Transparent
Released in September  2014, this beautifully produced series about a family in Los Angeles facing their personal and collective demons has a real indie vibe, with a narrative centring around the father – Maura – becoming openly transgender. The youngest daughter, Ali, played by Gaby Hoffman – AKA the girl with the eyebrows in Uncle Buck – is possibly our favourite character ever. Moving, hilarious and uplifting in equal measure, Transparent is an absolute treasure and should be devoured immediately.
Available on Amazon Prime

Twin Peaks
The original serial drama, Twin Peaks is a masterpiece in story-telling. First broadcast in April 1990, and running over two series, Mark Frost and David Lynch’s psychological thriller is set in a creepy one-horse town in Washington and follows the investigation, led by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (played by Kyle MacLachlan), into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. Focusing on the lives of the characters who live there, it is unnerving and addictive, with probably the best music for television ever made. Bring on the forthcoming prequel.
Box set available of Amazon

True Detective
You’d have to have been living in a box not to have heard the fanfare that surrounded the release of True Detective, last year. Series one regaled the 17-year-long pursuit by Louisiana State Police Detectives Rust Cohle and Martin Hart (played by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson) of an elusive serial killer, culminating in a dark and truly thrilling final episode which seriously raises the game. The next series, set in California, takes on a different set of characters – we can only hope Nic Pizzalatto recaptures the magic of round one.
Available on Amazon Prime

Peaky Blinders
Cillian Murphy AND Tom Hardy in the same room? The ridiculously hot cast in this original BBC drama set among the criminal underworld in 1919 is just part of the appeal. From the costumes to the endless drama (which features plenty of serious violence, be warned), this is the lustily-told tale of a crime family inflicting a reign of terror over the post-war city of Birmingham. Did we mention Nick Cave wrote the soundtrack?
Available at BBC Shop

Orange is the New Black
Light relief from an unexpected source – a women’s federal prison. The first two series (with another expected later this year) revolve around the experiences of Piper Chapman, a pretty, upper-middle class young blonde living in NYC with her perfectly boring boyfriend Jason. When Piper is unexpectedly sentenced to 15 months on historical charges of drug smuggling, she ends up in the same clink as her ex-girlfriend, Alex (the one who signed her up as a mule and then shopped her to police). Focusing in each episode on the past lives – and crimes – of the girls they are locked up with – Orange is the New Black is proper feel-good stuff: full of humour, sisterhood and girl-on-girl action.
Available from Netflix