Any decent TV series?

[zico]

Any suggestions for a good TV series? Preferably something dramatic, well-written and witty. We've previously enjoyed "The Killing" and "The Bridge". Just couldn't take to "Breaking Bad" even though it's been so highly rated.

We're currently watching Handmaid's Tale which is pretty powerful stuff and quite engaging (albeit in a downbeat way).

We're also plodding on with last series of Game of Thrones, which has varied from entertaining to boring, as the main characters have been spun on beyond endurance, and studiously avoiding any major confrontations with each other.
By constrast, the latest and last series appears to have been written by a schoolkid with the brief "just wrap all this up somehow, will you - we're a bit bored now".

Really enjoyed "Big Little Lies" - it had a slow start, became very enjoyable, but has now finished.

[Mike88]

Line of Duty is superb but not witty.

[kiloran]

Broken on BBC1 recently was outstanding but also not witty. Downright depressing in fact, but unmissable.

--kiloran

[PinkDalek]

Any suggestions for a good TV series? Preferably something dramatic, well-written and witty. We've previously enjoyed "The Killing" and "The Bridge". Just couldn't take to "Breaking Bad" even though it's been so highly rated.

We're currently watching Handmaid's Tale which is pretty powerful stuff and quite engaging (albeit in a downbeat way). ...

Agreed, both on "Breaking Bad" and "Handmaid's Tale".

Depending on what you need/have to access the series, we fairly recently enjoyed this on Amazon Prime:

Patriot (2015- )
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4687882/?ref_=ttloc_loc_tt

The trailer doesn't do it justice but does give a hint as to the black humour within it.

Dramatic - Tick but not really in the same mould as those you mention.

Well-written - Tick.

Witty - Yes, definitely.

Well acted - We thought so and well cast.

From a post of mine on TLF but elsewhere:

Well worth watching but one does need to concentrate.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radi ... spy-comedy

The Observer calls it '... a Gleefully Deranged, Dark Comedy Thriller'.

[redsturgeon]

I've just watched the season 3 finale of Fargo, IMHO it fits the bill on all of your requirements.

I have found all three seasons to be superb.

John

PS Just to add that each season is completely stand alone although they share a similar atmosphere and geography.

[brightncheerful]

BBC 1 "In the dark" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ygbvr

Well written and amusing.

[kiloran]

BBC 1 "In the dark" - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08ygbvr

Well written and amusing.

I enjoyed it, but..... amusing???

--kiloran

[TedSwippet]

On the lighter side, Loaded (Channel 4 catch-up) and Zapped (UKTV play). I thought both were nicely pitched and worth watching. (My wife didn't watch Loaded, so I'm not sure whether that one appealed to me purely because I've worked in places like this, or whether the humour is more general.)

Less light would be National Treasure (Channel 4 again) from a year or so back. Dark -- although nowhere near The Handmaid's Tale dark -- and not aimed at being "witty", but also excellently done. And I'll second redsturgeon on Fargo.

[forrado]

Have just started watching The Last Tycoon, a joint Sony Pictures Television and Amazon Studios 9-part series loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s unfinished novel of the same name about Hollywood of the 1930s. The pilot episode having been released back in June 2016 followed by the go-ahead for the series to begin on 27 July this year.

What humour there is comes from the verbal interplay between the youthful Monroe Stahr character (played by Matt Bomer) and the older self-made movie mogul and studio boss Pat Brady (played by Kelsey Grammer).

Currently scoring 8 out 10, The Last Tycoon shows promise.

[JMN2]

Orange Is the New Black is quite good too, women in prison, and backflashes to their previous lives.

[ZipserSir]

I was going to suggest Pretty Little Lies and then you mentioned it right at the end of your post. I seem to like the same things as you!

On which basis I'd suggest Westwood, the TV series, and Sherlock.

[nimnarb]

Check out on BBC iPlayer........."I know who you are". Spanish drama with subtitles. Intriguing who done it. 10 episodes well worth watching. Builds to a really good climax. Anyone seen it? If not, please do, as I need some answers.....

[paulnumbers]

Any suggestions for a good TV series?

Not sure if any of these are your sort of thing, but these are the shows I've enjoyed over the last few years.

"The Night Of" is fantastic. A crime drama, quite short at 9 episodes - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2401256/

House of Cards (US version) if you haven't seen it - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856010/

Fargo (the TV series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo_(TV_series)

True Detective - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Detective

Broadwalk Empire - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boardwalk_Empire - probably the only one that's witty in a dark sort of way (well, I suppose Fargo is)

And finally Ozark - a heart warming story of money laundering - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5071412/

[SalvorHardin]

1) “19-2”. Canadian show about patrol cops in Montreal (it’s an English language remake of the French-Canadian series of the same name). 19-2 is all about everyday police work, i.e. missing persons, shoplifters, traffic accidents, domestic trouble callouts and the occasional robbery in progress with not a court in sight. In addition to the police stuff there are underlying themes of police corruption, alcoholism, domestic violence and the pressure that the job places upon your private life.

The first two series are free on Amazon Prime. In Canada the fourth and final series is currently showing. Best police series since Hill Street Blues IMHO (yes, better than “The Shield”). Series 1 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2XuRadtHDU

2) “X Company”. Another Canadian series, this is about a team of Allied spies in Occupied France in 1942. It’s an often brutal show which shows things which TV generally shies away from, such as the SS gunning down children. Three series were made (28 episodes), UK viewers have to make do with the region 1 DVDs from Canada. Series 1 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFnjGO-hhG4

3) “Peaky Blinders” from the BBC. Gangsters in Birmingham after the end of the First World War. The Peaky Blinders have mistakenly stolen 25 Lewis Guns which they thought were motorbikes; Winston Churchill sends in his top man from Belfast to retrieve the guns which they fear will otherwise end up in the hands of the IRA and/or Communist agitators. Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill star. Three series so far, two more are to be made. It’s the only drama in the last few years which I make sure I see live. Series 1 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvSEIfUh0nI

4) “The Expanse”, a science-fiction politics-military-police-exploration series set a couple of hundred years in the future when much of the Solar System has been colonised. A policeman from the Asteroid Belt is assigned to find a missing woman against the backdrop of increasing tension in the Belt and a brewing war between Earth and the more technologically advanced Mars. Two series so far, a third is being made. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dkXNhJ-F-c

Older series:

5) “Justified”. Deputy US Marshall Raylan Givens, a 21st century Lawman with a 19th century attitude, is reassigned from Miami to Eastern Kentucky after killing a drug cartel gunman who didn't heed his warning to get out of town. Justified is based on an Elmore Leonard short story where the focus is on hunting down fugitives, dealing with weed growers, the Dixie Mafia and coping with dodgy coal mining companies. Six series (78 episodes) were made: Series 1 trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UZlz8J4iGk

Series 2 trailer. It doesn’t appear in the series, it sums up Raylan Givens in 30 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVT0B3pPsa8

6) “Sons of Anarchy”. An outlaw motorcycle gang in Northern California makes its money through gun running whilst protecting the small town of Charming where they live. The Sons keep Charming free of drugs (and other crime) in return for the local police turning a blind eye to their illegal activities (all of which are kept out of town).

The underlying theme of the show is Hamlet (there’s enough Hamlet in the show to get Shakespeare scholars interested – when I was taking a third year university Shakespeare course I used to draw heavily upon the series for examples of how to portray Shakespeare’s plays in a modern context). Seven series (92 episodes) were made.

Series 1 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXjbllOSUnQ

7) “Leverage” – a former insurance investigator puts together a team of four diverse criminals to right wrongs inflicted on people and communities by corporations, organised crime and governments. “Sometimes bad guys make the best good guys” Leverage bears more than a passing resemblance the BBC’s “Hustle”. It’s lot slicker, there’s a lot more computer stuff and more humour. Especially geek humour (“age of the geek baby”) with lots of references to Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, gaming and even one about BitTorrent. Series 1 trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqGZwVnyi0g

Other current series worth a shout out are "Dark Matter" (six people with no memories of who they are wake up on a spaceship. Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TqwBlTQfTg) and the somewhat strange "Wynnona Earp" (Wyatt Earp's great-great granddaughter hunts down demons and other supernatural weirdness around the Canadian Rockies town of "Purgatory" using a magical six-shooter. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehg2LZw3FcU)

[droopsnoot]

I've been watching "The Five" on Pick TV - it was on satellite last year, but only just got to terrestrial. It's been pretty good, written by Harlan Coben who is an author I enjoy. It's a bit reminiscent of one of his books, but I can't remember which one, and it's moved to be set in the UK.

I was watching and enjoying "Suits" until (by the sound of it) the extra publicity took it out of the price range for Dave, now it's gone Netflix and my internet isn't up to streaming it. "In the Dark" was mentioned by someone else and was good, but it left out quite a lot as it basically crammed an entire novel (again, an author I enjoy, Mark Billingham) into two one-hour episodes. I tried "Breaking Bad" when the then-new Spike channel started from S1 Ep1, but didn't get into it, perhaps I didn't give it long enough.

I've gone from feast to famine over the last few weeks, but being limited (largely by choice, or perhaps tightness) to terrestrial TV cuts out a lot.

[548834]

Enjoyed 'The Code' series 1 and 2, Australian political dramas

[Devjon]

I have been watching "The Bureau" on Amazon Prime. French with English subtitles. Really outstanding tale of intrigue and espionage.I haven't enjoyed a series so much since "The Bridge"

[UncleIan]

Any suggestions for a good TV series? Preferably something dramatic, well-written and witty. We've previously enjoyed "The Killing" and "The Bridge". Just couldn't take to "Breaking Bad" even though it's been so highly rated.

Deutschland '83 on All 4 (Walter presents). Very retro.

Stranger Things on Netflix. Bit Sci-fi and also retro.

Have never watched Game of Thrones, but as far as I can work out it's basically flesh and violence so maybe Black Sails on Amazon Prime. Pirates nudity and violence, under the fierce Caribbean sun. What's not to like?

[JMN2]

...

Stranger Things on Netflix. Bit Sci-fi and also retro.

...

Started watching this, seems promising. Haven't seen Matthew Modine in decades, such a promising star in the 80's, what happened to his career?

[Slarti]

Started watching this, seems promising. Haven't seen Matthew Modine in decades, such a promising star in the 80's, what happened to his career?

He seems to have quite busy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000546/#actor

Slarti