Five great TV shows to watch over the bank holiday weekend
Want to catch up on the best TV during the long weekend? Here are five shows to watch now
By Evie Prosser
Okay. For many people, the Easter weekend is a first chance to get out in the fresh air, mowing the lawn or deadheading the hydrangeas. Maybe you’ll do a bit of National Trusting with the family, or head to the beach.
Then again, if you’re exhausted from work, you may just want to veg on the sofa and catch up with some great TV. And if that’s the case, allow us to guide you through five of the best shows available, right now.
| ...some of the sassiest, funniest, most politically astute television you’re ever likely to see. |
1) The Good Fight (More 4)
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: The Good Fight is the smartest show on TV right now. The legal drama is a spinoff from the similarly awesome The Good Wife, which starred Julianna Margulies in the lead role.
Margulies isn’t in The Good Fight, and it’s all the better for that. It makes for a more ensemble feel, giving different characters a chance to shine each week.
The Good Fight is now in its third season, so if you’re new to it, there’s plenty to catch up on. Go back to the beginning and luxuriate in some of the sassiest, funniest, most politically astute television you’re ever likely to see.
| Ghost’s looks set to be BBC One’s best sitcom in a long time... |
2) Ghosts (BBC One)
Coming from the brilliant team behind the kids’ show Horrible Histories, Ghosts has an impeccable heritage.
It kicked off this week and has already made an impression on the critics. The Guardian’s Stuart Jeffries gave it a four-star review and called it “very British” in its humour. Which can only be a good thing, right?
The story is simple: an ordinary girl, Alison, and her husband inherit a country pile from an unknown great aunt. Ghosts haunt the house, caught forever in the circumstances of their deaths. The new residents don’t spot their supernatural housemates. But after Alison is pushed from an open window by the ghost of an MP (it makes sense at the time), she comes round from a coma and can see them.
If the series opener is anything to go by, Ghosts looks set to be BBC One’s best sitcom in a long time (not that there’s much competition, consisting as it does mainly of Not Going Out, Mrs Brown’s Boys and the truly awful Warren).
| Be warned, though, once you start with this series, it’s very hard to stop. |
3) Hinterland (Netflix)
Oh how we love a gruesome murder mystery as a way of unwinding at the weekend. They don’t get much more gruesome than Celtic masterpiece Hinterland, set in West Wales and oozing atmosphere in every scene.
Hinterland borrows heavily from the Nordic Noir playbook: stunning landscapes are shot through a long lens, often with a Volvo gliding effortlessly through them. The acting is exquisite, and made all the more scintillating when you realise that every scene is shot twice: once in Welsh, and once in English.
Unless you’re from Wales (or Patagonia), we’d recommend sticking to the English version. You can catch all three seasons on Netflix. Be warned, though, once you start with this series, it’s very hard to stop.
| ...the drama is agonisingly tense and involves seemingly endless twists and turns. |
4) Line of Duty (BBC One)
If you got caught up in Bodyguard earlier in the year, you’ll know all about writer Jed Mercurio’s ability to weave a thrilling yarn. A former doctor, he cut his teeth writing medical dramas, but Line of Duty is the series that really put him on the map.
Following the trials and tribulations of a crack team of anti-corruption officers, the drama is agonisingly tense and involves seemingly endless twists and turns. You can never be sure who’s a goodie and who’s a baddie, so the best maxim is this: trust no one. And be sure to have a stiff drink to hand as you settle down to watch.
Season Five is airing now, but all the previous series are available on the BBC iPlayer if you want to go right back to the start.
| Fleabag has a refreshing willingness to push boundaries. |
5) Fleabag (BBC Three)
Unless you’ve been living under a stone these past few years, you’ll know that Fleabag is one of the most critically acclaimed sitcoms on the TV. The second and final series has just finished airing, but you can catch the lot on iPlayer. Frankly, you’d be mad not to.
Following the story of the titular character, played brilliantly by the show’s creator and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (also known for writing the mesmerising Killing Eve), Fleabag has a refreshing willingness to push boundaries. Don’t watch it if you’re easily offended by sex and swearing. But if you like a laugh and have a keen appreciation of the absurdities of life, this is a show not to be missed.
Published: 18 April 2019
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