MY SOLO TV PLEASURES

Our new columnist, Sali Hughes, on the shows and movies she’s been streaming ‘while the cat’s away’

My husband went away last week and I wrung every last drop of joy out of spending time with my teenage sons – although this is essentially the same as being alone once you factor in Xbox, Facetime and a steady stream of barely grunting visitors shuffling past the living room.

For an entire wet weekend, I snuggled up with the dog, enjoying the gluttony of what I like to call

‘while the cat’s away’ TV. It’s not that our free time is usually spent visiting art galleries, attending the opera or other such lofty pursuits, but there’s something about the movies and TV I stream alone that feels like the entertainment equivalent of turning off my phone and soothing my soul with a warm bath.

The secret of this genre is certainly not that it’s inferior to the rest of my viewing (Sex And The City, for example, is peak WTCA watching), but that it offers a televisual balsam for my worn-out brain. I disapprove of the term ‘guilty pleasures’, since I broadly take the view that any harmless fun should be celebrated shamelessly. In 2020, we’re all so routinely busy, tired, anxious and rushed that we should surely get our kicks wherever we can schedule them.

The Elton John biopic Rocketman, starring Taron Egerton [above] is perfect downtime viewing. There’s something about a familiar life story that makes for a reassuring watch, and the classic staging posts in the journey of an emerging superstar – the family tension, the career breakthrough, the rock ’n’ roll excess – are all present and correct (as, of course, are the songs) in Dexter Fletcher’s engaging movie, currently streaming on NOW TV.

I’m also looking forward to streaming Breeders, the new comedy series starring Martin Freeman, Daisy Haggard and the legendary Michael Mckean. It was created by the brilliant Chris Addison and Simon Blackwell, two writers who really know how people tick and are masters of wrapping sharp comedy in a warm and cosy blanket.

Then there’s the illicit enjoyment of revelling in a crime story while alone on the sofa. Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt For The Bone Collector (streaming 20 April) is a new series based on the novel, which promises to tick all my boxes: twistyturny investigations, larger-than-life characters and a gripping plot that’ll keep me on the edge of my sofa. The WTCA potential looks high with this one.

While I enjoyed laughing and gasping at my WTCA picks, I did miss the man I married. Now that he’s back home, it’s time to return to the gritty dramas and movies that we both love…