A FRIEND emailed me over the weekend stating she had "finished Netflix". It is pretty early in this lockdown to have run out of things to watch so I put together a list of TV shows she (and you ) might not have seen that are worth watching.
Happy Valley : Debuting in 2014 with a stellar follow up season in 2016, Happy Valley comes from three Coronation Street veterans - writer Sally Wainwright and actors Sarah Lancashire and Siobhan Finneran. If, like me, you have an aversion to soap operas, I would implore you to try and forget that bias as this is one of the best thriller cop shows to come from either side of the Atlantic. Available on Netflix.
Love : From Judd Apatow, this TV series largely went unnoticed on its original release in 2016. While not as bawdy as his big hit movies like Knocked Up and 40 Year Old Virgin, this has all the hallmarks of Apatow at its best - genuinely complicated characters who are sometimes uneasy to like but always honest and funny. Staring Paul Rust and Gillian Jacobs. Available on Netflix.
Hannibal : OK, one of my more controversial opinions is, Anthony Hopkins portrayal of Hannibal Lecter is not the best on-screen version of this cannibalistic villain. It is not even the second best. The best is Brian Cox in Micheal Mann's 1986 classic Manhunter. Number two, for me, is Bond villain and Heineken spokesman Mads Mikkelsen in the TV show Hannibal. A brilliant and stylish adaptation of the Thomas Harris novels. It also boasts a great supporting cast of Laurence Fishburne and Dana Scully herself, Gillian Anderson. Available on Netflix.
The Expanse : You will meet a lot of people who reckon this is not only one of the better shows on TV, but it should be considered in the top tier along with The Wire and Breaking Bad. Probably wrongly dismissed due its genre, science fiction, it looks unlikely to have the breakthrough Game of Thrones had. This is a shame since it has great writing and acting (including Chernobyl star Jared Harris ) but admittedly pretty bad CGI in the first few seasons. Stick with it and it will reward you. Available on Amazon Video.
The Good Fight : I used to constantly recommend The Good Wife to people but, like Better Call Saul to Breaking Bad, it could have possibly been topped by its spin off. Ditching Julianna Margulies’ Alicia Florrick for the powerhouse Christine Baraniski’ Diane Lockhart was an inspired decision as the good fight takes on Trump's America in using real world stories, in a type of alternative history, in real time. Ambitious, but unbelievably, it pulls it off. Available on Amazon Video.
Goliath : Billy Bob Thornton plays Billy McBride, a down and out lawyer looking for redemption. He finds it in the opportunity to sue the firm where he made his name, Cooperman McBride, which has been bullying and harassing people through the legal system for decades. A great central performance holds your attention through a slight dip in season two, and it is worth hanging on for a sensational season three, featuring Dennis Quaid. Available on Amazon Video.
