed malevolence @BritBox_UK
