SERIES TO WATCH RIGHT NOW

Well, I’ve watched more series in the last month and a half than I think I did in the last two years put together. It started with my move. Packing up an entire apartment of books, clothes and multiple pieces of furniture (including a washing machine) on your own is an epic task, so to amuse myself whilst cello-taping dozens of boxes, I started watching Outlander. I got hooked and watched 4 seasons in 3 weeks. My plan was to finally move apartment, get settled in, get back to life and then not get hooked on another series until winter came around again and I wanted to hole up at home. Well, life had other plans didn’t it just. And so, now that I’m in week three of confinement, lockdown, isolation, however you’d like to label it, I have been watching a multitude of series, spanning various genres - thriller, period drama, sci-fi and reality TV. You name it, I’m watching it. I shared a list on my Instagram last week along with lots of suggestions from my lovely followers, but thought it might help to give a little review of a few of my current favourites in case you need some inspiration!

MY CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS:

Sex Education (Netflix)

Perhaps not the best series to watch if you’re single and you’re stranded at your mum’s because it is all about sex. Well, awkward teenage sex, so not quite as erotic. At first it wasn’t appealing because it involves lots of awkward teenage sex, but I’d had it recommended to me by a few friends so thought I’d give it a shot. I finished the first two seasons last week. It’s actually brilliant, funny, quirky – the style of the clothes, interiors and settings feels very 70s, although it’s set in modern day (it has a Stranger Things vibe to it) and it’s not at all too teenagery, in that it’s very well-written and will appeal to any age.

Outlander (Netflix)

Outlander is probably the best series that I’ve watched since Game of Thrones, and that’s a big statement I know. If you love period drama that spans a couple of hundred years, set in a myriad of different places including, Paris, Jamaica, Scotland and America, then you will find this to be a treat. It also has two main characters who have such great on-screen chemistry that I can’t believe they’re not together in real life. (And yes it’s boarder-line soft porn - so perhaps also not a great one to be watching on your own…just store those ideas for later.) Anyway it’s addictive; don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Alias Grace (Netflix)

Written by the same author as The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Attwood, this is a swift six-parter that I finished in a couple of days. It’s a brilliant psychological period drama set in Canada at the turn of the last century. A (very handsome) psychiatrist is called in to analyse a young woman who has been in prison for the past 15 years for a crime that she cannot remember committing. Edge of your seat , who-done-it stuff.

Love is Blind (Netflix)

I’m not really into reality TV anymore (I probably watched far too much Big Brother growing up in the UK), so I mainly watched this so I could join the conversations my friends were having about it. Of course I got sucked in. It’s an interesting experiment, most of the characters are likeable and if you’re single (like me), this is one to watch just to see how the relationship develop and play out.

Picard (Amazon Prime)

I grew up on Star Trek – my mum is a huge Trekkie and I love sci-fi, so I’ve started watching this with her. We’re halfway through and I’m really enjoying it. Patrick Stewart who plays Picard is of course great, but I do find myself having to remember that I’m watching Star Trek and not X-Men at times.

Man in the High Castle (Amazon Prime)

I started watching this a few years ago and have picked up where I left off last week. It’s a brilliantly done dystopian (very on trend) period drama set in the 60s (mainly based in the US) that tells the story as if the Nazis had won the second world war.

The Handmaid’s Tale (Amazon Prime)

I absolutely loved the book. Attwood is an incredible story-teller and her skill with words is next to none. Another scarily on-trend dystopian series which is dark, but absolutely brilliant. Elizabeth Moss is powerful as her beaten-down, but not pitiful character of Ofred and is an inspiration for getting through tough times.

Killing Eve (BBC iPlayer)

A British intelligence officer called Eve becomes obsessed with catching the cold, calculated, beautiful and highly intelligent, yet psychopathic young female assassin, Villanelle, who’s always one step ahead and in turn becomes obsessed with Eve. If it were a book, I’d call it page turning; it’s gripping, quirky and brilliantly acted by Brit Jodie Comer and American actress Sandra Oh, who have both won multiple awards for their roles.

ON MY TO-WATCH LIST:

The Morning Show, Fleabag, The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

OLDIES BUT GOODIES TO FINALLY WATCH OR REWATCH:

Sex & The City, Girls, Friends, Game of Thrones, Suits, Seinfeld, Girls, Stranger Things (ok not so old, but you probably all know about it and if you haven’t watched it I recommend that you do!)

FOLLOWER RECOMMENDATIONS:

You, The Split, Scandal, Succession, Parks & Rec, Money Heist, Sens8, Schitt’s Creek

What are you watching?