It’s been a while since I wrote a round up post when I wrote about 9 Great Netflix Series You Should Watch. A few years later and we still love Netflix just as much and I thought it would be a good opportunity to include some of our most recent favourite ones.
Here are 6 series that are well worth watching on Netflix
Queen of the South
This one is proof that popularity on Netflix isn’t all that and it pays to try out series that don’t always get shouted out about, well not in the UK anyway. I discovered this one on a whim one day and started to watch the first episode on my own and part way through I knew that I needed to wait to watch it with Alex. It centres around a Mexican girl called Teresa whose boyfriend is a drug runner. He tells her that there is a phone in a drawer and that should it ever ring, it means it’ll be a call to tell her he’s dead and that she needs to run. One day she receives that phone call and runs for her life along with her best friend and her son. At the beginning you are shown a snippet of the future where she is the head of a cartel and the series shows her extremely hard journey to get to that position. It’s gritty and lots of people die along the way but we thought it was one hell of a ride. We were so sad to see the show end on season 5 this year but the ending was truly fitting and the perfect finale for such a great series. I miss seeing Pote, James and King George – characters that you really root for!
Sex Education
If you’re not familiar with the show, it’s a comedy-drama that’s set in South Wales but it’s never referred to (thanks Google). On first glance you might think it’s set back in the 80’s in an american high school, but you soon realise it’s not when you hear the British accents and notice they all have mobile phones! It’s a mish mash of era’s set in the modern day and you can’t help but love the concept as well as accept it. It’s primarily based around a teenage boy called Otis who lives with his mum Jean (Gillian Anderson) in a house with a rather nice view (which is googled for the location all the time – Wye Valley). His mum is a sex therapist and he on the other hand is very awkward and shy talking about sex. He ends up forming an unlikely duo with Maeve (who is much cooler than him and out of his league) where they set up a sex advice clinic for the rampant students of Moordale Secondary School. There are lots of laugh out loud scenes, poignant moments and the drama that comes with teenage angst and worries. It’s lighthearted with some more serious subjects covered, which makes it such addictive viewing.
After Life
Now I’ve never been a fan of Ricky Gervais and he used to irritate the hell out of me in The Office, but I have to say that After Life, which was created, written, produced and directed by Ricky himself, totally turned my opinion on it’s head. It’s a black comedy following the life of Tony (Ricky) who has recently lost his wife to breast cancer. It shows his journey through the grieving process (supported by his beloved dog), which is peppered with ‘after her death coaching’ videos that his late wife recorded for him before she died. His character was once a nice easy going guy, who is now thoroughly hacked off with the hand he’s been given and naturally he decides to not give a toss about anything. Ricky is of course his usual piss taking self and his relationship with his wife showed that to be a fundamental part of their bond. It’s heartbreaking at times but also hilarious too in the way some scenes are executed and the characters that form the cast, many of them hapless. On the outset his life seems pretty bleak, but you soon see how many people in the series make a difference to his life and how there is a life to be lived after a bereavement.
Season 3 is coming in the new year…
Dead To Me
Yet again it’s another black comedy series on Netflix that is set in California and is based around the death of Jen’s (Christina Applegate) husband to a hit and run driver. Through navigating her grief at a counselling group, Jen strikes up a friendship with Judy (Linda Cardellini), who isn’t who she seems to be. Jen is hell bent on finding out who mowed down her husband and the show takes you through many twists and turns on her mission to get the truth.
Season 3 has been confirmed too 🙂
Virgin River
This was one of those series where I felt the trailer didn’t do it justice, it had all the hallmarks of a hallmark film, so I ended up dismissing it a few times before a friend urged me to give it a try. It follows the life of Melinda who relocates from Los Angeles to California to start a new role as a nurse practitioner at the local doctors surgery. She has moved for a fresh start and her story unfolds as to why she has upped and left her old life in favour of more rural living in Virgin River. If you like This Is Us, then you’ll recognise Melinda as Kevin’s ex wife Sophie! It’s classic boy meets girl with a fair few dramas thrown in (domestic abuse, shootings) and I thought it would be really wishy washy but it’s actually a really easy to watch series with a great cast, all with their own stories and the scenery is something else – which you may realise is Canada rather than California!
Not only has season 4 been confirmed but 5 has too, so it’s testament to the fact it’s really popular.
Ginny & Georgia
My initial thoughts on seeing this advertised was that it was a teen drama aimed at younger viewers and probably wouldn’t be any good. It’s a comedy drama based around daughter and mum (Ginny and Georgia) who move to a New England town after many moves in the last few years. It’s very much a coming of age drama around fifteen year old Ginny trying to settle into her new school and life, intermingled with her mum trying to fit in too, while trying to avoid her past life and troubles catching up with her. There are lots of flashbacks to her younger years which builds a picture of where she came from and how she got to where she is now. For the most part it’s pretty light hearted and it’s centred around the dynamics between Ginny and her mum, where she very much feels the more responsible one even though she’s not yet an adult. You come to realise that Georgia is no angel and she has some dark secrets, but you still want the best for her anyway and hope for a happy ending. Another season is on the way too.
I hope these suggestions are useful and you enjoy them as much as us 🙂
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