Tv box sets to binge on while in self-isolation | thearticle

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.