From gripping dramas to documentaries, these Netflix series are the cream of the crop. Photo / Netflix
Comedy, drama, Formula One documentaries … Out of the thousands of shows available to watch on Netflix, these are the best
Admittedly Peter Morgan’s royal saga started more strongly than it finished, but it remains a sumptuously detailed, sharply written and frequently riveting drama. It also features one of the all-time-great ensemble casts, cleverly refreshed every couple of seasons – from established talent such as Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Jonathan Pryce, Alex Jennings, Gillian Anderson and Lesley Manville to star-making turns from the likes of Claire Foy, Vanessa Kirby, Erin Doherty, Josh O’Connor and Emma Corrin. Together, they create an empathetic snapshot of the royal family during a pivotal period of change in Britain’s history.
Who could have predicted that a dystopian Korean series about economic disparity, featuring players taking part in deadly versions of children’s games to win life-changing prize money, all for the amusement of an elite cabal, would become Netflix’s most-watched programme? Yet that’s what happened in September 2021, as more than 142 million households in 94 countries clocked up 1.65 billion viewing hours by tuning into Hwang Dong-hyuk’s utterly gripping Squid Game. It’s even inspired a similarly binge-worthy spin-off competition, Squid Game: The Challenge, in which real people don the iconic green tracksuits (no actual deaths involved, though).
Dearest gentle reader, the period drama is back with a bang – quite literally. Shonda Rhimes’ mega-hit adaptation of Julia Quinn’s romance novels gives viewers Regency-era fashions, balls and heaving bosoms, but cannily updates the genre with diverse casting, feminist(ish) sensibilities and properly steamy sex scenes. Nicola Coghlan is the breakout star as the wallflower who wields power through her gossip-columnist alter ego. With each season focusing on the courtship of a different sibling in the massive titular family, following the eight books in Quinn’s series, Bridgerton should keep providing its frothy escapist pleasures for some time to come.
Anya Taylor-Joy, now playing Furiosa in the latest Mad Max movie, exploded into public consciousness via this unlikely hit: a miniseries revolving around a chess prodigy. Of course, it helps that her character Beth Harmon (who first appeared in Walter Tevis’ 1983 novel) is also a rebellious orphan with a destabilising drink and drugs habit, as well as a lone woman in a world of men. Add in covetable 1950s-60s costumes, Cold War tensions, ingenious dramatisation of chess games, and idiosyncratic love interests played by Harry Melling, Jacob Fortune-Lloyd and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and you’ve got an unbeatable strategy.
The small town of Hawkins, Indiana, looks like suburban paradise – but there are secrets lurking just beyond the white picket fences. The Duffer Brothers’ 1980s-set sci-fi series pays homage to the greats of the genre (Stephen King, John Carpenter, David Lynch, Steven Spielberg) in its compelling combination of coming-of-age drama and jump-scare supernatural horror. Millie Bobby Brown is the standout as Eleven, a girl with telepathic abilities who was experimented on by evil scientists, but each character, from the kids to the grown-ups, is written with loving detail – including Winona Ryder’s single mother and David Harbour’s gruff police chief.
Netflix made a real statement of intent in the first year of its original programming with this bold comedy/drama. Based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, it follows an upper-middle-class white woman who is sent to a federal prison after her former girlfriend names her as a drug smuggler. It quickly expands into a layered, funny and sometimes devastating ensemble portrait, spotlighting characters like Uzo Aduba’s Crazy Eyes, Danielle Brooks’ Taystee, and Natasha Lyonne’s Nicky. There are serious critiques around race, class, addiction and more, but its most radical act is simply humanising these flawed but lovable inmates.
Benedict Cumberbatch stars as Vincent Anderson, a genius puppeteer in 1980s New York whose 9-year-old son Edgar goes missing in this new noir-ish drama. Granted we’ve seen countless lost child thrillers in the past few years, but this rich psychological work by acclaimed British writer Abi Morgan is a very different proposition. Not only does Vincent’s creation, a 7ft blue furry Muppets-type creature called Eric, become a sort of invisible friend to the despairing father, this ambitious tale also looks at everything from intergenerational conflict to a city in crisis. It’s unflinching, courageous, career-best work from Cumberbatch.
The wacky premise of Tina Fey and Robert Carlock’s brilliant sitcom is that Kimmy has been held hostage in a doomsday bunker for 15 years – but now she’s free. Hilarious! Actually, it really is, thanks to a perfectly judged performance by Ellie Kemper and support from Tituss Burgess as her camp actor roommate, Carol Kane as her take-no-prisoners landlady, Jane Krakowski as her socialite employer, and a very creepy Jon Hamm as the reverend who abducted Kimmy. The lightning-fast episodes have a phenomenal joke rate, including some ridiculously good song parodies (Burgess’ Peeno Noir is unforgettable).
Centring on Omar Sy’s exceedingly suave Assane Diop, a master thief in the vein of his fictional hero Arsène Lupin, this French mystery series is supremely stylish entertainment. If, like me, you love a clever heist that involves elaborate disguises and Olympic-level cat burglar athleticism, Lupin delivers again and again – but there’s also some sincere long-term plotting around a terrible event in his childhood, his thirst for justice, and how his criminal activities impact on his family life. The super-cool Sy is both action hero and charismatic secret agent: basically James Bond, but very French.
Rage. That’s the emotion coursing through this blistering dark comedy, which kicks off with a road rage incident involving two on-edge Asian-American drivers who then become consumed by revenge. Lifestyle entrepreneur Amy is close to finally selling her small business, but is constantly patronised by her white buyer and has a smugly chilled-out husband at home – no wonder she keeps fondling her secretly stashed gun. Struggling builder Danny is under pressure to support his whole family, and has a volatile ex-con cousin. There’s a gleeful catharsis in their explosive feud that the viewer may well share.
One of the best among Netflix’s riveting sports documentaries, Drive to Survive takes us behind the scenes of an F1 season, following 10 teams and their drivers, from 2018 onwards. This surprise hit has brought a massive new international audience (including, crucially, American viewers) to the sport by focusing on the people: the juicy rivalries, the very different leadership styles, the clashing egos, and the peculiar challenge of your teammate becoming your adversary (see: Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez). All punctuated by deafening races and the occasional terrifying near-fatal crash. No wonder this series has roared to victory.
The urtext of the industry’s now-mammoth true crime obsession, Making a Murderer is a phenomenally dedicated piece of work by its directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos. They spent 10 years filming the first season, chronicling the arrest of Steven Avery in Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, his subsequent conviction for sexual assault and attempted murder, and then another, even more controversial case involving Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey. It’s both a forensically detailed indictment of a monstrously flawed justice system and an absorbing real-life murder mystery, with more twists and turns than you could possibly script.
The BBC’s long reign as nature documentary-makers supreme is under threat thanks to this jaw-dropping, multimillion-pound series by the team behind Planet Earth. They’ve even nabbed David Attenborough – the cheek! The result is blockbuster spectacle anchored by Attenborough’s unparalleled commentary as we range from hunting dogs tracking a wildebeest calf in the Serengeti, to penguins feeding on Arctic krill and the courtship dance of the manakin. The series also goes much further than its BBC rivals in demonstrating the devastating effects of climate change on our natural world and why it’s imperative that we act now.
Controversy over the stated claim that this is “a true story” has engulfed Baby Reindeer, but why not watch it and judge it for yourself? Originally a one-man theatre show, which Scottish comedian Richard Gadd wrote about his experience of having a stalker, it’s now a chilling drama starring Gadd as a version of himself and the terrific Jessica Gunning as Martha – a woman he befriends, and who proceeds to bombard him with increasingly alarming messages. But to what extent does Donny encourage her, and how does it link to trauma from his past? This expertly paced series keeps you guessing.
Audiences can’t get enough of Patricia Highsmith’s psychopathic conman Tom Ripley. Now we can add to the list of previous excellent adaptations Steven Zaillian’s moody, spellbinding noir series. It stars Andrew Scott as a cold-blooded predator who gradually infiltrates the charmed Amalfi Coast life of wastrel rich kid Dickie Greenleaf, played by Johnny Flynn. Robert Elswit’s astonishing, expressionistic monochrome cinematography – both beautiful and unsettling – recalls Cold War classics like The Third Man, ramping up the tension and paranoia. Maurizio Lombardi’s inspector is a great addition in later episodes, as is a scene-stealing Maine Coon cat.
It might seem a bizarre choice to have tennis great John McEnroe voice the inner thoughts of an Indian-American teenage girl, but it works a treat in Mindy Kaling and Lang Fisher’s buoyant coming-of-age comedy. Devi Vishwakumar, you see, also struggles to control her temper, particularly since her beloved father died suddenly. This sweet, funny show covers both universal experiences like friendship, adolescent crushes and school life, and more specific ones, as Devi, her mother Nalini and her cousin Kamala (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan and Richa Moorjani respectively, all fantastic) also negotiate cultural and family expectations.
Talk about versatility. Gillian Anderson can give us both a frosty Margaret Thatcher in The Crown and the robustly candid therapist Jean Milburn in this carnally frank, but ultimately big-hearted, comedy. Asa Butterfield is brilliant too as her repressed teenage son Otis, who becomes an unofficial sex therapist himself for his confused classmates. This exceptionally well-cast show has been a star-making project for many – including new Doctor Who leading man Ncuti Gatwa and Simone Ashley, who went on to Bridgerton fame. Girls’ Jemima Kirke is excellent too as a seemingly cool headmistress with a hidden agenda.
Those looking for a follow-up to Breaking Bad should head for “the Ozarks” (a lakeside region in Missouri), where financial adviser Marty Byrde flees with his family as part of a money laundering deal with a Mexican drug cartel in this atmospheric thriller. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney play the outwardly respectable couple juggling marriage and parenthood with turf warfare once the resident criminals figure out their scheme. It’s densely plotted, darkly funny, and features virtuoso performances from Julia Garner as a bright local girl doomed by her family and Janet McTeer as the cartel’s smooth-talking attorney.
This sharp, cynical political drama, along with Orange Is the New Black, set the standard for Netflix’s original output. An American remake of the legendary 1990s BBC series, it saw Kevin Spacey succeed Ian Richardson as the Machiavellian, power-hungry operator Francis Urquhart, who lurks in the shadows and confides his cunning plans to the viewer in the style of a Shakespearean soliloquy. Spacey is deliciously evil, Robin Wright is fascinatingly slippery as his wife Claire, and the quality supporting cast features Michael Kelly, Patricia Clarkson, future Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali, and a pre-Marvelous Mrs Maisel Rachel Brosnahan.
This, ahem, fiendishly addictive 1980s Colombia-set drama tells the story of drug lord Pablo Escobar and the DEA agents sent to hunt him down. Goodfellas is a clear influence here, both in form (voiceover features heavily) and in the gradual ratcheting up of corruption and sickening violence. Wagner Moura is horribly compelling as Escobar, portraying him as a contradictory man whose failed ambitions have fatal consequences for those around him, while Pedro Pascal (who has since become a Hollywood A-lister thanks to The Mandalorian and The Last of Us) is equally strong as one of the lawmen on his tail.
Banish the woeful movie, and its weirdly miscast Anne Hathaway, from your mind. David Nicholls’ endearing 2009 novel – about two opposites-attract students who meet at the end of university, and then keep reconnecting on the same date, St Swithin’s Day, over 20 years – finally gets a worthy adaptation in the form of this romantic, occasionally painful, far more authentic series. Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall (who recently impressed, respectively, in This Is Going to Hurt and White Lotus) fit perfectly in those lead roles, and a cracking cast features Eleanor Tomlinson, Joely Richardson and Toby Stephens. Achingly nostalgic.
Charlie Brooker moved his dystopian sci-fi series from Channel 4 to Netflix, gaining a bigger budget while retaining its chilling mission statement: exploring the nightmarish possible endpoint of modern technology. Brooker also used his new home to boldly experiment with form, creating an interactive film, Bandersnatch, in which the decisions you make as a viewer dictate the storyline (like the Choose Your Own Adventure books). But the standard episodes are inventive too, each riffing on a different genre and penetrating idea, and boast big-name guest stars like Bryce Dallas Howard, Jesse Plemons, Andrea Riseborough, Maxine Peake and Andrew Scott.
Netflix has lured numerous auteurs from cinema, and their major get here is the director David Fincher. His fingerprints are all over this lethal psychological thriller, which takes place in the late 1970s as the FBI was just beginning to profile murderers and serial killers. Mindhunter, as with Fincher movies like Zodiac, features his taut plotting, recognisable green tint, nauseating sense of dread, and bravura long scenes that build heart-pounding drama simply through a conversation between two people. Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany, as the FBI agents, and Anna Torv as their closeted lesbian psychotherapist colleague lead this criminally good show.
Cartoons aren’t just for kids. Existentialist Hollywood satire BoJack Horseman is at the vanguard of the recent revolution in “adult” animation; its main character may be part-horse, but he’s also a depressed, jaded, middle-aged actor with a drinking problem. The landmark series has tackled everything from mental health to dementia to miscarriage, but it’s also teeming with both verbal and visual gags, and with absurdist plot lines like a labrador named Mr Peanutbutter running for governor of California. Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F Tompkins and Aaron Paul lead a superb voice cast.
Who knew there was once a women’s wrestling circuit called GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling)? Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch’s vibrant series revisits this gonzo 1980s marvel: think big hair, spandex, head locks, and unconventional girl power. Marc Maron is a hoot as the misanthropic director Sam, but the core of the show is the wrecked friendship between former soap star Debbie (Betty Gilpin) and desperately ambitious actress Ruth (Alison Brie) – which translates into a fiery rivalry in the ring. Naturally, Ruth’s heel character is a boo-hiss Soviet, while Debbie is the all-American beauty. Offbeat, vivid and weirdly charming.
It’s hard to imagine this surreal sketch series existing before the advent of streaming, or reaching the kind of wide audience that it has while on Netflix. But we’re all better off for having it in our lives. Co-creator (with Zach Kanin) Robinson, who also stars, is an absurdist genius who pushes cringe comedy to its limits. His obsessive characters, whether an ornery man in a focus group or a guy dressed as a hotdog, refuse to back down – and in the process all social niceties and structures come crashing down. It’s startlingly funny, and the end of every sketch zags in a different direction.
The first two seasons of Ronan Bennett’s award-winning drama aired on Channel 4 in the UK, and, following a campaign led by Canadian rapper Drake, Netflix then commissioned seasons three to five. Set on a Hackney estate, it’s a devastating portrait of gang violence, drug dealing and sheer desperation: no one in Top Boy has any better options. In that sense it’s reminiscent of David Simon’s The Wire, and Bennett similarly builds out his world with fully-formed, all-too-believable characters. Ashley Walters is particularly strong as Dushane, but excellent too are Kane Robinson, Araloyin Oshunremi, Jasmine Jobson, Saffron Hocking, and Micheal Ward.
What does it take to reach the top – and stay there? This gripping 10-part documentary gives you a courtside seat to the astonishing ability and psyche of one such figure, basketball hero Michael Jordan, as he prepares for his final season (1997-98) with the Chicago Bulls. The level of access is unusually good, and director Jason Hehir alternates between absorbing archive footage and enlightening contemporary interviews with everyone from Bulls head coach Phil Jackson to Jordan teammates Dennis Rodman and Scottie Pippen and superfans such as Barack Obama. It is pretty hagiographic, but the Jordan legend is simply irresistible.
Rising star Margaret Qualley leads this moving drama based on Stephanie Land’s memoir. Qualley plays Alex Russell, who escapes her abusive boyfriend and tries to make a new life with 2-year-old daughter Maddy while working as a maid. However, as she has no fixed address, she’s constantly thwarted by ridiculous red tape in a system that more often harms than helps. Andie MacDowell (Qualley’s actual mother) is wrenching too as Alex’s mum, who has a serious but undiagnosed mental health disorder. Throughout, Qualley’s connection with the wonderful Rylea Neveah Whittet as Maddy gives the series its heart and its fight.
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