TV Recommendations
Topping the list is a remake. I am just as surprised as you. I normally loathe remakes. To be honest, I don’t really have a good reason. I guess I just haven’t seen many remakes better than the original, other than perhaps ‘A Star is Born’. However, I digress. I loved the film with John Cusack from 2000 and I also loved the book that it was based on by Nick Hornby. I adored record shops growing up so a few recommendations from Instagram pals was all it took to convince me to dive in. The remake is an eight-part series, which is on ‘STARZPLAY’ (you can get a fortnight trial with Amazon Prime in the UK). It stars Zoe Kravitz (yes her mum featured in the film) and at first, I wasn’t into it. The first episode pays homage to the film, almost to a fault. Then it found its own groove and I was hooked. I really enjoyed it. They somehow made it modern but it still has an analogue feel. I loved that it had a female lead. Da'Vine Joy Randolph and David H. Holmes play the staff in the record shop and over the eight episodes you really get to know them all and fall in love with them. Of course, the soundtrack is SO good and Zoe’s wardrobe is perfectly effortless. Sadly it’s been cancelled after only one series (you can read what Zoe Kravitz had to say about that here) but it’s definitely worth your time.
Pretend It’s A City
Fran Lebowitz interviewed by her good friend Martin Scorsese? I wasn’t sure. Yes, it’s two icons together, but a seven-part series?! I wasn’t sure what they were going to fill the time with. I needn’t have worried. Fran Lebowitz could fill a seventy-part series with her musings. Her dry humour is the star of the show. They cover New York in the seventies all the way up to the modern-day and discuss her daily pet peeves and love of literature. Be sure to keep an eye out for the way Martin laughs at everything Fran says, it’s the most charming thing. This programme will definitely make you 25% more cynical but there are some real laugh out loud moments alongside name dropping aplenty.
Ted Lasso
If I was allowed within two metres of any stranger, I would most definitely be stopping them in the street to tell them to watch Ted Lasso. My husband was watching it on one of our ‘sit together but watch separate programmes’ nights. He couldn’t stop laughing, which is always really annoying when you’re watching something that is decidedly unfunny. I was probably crying at Call the Midwife at the time. He had tried to get us to watch it together, but the sell of an American football coach coming to manage a UK football club just wasn’t doing it for me. After all the laughing on the sofa next to me, my curiosity got the better of me, and my husband kindly offered to watch it again with me. Thank goodness he did. Ted Lasso is not about football, it’s about the messy complexity of being human. It’s about hope, despair, love, heartbreak and everything in between. And it’s really funny. We even have a ‘believe’ sign hung up in my office in honour of the show, it’s so heartwarming. If I can’t convince you to watch it, then maybe listen to this Brené Brown podcast. She is another Ted Lasso superfan, and if it’s good enough for Brené then it’s good enough for me. You can find it on Apple TV and a second season has just started production, THANK GOODNESS.
Shrill
This is going to sound flashy, but I first discovered Shrill on a flight to LA. I had heard about it but hadn’t sat down to watch it. There’s nothing like eight hours on a plane to break the back of a new series. The advertising campaign features the lead character in a swimsuit, and as she isn’t a size 8, I was excited to watch it. It’s not often you see someone like yourself at the centre of a TV show. If you haven’t seen or heard of Shrill before, it’s based on ‘Notes from a Loud Woman’ written by Lindy West. It stars Aidy Bryant, with Lolly Adefope playing her roommate. Aidy plays Annie, a struggling journalist in uber-hip Portland. It explores the experience of being a twenty-something woman who, as the tag line describes, ‘wants to change her life, but not her body’. The show looks at her relationships with her body, her self-worth, her parents, friends, lovers and everything in between. It felt really refreshing to watch. It was also painful and cringe-inducing in other areas, but it didn’t shy away from all of life’s ugly but beautiful parts. It showcases so many of the issues facing young women today, especially if they don’t fit the media narrative of how a woman should look or behave. Series one and two are available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Series three has been greenlit but they are waiting for production to start. Also, the episodes are 26 - 28 minutes long, the perfect length when you don’t want to commit to something big before bedtime.
Hollywood
This is a limited series, which at first I thought meant it was limited edition. It in fact means that it’s a stand-alone mini-series. You can ask for a second series all you want, it sadly ain’t gonna happen (I wish someone told me sooner). It’s set in post-war Hollywood, in what is described as the ‘Golden Era’. If you know anything about that era (I’d start with an Elizabeth Taylor biography or two), you’ll know that it was full of corruption. Any type of minority in race or sexuality was not celebrated by the controlling studios. It is in no way historically accurate and looks at alternate outcomes of what could’ve happened in Hollywood if it had been more inclusive. The show has had mixed reviews but I adored the sets, the costumes and the drama. This is real escapism with some much-needed glamour.
It’s a Sin
I am sure you have seen this everywhere but just in case you haven’t, I want to flag it as something to add to the top of your watch list. This essential but heartbreaking piece of TV from Russel T Davies (Queer as Folk, Doctor Who), explores the lives of five 18-year-olds who all move to London in the early '80s. Moving through the decade, the theme of the show is the impact of the AIDS crisis and how it affects this group of friends, the LGBTQ+ community and of course the lives of the individual characters. Not to take the shine away from It’s a Sin, but once you have finished I would definitely recommend watching Pose, which shows the crisis from a US perspective. Both are a much-needed education on something which took millions of lives but which is rarely discussed in school. It’s one of those that really stays with you afterwards.
Call The Midwife
I would say I’m a tad late to the party on this one. It’s on its tenth and final series and I’m just getting involved. You know that feeling when you discover a new-to-you show and find out it’s got an extensive back catalogue? I was thrilled to see it was going to keep me occupied for a while. I am sure it needs no introduction but here’s a brief overview. It starts off in the East End of London in the late 1950s and is based on the memoir of Jennifer Worth. It follows her as she works and lives with a religious order in a nursing convent, showing the everyday trials and tribulations in midwifery at the time. It doesn’t shy away from tough subjects, so that should definitely come with a warning. All of it is good but I particularly enjoy it when it gets to the early sixties and Nurse Crane comes on board. Don’t skip the Christmas specials either for some properly heartwarming shmaltz. Get the tissues ready.
Babysitters Club
Another TV series remake of a much-loved film from my youth. I am probably at least twenty years over the intended target audience of this show but I read all the books when I was younger and the nostalgia hits hard. If you’re unsure whether you should be watching it, I was flooded with people my age who said they loved it after I shared it on IG stories, so definitely go in. It’s really wonderful how they’ve updated the characters, or maybe how ahead of their time they were?! Dawn’s vegan diet doesn’t seem too radical now and their passion for social justice makes me feel like the youth can teach us a thing or two. We are in safe hands with Christy, Claudia, Mary Anne, Stacey and Dawn. Find it on Netflix now.
Unorthodox
When I do these round-ups, I go back through all my streaming services’ history (there are a few of them). I was reminded of when I watched this show all the way back in April, on the edge of my seat, barely daring to breathe. Like a lot of the shows in this round-up, it is also based on a book of the same name, written by Deborah Feldman. It’s only four parts, but you feel every minute of those episodes. It is filmed in Yiddish, which I believe is a Netflix first, and follows 19-year-old Esther as she runs away from her Jewish Orthodox community in Williamsburg, New York, and escapes to Berlin. A really gripping watch. I would highly recommend watching the ‘Making Unorthodox’ documentary afterwards.
Sweet Magnolias
Now, this show is not for everyone, but if you like Virgin River then it might be for you. I don’t know what category you’d file this under. Perhaps romance with a side of gingham tablecloth and a slice of apple pie. Whatever it is, I love it and it’s my TV comfort blanket. It’s a ten-part series that follows a trio of grown-up school friends in a small town called Serenity. There’s of course plenty of romance, a hell of a lot of margaritas and guacamole, and quite the cliffhanger ending. There’s also many a flaw in the show (I think the fact that almost all the women wear heels is quite something) but I am hooked nonetheless. Series two, please hurry up!
Bridgerton
Is it even worth me writing a paragraph on Bridgerton? I didn’t want to watch it, I didn’t want to enjoy it but, predictably, I loved every single minute of it. I thought I’d mention it in case you’re anything like me and avoid watching anything that’s hyped up. Stubbornness is one of my terrible traits. It’s Netflix’s biggest budget show EVER and the flowers, metres of tulle, lace and beadwork reflect that. Of course, it’s been given a green light for series two, and I will most certainly be tuning in. The first season is based on the book ‘The Duke and I’ by Julia Quinn and the lead, Daphne, is indeed Sally Webster’s from Coronation Street’s daughter (I feel not enough people know this). It’s total fantasy, a sexier Downton Abbey and just the thing you need to get you through the bleak winter. Hands up if you’ve watched it at least twice?!
When writing this, I was four episodes into The Queen’s Gambit and was really enjoying it, however, I had to draw the line as this is over 2,000 words now. But definitely give it a watch. As always, share what you are watching in the comments. I love discovering new or new-to-me shows!
