This is a bumper edition of the television roundup from recent weeks (and months), it’s been a little while since I did a collection of recent viewing but also I’ve been under the weather which means the volume of episodes ticked off has seen an upsurge as well. Let’s get straight on with it!

Based on a True Story

The first episode didn’t grab me but I stuck with it and I’m glad I did because it did start to develop well - Kaley Cuoco playing that part so well of someone with great ambition and confidence but getting caught up in something quite far out of her depth. Glad this has gotten a second series.

Time Bandits

I honestly didn’t know what was going on with this show most of the time but it really grew on me and ended up being a lot of fun. The two kids in it were outstanding, and Lisa Kudrow brought Phoebe energy with an added pirate vibe. It had Taika Waititi written all over it but sadly has not been renewed.

Colin From Accounts

Second series of this and they had to graduate from it being centered around the dog. Still brilliant though, somehow managing to take quite serious themes and bundle them up in grounded but hilarious banter. The real life chemistry makes a big difference, you can see there’s a lot of trust there between the leads, but the wider ensemble add plenty too.

The Perfect Couple

Agree with everyone that thought the flash mob dance opening credits were weird and out of place… especially as the series wore on and it felt like none of these people would have liked each other enough to do that in the first place. Medium good whodunit though, I didn’t guess the result, and always like watching Eve Hewson on screen.

Kaos

I thought I was going to hate this but it was incredible. First the cast were outstanding, they managed to break down the incomprehensible myths and legends and told the stories in new, flashy and interesting ways, and on top of all that, it was visually stunning. Definitely worth a watch.

Slow Horses

Series 4 continues to be completely awesome, I love Jack Lowden more and more each time, and it’s always disappointing that there are only six episodes at a time.

Emily in Paris

Series 4 carried on in much the same vein as the previous series, lots of frothy rom-com stuff around the beautiful city streets of Paris… and also Rome! I’ve quite enjoyed the fallout of this, President Macron wanting to fight to keep Emily in France. Who knew this show was so powerful?

Eric

Not sure I particularly enjoyed this show on Netflix, it was a bit weird, but I do think Benedict Cumberbatch was great in it.

Apples Never Fall

Another glossy drama with a mysterious disappearance and a lot of hateful family members being mean to each other as they try and figure out what happened. I did enjoy the episode that revealed all though, so I suppose it was worth it.

Nightsleeper

Absolutely bonkers nonsense but I somehow really enjoyed this. Lots of drama and a cliffhanger each episode and even though it seemed out there and the answer to a lot of the plot problems was ‘science!’ it was still quite a fun ride.

Ludwig

Combine puzzle solving with detective work and get David Mitchell to head up the whole thing, and I’m definitely in.

Heartstopper

Series three of this adorable love story and it continued to mirror the graphic novels closely, focusing on slightly more serious topics this time, but all handled perfectly.

Richard Hammond’s Workshop

Series four and things are getting serious. Finally, after us shouting this at the TV for three previous series’, Hammond gets an office manager to help them get organised and actually make some money. His shenanigans still make it hard work for everyone involved, but there is a future for the business, hooray! And everything around the D-Day car was just beautifully handled. Didn’t expect to end this series with a tear in my eye.

Sweetpea

The first episode of this was a bit of a grind, given how we had to reduce our protagonist to the point where she needs to snap and complete her first murder. Getting through that made the rest quite intriguing though, reconciling this seemingly nice person with quite atrocious acts.

Lioness

I watched the first series of this in preparation for a new one coming soon… it was really good. Zoe Kravitz is amazing, and the newbie wrestling with undercover work was an interesting journey to go on. The last episode seemed a bit frantic after so much build up, but that’s probably about right with how these things go down. Loved it.

Sambre

It took me a while to get through this as it’s in French with subtitles and you really need to pay attention to the subtleties and nuances throughout. You can’t half watch this. It was brutal, infuriating and actually astounding, the inattention to detail, refusal to piece together information that seemed really clear, and just not believing the victims. Outrageous but all too real. Very well done.

Jurassic World: Chaos Theory

I don’t know who the target audience for this show is. Its predecessor was a kid version of Jurassic Park but in here, those kids have grown up and there are bigger plots at work. Regardless whether it’s aimed at me or not, I really enjoy watching it, dipping back into the excellent Jurassic universe.

The Lincoln Lawyer

Series three of this Netflix show continued with great quality of content, characters that we’ve grown to love, and a big court case to win. The rollercoaster of this series was great, with the tragic loss quite early on, and then the highs and lows of finding evidence and witnesses and then losing them along the way. Plus everything Becki Newton does as Lorna is fabulous.

And I’m already working on the next batch, there is SO much good TV about at the moment.