Summer Heights High
If 10-series epics are only making lockdown feel even longer, why not try something more manageable, such as Chris Lilley’s eight-episode Aussie mockumentary, with its cast of brilliantly warped comic characters, among them drama teacher Mr G and troubled teen Jonah (“I said, ‘Puck you’, miss!”). Although Lilley has reprised his creations for various spinoffs, nothing compares to the original.
BBC iPlayer
North Square
While barrister-turned-screenwriter Peter Moffat went on to make two more legal dramas, Silk and Criminal Justice, his slick, Leeds-based 2000 series still sets the bar for law on TV. From a thief stealing underwear on washing lines to drug runners, the cases vary in severity, but the writing is consistently sharp.
All 4
Wonderfalls
This underrated 2004 US comedy, about a gift shop worker who receives messages from those in need via inanimate objects, has even more resonance when you have spent two months in lockdown chatting with your fridge. It’s one for fans of head-bending mortality tales such as The Good Place, Dead Like Me and Pushing Daisies (it shares a creator, Bryan Fuller, with the latter two).
Available on DVD
Firefly
Joss Whedon’s 2002 sci-fi western made a lasting impression on fans in just one season, and has since been referenced everywhere from Community to Family Guy. Set in the year 2517, this Star Wars-esque tale of distant planets and the crew of the Serenity spaceship was a clever, entirely ahead-of-its-time adventure.
Amazon Prime Video
Unbelievable
This heartbreaking tale of rape and the structural inequalities of the US justice system doesn’t hinge so much on whether young, vulnerable protagonist Marie (Kaitlyn Dever) is telling the truth, as on why no one believes her. Toni Collette and Merritt Wever excel as the cop duo charged with bringing some sense of justice to proceedings in the hit 2019 miniseries.
Netflix
Freaks and Geeks
Created by Judd Apatow and Paul Feig, two names who have remained a maximum of two degrees of separation away from everything on TV ever since, this teen classic about the kids who never quite fit in launched the careers of James Franco and Seth Rogen. Honorable mention, too, for its introspective cousin My So-Called Life.
All 4
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip
Aaron Sorkin’s 2006 satire about an SNL-style comedy show had all the hallmarks of a hit: high-profile showrunner; West Wing alumnus Bradley Whitford heading up the cast; a fresh-out-of-Friends Matthew Perry. However, it was dismissed by critics as too lofty and ratings plummeted, while the very similar 30 Rock flourished. Boo!
Amazon/iTunes (£)
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
For a show that ran for just six episodes, Channel 4’s 2004 horror spoof has an outsized legacy but one that is truly deserved. Sending up low-budget cinema in ludicrous, Partridge-meets-Stephen King fashion, Darkplace was a launchpad for Richard Ayoade, Matt Berry and Alice Lowe, while its co-creator and star Matthew Holness, went on to make real-life horror film Possum.
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Ultraviolet
What’s better than Idris Elba? Idris Elba and vampires! That’s the winning combination viewers of Joe Ahearne’s 1998 Channel 4 thriller were treated to, as bloodsuckers identifiable only under ultraviolet light rose up to claim the Earth. Interestingly, the word “vampire” was never uttered, replaced with the euphemistic “Code Five”.
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Tuca & Bertie
This surreal animation about two millennial pals who just happened to be a toucan and a songbird was widely loved, with Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong on madcap, ribald form as Tuca and Bertie, respectively. Its cancellation last July, seemingly at the behest of Netflix’s algorithms, is arguably one of the streamer’s biggest errors to date.
Netflix
Since this article was published, Tuca & Bertie has been revived by Adult Swim, release date still to be confirmed.
