There’s nothing like curling up on the sofa and bingeing during the holiday season. No, we’re not talking about those extra snifters of brandy or that extra helping of Christmas pudding. We’re talking about bingeing on box sets – setting aside hours of your time for those “can’t miss” television shows that weren’t on at a convenient time or somehow escaped your notice.
Below are five box sets that we guarantee will have you binge viewing well into the New Year.
Nashville
Nashville is like Dynasty for the YouTube generation: sure, the show is “about” the country music industry, but it’s really about the rivalry between veteran singer Rayna James and the young sensation Juliette Barnes. They share a record label, and the boss suggests they go on tour together. After all, Rayna could use some of Juliette’s MTV sparkle, and Juliette would benefit from the gravitas of being associated with a country legend. What ensues includes love triangles, spite-filled exchanges, family dramas, fights about who the crowds come to see and more, all broken up by occasional concert performances. It’s not the most complex or intellectual of TV series, but it sure is a lot of fun.
Veep
Veep seems like it should be The Thick of It with American accents: Armando Iannucci created both shows, and they are about the foibles, failures and machinations of the political system. But where The Thick of It was relentlessly aggressive, Veep is gentler. Essentially, the vice president of the United States, Selina Meyer, has so little power that the political bulldogs don’t bother going near her. Still, even with the help of her dedicated personal aides, there’s plenty to mess up, as she soon finds out. There are hints and suggestions that she has ambitions beyond her office, but the show makes it clear that as long as she is Veep, she’s got to make due with second-rate functions and not being invited to important meetings. But as long as the laughs keep coming, we the audience don’t really mind.
Callan
You wouldn’t expect a show filmed in the late 60s and early 70s to have such a lasting appeal, but spy drama Callan certainly does. The show follows the titular Callan, whom some call television’s first anti-hero, as he dispatches KGB men, former Nazis and other shadowy enemies of the British state. Unlike his colleagues, however, he often questions the commands he is given and he helps victims of his organisation’s activities. And when he’s not taking pride in a hard day’s work, he enjoys making model soldiers. Though the fashions and tech seem cute to modern audiences, the pacing of the plot and the overarching themes – like should we trust those who protect us if they do so using such morally bankrupt methods – are still compelling and relevant now.
Psych
Psych’s is not exactly an original concept: a highly trained protagonist with Holmesian detective skills pretends to be a psychic to assist with investigations, even though he’s not allowed to actually work on the police force. This show draws a lot of initial comparisons with The Mentalist, the show about the fake psychic who helps solve crimes and starring Simon Baker. This is a send-up of police shows, though – a police drama/sitcom where the jokes always take precedence over the plot. That’s not to say the mysteries Shawn Spencer (the fake psychic) and his friend Gus help solve are not intricate, brutal and thrilling. It’s just that there will always be a joke or 20 to break the tension. It hasn’t got a lot of attention here in the UK, perhaps because the character of Shawn takes some getting used to and perhaps because describing it does it no justice. But if you stick with the show for a couple of episodes, you will love it.
Broadchurch
If you somehow didn’t watch this when it was on, be prepared to set aside a whole day and watch every episode back-to-back. Broadchurch is about the murder of an 11-year-old boy and the police investigation that follows. DS Ellie Miller and DI Alec Hardy have to navigate residents hesitant to reveal all their secrets, the media frenzy that follows such a tragic event and Ellie’s own grief over the murder of a boy she knew well, all in order to catch the killer. It’s a whodunit where the drama and the unfolding story are much more gratifying than the ending, so get to the end, find out who the killer is, then re-watch it to really savour the storytelling.
All of these box sets are in their own ways compelling, and it’s that compelling nature that keeps you planted on the sofa for so long. Of course, you’ll have eaten so much and feel so cosy that you probably won’t mind a solid week of sitting still, enjoying quality television programmes.
And now that you know our picks for your next big box sets, tell us: which box sets are you most looking forward to?
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