Box Set Hidden Gems
Check out these not-so-famous streaming binges while you self-isolate
THE COMEBACK (SKY COMEDY/NOW TV) For a while, it was hard to get hold of this extraordinarily clever and funny series, in which Lisa Kudrow plays a sitcom star resorting to making her own reality series to try and boost her career. But, thankfully, now both seasons one and two – separated by nine years – are on Sky. Co-created by Kudrow herself and Sex And The City producer Michael Patrick King, it’s a classic.
GIRI/HAJI (BBC IPLAYER) This eight-part drama created by Joe Barton was a cult hit when it aired on BBC2 last year, and is one of the most visually exciting series in ages. It stars Takehiro Hira as Kenzo Mori, a Tokyo detective who comes to London to look for his brother, who’s wanted for murder. Kelly Macdonald plays a Met detective, while Will Sharpe dazzles as a rent boy. The saga goes to places you’d never expect, from animated sequences to interpretive dance.
UNORTHODOX (NETFLIX) This recent arrival on Netflix has become a word-ofmouth sensation. Inspired by the real-life memoir of Deborah Feldman, the four-part drama stars Shira Haas as a 19-year-old Jewish woman who rejects her ultra-orthodox community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, runs away from her arranged marriage, and tries to create a new life for herself in Berlin. But her husband travels to Germany to find her…
LONDON IRISH (ALL4) Before she created the pop-culture phenomenon that is Derry Girls, writer Lisa Mcgee came up with this bold sitcom about a gaggle of 20-something Belfast expats living in London and generally drinking, having fun and getting up to no good. The Derry Girls-style razor-sharp wit is well in evidence, and the top cast features Sinéad Keenan, Kerr Logan, Peter Campion and Kat Reagan.
THE AMERICANS (AMAZON PRIME) This US drama had a plum slot on ITV on Saturday nights when it started in 2013, but was soon relegated to ITV Encore. Now, all six seasons are on Amazon Prime, and if you’re new to it, the saga of Russian deep cover agents (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) pretending to be a typical American family in ’80s Virginia is probably the best thing you’ve never seen.