Telly time: hidden gems and unsung heroes of the small screen
While all eyes have been on The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown, a less royal flush of no less gripping shows has dropped onto our streaming platforms undetected
Grandy Army (credit: Netflix)
While all eyes have been on The Queen’s Gambit and The Crown, a less royal flush of no less gripping shows has dropped onto our streaming platforms undetected. The Culture Whisper team have sorted through these less celebrated titles, picking our favourites and suggesting why they could be your next big binge.
Borgen (Eleonore Dresch, founder and editor-in-chief)
Photo: Netflix
I watched this Scandi political drama a couple of years ago and was under the spell of Denmark's prime minister Brigitte Nyborg – the character at centre of the series – as she leads the country while dealing with your average (Danish) mother/wife life issues. It felt so cool and inspiring at the time, I am considering watching it again.
Available on Netflix
Black Books (Euan Franklin, TV and cinema editor)
Photo: Netflix
The strange sitcoms of Graham Linehan should never be understated. Between Father Ted and The IT Crowd, he made Black Books with Dylan Moran. Their underrated series follows the bored and drunk adventures of nihilistic bookseller Bernard Black (Moran), who holds a deep and hilarious disdain for his customers.
Available on Netflix and All 4
Grand Army (Holly O’Mahony, acting editor)
Photo: Netflix
Although very much a ‘high-school drama’, Grand Army bears none of the tropes and clichéd stereotypes of the noughties teen shows usually associated with the genre. Instead, it’s a woke, diversely-cast nine-part series by Katie Cappiello that explores consent, sexuality, racial prejudice, and ethnicity versus nationality among its many topics, all through the eyes of its five teenage protagonists. It raises challenging questions of morality, exposes the grittier, unfiltered layers to the teenage experience and, for us adults, is a window onto a time in life when school and the web of characters you meet there are your entire world.
Available on Netflix
Call My Agent (Jen Barton Packer, kids editor)
Photo: Netflix
Post-Emily in Paris, I remembered how much I love French films and TV shows and have been going down the rabbit hole of French Netflix (it's brilliant! Everything from The Hook Up Plan to School Life is fab). Recently, I stumbled upon Call My Agent, aka Dix Pour Cent, co-starring Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who plays Emily's boss, for anyone who's a fan. The show centres on the agents and assistants working at a top Paris talent agency, as well as the actors they represent, and is just as foul-mouthed, OTT and ridiculous as you'd want it to be – yet, somehow, you still find the characters compelling and want to root for them. I also love how each episode features a cameo from a mega-star – eg Cecile de France, Monica Bellucci, Jean Dujardin, Juliette Binoche.
Available on Netflix
Trackers (Teresa Guerreiro, dance editor)
Photo: Sky Atlantic
A pulsating, multi-strand thriller set in modern-day South Africa, Trackers is the TV adapation of Deon Meyer's rollercoaster novel that blends Islamic terrorism, blood diamonds and government corruption in an edge-of-your-seat tale of heroes and villains. Subtle it isn't… but it's addictive and eminently binge-able...
Available on Sky Atlantic
Ted Lasso (Rebecca Gonsalves, fashion director)
Photo: Apple TV+
As the football-loathing wife of an Arsenal devotee, I surprised even myself with how much I enjoyed this extremely silly, sometimes smutty and very warm-hearted comedy series about a down-on-its-luck fictional London team and the fish-out-of-water American drafted in to coach them. There are some ridiculously broad strokes and stereotyped characters, but the message of doing your best and celebrating family in all its forms, to me, resonated with the difficulties of 2020.
Available on Apple TV+
BoJack Horseman (Euan Franklin, TV and cinema editor)
Photo: Netflix
It's difficult to explain the heavy, emotional and existential weight of BoJack Horseman. Yes, it's a cartoon about a talking humanoid horse who used to be a sitcom star, but it's much more than that. He's now an ageing alcoholic, endlessly nostalgic for his bygone years. It sounds like a joke – and it is – but the series soon develops into a surreal examination of fame, pop culture, depression, and toxic masculinity.
Available on Netflix
The Bureau (Sarah Joan Ross, beauty director)
Photo: Amazon
This is a French espionage drama that is thrilling, intelligent and gripping to the very end.
Available on Amazon
Friday Night Dinner (Will Aves, head of partnerships)
Photo: Channel 4
Every element is joyously simple yet hugely entertaining: the premise, the characters, the running themes and gags, all performed by a wonderful cast. And only discovering the show when its sixth series launched, in the very first week of lockdown, meant there were 30 more episodes ready and waiting.
Available on All 4
The Secrets She Keeps (Janeá Minar, senior partnerships manager)
Photo: BBC iPlayer
I found this series on BBC iPlayer on a particularly gloomy lockdown Sunday and completely binged it. The six-part series tells the story of two women living very different lives in Australia. One is a gorgeous, pregnant mummy blogger while the other, equally pregnant, works as a supermarket checkout girl (played brilliantly by Laura Carmichael from Downton Abbey). The only thing they have in common is their due date, and there the drama and plot twists begins. It was entirely predictable from start to finish but I found that to be the best part. There will be no brain power required for an afternoon of guilty-pleasure watching.
Available on BBC iPlayer
Borgen (Eleonore Dresch, founder and editor-in-chief)
Photo: Netflix
I watched this Scandi political drama a couple of years ago and was under the spell of Denmark's prime minister Brigitte Nyborg – the character at centre of the series – as she leads the country while dealing with your average (Danish) mother/wife life issues. It felt so cool and inspiring at the time, I am considering watching it again.
Available on Netflix
Black Books (Euan Franklin, TV and cinema editor)
Photo: Netflix
The strange sitcoms of Graham Linehan should never be understated. Between Father Ted and The IT Crowd, he made Black Books with Dylan Moran. Their underrated series follows the bored and drunk adventures of nihilistic bookseller Bernard Black (Moran), who holds a deep and hilarious disdain for his customers.
Available on Netflix and All 4
Grand Army (Holly O’Mahony, acting editor)
Photo: Netflix
Although very much a ‘high-school drama’, Grand Army bears none of the tropes and clichéd stereotypes of the noughties teen shows usually associated with the genre. Instead, it’s a woke, diversely-cast nine-part series by Katie Cappiello that explores consent, sexuality, racial prejudice, and ethnicity versus nationality among its many topics, all through the eyes of its five teenage protagonists. It raises challenging questions of morality, exposes the grittier, unfiltered layers to the teenage experience and, for us adults, is a window onto a time in life when school and the web of characters you meet there are your entire world.
Available on Netflix
Call My Agent (Jen Barton Packer, kids editor)
Photo: Netflix
Post-Emily in Paris, I remembered how much I love French films and TV shows and have been going down the rabbit hole of French Netflix (it's brilliant! Everything from The Hook Up Plan to School Life is fab). Recently, I stumbled upon Call My Agent, aka Dix Pour Cent, co-starring Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu, who plays Emily's boss, for anyone who's a fan. The show centres on the agents and assistants working at a top Paris talent agency, as well as the actors they represent, and is just as foul-mouthed, OTT and ridiculous as you'd want it to be – yet, somehow, you still find the characters compelling and want to root for them. I also love how each episode features a cameo from a mega-star – eg Cecile de France, Monica Bellucci, Jean Dujardin, Juliette Binoche.
Available on Netflix
Trackers (Teresa Guerreiro, dance editor)
Photo: Sky Atlantic
A pulsating, multi-strand thriller set in modern-day South Africa, Trackers is the TV adapation of Deon Meyer's rollercoaster novel that blends Islamic terrorism, blood diamonds and government corruption in an edge-of-your-seat tale of heroes and villains. Subtle it isn't… but it's addictive and eminently binge-able...
Available on Sky Atlantic
Ted Lasso (Rebecca Gonsalves, fashion director)
Photo: Apple TV+
As the football-loathing wife of an Arsenal devotee, I surprised even myself with how much I enjoyed this extremely silly, sometimes smutty and very warm-hearted comedy series about a down-on-its-luck fictional London team and the fish-out-of-water American drafted in to coach them. There are some ridiculously broad strokes and stereotyped characters, but the message of doing your best and celebrating family in all its forms, to me, resonated with the difficulties of 2020.
Available on Apple TV+
BoJack Horseman (Euan Franklin, TV and cinema editor)
Photo: Netflix
It's difficult to explain the heavy, emotional and existential weight of BoJack Horseman. Yes, it's a cartoon about a talking humanoid horse who used to be a sitcom star, but it's much more than that. He's now an ageing alcoholic, endlessly nostalgic for his bygone years. It sounds like a joke – and it is – but the series soon develops into a surreal examination of fame, pop culture, depression, and toxic masculinity.
Available on Netflix
The Bureau (Sarah Joan Ross, beauty director)
Photo: Amazon
This is a French espionage drama that is thrilling, intelligent and gripping to the very end.
Available on Amazon
Friday Night Dinner (Will Aves, head of partnerships)
Photo: Channel 4
Every element is joyously simple yet hugely entertaining: the premise, the characters, the running themes and gags, all performed by a wonderful cast. And only discovering the show when its sixth series launched, in the very first week of lockdown, meant there were 30 more episodes ready and waiting.
Available on All 4
The Secrets She Keeps (Janeá Minar, senior partnerships manager)
Photo: BBC iPlayer
I found this series on BBC iPlayer on a particularly gloomy lockdown Sunday and completely binged it. The six-part series tells the story of two women living very different lives in Australia. One is a gorgeous, pregnant mummy blogger while the other, equally pregnant, works as a supermarket checkout girl (played brilliantly by Laura Carmichael from Downton Abbey). The only thing they have in common is their due date, and there the drama and plot twists begins. It was entirely predictable from start to finish but I found that to be the best part. There will be no brain power required for an afternoon of guilty-pleasure watching.
Available on BBC iPlayer
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