Last Stop Larrimah (S1)

When a murder happens in an isolated settlement of just 11 people, it should be easy to find the killer, right? In the case of Australian outback town of Larrimah and the disappearance of resident Paddy Moriarty, it hasn’t been – although Thomas Tancred’s two-part documentary does a pretty good job of pointing the finger of suspicion firmly in one direction.

As is usually the case with superior true crime documentaries, however, there’s plenty of interest here besides the whodunnit riddle. Larrimah is an odd place, with denizens that are odder still, and their complicated interpersonal dramas make this a great watch, even when it’s not focussed on Moriarty’s vanishing act.

Watch Last Stop Larrimah on Netflix

Beckham (S1)

David Beckham isn’t just an ex-footballing star; he’s a global brand. Along with his equally famous wife Victoria, he’s nothing less than a worldwide household name – to the point where people who’ve never watched a football match in their lives know all about him.

This documentary series tells the story of his rise from shy teenage talent to mega-celeb, and while it’s perhaps a little too reverent and uncritical of its subject (it was made with Beckham’s full cooperation, and it certainly shows), it’s impossible to deny that Beckham’s many-staged career makes for a compelling story.

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The Deepest Breath

A gripping film exploring the sport of ocean freediving, in which swimmers descend to incredible depths without equipment. Just using the air in their lungs. It’s an extreme sport by any definition. Potentially deadly but also meditative, majestic and transcendent, it attracts a certain type of adventurous, driven personality. Two such people – champion freediver Alessia Zecchini and expert safety diver Stephen Keenan – form the focus of the film, and their shared story is inspiring, emotional and ultimately achingly tragic. Riveting stuff.

Watch The Deepest Breath on Netflix

Chimp Empire (S1)

This fascinating series from Oscar-winning My Octopus Teacher co-director James Reed reveals the unvarnished truth about chimpanzees. Our closest cousins from the animal kingdom aren’t cute, cuddly apes. They’re just as ruthless, scheming and violent as human beings.

Reed tracks the conflict between two rival groups of Ugandan chimps, filming the four episodes over the course of more than a year. The camerawork is outstanding. But it never gets in the way of the real draw. The emotional heft and gripping narrative of a full-blown, intra-familial primate power struggle. It’s Game of Thrones by way of The Jungle Book.

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Wham!

Proof positive that not all rock documentaries need to be full of doom, gloom and trashed hotel rooms. Wham! is a refreshingly warm and breezy flight through the career of the eponymous pop group.

Tracing, as it does, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s journey from school pals to international household names in 90 minutes, here’s plenty here that falls by the wayside or gets scant attention. But while some might find the film a little lightweight, low-stakes and unambitious, it’s not without enough pathos and drama to keep it involving and affecting.

Watch Wham! on Netflix

Girl in the Picture

If you’re not sick of watching polished, enthralling but incredibly disturbing true crime documentaries by now, do make time for this terrifying film. It’s about an apparent hit-and-run victim whose death sparked a nationwide manhunt involving kidnapping, murder and false identities.

To even begin to explain the ins and out of this bizarre real-life tale is difficult. Just when you think you’ve developed some understanding of it another twist is uncovered, yanking the rug out from under you once again. A happy ending would be too much to hope for. The story is far too dark and distressing for that. But by the time the credits roll there is at least some small sense of closure and renewal for the victim’s family.

Watch Girl in the Picture on Netflix

The Tinder Swindler

This nigh-on unbelievable feature-length documentary concerns a fraudster. After meeting a woman via the eponymous dating app and sweeping her off feet with all the trappings of a multi-millionaire lifestyle (deftly faked, of course), he would swiftly move to scam her out of a small fortune. Part of which he then used to entrap his next victim.

The film outlines this pernicious Ponzi scheme in stylish detail through interviews with some of the victims and the journalists that eventually exposed the scammer’s schemes. But the conclusion might leave those expecting justice to be served feeling somewhat deflated. Still, it serves as a sobering cautionary tale about first impressions.

Watch The Tinder Swindler on Netflix

My Octopus Teacher

This Oscar-winner documents a year in the conservationist Craig Foster’s life, during which he took a daily dip off the coast of Simon’s Town in South Africa. It’s among the area’s forest of kelp that Foster forms an unlikely inter-species bond with an unnamed female cephalopod. And, with the help of a world-class underwater cameraman, captures some of her species’ truly mind-blowing skills, characteristics and behaviour on film. It veers towards the saccharine nearing the end. But as a look into the life and world of a creature that wouldn’t be out of place in a sci-fi movie, it’s truly fascinating.

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Last Breath

Readers of a certain age will remember the BBC series 999, which reconstructed freak accidents and the dramatic, against-all-odds rescues that followed them. One week somebody would fall out of a plane, the next a schoolboy would catch a javelin through the neck.

Last Breath feels a bit like 999: The Movie. It tells the incredible story of commercial diver Chris Lemons. His lifeline gets cut in bad weather leaving him stranded 100 metres below the North Sea. With almost zero visibility and not a lot more oxygen. 999 made do with reconstructions, talking heads and newsreader Michael Buerk’s narration. This film includes real footage of the otherworldly environment taken from the divers’ wearable cameras, turning it into an even more tense, claustrophobic watch.

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The Ripper (S1)

Offering an insightful and thorough examination of the Yorkshire Ripper case through interviews and archive footage, his excellent documentary series isn’t just a look at Peter Sutcliffe’s horrific crimes and the police’s attempts to stop him. It’s a snapshot of the UK and the wider culture of the late 1970s and early 1980s. And how pervasive sexism and chauvinism played major roles in Sutcliffe eluding capture for so long.

Watch The Ripper on Netflix

Song Exploder (S1-2)

Spinning off from the beloved long-running podcast series of the same name, this show takes a deep dive into pop music. Covering artists like Dua Lipa, Nine Inch Nails and The Killers, each episode dissects a particular song along with the people who made it. Exposing the nuts, bolts, inspiration and perspiration that goes into creating a hit record. Fascinating stuff for anyone with a pop penchant.

Watch Song Exploder on Netflix

High Score (S1)

A six-part documentary series exploring the evolution of early video games. High Score should strike a sweet note with joystick-wielders everywhere – or indeed anybody with a hankering to learn more about how gaming developed from a kids’ pastime into a multi-billion-pound global industry.

Slickly presented (the pixel art animations are a particular highlight) and full of interesting interviews and previously untold tales, it’s both a powerful nostalgia injection and a reminder of how swiftly gaming has grown in a relatively short expanse of time. Oh, and it’s narrated by Charles Martinet, best known as the voice of Mario.

Watch High Score on Netflix

Salt Fat Acid Heat (S1)

Chef and author Samin Nosrat brings the principals of her award-winning cookbook of the same name to this four-part series. Each episode of which closely explores one of the aforementioned elements. She believes that salt, fat, acid and heat are the key components in preparing delicious food. And that creating superb cuisine doesn’t have to be complicated.

Nosrat travels around the world to find out why Italians prize olive oil so greatly, or why miso is used in so many Japanese dishes. Her convivial presenting style and obvious enthusiasm for food of all kinds. Plus the number of home cooks she talks to, makes this a warm and charming celebration of cooking rather than a science-heavy info-drop. And it’s all the better for it.

Watch Salt Fat Acid Heat on Netflix

Unsolved Mysteries (S1-3)

A modern-day reimagining of the classic 1980s show. This docuseries delves into the unexplained, the bizarre and the plain old baffling. Disappearances, deaths and seemingly supernatural occurrences. Journalists, detectives, friends and family members offer theories and insights. But the real hope is that a Netflix viewer might hold the key to finding the truth.

One word of warning: the show’s title is accurate. And if you’re hoping for resolution to these brain-mangling stories you’ll be sorely disappointed. These mysteries, quite simply, are unsolved!

Watch Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix

Three Identical Strangers

This film tells the story of identical triplets, separated at birth and adopted by three different families, who found each other by accident. Despite growing up with very different backgrounds, the three brothers – who become minor celebrities in 1980s America – seem to share all sorts of mannerisms, tastes and interests, and quickly end up running a business together. That in itself would be an incredible tale. But this one takes a sinister twist along the way that makes it all the more unlikely – and all the more compelling.

Watch Three Identical Strangers on Netflix

The Last Dance (S1)

Arguably this is about the greatest sporting icon of all time. Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to a string of NBA championship victories in the 1990s. By 1998, however, it seemed like the team’s era of dominance was in the balance. Amidst backroom acrimony, personality clashes, disgruntled teammates and a head coach on borrowed time, Jordan looked set to take off his jersey and give up the game for good.

This masterful 10-part documentary tells the story not just of that fateful season but of Jordan’s rise from green rookie to globe-spanning superstar. And of how the Bulls built their hegemony after years of underachievement. The Last Dance will appeal not only to basketball and sport fans, but to anybody who appreciates a story well told. It’s a glimpse into the strangely singular mind of highly driven individuals such as Jordan. Those looking for a nostalgic trip back to the 90s won’t be disappointed either. There’s a superb soundtrack of classic tunes accompanying grainy archive footage.

Watch The Last Dance on Netflix

Sunderland ’Til I Die (S1-3)

If the fly-on-the-wall documentary series seems to have fallen out of fashion of late, this is an all-access account of Sunderland Athletic FC’s disastrous 2017/2018 season that did wonders to revive the format. In which the one-time Premiership stalwart languishes perilously in the third tier of English football. Its star players having been replaced by untried kids and past-their-prime journeymen

Rival Amazon’s filmmakers may have had access to ultra-rich Manchester City during the club’s Premiership-winning season for its glossy All or Nothing series. But Netflix’s no-holds-barred look at a struggling club in a deprived town, its fanatical supporters and the co-dependant relationship enjoyed (or should that be endured?) by the two parties makes for a far more interesting watch.

A second season has also landed on Netflix. Fantastic news if you’re keen on binging on more misery, failure and the bizarre day to day goings-on at a club in crisis.

Watch Sunderland ‘Til I Die on Netflix

Tiger King (S1-2)

Quite likely Netflix’s all-time surprise documentary hit, Tiger King is a wild ride into the world of America’s roadside zoos, big cat sanctuaries and what might charitably be called the “strong personalities” seemingly drawn to them.

Told mainly through interviews and archive footage, it focuses on Oklahoma zoo owner Joe Exotic. He’s a gay polygamist country singer with dozens of big cats, an abortive presidential campaign, an internet TV show and a string of felony convictions to his name. How did Joe end up in prison? Does he deserve to be there or was he set up by his rivals? Does he really love animals or are they merely a means to an end for him? These are just some of the questions explored by this series. It often strays into grubby sensationalism. But given the subject matter and the people involved, it’d be difficult not to.

Watch Tiger King on Netflix

Don’t F**k with Cats (S1)

A finely crafted three-part series about an internet killer and the plucky group of nerds determined to track him down. This isn’t a watch for the faint-hearted. While the attention-seeking videos this individual made are not shown in full on screen, they’re described in detail. They begin with animal cruelty and get progressively more extreme.

It’s a reminder that, even outside of the dark web, the internet’s open nature means it can play host to some seriously grim stuff.

This is a case that couldn’t have happened in a pre-internet world, making this a story that goes beyond the mere retelling of a series of horrific crime. It’s also about the nature of technology, the dark side of social media and how the forging of a more connected world doesn’t bring just positive things.

Watch Don’t F**k with Cats on Netflix

Tell Me Who I Am

A gripping feature-length documentary about the nature of memory, trauma, truth and brotherhood, Tell Me Who I Am begins with a terrible motorcycle accident and ends with an uplifting catharsis – taking some truly shocking twists and turns along the way. Based entirely on interviews with a pair of identical twins, now in their 50s and one of whom lost almost his entire memory in the aforementioned crash, it’s a well-crafted look into the dark underbelly of family life. To reveal any more would be to do it an injustice.

Watch Tell Me Who I Am on Netflix

Street Food (S1-3)

A recent series from the minds behind Chef’s Table, Street Food focuses on an entirely different form of catering than fine dining. No prizes for guessing what that might be!

Each half-hour episode offers up a beautifully shot look at a different Asian city. And the stalls, trucks and holes-in-the-wall responsible for the current wave of world-class street food. From Bangkok’s Michelin-starred crab omelettes to Taiwanese goat stew and Singaporean chicken rice, the simple dishes portrayed are guaranteed to have your tummy rumbling by the time the credits roll.

The second and third seasons, focusing on Latin America and the USA, are now available too.

Watch Street Food on Netflix

Our Planet (S1-2)

We’re assuming you’re not sick and tired of ogling the breathtaking beauty of the natural world by now. Netflix’s own Our Planet is here to enchant your eyeballs with more utterly amazing footage of animals, plants and biomes. Narrated, of course, by Sir David Attenborough.

With its forceful eco-minded approach, Our Planet‘s purpose seems to be to raise awareness of the fragility of the planet’s ecosystem. And the effect human activity has had and is having on it. While you could make the argument that viewers know all this already, perhaps they don’t quite understand the scale of damage and the alarming rate at which it’s occurring. Polling evidence suggests that the vast majority of people accept that climate change is man-made, and want to arrest and reverse it. Watch this to see the incredible diversity and beauty that’s at stake if governments keep sitting on their hands.

Watch Our Planet on Netflix

Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened

A merciless post-mortem of 2017’s doomed Fyre Festival. An event that promised to fly thousands of twenty-somethings to an idyllic tropical island for a weekend of luxury and excess in the company of supermodels and hip musical acts, but turned out to be little more than an elaborate ponzi scheme. This documentary pulls no punches in its depiction of sociopathic entrepreneurs, naive rubes, dead-eyed social media influencers and, er, Ja Rule.

The catalogue of disaster inflicted on the festival’s organisers and attendees would have elicited sympathy in other circumstances. But here there’s a curious enjoyment to be had at what befalls these hubristic chancers. A thoroughly modern tale of what can unfurl when social media, celebrity and money collide.

Watch Fyre on Netflix

The Staircase (S1)

Already blazed through Making A Murderer? Binged on Evil Genius? Consumed The Keepers? Then allow us to direct you to The Staircase, another Netflix true crime documentary series that’ll get its hooks in you by showing the inner workings of a US murder case.

An exploration of the American legal process, a portrait of an unconventional family and a mystery story rolled into 14 episodes filmed over more than a decade, this series is based around the strange case of Kathleen Peterson, discovered in a pool of blood at the bottom of her North Carolina mansion’s staircase. The filmmakers follow the progress of the ensuing trial, in which Kathleen’s novelist husband Michael is the accused. Full of shocks and surprises and likely to leave you with plenty of questions to ponder come its end, The Staircase is a must-see for any documentary fan.

Watch The Staircase on Netflix

Amanda Knox

Has there been a more high-profile murder case this millennium than that of “Foxy Knoxy” – the American student arrested as a 20-year-old in Perugia for the murder of her British flatmate Meredith Kercher?

Nearly a decade on, she’s back home in Seattle having been acquitted by an Italian court. But if she didn’t do it, who did? Considering the amount of coverage the case received at the time – coverage that this film is keen to criticise for being sexist, crass, sensationalist and exploitative – it’s probably not surprising that it doesn’t reveal anything particularly new, although it does introduce us to tabloid journalist Nick Pisa, a smarmy hack who makes Piers Morgan look like a shining example of his profession.

Knox’s one-to-one interviews are the most compelling part of the film, revealing a thoughtful, articulate woman who’s had plenty of time to think about what happened that day. It’s just a shame the film spends so long retreading old ground, rather than examining what it’s like to live in the shadow of such a horrifying crime.

Watch Amanda Knox on Netflix

Wild Wild Country (S1)

This slick, stylish six-part Netflix series will gleefully suck in anyone with more than a passing interest in cults, utopian visionaries, counterculture and power struggles.

It tells the story – by turns comedic and unsettling – of Indian religious leader Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who brought his band of red-robed followers to a Manhattan-sized tract of land in the Oregon wilderness with the intention of founding a self-sustaining city based on “love and sharing” rather than ownership and individualism.

Unsurprisingly, this band of free love-advocating New Age nudists immediately come into conflict with the handful of local townspeople – God-fearing, conservative and mostly old – and the amazing true story of this rapidly escalating butting of heads is told masterfully through new talking heads interviews and hours of archive footage. With the tale taking incredible twists and turns (Germ warfare! Arson! Attempted murder! The FBI! The co-founder of Nike!), this is among the most compelling original documentary series in Netflix’s library.

Watch Wild Wild Country on Netflix

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond

Much of the footage that makes up this raw, funny and touching behind-the-scenes doc was only recently unsealed by Universal Pictures. Apparently, studio executives didn’t want Joe Public thinking star Jim Carrey was, in his own words, “an asshole”.

Because Carrey insisted on staying in character while filming Andy Kauffman biopic Man on the Moon, either as the misunderstood funny man himself, or his obnoxious lounge singer alter ego Tony Clifton – something that baffled, infuriated and entertained his co-stars in equal measure.

It’s a fascinating insight to Carrey’s state of mind at the time, when he seemed to genuinely believe he was channeling Kauffman throughout filming – leading to a news-making bust up with professional wrestler Jerry Lawler, private reconciliation with Kauffman’s estranged daughter, and on-set antics that genuinely made life hell for the filmmakers.

Watch Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond on Netflix

Icarus

You don’t have to be a sports fan to enjoy this must-watch doping exposé.

Icarus is effectively two documentaries in one, with the first third of the film a kind of Super Size Me for performance-enhancing drugs. The filmmaker, a semi-pro cyclist, embarks on a hardcore doping program to show how flawed the drugs-testing process is.

But when his advisor, Russian scientist Gregory Rodchenkov, suddenly finds himself in the eye of an international storm over Russia’s state-sponsored doping program, Icarus handbrake turns into an enthralling fly-on-the-wall thriller about being a whistleblower in Putin’s Russia.

Cue mysterious deaths, chilling interviews and a lots of hand-wringing as Rodchenkov goes into hiding from the new KGB.

Watch Icarus on Netflix

Making a Murderer (S1-2)

Rural Minnesotan Steven Avery served 18 years in prison for a horrible crime that he didn’t commit. The revelations about the police handling of that case could be a 10-part series of their own. But here they’re just the prologue to a far wider-reaching story.

That’s because, a scant two years after his exoneration and release, Avery is charged with another crime: the brutal murder of a young woman. Given the circumstances surrounding the previous case, the local sheriff department’s involvement comes under serious scrutiny. To say there are troubling inconsistencies in the state’s case against him would be a huge understatement.

Making a Murderer is a long, sometimes slow-moving series. But it’s also compelling, deeply troubling, and constantly capable of sending shivers down your spine. And now there’s a entire second series, in which Avery enlists a famed appelate lawyer to throw fresh eyes on his case, to get your teeth into.

Watch Making a Murderer on Netflix

The Keepers

We can’t get enough of true crime documentaries and podcasts these days – and if you’ve already worked your way through Making a Murderer, Netflix’s seven-part documentary series The Keepers is well worth chucking on your watchlist.

It concerns the unsolved murder of a nun in 1960s Baltimore. The Keepers delves deep into the lives of many of those around her in an attempt to get to the truth. And ultimately, reveal the killer’s identity. It’s quickly discovered that what was initially viewed as a random “wrong place, wrong time” killing may be part of a wider-reaching conspiracy. And from then on the series doesn’t slow down as it pulls out thread after thread. Enthralling, dismaying stuff.

Watch The Keepers on Netflix

Chef’s Table (S1-6)

This series (now six seasons plus three spin-offs strong) shadows several world-renowned chefs as they take viewers on a personal journey through their culinary evolution. It provides an intimate, informative glimpse into what gets their creative juices flowing.

Lovingly shot in razor-sharp Ultra HD quality (for those with the necessary Netflix subscription), Chef’s Table lets you almost smell the aromas seeping through your screen and tickling your nostrils. From glistening, perfectly-cooked pieces of meat to mouth-watering steaming pasta dishes, this is food porn of the highest order. Just try not to drool on the remote.

Watch Chef’s Table on Netflix

13th

There’s a sequence from this Netflix original documentary that went viral shortly after the USA elected Donald Trump as its new president. It shows the commander-in-chief eulogising the “good old days”. All while clips of protestors getting roughed up at his rallies play next to old footage of African-American citizens being beaten in the streets.

It’s a powerful summary of 13th, a film that lays bare the realities of being black in modern-day America, and shows exactly how far the country has – or hasn’t – come since the abolition of slavery. It’s a must-watch for anyone who thinks systemic racism has been consigned to history’s trash.

Watch 13th on Netflix

Team Foxcatcher

If you’ve seen the movie Foxcatcher, you might be surprised by how much it differs to this documentary. It explores the same sad events. For starters Mark Schultz (played by Channing Tatum in the Hollywood retelling) doesn’t show up in this non-fiction account at all. He wasn’t even at “the farm” at the same time as his brother Dave.

If you’ve seen neither film, this is a story about an apparently benevolent benefactor. Who set out to enable the US wrestling team’s quest for sporting glory by housing and training the athletes in top-quality facilities on his vast private estate. The twist? Said benevolent benefactor, John du Pont, turned out to be extremely strange and increasingly paranoid.

Told through touching interviews with ex-Foxcatcher wrestlers, archive footage of du Pont and charming home recordings from the time, the Team Foxcatcher documentary actually hits harder than Hollywood’s version.

Watch Team Foxcatcher on Netflix

Blackfish

Despite their name, killer whales are highly intelligent social animals that ordinarily pose little danger to humans – so what made one orca attack and kill its trainer? That’s the question posed by Blackfish, which takes a deep dive into the world of show whales and the psychological damage that captivity might be inflicting upon them.

As usual, it’s big business’ pursuit of the mighty dollar that appears to be the true culprit here, but the documentary’s assured storytelling and the view it offers into a cruel industry that may seem benign to outsiders make it an absolutely engrossing watch.

Watch Blackfish on Netflix

Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino’s comic book-style take on World War II is typically brash, bold and bloody. It’s packed with the filmmaker’s trademarks: virtuoso camera work, sizzling dialogue, memorable characters and abundant violence.

With Brad Pitt and his band of Jewish-American guerrillas hunting down Nazis in occupied France while a French girl plots her revenge on the German colonel that slaughtered her family (Christoph Waltz in his Oscar-winning breakout role), the plot is heavy on twists, even if it has a fairly conventional structure. At over two and a half hours it feels a bit bloated, but hey, you’re streaming it – so taking the occasional bathroom break is no biggie.

Watch Inglourious Basterds on Prime Video

Outer Range (S2)

Yellowstone spliced with Twin Peaks by way of Nope, Amazon Studios’ underrated drama stars Josh Brolin as a Wyoming ranch owner with a mind-bending phenomenon on his property: a seemingly unfathomable black pit.

Will he get to the bottom (no pun intended) of the mysterious hole in this new season? It’s not likely to be his only challenge, either: with family issues aplenty and a rival rancher determined to settle old scores, Brolin’s Royal Abbot is about to have a royal bunch of problems on his hands.

Watch Outer Range on Prime Video

Clarkson’s Farm (S3)

This reality show has achieved the impossible: made Jeremy Clarkson come across as a normal, likeable human being. Occasionally, at least.

Years of puerile scripted ‘reality’ shows dulled any edge he once had, but putting Clarkson in charge of an English farm (one he genuinely owns) and simply following his trials and tribulations makes for a refreshing and involving experience. There’s a feeling of authenticity here that the latter-years Top Gear or Amazon’s own The Grand Tour never managed to muster, while the cast of colourful countryside characters Clarkson encounters keep things fun.

Watch Clarkson’s Farm on Prime Video

Gone Girl

Faithfully adapted from Gillian Flynn’s bestseller, Gone Girl is a smart and refreshingly cynical psychological thriller. Ben Affleck’s small-town boy has to come to terms with the sudden disappearance of his wife Amy (Rosamund Pike) – and growing speculation that he may be the one responsible for it. As the film unfolds, it becomes clear that neither of the spouses are quite what they seem, and that this case is more than a simple whodunnit.

Slickly directed by the masterful David Fincher, this unconventional mystery will fix its hooks into you from the off – unless of course you’ve already read Flynn’s book, in which case you’ll be familiar with the twists and turns before they happen. Even if you’re in the know, however, Fincher’s stylish direction and Affleck and Pike’s performances make this an enjoyable watch.

Watch Gone Girl on Prime Video

Amores Perros

Before Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu became a Hollywood heavyweight (he’s the director of The Revenant and Birdman) he made: Amores Perros. And it’s a gritty, relentless Spanish-language debut that really got him noticed.

Telling three separate stories that literally collide in bone-crunching fashion on the streets of Mexico City, it’s a film that demonstrates skills far beyond a first-time director. It also plonked Gael Garcia Bernal well and truly on Hollywood’s radar. Dog-owners, just make sure to cover your four-legged friend’s eyes during the brutal dog-fighting scenes. You don’t want him getting any ideas…

Watch Amores Perros on Prime Video

The Northman

Robert Eggers’ brutal and blood-drenched retelling of Hamlet – in which Viking warrior Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) takes revenge for his father’s death – cost a similar amount of money to a gigantic summer blockbuster. Despite that, it retains the slightly off-kilter sensibilities of an indie movie.

It certainly makes no attempt to coddle its viewers with likeable characters, a fast-moving plot or frequent action scenes, and while it never feels like a chore it’s not always an easy watch. It’s a glorious-looking piece of cinema, though, and few viewers will be left in any doubt as to Eggers’ commitment to making interesting films over and above crowd-pleasing money-makers.

Watch The Northman on Prime Video

The Green Mile

Like The Shawshank Redemption before it, The Green Mile sees Frank Darabont adapt a prison-set Stephen King tale for the screen. Here, though, things cross over into the fantasy genre thanks to the miraculous talents of enigmatic death row inmate John Coffey, a gentle giant seemingly blessed with an ability to heal the sick. Tom Hanks plays the guard who grows to respect and seek to protect his charge against not only the electric chair but the depredations of fellow inmates and cruel corrections officers. It’s moving stuff that’ll likely have you blubbing like a baby by the final reel.

Watch The Green Mile on Prime Video

Coming to America

One of the classic big screen comedies of the 1980s, Coming to America stars Eddie Murphy as a pampered African prince seeking a wife in New York – and where better to find a royal consort than the borough of Queens?

The fish-out-of-water setup proves a rich source of gags, bolstered by a fantastic supporting cast including James Earl Jones, John Amos and a pre-superstardom Samuel L Jackson, but this is definitely Murphy’s show. Even if his central protagonist is a little less outwardly comedic than some previous roles, Murphy’s performances as several other characters gives him ample licence to show off his talents.

Watch Coming to America on Prime Video

Brooklyn

Another (albeit very different) movie where a foreigner arrives in New York is this fantastic adaptation of Colm Toibin’s bestselling novel – a 1950s-set drama in which a small-town Irish girl emigrates to Brooklyn, leaving behind one potential life (and one potential love) for something completely dissimilar and unfamiliar. Saoirse Ronan plays young Eilis Lacey with quiet grace, poise and skill, delivering one of her most memorable performances and creating the anchor that elevates this film from mere romantic period drama to an unconventional, female-led exploration of the immigrant experience.

Watch Brooklyn on Prime Video

American Beauty

Long before he was helming Bond movies, Sam Mendes made his big screen debut directing this unconventional and intelligent drama. It went on to receive no fewer than six Oscars, cement Kevin Spacey as one of the leading actors of his generation and ensure none of us ever looked at a discarded, wind-blown plastic bag in the same way ever again.

As a bleakly comic examination of contemporary life through the eyes of Spacey’s jaded salaryman Lester Burnham, his materialistic realtor wife Carolyn (Annette Bening) and his rebellious teenage daughter (Thora Birch), American Beauty turns its spotlight on the US suburbs. It depicts a place of crushing conformity and superficiality where, on rare occasions, one can still spot the pure, untarnished beauty lying just below the surface.

Watch American Beauty on Prime Video

Boyhood

Richard Linklater’s Boyhood is one of a kind. While its themes of how everything changes over time and how people cope with growing up may have a ring of familiarity to them, there’s nothing common about the production. Linklater filmed it over a 12-year-period, using the same actors – including familiar faces Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette – throughout. Seeing the actors naturally age as the film progresses is surprisingly affecting.

Arquette won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role, and Linklater was nominated for his direction while picking up plenty of other accolades for his work here. But the star is undoubtedly Ellar Coltrane as the lead character Mason, who starts the film as a six-year-old and ends it on the cusp of adulthood. A true original.

Watch Boyhood on Prime Video

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (S1)

That forgettable 2005 Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie action-comedy about married assassins assigned to kill each other? Amazon has rebooted it as a TV series. But before you start groaning, this one is genuinely quite interesting and fun. Donald Glover and Maya Erskine lead a star-studded cast (Paul Dano, Sarah Paulson, John Turturro), with Glover himself in the creative hotseat alongside his Atlanta creative partners Francesa Sloane and Hiro Murai.

The concept of the show is also a departure from the movie in that John and Jane Smith don’t know each other at all before they’re joined in matrimony by a shadowy spy agency. They must then perform dangerous and challenging missions together, all while discouraged from forming a genuine connection – a rule which they break almost immediately.

Watch Mr. & Mrs. Smith on Prime Video

Hazbin Hotel (S1)­

With Hell dangerously overpopulated, ruling demon Charlie decides to free up space by rehabilitating some of her fellow denizens to the degree that they can finally ascend to Heaven. This new adults-only animated series – complete with expletive-laden musical numbers – follows her struggles to turn bad souls good.

Having originally appeared as a pilot on YouTube way back in 2019, the full series (made by Amazon Studios in association with ultra-cool indie studio A24) has finally made it on to a “proper” streaming platform, and has enjoyed the largest global debut for any Prime Video animated series – no mean feat when you consider some of its contemporaries.

Watch Hazbin Hotel on Prime Video

Reacher (S2)

Amazon’s adaptation of Lee Childs’ novels isn’t particularly inventive, subversive or clever – it’s simply incredibly entertaining. Jack Reacher (Alan Ritchson) is a modern-day American ronin: a wandering avenger who roams the country, fighting evil and injustice whenever he encounters it. And very good at fighting he is too, being a 6-foot-something ex-military police operator with arms thicker than tree trunks, a mind as sharp as a stiletto and a fiercely burning sense of righteousness urging him along.

This second season sees Reacher reunited with his old crew after one of them is found dead, leading to an unauthorised investigation that employs some inventive detective techniques such as arm-snapping, nose-breaking and kicking the bumper of a car so hard that the air bag explodes into a villain’s face. Cheesy, fun and wonderfully watchable stuff.

Watch Reacher on Prime Video

American Psycho

Christian Bale’s breakout role sees him don the Boss suit and Gucci oxfords of Patrick Bateman: financial trader in 1980s Manhattan; Phil Collins aficionado; handsome, wealthy – and a sadistic, sociopathic murderer. Or is he?

Based on Bret Easton Ellis’ cult novel, this film is shockingly violent, intensely disquieting – and very, very funny. It is, after all, far more of a satire than it is a psychological thriller, and as a critique of the emptiness lying at the heart of the capitalist American dream, it hits the mark like an axe to the back of the skull.

Watch American Psycho on Freevee

Barbarian

Barbarian opens with a young woman arriving at an Airbnb in a desolate and menacing Detroit suburb – only to find the house already occupied by another guest who claims to have booked it through another short letting app. Does she take up the stranger’s offer to come in and work out what’s going on, or give up and look elsewhere for accommodation, with no guarantee that she’ll find anywhere to stay at all? It’s a situation it’s easy to imagine finding yourself in, which makes what happens next all the more disturbing. We’ll say no more, save to advise you to make sure you have some large sofa cushions nearby to hide behind while you watch what unfolds in this wildly inventive horror movie.

Watch Barbarian on Prime Video

Fargo (S5)

The fifth season of this wonderful black comedy anthology series is being drip-fed onto Prime Video weekly. Loosely inspired by the Coen brothers’ 1990s classic crime movie, every season of the show tells a different self-contained story (all guaranteed to exhibit twists, turns, violence and huge helpings of dry wit) featuring an all-new cast, so even if you haven’t tuned into previous seasons you can start right here.

And right here, this time? It’s Minnesota and North Dakota in 2019, with seemingly ordinary housewife (Juno Temple) falling foul of the authorities and being forced to confront her troubled past. Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jon Hamm and Joe Keery also star.

Watch Fargo on Prime Video

Zodiac

David Fincher’s cinematic deep dive into the case of the Zodiac Killer and the men who tried to unravel it is a quiet masterpiece, buoyed along by its tone, acting, editing and camerawork. Less showy than some of Fincher’s previous movies and entirely lacking in the sort of hysterical approach taken by many serial killer films, Zodiac will leave you with more questions than answers – a traditional whodunnit tale, this ain’t. The antithesis of Fincher’s own Seven, perhaps, it’s more about how serial killers affect us than the killer himself.

Looking back years after its release, we think it’s one of the finest films of the noughties and a future classic: creepy, funny and thought-provoking, with impeccable performances from Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo.

Watch Zodiac on Prime Video

Brokeback Mountain

Ang Lee’s meditative tale of a secretive, decades-long romance between two rugged shepherds has lost none of its power in the 15 years since its release. Quietly heart-wrenching, beautifully shot and wonderfully acted by Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger, to call it “that gay cowboy film” would be a huge oversimplification. The freedom the pair feel together in the vast open spaces of the American West is juxtaposed with the suffocating claustrophobia of their home lives, and Ledger’s performance in particular as the would-be stoic Ennis Del Mar, able to convey so much with so few words, is a career best.

Watch Brokeback Mountain on Prime Video

Blue Velvet

David Lynch’s typically atypical take on film noir is a tale of small-town mystery, dangerous dames and psychopathic drug-dealing murderers, all set to the languorous strains of Bobby Vinton’s eponymous lounge-core classic.

Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini are superb in their roles, but it’s left to the late Dennis Hopper to provide the true standout performance of the movie as gas-chugging crime boss Frank Booth. Hopper’s manic turn is one of many reasons to stream, however – others being the fine sense of Lynchian dread hanging over everything and the glorious soundtrack by Angelo Badalamenti who, like MacLachlan, would return to work with Lynch on Twin Peaks.

Watch Blue Velvet on Freevee

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

At a backside-numbing 161 minutes, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood tends to elicit one of two reactions: unadulterated Quentin Tarantino worship or terminal boredom. As usual, a more considered response for this 1960s-set jaunt through Tinseltown’s Golden Age probably lies somewhere in the middle.

While it’s true that there are drawn-out scenes of seemingly inconsequential dialogue that feel self-indulgent, QT’s weird obsession with women’s feet is more in-your-face than ever, and you’ll need a strong constitution to stomach the violence when it comes, when have any of these things put people off his films before? Glossy, glitzy, cool – it’s an event movie that will sweep you up in spite of your reservations.

Watch Once Upon a Time in Hollywood on Prime Video

Blade Runner

Ridley Scott’s spectacular vision of a dark future sees rogue AI-driven robots, indistinguishable from humans but faster, stronger and more deadly, hunted down by sanctioned enforcers. It’s no exaggeration to say Blade Runner set the tone for an entire generation of cyberpunk fiction.

Harrison Ford plays replicant-chaser Deckard with typical understatement, but there’s so much flair, atmosphere and spectacle in this neo noir yarn that it doesn’t lack for personality.

Watch Blade Runner on Prime Video

Gen V (S1)

A spin-off from Amazon’s wonderful The Boys (which is set to return for its fourth season at some point in the not-too-distant future), Gen V concerns Godolkin University School of Crimefighting, a school for would-be superheroes in which ‘gifted’ youngsters are put to the test in gruelling challenges.

Gen V might sound like an opportunistic teen drama looking for some cheap success off the back of a genuinely interesting original show, but it’s thankfully anything but. Based on a story arc from the actual Boys comics and featuring the same winning blend of humour and gratuitous and graphic violence, it’s a genuinely enjoyable series in its own right – and has already been renewed for a second season.

Watch Gen V on Amazon Prime Video

Bosch: Legacy (S2)

Cop series Bosch, in which a grizzled Titus Welliver stalks the streets of Hollywood hunting down killers, was arguably one of Amazon Prime Video’s best original series. With its seemingly hyper-authentic depiction of homicide investigation matched by a great cast of characters and several compelling long-running storylines, it went on for a full seven seasons – and refused to die.

It’s returned in a slightly different form in this Freevee-exclusive spin-off series, with Harry Bosch working as a private detective while his daughter Maddie becomes a rookie cop. Thankfully, the second season of Bosch: Legacy, much like the first, is very much in the same gritty and realistic vein as its predecessor, and a gripping watch despite its slightly narrower focus.

Watch Bosch: Legacy on Amazon Freevee

John Wick: Chapter 4

You really should know the drill by now: it’s more Keanu Reeves assassinating assassins while wearing a lovely suit. The Baba Yaga John Wick is once again being hunted by the nastiest hired killers on the face of the planet and must seek allies where he can find them if he’s to survive, earn his freedom – and take down The High Table once and for all.

Watch John Wick: Chapter 4 on Amazon Prime Video

The Blair Witch Project

It might not have been the original “found footage” horror movie – but The Blair Witch Project was the first to break into the mainstream. Despite being made on a shoestring budget, it raked in truckloads of cash thanks to a marketing campaign that hinted at the footage being real – that the movie was cobbled together from tapes discovered after a trio of college film students disappeared in the Maryland woods.

It’s not real, of course, but the shaky, low-grade camcorder footage, unknown cast and their mounting sense of panic as they sense they may not be alone all serve to create an authentic feel that cinemagoers hadn’t experienced in years. In the time since its release we’ve been deluged with similar films (some of which you’ll find elsewhere in this very list), but this remains one of the creepiest and best-executed examples.

Watch The Blair Witch Project on Amazon Prime Video

Totally Killer

With Spooky Season well and truly upon us and the evenings drawing in, this high school slasher might be the perfect low-stakes horror flick for a dark, silent night. Mad Men’s Kiernan Shipka jumps back from the present day to 1987 in order to help her own teenage mother – then an acerbic bully – prevent a masked psycho killer from murdering three of her contemporaries. Think Mean Girls meets Scream meets Back to the Future and you’re in the right ballpark.

Watch Totally Killer on Amazon Prime Video

An American Werewolf in London

After a young American tourist is set upon by a strange and vicious beast on a Yorkshire moor, he discovers that something inside him has changed – and realises that something terrible is going to happen come the next full moon.

Perhaps best known for its ground-breaking transformation scene (courtesy of special effects legend Rick Baker) John Landis’ movie remains one of the most enjoyable horror-comedies ever made, largely because it succeeds in being both extremely scary and drily amusing without either trait spoiling the other.

Watch An American Werewolf in London on Amazon Prime Video

Galaxy Quest

The cast members of a beloved sci-fi TV series, now reduced to ekeing out a living by appearing at fan conventions, find themselves exploring the cosmos for real when a group of aliens mistake them for real space explorers and recruit them for a galaxy-saving mission. This beloved 1999 comedy thrives on its dissection of fandom, washed-up actors and hackneyed sci-fi tropes – and a stellar cast including Alan Rickman and Sigourney Weaver certainly doesn’t hurt.

Watch Galaxy Quest on Amazon Prime Video

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

Set in 2029, this iconic anime based on the manga by Masamune Shirow follows a cyborg agent trying to track down the Puppet Master, a hacker able to manipulate people’s personalities and memories.

Ghost in the Shell not only looks staggering, being one of the first films to combine cell animation with CGI, but also raises questions about the nature of identity. A cyberpunk classic – and this version is far better than Hollywood’s 2017 live-action remake starring Scarlett Johansson, even if the lack of a subtitled Japanese audio option is sure to irk anime purists.

Watch Ghost in the Shell on Amazon Prime Video

A Quiet Place

This sci-fi thriller poses a simple and terrifying question: what if making the slightest sound would result in your potential death? It does it by making its baddies alien monsters with super-sensitive hearing, always on the look-out (listen-out?) for prey.

Real-life couple John Krasinski (who also co-writes and directs) and Emily Blunt are superb as the parents struggling to keep their young family safe from these sonar-wielding nasties. Despite barely a word being uttered in the film (most of the dialogue is signed with subtitles) sound plays a major role in cranking up the fear, and a good set of surround speakers goes a long way toward making the viewing experience even more butt-clenchingly stressful, particularly when Blunt’s character goes into labour while the monsters are roaming nearby.

Watch A Quiet Place on Amazon Prime Video

The Long Good Friday

Gangland boss Harold Shand has plans to make millions redeveloping London’s crumbling Docklands, but a mysterious spate of bombings and murders among his crew threatens to derail everything. Now Shand must unravel this mess before his investors turn tail – and that’s going to mean a lot of claret getting spilled.

Brutal, brusque and buoyed along by a rollicking performance by Bob Hoskins, The Long Good Friday is arguably the greatest British gangster film of all time. A Cockney classic and no mistake.

Watch The Long Good Friday on Amazon Prime Video

Dune (2021)

Don’t get us wrong: we’re huge David Lynch fans here at Stuff. But James Herbert’s epic sci-fi novel has finally got the screen adaptation it deserves thanks to Denis Villeneuve and co.

With an all-star ensemble cast, stunning cinematography, effects and sound design and a riveting plot taking in war, betrayal, colonialism and family in the far-off future, Dune is an event movie that manages to provide far more than just spectacle.

Watch Dune on Amazon Prime Video

Mad Max: Fury Road

Screeching steel, battered chrome, scorching flames, shattered glass, choking sand, blazing sun and broken bones make up the mood board for veteran director George Miller’s 2015 return to the character he first put on screen back in 1979.

Tom Hardy takes on the title role in what amounts to a two-hour car chase/fight scene interspersed by a few on-foot brawls and some post-apocalyptic musings. As a piece of filmmaking Fury Road is absolutely breathtaking, with the majority of its action scenes based on practical effects and stunts rather than CGI. There’s nothing quite like it out there, so buckle up and get on the road.

Watch Mad Max: Fury Road on Amazon Prime Video

Pacific Rim

A love letter to mecha anime and classic kaiju movies with a smattering of Top Gun chucked in for good measure, Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim is the high-concept popcorn movie Michael Bay wished he’d thought of first: towering human-piloted robots in epic punch-ups with giant sea monsters from another dimension. Del Toro creates a smart, imaginative and visually outstanding spectacle in a manner Bay never could, even if the relentless brawls and lack of character depth can become slightly wearing towards the end.

Watch Pacific Rim on Prime Video

Dog Soldiers

Well-trained and heavily armed squaddies (including a few recognisable British thesps) versus werewolves in the Scottish Highlands. Who you got? The fight isn’t as one-sided as you might expect, leading to nail-biting moments followed by dry heaving as you take in the gallons of gore that make Neil Marshall’s low-budget Brit flick a stone-cold cult classic. And here’s a nice bit of trivia: despite being set in the wilds of rural Scotland, it was filmed almost exclusively in Luxembourg. Put that in your fact pipe and smoke it.

Watch Dog Soldiers on Freevee

Get Out

A genre-bending horror that succeeds both as a straight-up scary movie and as a wry, insightful satire on race relations, Get Out is an outstanding debut film from Jordan Peele. And, as you’d expect from a film written and directed by a man formerly known for his sketch comedy, it’s well stocked with laughs too. Add in Daniel Kaluuya’s fantastic lead performance (also Oscar-nominated) as a black man visiting his white girlfriend’s wealthy family for the first time and its box office smash status, and you can see why it attracted the Academy’s attention with an Oscar nod. But hey, who needs their seal of approval when you have ours?

Watch Get Out on Freevee

Fargo (1996)

Not to be confused with the anthology series (an also-excellent spiritual spin-off), this multiple Oscar-winning thriller stars Frances McDormand as the heavily pregnant police chief of a small Minnesota town where nothing much happens – until it does. When a kidnap plot goes horrifically awry and bodies start turning up in the snowy landscapes (beautifully filmed by Roger Deakins), McDormand’s no-nonsense approach to law enforcement is put to the test.

If Fargo sounds like a typical noir, it isn’t. The Coens (Minnesota natives themselves) wring something uniquely comic from each and every one of their characters, from William H Macy’s pitiful car salesman to Peter Stormare’s laconic bleached blond criminal. Their keenly observed portrayal of what’s known as ‘Minnesota nice’ is particularly funny, and somehow even more so when it’s playing out against the film’s grim backdrop of violence, betrayal and moral rot.

Watch Fargo on Freevee

Dunkirk

Christopher Nolan’s recreation of the British and French armies’ evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940 is an audio-visual masterpiece, richly served with moments of both quiet grandeur and epic spectacle.

With comparatively little dialogue, few CGI effects and an enemy that’s never directly seen, Nolan conjures up the hopelessness of the surrounded British Expeditionary Force, trapped between the sea and the German army and prey to horrifying attacks from the air, and the heroism of soldiers, sailors, pilots and civilians caught up in a desperate situation. Hans Zimmer’s score, meanwhile, remains a masterclass in understated power.

Watch Dunkirk on Prime Video

Baby Reindeer (S1)

Comedian Richard Gadd writes and stars in this drama based on his real-life experience as the victim of a stalker. If you’re expecting black comedy, it doesn’t come much blacker than this, as Gadd’s Donny Dunn – a struggling stand-up comic working in a London pub – falls into a nightmare of self-loathing, abuse, trauma and exploitation as a result of a chance meeting.

The seven-part series ultimately ends on a reflective, contemplative and somewhat enlightened note, and while Donny’s hellish journey of self-discovery certainly isn’t for the faint-hearted viewer, it’s intensely gripping stuff throughout. The fact that it’s all based on real-life events has seemingly caught the public mood, leading to all sorts of grubby shenanigans as people seek to identify the actual people involved, but that shouldn’t take away from the fact that Gadd has created a truly powerful piece of television.

Watch Baby Reindeer on Netflix

3 Body Problem (S1)

Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss make a semi-triumphant return to the small screen with this adaptation of Chinese author Cixin Liu’s visionary (and utterly terrifying) sci-fi novel. Making a ton of changes to Liu’s text – mostly for the better, in our opinion – it still manages to keep the novel’s most interesting concepts and scenes. Thankfully, some of Liu’s rather dry exposition has been jazzed up a bit.

We don’t want to spoil too much, but the story involves the Chinese Cultural Revolution, deep-space radio transmitters, a series of mysterious suicides among scientists, futuristic VR video games and a truly paradigm-shifting discovery. All this adds up to a science fiction tale that’ll leave you feeling very tiny and insignificant indeed. And with two more books in Liu’s series yet to adapt, this could be the start of something truly epic – assuming Netflix renews it for a second and possibly third series.

Watch 3 Body Problem on Netflix

Society of the Snow

In 1972, a small plane carrying 45 passengers, including a Uruguayan rugby team, crashed in the Andes. Lost and presumed dead, the survivors find themselves trapped on a glacier, hopelessly far from civilization. The disaster has been previously dramatized in the 1993 Ethan Hawke movie Alive, but Society of the Snow is a Spanish-language retelling that sticks much more closely to the real-life events. It also uses a full Uruguayan and Argentinian cast, giving it an air of authenticity that a bunch of Hollywood gringos doing ‘South American’ accents couldn’t hope to match.

Director Juan Antonio Bayona has fantastic form in this arena, having previously helmed chiller The Orphanage and disaster movie The Impossible (the Ewan McGregor/Naomi Watts movie about the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami). Here, he succeeds in giving this tragic, harrowing and inspiring true story the weight and drama it deserves.

Watch Society of the Snow on Netflix

Don’t Look Up

Adam McKay’s dark comedic take on the apocalypse may have divided critics, but we think it’s a perfectly serviceable satire with a frighteningly salient point: that the divided, easily distracted and inward-looking world we live in is simply not fit to deal with any genuinely world-changing issues it might face.

In the movie the issue is a mountain-sized comet hurtling towards the planet. Spotted by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence’s low-level scientists, it seems all but certain to erase life on Earth, but the reaction they get from those with power – from dismissal to indifference to “how can we exploit this for political gain?” – could easily apply to climate change or the coronavirus pandemic. The star-studded cast, McKay’s signature fast-moving direction and a glut of jokes keep the tone light, even when the subject matter is anything but.

Watch Don’t Look Up on Netflix

Ripley (S1)

Masterfully shot in stark monochrome, this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s best-known novel The Talented Mr Ripley is written and directed by Steven Zaillian (best known as for his Schindler’s List script). Andrew Scott stars as the eponymous con artist – a shapeshifting sociopath who, leaving New York for the Amalfi Coast, inserts himself into a young couple’s glamorous lives.

Readers who recall Anthony Minghella’s film adaptation may wonder if Netflix’s series can match its compelling mixture of wonder and tension. Having watched both, we think there’s enough room for the pair of them. With their extra space and time to play with, Scott and co-stars Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning deliver a more in-depth and detailed look at Tom Ripley’s life of deceit, deception and murder – even if you sometimes yearn for the film’s brisker pace.

Watch Ripley on Netflix

Blue Eye Samurai (S1)

Set in Edo-period Japan, when the borders were closed, foreigners were expelled and any hint of racial difference was regarded with fear, hatred and revulsion, this blood-drenched animated tale follows a young orphan seeking to track down and kill all four of the white men left in the entire country. Why? Because one of them must be her father, from whom she inherited the steely blue eyes that mark her out as a permanent outsider – even a monster – in her own homeland.

With gorgeous animation, a compelling cast of characters (not to mention voice actors) and some of the goriest fight scenes on Netflix, Blue Eye Samurai is a scintillating show that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Watch Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix

The Killer

Arthouse portrait of an emotionally repressed man or noir-tinged international action thriller? “Why not both?” asks director David Fincher in this stylish made-for-Netflix original, in which Michael Fassbender comes out of semi-retirement to play an elite assassin on a bloody revenge mission.

Forced to stray from his painstaking M.O. (which includes using The Smiths songs to soundtrack his assignments), this hyper-disciplined hitman finds himself careening out of his comfort zone. But hey, at least he’s heavily armed, highly trained and conscience-free.

Watch The Killer on Netflix

The Deepest Breath

This feature-length documentary explores the sport of freediving, in which swimmers descend to astonishing ocean depths without any specialised gear – merely the air in their lungs. It’s an extreme sport by any definition, being potentially deadly but also meditative and transcendent – almost a form of therapy for its proponents – and it tends to attract a certain type of driven personality. Two such people – champion freediver Alessia Zecchini and expert safety diver Stephen Keenan – form the focus of the film, and their shared story is inspiring, emotional and ultimately heart-breaking.

Watch The Deepest Breath on Netflix

Beef (S1)

Netflix’s best new show of 2023 (so far) stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun as a pair of strangers who, in the first few minutes of the first episode, become mortal foes. On the surface, this shared animosity starts because of a simple road rage incident, but as the series goes on the true motivations behind the pair’s quickness to anger and escalate emerge – even as the duo’s lives start to unravel as a result of the ongoing feud.

If this all sounds a bit heavy, don’t be put off; Beef is also funny, stylish and ultimately ends in a very different place to where it begins. A welcome reminder that Netflix can still make a great TV series. More of this, please – although that’s not to say we want a second season; Beef is basically perfect all on its own.

Watch Beef on Netflix

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (S1)

Anime and cyberpunk have always gone hand-in-hand thanks to cult classics like Ghost in the Shell and Akira, the latter of which came out in 1988 – the same year as Mike Pondsmith’s influential pen-and-paper RPG Cyberpunk 2020. Developer CD Projekt Red would adapt the RPG for video game platforms 30 years later, and now things have come full circle with spinoff series Edgerunners.

You don’t need to have played the game to enjoy it, thanks to an all-new cast of characters, but the way it reimagines locations from Cyberpunk 2077 is a treat for those that have. It’s uncompromisingly gory in places, and visually stunning in others courtesy of Japanese animation team Studio Trigger. It can be seriously bleak too, but there’s a relatable story behind the dystopian setting. A must for genre fans.

Watch Cyberpunk: Edgerunners on Netflix

Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

Director Guillermo Del Toro has assembled an eight-strong horror filmmaking dream team including the creators of Mandy, The Babadook and Splice. Each member of this Monster Squad has been tasked with serving up their own hour(ish)-long tale of terror.

The result is a Twilight Zone-style anthology series, with weightless CGI wizardry reduced (if not ditched entirely) in favour of good old-fashioned practical effects. Del Toro himself describes the worlds and stories created as ‘beautiful and horrible’ and having watched them all we agree heartily. From ghastly rituals to ravenous aliens to bizarre beauty products, there’s so much here for horror lovers to enjoy.

Watch Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities on Netflix

Midnight Mass (S1)

A man leaves prison after serving time for the drink-drive killing of a teenager, returns to the tiny island he grew up on and finds that little has changed in the past decade – and certainly not for the better. This is a place in sad decline, with few ways to help him escape his unending guilt, but a rash of apparent miracles following the arrival of a young Catholic priest injects a sense of hope into the community, alongside a renewed bout of religious fervour. But what’s the secret behind the priest’s power, and does it truly come from a holy place?

Midnight Mass is the brainchild from horror writer/director Mike Flanagan (previously responsible for The Haunting of Hill House and Doctor Sleep), so you know where it’s going from the off – but quite how it gets there comes as a pleasant surprise. Flanagan likes to create human dramas that wear the clothes of the horror genre and this wears them lightly for the most part, but don’t get too comfortable…

Watch Midnight Mass on Netflix

Squid Game (S1)

Subtitle-despisers, you’re slipping if you choose to swerve this dark drama series on account of it being Korean (yes, we know you can watch it dubbed into English, but please… just don’t). The gripping tale of a life-or-death tournament in which desperate contestants compete in lethal playground games for the prospect of a huge winner’s cheque, Squid Game has already become not only one of Netflix’s most popular foreign language series, but its most popular debut series full stop. A grim commentary on late capitalism and how it encourages screwing each other over to get by? For sure, but it’s also entertaining as hell.

Watch Squid Game on Netflix

The Lost Daughter

Actor Maggie Gyllenhaal moves behind the camera for her first feature film as writer-director with this tense adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s novel. A prickly middle-aged academic (Olivia Colman) arrives on a Greek island for a solo working holiday, but her peace and quiet is quickly disrupted by the arrival of a large and brash family group – including a young mother (Dakota Johnson) who seems to sit strangely apart from the rest, and who causes the academic to re-examine her own youth and motherhood with a critical eye.

Watch The Lost Daughter on Netflix

Sex Education (S1-4)

Using the word “raunchy” to describe a comedy-drama series makes us feel like 1970s tabloid journalists, but what better term to sum up a bunch of teenage sexcapades tied up by a fun plot and relatable, well-drawn and likeable characters? We’ll be calling it a “romp” next (which it also is) – but Sex Education is a genuinely inventive, engaging, insightful and occasionally moving series, and extremely easy to binge-watch.

Watch Sex Education on Netflix

Cobra Kai (S1-5)

It might be a small field, but we’ll go out on a limb and say that Cobra Kai is definitely the best TV spin-off from a film made 30-odd years before… ever! Reuniting the main players from The Karate Kid and its sequels several decade later could have been nothing more than a lazy nostalgia cash-in, but this show gives the old rivalries and friendships extra spice, offers fresh perspectives on things we thought we had all figured out and confidently tells its own modern-day story.

Watch Cobra Kai on Netflix

The Queen’s Gambit (S1)

It might have arrived with little fanfare, but The Queen’s Gambit was Netflix’s best original series of 2020. Based on the novel by Walter Tevis, it stars the excellent Anya Taylor-Joy as chess prodigy Beth Harmon, an orphan with an almost otherworldly inclination for the game – not to mention a tendency for self-destructive behaviour.

Set mostly in the 1960s, the magnificent period details (so many gorgeous hotel lobbies!) and soundtrack occasionally bring to mind Mad Men, but this miniseries is much more focussed on a single character. Heart-wrenching, funny and evocative, its quality and attention to detail reminds us of Netflix’s superb early run original shows, where everything the company touched felt special.

Watch The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix

The Crown (S1-5)

The Crown‘s appeal is partly down to the astronomical production values that have been instilled in this retelling of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. Many millions have been invested in this period extravaganza, and that all adds up to a dizzying amount of convincing detail.

Even those of a staunchly republican bent will find themselves sucked in to the four full seasons, which chart a series of major national events as well as delve deeply into the personal lives of the Windsors and those surrounding them.

With a superb cast including Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Matt Smith, Helena Bonham-Carter and John Lithgow injecting plenty of humanity into their larger-than-life roles, it’s rumoured that even some of the real-life royals have become huge fans.

Watch The Crown on Netflix

I Think You Should Leave (S1-3)

Sketch shows are a bit like luncheon meat, tank tops and hostess trolleys: unwanted, outmoded relics from the 1970s. But I Think You Should Leave is proof positive that there’s life in the old format yet – it just needed a refreshing jolt of surrealism forced down its gullet.

Former Saturday Night Live star Tim Robinson co-writes and appears (along with a parade of familiar guest faces) in a collection of crude, inventive and ultimately hilarious skits that rarely end up where you expect them to.

Watch I Think You Should Leave on Netflix

The Last Dance (S1)

Arguably the biggest team sporting icon in history, Michael Jordan led the Chicago Bulls to a series of NBA championships in the 1990s. By 1998, however, it seemed like the Bulls’ era of dominance – and Jordan’s place at its heart – was in real danger as backroom intrigue started to take a toll. This engrossing, masterfully made 10-part documentary tells the story not just of that fateful season but of Jordan’s rise from green rookie to global superstar, and of how the Bulls planned and built their hegemony after years of underachievement.

The Last Dance will appeal not only to basketball and sport fans, but to anybody who appreciates a story well told and a glimpse into the strangely singular mind of mercilessly driven individuals like Jordan. Those looking for a nostalgic trip back to the 90s won’t be disappointed either – the era-appropriate soundtrack is superb.

Watch The Last Dance on Netflix

Uncut Gems

A jeweller addicted to gambling and danger darts around 2012 New York in this frenetic drama from indie darlings Josh and Benny Safdie. The brothers’ shaky, handheld camera gives us an up-close window on this anti-hero’s attempts to juggle the demands of his celebrity clients, wife, mistress and a circling group of loan sharks.

If you’re looking for a relaxing watch, Uncut Gems ain’t it – the camerawork, Daniel Lopatin’s electronic score and Adam Sandler’s fantastic lead performance (he’s always found it easy playing a man teetering on the edge – but mostly in bad films) conjure a feeling of unease and anxiety that barely lets up over the two-hour running time. It’s delirious, manic, vital stuff: Netflix’s finest film since Roma, and Sandler’s best performance since 2002’s Punch-Drunk Love.

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Stranger Things (S1-4)

Stranger Things is a love letter to many of the movies, TV shows and books that children who grew up in the 1980s will cherish: it’s replete with references to E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goonies, Stephen King, Dungeons & Dragons and Poltergeist, packed with period music, and the mood and feel is sure to dredge up nostalgia aplenty.

Take away the retro vibes and the show still stands up as a fine sci-fi drama-thriller, concerning a small town, a missing boy and his friends and family’s attempts to find him – at least, that’s the first season, and there are now three more on offer. And such is the popularity of Stranger Things, we can see one or two more arriving in the next few years.

Watch Stranger Things on Netflix

Roma

Arguably the finest Netflix-produced movie yet, Roma is the company’s first film to make the Hollywood establishment really sit up and take notice. The evidence? Its clutch of 2019 Academy Award nominations (10 in all), which resulted in wins for Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Language Film.

As you’d expect from Alfonso Cuarón, previously responsible for the likes of Gravity and Children of Men, Roma is both immensely impressive on a technical level (beautifully shot by Cuarón himself in black and white) and emotionally rich, resulting in a movie that’s every bit as powerful as anything made primarily for the cinema screen. Inspired by Cuarón’s own childhood in Mexico City, the film follows an indigenous maid to a wealthy middle-class family as she experiences a series of events – at first, seemingly unlinked, but which create a moving tapestry that expertly blends life on a personal and macro scale.

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Mindhunter (S1-2)

“How do we get ahead of crazy if we don’t know how crazy thinks?”

This drama series tracks the efforts of two FBI agents to better understand the inner workings of serial killers’ minds. It was a field of research not considered useful by law enforcement top brass in the late 1970s, when the show is set, but our protagonists believe that learning how murderers’ brains function is key to being able to catch them.

If the subject matter sounds overly grim, don’t worry – Mindhunter isn’t all doom and gloom, being peppered with moments of comedy (often black comedy, admittedly) and underpinned by the interesting dynamic of the main characters’ often-strained relationship.

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Better Call Saul (S1-6)

The best spinoff since Frasier puts the spotlight on Breaking Bad‘s sleazy-yet-likeable lawyer Saul, in a series (now four seasons deep) that begins seven years before Walter White’s descent into crime and mayhem.

Bob Odenkirk slips into Saul’s garish suit with remarkable ease, and his superb performance allows his character’s desperation, tenacity and humour to seep through the screen and grab our attention with both hands.

It’s always easy to root for the underdog, and from the very first episode you’re right there alongside Goodman, wanting him to fight to the top – all the while being aware of the dark things to come.

Watch Better Call Saul on Netflix

Icarus

You don’t have to be a sports fan to enjoy this must-watch doping exposé. Icarus is really two documentaries in one, with the first third of the film a kind of Super Size Me for performance-enhancing drugs. The filmmaker, a semi-pro cyclist, embarks on a hardcore doping program to show how flawed the drugs-testing process is.

But when his advisor, scientist Gregory Rodchenkov, suddenly finds himself in the eye of an international storm over a state-sponsored doping program, Icarus turns into an enthralling fly-on-the-wall thriller about being a whistleblower in Putin’s Russia. Cue mysterious deaths, tense interviews and a lots of hand-wringing as Rodchenkov goes into hiding from the new KGB.

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Ozark (S1-4)

This series features some of the most bum-clenchingly tense scenes witnessed on a TV screen since Breaking Bad, as Jason Bateman and Laura Linney’s squabbling Chicago couple launder money for a ruthless drug cartel.

When Bateman’s put-upon financial advisor happens on a risky plan to “wash” (not literally) the dirty cash in rural Missouri, his entire family must immediately up sticks in the ‘burbs for a brand new life in one of America’s most deprived places. All of a sudden, angry Mexican narco-barons become only one of many problems for the family.

Filmed in muted, washed-out tones with bags of brooding and squalor on show, Ozark doesn’t always make for a pretty watch. But if you like your drama perpetually poised on a knife edge, it’ll be right up your (dark) alley.

Watch Ozark on Netflix

Arrested Development (S1-5)

Dysfunctional families have been done to death on both the big screen and TV, but the Bluths are arguably the most self-centred, destructive and, well, downright hilarious bunch of the lot.

When their company is hit by the US government for embezzlement, and patriarch George imprisoned, it falls to “sensible” Bluth son Michael to both run the business and keep his squabbling siblings and mother from making matters far, far worse.

Superb performances from the likes of David Cross, coupled with tonnes of re-quote potential make this a must-watch. It gets a little lost after the first three seasons thanks to the actors’ other projects clashing with filming, but it’s still well worth watching until the very end – especially as Netflix has served up a great fifth season in which all the characters are brought back together again.

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Orange is the New Black (S1-7)

Arguably Netflix’s second-best original series after House of Cards, this is a prison show that goes its own way: less brutal than Oz, less daft than Prison Break and more compelling than Prisoner Cell Block H, it begins as a fish-out-of-water drama (very loosely based on a true story) in which a yuppie Brooklynite winds up in a low-security women’s jail for a crime committed almost a decade previous.

A character-driven show that uses Lost-style flashbacks to explore the pre-incarceration lives of the superb cast, Orange Is the New Black has proved such a hit that it’s already – like House of Cards – six whole seasons strong.

Watch Orange is the New Black on Netflix

BoJack Horseman (S1-6)

This animated sitcom features Arrested Development‘s Will Arnett as the titular Horseman, a… er… “horse man” who found fame in a beloved 1990s sitcom but now lives in a haze of booze and self-loathing.

Set in a skewed version of Hollywood where humans coexist with anthropomorphic animals, BoJack Horseman features a strong cast (Breaking Bad‘s Aaron Paul plays BoJack’s best friend Todd), and offers a surprisingly nuanced portrayal of the “washed-up former star” trope. Most importantly, perhaps, it’s really, really funny. With 50 episodes available (four seasons plus two specials), its perfect for binging.

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Dark (S1-3)

Looking for a lazy comparison? Then Dark is the German version of Stranger Things: both largely follow a group of kids trying to unravel a supernatural mystery; both feature a missing child and frantic parents; both are set (at least partly) in the ’80s. And both are fantastic.

But there the similarities end, because Dark is, as the name might suggest, a far more difficult watch than its US counterpart (and not just because of those German subtitles). This is a complex series that delights in constantly pulling the rug out from under you just when you think you know what’s going on; we guarantee it’ll leave you with brain-ache at times. It’s also seriously gruesome and really puts its characters (and viewers) through the emotional wringer. Don’t let that put you off though, because this is one Netflix Original you’d be daft to miss.

Watch Dark on Netflix

Black Mirror (S1-5)

Black Mirror has made the move from Channel 4 to Netflix in sumptuous, unsettling style.

Not only has the platform given Charlie Brooker and his team the freedom to tell more stories (the two Netflix-funded seasons each have six episodes rather than the usual three), it’s also given them a budget big enough to expand the scale, scope and special effects. The feature-length final episode, “Hated in the Nation”, is a perfect case in point.

What hasn’t changed is the overall theme: the perils of humanity’s relationship with technology, the internet and social media.

It’s unnerving stuff, enhanced by the fact that the stories are generally set in a very near future that’s all too recognisable. But fear not, the trademark blacker-than-black humour has also been retained, so you’ll guffaw almost as much as you’ll squirm. This is must-see television for anyone who’s obsessed with tech.

And as a bonus, the first two Channel 4-made seasons can be found on Netflix too.

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Chef’s Table (S1-6)

It might not feature Greg Wallace shovelling food into his maw every ten minutes, but that doesn’t make Chef’s Table any less appealing to hardcore foodies.

This documentary series (now six seasons strong) follows world-renowned chefs as they take viewers on a personal journey through their culinary evolution, providing an intimate, informative glimpse into what gets their creative juices flowing.

Presented in pristine 4K, you can almost smell the food seeping through your screen and tickling your nostrils; from glistening, perfectly-cooked pieces of meat to mouth-watering steaming pasta dishes, this is food porn of the highest order. Wearing a bib while you watch is highly recommended.

Watch Chef’s Table on Netflix

True Detective (S1-4)

It’s testament to the growing standing of modern television that it can attract movie stars such as Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, who light up the small screen in True Detective‘s first season as a mismatched pair of Louisiana cops tasked with solving a ritualistic murder.

While the plot is undeniably gripping, the cinematography masterful and the Southern Gothic atmosphere creepily evocative, it’s the characters – McConaughey’s nihilistic philosophiser and Harrelson’s booze-addled womaniser – and their fraught relationship that provide True Detective’s primary pull. Don’t be surprised if that’s what drives you to devour its eight episodes in short order.

There are then three further seasons of the show to enjoy, with each being its own separate story with an entirely new cast. The second season, which stars Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn, isn’t particularly well regarded, but the third (with Mahershala Ali) is a welcome return to form. We’re also enjoying the just-released fourth; subtitled Night Country, it’s set in a remote Alaskan mining town, stars Jodie Foster and leans into the supernatural much more strongly than previous seasons.

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The Sopranos (S1-6)

Nowadays we take intelligently written, thematically deep, beautifully shot big budget television series for granted – but 25 years ago such programmes (bar the odd miniseries) were rarer than hen’s teeth.

Then along came HBO and David Chase’s The Sopranos, a long-running drama about the New Jersey mob, family and millennial America. Gripping, funny, moving and often hard to watch, this show made a bone-fide star of the late James Gandolfini, who excels, attracts and repels in equal measure as mafia boss Tony Soprano.

Every single episode of what might be the greatest TV show ever is currently available via the Now Entertainment Pass, so if you haven’t watched it already – or it’s been a few years and you’re missing Paulie Walnuts, Silvio, Big Pussy and Christopher – grab yourself a bin bag full of snacks, several gallons of your preferred bevvie and get settled in for a mobster marathon.

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Curb Your Enthusiasm (S1-12)

Seinfeld co-creator Larry David has spent more than two decades playing himself in this sitcom – or at least an exaggerated, more obnoxious version of himself. Curb Your Enthusiasm’s formula hasn’t changed a jot over the years: a misanthropic Hollywood millionaire attempts to negotiate life’s challenging little conundrums – social niceties, nonsensical customs and the like – usually falling foul of his own hubris along the way. Each episode feels like a well-crafted puzzle, with characters, running gags and themes that all pull together into some kind of wider comedic picture at the end.

Sprinkle in the dozens of celebrity cameos (Ted Danson as Larry’s long-time friend and rival is a joy) and Curb becomes a sort of meta-commentary on fame: that being a wealthy celebrity doesn’t shield you from the quirks and irritations everyone else has to endure. It’s just entered its 12th and final season, with new episodes coming to Now in the UK every Monday.

Watch Curb Your Enthusiasm on Now

Detectorists (S1-3)

Mackenzie Crook (perhaps hitherto best known as The Office’s Gareth) writes, directs and stars in this wonderful sitcom about a pair of metal detector enthusiasts. If it sounds like a broadly comic Last of the Summer Wine-style “aren’t these country folks odd?” series, it isn’t; there’s so much more to Detectorists.

It’s witty and funny, sure, with great performances from Crook and co-star Toby Jones, but there’s also something gently formidable in its depiction of the English countryside. The show conjures up the quiet beauty and rich history of this landscape as the detectorists scrabble in its earth for Roman gold or Saxon silver (usually coming away with nothing but a few old ring pulls). Warm and affectionate but never sentimental, it’s a worthy homage to hobbies, friendship and the great outdoors.

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Inside No. 9 (S1-7)

Having made their name with The League Of Gentlemen and Psychoville, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith set about creating Inside No. 9, now running to seven series of expertly crafted self-contained stories with one thing in common: they’ll keep you guessing right until the end.

Whether it’s a death on a sleeper train, a game of hide ‘n’ seek with extreme consequences, or the totally dialogue-free tale of two hapless burglars, the writing here blows most of its contemporaries out of the water – and you can count on there being a devilishly macabre twist in the tail too. And while it won’t always have you falling off the sofa with laughter, there’s usually at least one absolute gem of a gag in each episode.

Watch Inside No. 9 on Now

Justified (S1-6)

Based on a short story by Elmore Leonard, this six-season series stars Timothy Olyphant as Raylan Givens, a modern-day US Marshal who brings an Old West sensibility to his job – including a willingness to draw his pistol and blow away the bad guy (justifiably, of course).

Packed off back to his backwater country hometown after falling foul of his superiors in the big city, he’s quickly dragged into a feud with a childhood friend, played with career-defining poise by Walton Goggins.

Justified manages to successfully mix long-running plotlines with monster-of-the-week style self-contained episodes, making it prime binge-fodder.

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The Office (US, S1-9)

American remakes of beloved British series rarely endure the Hollywood treatment with their essence or appeal intact (just check out the abortive Yank take on the Inbetweeners for a prime example). That’s not the case here: the US reimagining of Ricky Gervais’ The Office swiftly unshackled itself from the original, discovering its own magnificent voice in the process.

With Steve Carell doing great work as embarrassingly gauche boss Michael Scott and the talented supporting cast providing a glut of great moments (all the way into the Carell-free final seasons, in fact) it’s hard to think of a better mainstream US sitcom of the past 25 years. And bingers can rejoice: all nine seasons (that’s an astounding 188 episodes by our count) are streaming on Now.

Watch The Office (US) on Now Entertainment

Poker Face (S1)

Knives Out director Rian Johnson’s first TV series as creator and showrunner is a gem: a case-of-the-week murder mystery show with movie-esque visuals and an outstanding lead performance from Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a Nevada cocktail waitress with the seemingly unerring ability to tell when someone is lying.

When Charlie’s friend is killed, this talent (and her refusal to accept pat explanations) gets her into a situation where she must go on the run across America – hence the new case each week (albeit with an overarching story across the whole 10-episode season). They don’t make many shows like this anymore, but Johnson’s Hollywood clout got it done – and ensured that each week has some very recognisable guest stars.

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Succession (S1-4)

Created by Peep Show and Veep maestro Jesse Armstrong and executive produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay, Succession is a brilliant, bleakly comic drama series about a vast multinational media company run by demonic mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his brood of dysfunctional children (sound like anyone we know?).

When it becomes clear that Roy must soon step down as the company’s head, various members of his inner circle begin to vie for control of the company’s levers of power – and it’s in this struggle that the satire really begins to bite. More of a drama than Armstrong’s usual fare (and certainly not as knockabout as the likes of Veep), Succession has scooped armfuls of awards and become nothing less than a cultural touchstone, spawning memes left and right. All four seasons are available to stream on Now.

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The Last Of Us (S1)

Based on the brutal post-apocalyptic video game, The Last Of Us follows a grizzled, emotionally detached smuggler (Pedro Pascal) tasked with escorting an extraordinary teenage girl (Bella Ramsay) safely across the ravaged ruins of what was once the USA. Success could mean a cure for the fungal plague that has brought humanity to the brink of extinction, but danger and betrayal lurks around every corner.

Judging by the 80-minute first episode, this manages to pull off a trick that may never have been pulled off before: remaining faithful to the source material (and thus avoiding hardcore fans’ ire) while being in and of itself a great TV show. Having Neil Druckmann (the game’s writer) on board doubtless helps.

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The Rehearsal (S1)

We’re struggling for the words to adequately describe this incredible comedy documentary series without ruining anything for the prospective viewer, but let’s just say The Rehearsal is a show about TV, reality and reality TV.

It’s a well-worn aphorism that there are no rehearsals in real life, but Fielder poses the question: “What if there could be?” What if, prior to having a dreaded and difficult conversation with a friend, you could practice it over and over in a safe, accurate simulation, thereby increasing your chances of the situation going well? This is how The Rehearsal starts out, with Fielder, a cast of actors and HBO’s millions giving participants the opportunity to do just that, but things quickly take a turn and head in an entirely different direction, making this one of the most interesting (and funny) dissections of the nature of the roles we play in life we’ve seen on TV. Truly mind-blowing.

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The White Lotus (S1-2)

This beautifully black comedy-drama takes place over the course of a week in a Hawaiian luxury resort. Following both the wealthy, entitled and privileged guests and the put-upon staff, it’s a biting satire that takes accurate pot shots at every first world problem in the book while building dramatic tension over a foreshadowed death amongst the holidaymakers. Yes, it’s packed with awful people, but what an enjoyable ride!

The second series, which features an almost totally new cast and different setting, is now available too.

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Silicon Valley (S1-6)

Look, you’re reading Stuff – so we know you’re a tech head. Which means you’re right in the crosshairs for this satirical sitcom from Beavis & Butthead and King of the Hill creator Mike Judge. Silicon Valley gleefully skewers California start-up culture as it follows the peaks and troughs of revolutionary file compression service Pied Piper and its crew of socially dysfunctional founders.

As crude and raucous as it is insightful about the nature of the tech biz and the people it attracts, Silicon Valley is one of the few sitcoms that doesn’t make you feel stupider the more you watch. Every single episode of its six-season run is available on Now.

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House of the Dragon (S1)

Banish that dreadful final season (fair enough: those dreadful last three seasons) of Game of Thrones from your mind. A new sword and sorcery epic about the warring families of Westeros is here, and it feels like a true return to form.

The cast is fantastic, the production values are immense, and because the whole thing is based on a history of the Targaryen family already fully fleshed out by George R.R. Martin himself, the writing shouldn’t veer off the rails into Michael Bay territory this time around. Set almost 200 years before the events depicted in Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon focusses on the Targaryen family, the dragon-riding dynastic rulers of Westeros who used fire, blood and fear to first unite and then control the Seven Kingdoms. But while the Targaryen’s hulking pets make their empire all but unassailable from the outside, a looming succession crisis threatens to tear their dynasty apart from within – and bring ruin and bloody civil war to the realm in the process.

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I’m Alan Partridge (S1-2)

Alan Partridge had already appeared on TV in The Day Today and his fake talk show Knowing Me, Knowing You, but it was the two series and 12 episodes of I’m Alan Partridge that cemented Steve Coogan’s comic creation as one of Britain’s best-loved (or should that be ‘most enjoyably endured’?) comedy characters.

A sort of cinema verité sitcom following Alan around in his life – a failed TV presenter now slumming it as a local radio DJ in his home county of Norfolk – I’m Alan Partridge is rich with pathos, quotable lines and the sort of cringeworthy moments that Ricky Gervais later built a career on. Partridge’s Britain is one of Rover Fastbacks, owl sanctuaries, bleak hotels, static caravans, driving gloves, Toblerone addictions, attempts to wangle free power showers and disastrous corporate event appearances – and it’s one that it’s a blast to spend (occasional) time in.

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We Own This City (S1)

The Wire creator David Simon returns to Baltimore’s mean streets with this six-part limited series about corruption in the police force. Based on true events, it’s a lot smaller in scope than Simon’s opus, but hits many of the same notes just as accurately. Not only is We Own This City an entertaining and eye-opening look into the investigation that brought the dirty cops to justice, but a portrait of a city (and a country) in which law enforcement has failed to protect and serve anybody but itself. The cast includes a lot of familiar faces from The Wire and elsewhere, but it’s Jon Bernthal as the apparently untouchable Sergeant Wayne Jenkins – the man who made the boast that gives the series its title – that shines the brightest.

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Euphoria (S1-2)

Its talented cast, dead-serious tone, abundant nudity and wealth of stylistic flourishes – moody lighting, a killer soundtrack and cinematography in which the term “this camera’s depth of field is too shallow” simply doesn’t exist – make this high school drama seem like more than just your average teens-behaving-badly soap.

If you actually dig beneath Euphoria’s high-gloss surface, chances are you’ll conclude there’s nothing there you haven’t seen before, but our advice is to just sit back and enjoy the show for what it is. Sure, that might be a po-faced American take on Skins (with more skin on show), but like any good soap its plotlines draw you right in – and trash TV rarely looked as good.

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Veep (S1-7)

Veep could easily be described as the US version of The Thick of It, and fans of that trailblazing BBC show will certainly recognise the moral bankruptcy and creative profanity at the heart of this Washington-set satire. But Veep is much more narratively bold than its British equivalent, with the heart of the show being the rise and fall of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ career bureaucrat.

To go into more detail would ruin the show for those yet to catch up, but as it moves closer to the current day, it not only addresses real-world events like dirty election campaigns and foreign hacking but actually gives you an insight into what might go on behind the scenes. Thankfully, the show is also highly proficient in simple sight gags, withering put-downs and cringeworthy social interactions.

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Girls (S1-6)

Lena Dunham, both creator and star of this six-season HBO series, has a knack for dividing opinion – and Girls is a show that many loved, many hated and many simply didn’t get.

Focussing on four friends trying to make it in New York (career, romance, family… you name it), Girls seeks to sum up the hopes and fears of a generation of young millennial women, and do so in an entertaining fashion – and while, in our opinion it nails the latter part (it’s frequently hilarious, its characters are complex and flawed, and it’s beautifully written and shot), its scope is arguably too narrow for the former. Hey Lena, not every young woman is a white, well-educated, middle-class Au Revoir Simone fan! Even so, if Sex and the City proved too clean, bougie and just plain out-of-touch for your tastes, Girls makes for a filthier, funnier and sharper alternative.

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Olive Kitteridge (S1)

A four-hour miniseries adaptation of Elizabeth Strout’s novel of the same name, this slow-burning examination of marriage, parenthood, depression and suicide isn’t always a fun ride. It is, however, an intensely involving and well-crafted one, with memorably perfect performances from Richard Jenkins, Zoe Kazan, Bill Murray, Peter Mullan and particularly Frances McDormand in the title role.

Set in small-town Maine, it portrays a couple of decades in the life of a misanthropic teacher, wife and mother who struggles in the latter two roles, and uses all of its running time to craft a depiction of people as flawed, complicated and conflicted creatures that lingers long after the end credits roll.

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Eastbound & Down (S1-4)

Danny McBride peddles a great line in loveable offensiveness. It’s never more evident than in this superb sitcom, in which he plays washed-up baseball star Kenny Powers, forced to slum it as a substitute teacher when his pitching arm loses its… er, power.

For all his bluster and bravado, Powers cuts a tragic and even sympathetic figure – and it’s testament to McBride’s skill as a writer and actor that he can wring the pathos out of such an arrogant and selfish character. Oh, and in case you’re wondering: it’s really, really funny too.

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The Night Of (S1)

Riz Ahmed excels in this role as a shy and sheltered New York lad – a second-generation immigrant to America who just wants to do his parents proud, succeed at his studies and make something of his life. That life is snatched away when a horrific crime is committed – and all fingers point to him.

Off to brutal Riker’s Island prison he goes, with his future looking as bleak as bleak can be. John Turturro provides excellent support at the eccentric lawyer who takes up Ahmed’s case, but it’s the burning sense of injustice – and the desire to find out what really happened that fateful evening – that’ll keep you coming back episode after episode.

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Penny Dreadful (S1-3)

A horror series set in Victorian London and bringing together many of the famous monsters and villains of literature and popular culture, Penny Dreadful is three seasons of grim, gothic delights – plus there’s an entirely separate but thematically similar spin-off in the shape of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, set in 1940s Los Angeles to sink your fangs into once you’ve polished off the original.

Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton, Rory Kinnear and the incomparable Eva Green (made for this kind of show) star in an involving, atmospheric series that was offed before its time. Rest in peace.

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Game of Thrones (S1-8)

The final stretch of HBO’s decade-long fantasy series may have left a sour taste in many viewers’ mouths but regardless of its divisive ending (which, to be clear, this particular writer thinks is very bad), Game of Thrones remains one of the most thrilling, surprising, involving and just plain old riveting TV shows of all time. It’s packed with so many well-drawn characters, memorable moments and assured world-building that you can’t write it off simply because the showrunners failed to stick the landing.

No other sword and sorcery series has enjoyed the production values lavished upon this adaptation of George R. R. Martin’s novels. It boasts a sprawling cast of faces both familiar and fresh, Hollywood-level visual effects and, particularly in the earlier seasons, some of the best writing and plotting on television full-stop. So take a trip to Westeros if you’ve never been – it’s bloody marvellous (emphasis on the bloody).

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Band of Brothers (S1)

There’s a strong argument to be made that the “Golden Age of Television” in which we now apparently live started here, with this glorious 2001 World War II miniseries made by HBO (not to mention the BBC, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks).

Boasting mammoth production values (at the time of its making, it was the most expensive TV show ever), a cast of dozens and an impeccable script, Band of Brothers tells the story of the war from the perspective of Easy Company, a US Army parachute company. Stretching from Easy’s jump training through their deployment on D-Day to the very end of the war in Europe, with each of its 10 episodes bookended by interviews from the real-life veterans on which the story is based, it’s compelling from start to finish, and will likely leave you in floods of tears by the end.

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Boardwalk Empire (S1-5)

This lavish period drama recreates America’s early 20th century prohibition era – and retells the rise of organised crime that resulted from the banning of booze – in lavish detail, complete with a huge (and hugely impressive) cast of actual and fictional crooks, corrupt politicians, cops, conmen, mobsters and molls.

Centred around New Jersey’s glitzy, seedy resort town Atlantic City (run by Steve Buscemi’s almost comically corrupt central protagonist, Nucky Thompson) but frequently taking time out to visit Chicago and New York, Boardwalk Empire rivals other HBO shows like The Sopranos and The Wire for scope and production values, even if it feels a little worn-out by its own lofty ambitions by the time the final season rolls around.

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The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (S1)

If you’re a documentary fan and you’re currently unfamiliar with the story of Robert Durst, you’re in for a treat: The Jinx is an utterly compelling exploration into the eccentric New York property heir’s past, in which he may or may not have murdered one, two or three people – and got away with it every time.

Durst’s story would be intriguing enough on its own, but in this six-part series the man himself volunteers to be interviewed by filmmaker Andrew Jarecki – a seemingly unnecessary risk when you consider the crimes of which he’s suspected. As Durst’s participation starts to shine fresh light on the old cases, you’ll find yourself superglued to your screen right up until the unforgettable end.

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Chernobyl (S1)

A miniseries recreating the terrifying events of April 1986, when a Ukrainian nuclear power plant went into accidental meltdown, and the brave, risky operation to prevent it escalating into a continent-spanning disaster. With a cast including Stellan Skarsgard, Emily Watson and Jared Harris, this Sky/HBO collaboration puts true quality into the retelling of this real-life horror story.

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The Wire (S1-5)

Consistently ranked among the greatest TV series ever made, The Wire is a compelling US crime show that’s far, far beyond your common or garden police procedural.

Set in Baltimore, its five seasons take a novelistic approach to detailing the interplay between the city’s power structures, all the way from the mayor’s office to the corner boy crack dealers. As much as The Wire is driven by its seasons-spanning plots and huge cast of memorable characters, it’s perhaps the way it turns a brutal examination of the systemic failure of American institutions – politics, the press, education, the police force – into gripping entertainment that cements its status as one of the 21st century’s best TV shows so far.

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The Affair (S1-5)

This slow burn of a series charts the growing mutual attraction between two married people and the passionate, destructive affair that unfolds. As with any affair, people end up hurt – but in this case it’s worse: somebody ends up dead.

What elevates this beyond your typical steamy thriller is its structure: The Affair is told through multiple characters’ points of view, which differ in slight but significant ways. The effect is to make you question what you think you know.

Throw in stellar performances by Dominic West and Ruth Wilson and this becomes an utterly riveting watch. But don’t worry, you have five whole seasons to plough through before withdrawal sets in.

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Twin Peaks: The Return (S1)

There are two ways to look at the new series of Twin Peaks. One is that it is without question the most utterly brilliant TV show of the year, the other that it’s a massive pile of pretentious poo-poo.

Now we’re firmly in the former camp here at Stuff, but if you a) didn’t like the original two series or b) generally don’t like David Lynch’s creative ouput then this is emphatically not going to change your mind. Indeed, The Return is a kind of meta-Lynch show, distilling themes, elements, tropes and filmmaking techniques he’s employed elsewhere into one bewilderingly incredible experience.

Set 25 years after the events of the groundbreaking first two series, The Return revisits many of the characters from the originals, and there’s enormous amounts of fun and interest to be gained merely in seeing how they’ve aged and how their lives have worked out.

We don’t want to spoil things by going into detail about the plot, but suffice to say that it’s about as far from a straightforward linear journey as you could ever imagine. Absolutely essential viewing.

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Billions (S1-7)

Think of Billions as the high-finance counterpart to House of Cards and you won’t be far off the mark.

Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti are superb as, respectively, the win-at-all-costs head of a massive hedge fund and the win-at-all-costs district attorney determined to put him behind bars, although both are thoroughly upstaged by the even better Maggie Siff as the woman who keeps both at the top of their game.

It can get a bit bogged down in financial jargon – unless you’re a hedge-fund manager yourself, you’ll likely not understand a word of what’s being discussed at times – but that’s never really a problem, because this isn’t really a show about global financial markets. Well, no more so than Game of Thrones is really a show about dragons.

Instead, it’s a show about power and whether the kind you can buy is more important than the kind you earn. Well worth a watch.

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Ray Donovan (S1-7)

Liev Schreiber plays the titular character in this long-running series about a Los Angeles law firm “fixer” who solves problems for Hollywood’s elite – often in ways that bring him into conflict with the authorities.

When Donovan’s father (played with rascally relish by Jon Voight) is released from jail, the distant past comes back to haunt him. And that’s lucky for us, as it kicks off a chain of events which help make this one of the most absorbing mainstream dramas on telly.

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Bosch (S1-7)

Violent yet beautiful, menacing and stunning in equal measure. No, not Titus Welliver’s moody, driven Hollywood homicide detective Harry Bosch – we’re talking about the sprawling city of Los Angeles. The City of Angels is as big a star of Amazon’s gritty crime drama as Bosch himself, and it looks flippin’ gorgeous in 4K with HDR.

Tune in for the beautiful rolling shots of LA, sprawling out from the Hollywood hills in UHD resolution, and you’ll soon be hooked by the clever murder mystery plotlines.

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