Some great series to binge on the couch during this long, cold, dark January!
You might be looking for some viewing inspiration ahead of the arrival of the Next Big Show (whatever that might be for you).
To that end, we’ve collected this list of ten great shows that might have passed you by. Some are simply one-and-done seasons, some have lasted a bit longer.
Some are comedies, some are horror, some are dramas, but they all definitely deserve a binge watch.
Best of all, they’re all available to watch right now with a NOW’s Entertainment Membership. On with the list!
AVENUE 5
One season, nine episodes. (Second season in production.)
From Armando Iannucci – the genius behind The Thick of It and VEEP – comes this sci-fi comedy about a futuristic luxurious cruise spaceship that suddenly finds itself on a decades-long journey when a technical issue veers them drastically off-course. Captained by the brilliantly grouchy Hugh Laurie, it is another great example of what rich people get up to when they don’t get exactly what they want at all times.
BORED TO DEATH
Three seasons, 24 episodes.
Jason Schwartzmann plays a writer (a fictionalised version of the show’s own creator Jonathan Ames), who moonlights as a private detective, with the help of his two best friends, played by Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis. Pre-dates the current resurgence of comedy-mysteries by almost a full decade!
CHERNOBYL
One season, five episodes.
Before his new show – the adaptation of The Last of Us – arrives later in 2022, why not check out writer Craig Mazin’s brilliant look at the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, packed with great performances by incredible actors (Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Emily Watson, Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley and Barry Keoghan all feature), as well as some unforgettably tense sequences.
FORTITUDE
Three seasons, 26 episodes.
Set on an isolated Norwegian island, the international residents find themselves suddenly surrounded by a string of violent and mysterious deaths, in which everyone (and everything) is a potential suspect. Stanley Tucci, Michael Gambon, Robert Sheehan and Dennis Quaid appear throughout the story’s three seasons.
GIRLS5EVA
One season, eight episodes. (Second season in production.)
Tina Fey exec-produces this comedy that looks to do for making music what 30 Rock did for making television. When a hip-hop star samples their one and only hit on his new single, 90s girl group Girls5Eva attempt a several-decades-too-late comeback. Features some surprisingly very catchy – and very funny – original songs. “What are we gonna do about Kosovo, y’all?”
LANDSCAPERS
One season, four episodes.
It might’ve flown under your radar in December, but this mind-bending real-life murder-mystery fronted by Olivia Colman and David Thewlis (who we interviewed below) is a must-watch for lovers of the genre. They play a couple who are arrested for murder fifteen years after the crime is committed, despite neither of them seemingly being capable of hurting a fly…
THE OUTSIDER
One season, ten episodes.
A psychological horror based on Stephen King’s hit novel. A man (Jason Bateman) is caught on camera having violently murdered a young boy, despite contradictory evidence proving he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. A local cop (Ben Mendehlson) and a private detective (Cynthia Erivo) find themselves teaming up to find the truth.
RAISED BY WOLVES
One season, ten episodes. (Second season arriving in February.)
Sci-fi legend Ridley Scott (Blade Runner, Alien, The Martian) oversees this epic sci-fi drama about a set of robots who have been assigned to insure the future of human life on an alien planet. When other humans attempt to retrieve the children, the robots’ parental instincts kick in, putting the future of the entire human race in jeopardy.
WATCHMEN
One season, nine episodes.
A sequel to the graphic novel (but not the 2009 movie based on the novel), the world is attempting to survive under the constant thread of annihilation, but this ever-present pressure has caused increased tension along racial lines in America. Arguably the best “comic book adaptation” ever.
YELLOWJACKETS
One season, eight episodes. (Second season in production.)
A group of girls survive a plane crash only to endure 19 months of surviving in the wilderness, as some descend into madness, others turn to cannibalism in order to keep going. The story is told both during those months of surviving, and in the future, as some of the survivors (played by Christina Ricci and Juliette Lewis) think back on what they were forced to do to make it back home.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
