TV box sets to binge on while in self-isolation

As we follow government advice and lock ourselves down or away in self-isolation, how should we spend our time? There’s no Match of the Day and obviously we’re not going to watch Mrs Brown’s Boys — or Belgravia. The obvious answer is binge on cable TV. So here are some top tips, the best of Netflix and Amazon Prime.

1)  The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (Amazon Prime, 2017-)

Of course, it’s not Seinfeld and it’s not Curb, but The Marvelous Mrs Maisel exploded on the scene with a fresh Jewish-feminist-New York energy. “Midge” Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan), Jewish mother and housewife in late 1950s New York, becomes a foulmouthed stand-up and friend of Lenny Bruce (brilliantly played by Luke Kirby). Among the real stars are Midge’s father and father-in-law. Season 4 starts later this year.

2)  Goliath (Amazon Prime, 2016-)

It’s a well-worn story line: drunken lawyer, down on his luck (remember Paul Newman in The Verdict?) takes on the evil corporate giant. Can he win against all the odds? Sounds ho hum, but cast Billy Bob Thornton (see Fargo below) as the good guy and William Hurt as the baddie, set it on the West Coast, and you get some gripping TV. Created by David E Kelly (Ally McBeal, Boston Legal), Season 4 has already been commissioned.

3)  Homeland (Netflix, 2011-2020)

Inspired by a brilliant Israeli TV show, Prisoners of War (2010-12), Homeland originally starred Damian Lewis (Brody). Was he a US war hero or traitor? Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) is the CIA agent on his trail. Carrie continued as the central, bipolar character, struggling with her “meds”, but increasingly important were Mandy Patinkin (playing Carrie’s boss Saul Berenson) and F Murray Abraham (Dar Adal), as the show moved around the terrorist hellholes of the world. The final season is now showing on Sunday evenings on Channel 4, but riddled with ads. You could wait for it to appear on Netflix, ad-free.4)

4)  Better Call Saul (Netflix, 2015-)

Vince Gilligan’s Breaking Bad was one of the best and darkest TV shows of all time and it made Bryan Cranston a star. Better Call Saul is the prequel. It takes some of the most captivating characters from Breaking Bad and gives us their back story. More drugs and violence and lots more courtroom wheeling and dealing.

5)  Fargo (Netflix, 2014-)

 A spin-off from the Coen Brothers film, Fargo (1996), the FX series is, if anything, even darker and more compelling. Set in the snowy wastes of the flyover states, these are tales of human wickedness more than crime, with an all-star cast: Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton (Season 1), Kirsten Dunst and Ted Danson (Season 2), Ewan MacGregor and David Thewlis (Season 3) and Chris Rock and Ben Whishaw (in Season 4, forthcoming). Decent local people meet radical evil in the freezing mid-West.

6)  The Americans (Amazon Prime, 2013-18)

This is a spy series with a twist: Soviet spies during the Reagan years who have gone undercover in suburban America. It’s not that Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) are the good guys. After all, they are KGB agents. But as with Homeland, we are in some moral grey zone where decent people get killed for just being in the way.

7)  The Crown (Netflix, 2016-)

Created and mainly written by Peter Morgan (The Queen, Frost/Nixon), this drama series tells the story of the Royal family since the war. An all-star cast (Helena Bonham-Carter, Olivia Colman, John Lithgow, Imelda Staunton still to come), The Crown launched some brilliant new careers (Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret, Claire Foy as the young Elizabeth II). Best of all, it mixes well-known stories (the Coronation, Aberfan) with fascinating little-known stories (Edward VIII’s collaboration with the Nazis, Sutherland’s portrait of Churchill), plus sex, gossip and Big History.

8)  The Spy (Netflix, 2019)

One of the great international developments on the small screen has been the sudden emergence of Israeli television (including Prisoners of War, the model for Homeland, and Shtisel, about a Yiddish-speaking group of orthodox Jews in Jerusalem). One of the best new Israeli dramas is The Spy, the true-life story of an Israeli double agent who goes undercover in Syria during the 1960s. Sacha Baron Cohen plays the lead, but look out for Noah Emmerich (from The Americans). 6 episodes.