If Kevin Spacey winning the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV drama has reignited your enthusiasm for House of Cards, you’re in luck: the entire third season will be available, worldwide, on Netflix from 27 February . But if Ruth Wilson winning best actress piqued your interest in Showtime’s The Affair – which also beat House of Cards to win best TV drama – things get a little more complicated.
Despite starring Brit exports Wilson and Dominic West and being produced by the cable channel behind Homeland, The Affair hasn’t yet been picked up in the UK. That seems odd in an age where it’s possible to watch a simulcast of the first episode of Game of Thrones when it broadcasts in the US – there’s an assumption that all television should be legally available for those prepared to shell out for the right package. But there are still notable US shows that somehow get lost in the shuffle. Here are five examples that, at the time of writing, have not been picked up by terrestrial, cable or on-demand providers in the UK.
The Affair
Two Golden Globes might be enough to convince a UK channel to belatedly take a punt on The Affair, but it’s curious that no-one was interested right out of the gate, considering the talent involved both on-screen and off. Co-created by Sarah Treem, who cut her teeth on the lauded In Treatment, it features an appealing quartet of actors (Wilson and West, with Joshua Jackson and Maura Tierney as their respective spouses), a covetable outdoor shower and a formally daring approach. The intense holiday romance between a blocked novelist and a waitress coping with a personal tragedy is told and then retold, Rashomon-style, from their wildly differing perspectives. There’s no mystery as to whether they’re going to get together, but the whole thing is framed, True Detective-style, by an ominous police investigation years later.
Outlander
An exhilarating, time-travelling adventure set against the dramatic backdrop of the Scottish Highlands, Outlander is already a sizeable critical and commercial hit around the world, with showrunner Ronald D Moore – the man who rebooted Battlestar Galactica – successfully tapping and expanding the global fanbase of Diana Gabaldon’s best-selling series of bodice-ripping novels. Despite being filmed entirely on location in Scotland and having already been commissioned for a second series, however, there’s still no sign of Outlander appearing officially in the UK. Bad news for the efforts of dedicated online campaigners desperate to see feisty 1940s nurse Claire (Caitriona Balfe) and rugged 18th-century warrior Jamie (Sam Heughan) hook up on-screen.
Agent Carter
It’s baffling that Channel 4 hasn’t opted to pick up Agent Carter, the latest spin-off from the lucrative Marvel universe: it’s easily the best-reviewed comicbook-related TV show to date, has a UK-friendly fixed run of eight episodes and star Hayley Atwell has already featured heavily in cross-promotional flashbacks in C4’s Agents of Shield. Like plucky Peggy Carter, who refuses to let her post-second-world-war life get her down, Atwell is keeping her chin up about the whole affair, although she did recently tweet that she was sad her mum wasn’t going to be able to watch the show.
Rectify
SundanceTV enjoyed a critical hit with BBC co-production Top of the Lake but its first original series was Rectify, created by actor Ray McKinnon (who played Reverend Smith in Deadwood). It’s a tough sell: Daniel (Aden Young) returns to his hometown after two decades in prison, jailed for the rape and murder of his teenage girlfriend. Free but not exonerated, Daniel’s attempts to reintegrate with a hostile community cause sparks in this slow-burning character study. It has just been recommissioned for a third season, but no UK broadcaster seems that interested in Rectify – it’s currently not even available on DVD.
Z Nation
Co-produced by The Asylum, the outfit behind enthusiastically low-rent TV movies such as Sharknado, Z Nation is never likely to be nominated for many Golden Globes, unless they unexpectedly introduce a “worst zombie makeup” category. But this brazen Walking Dead rip-off triggered a spike in illegal downloads before the first episode even aired, and has proved popular enough to convince parent channel SyFy to commission a second series. Perhaps it will eventually shuffle onto SyFy UK, unless Channel 5 fancies rolling the dice on another splattery hit.
