You may not have heard of all of them…
But these are the little-known shows you really should make time to watch.
From a true-crime thriller to a grisly drama about serial killers in the 1970s and a Hollywood legend’s bittersweet turn as a Hollywood acting coach, the Mail’s TV desk highlight the brilliant shows on Netflix which you really don’t want to miss.
So take a trawl through the streaming service’s hidden gems…
Unbelievable
Toni Collette is a detective investigating a rape case
Year: 2019
Certificate: 18
In a chilling true-life tale, Kaitlyn Dever plays Marie Adler, the 18-year-old American who, in 2015, claimed that she had been raped at knifepoint by a masked intruder but nobody believed her. Only later, after she’d retracted her story under pressure from male detectives and been charged with false reporting, did the truth start to emerge.
Toni Collette and Merritt Weaver play detectives Grace Rasmussen and Karen Duvall, the female officers investigating the case in a fact-based drama that reveals a frightening lack of communication between police departments in different US states. (Eight episodes)
The Kominsky Method
Michael Douglas stars in a bittersweet sitcom about an ageing actor
Year: 2018-2021
Certificate: 15
Michael Douglas is perfect as Sandy Kominsky, actor turned Hollywood acting coach, in this beautifully observed sitcom. A mass of insecurities and ego, Sandy should be an absolute monster, but Douglas softens him into something loveable while losing few of his rough edges in the process.
Acting and movie-making loom large over the show, but they’re not what it’s really about – this is a sitcom about growing old disgracefully, with Douglas and the brilliant Alan Arkin, as Sandy’s sarcastic and increasingly frustrated agent, both immensely watchable as two men both defying and celebrating their increasingly advanced years.
The third series was made without Arkin and is still a lovely watch, but the first two series are almost perfect TV. (Three series)
The Night Agent
An FBI agent battles a top-level conspiracy in this thriller
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Stuck in a White House basement guarding a phone that never rings, FBI agent Peter Sutherland (Hillbilly Elegy’s Gabriel Basso) is starting to wonder if perhaps he hasn’t made the wrong career choice. But then, one day, a call unexpectedly comes through and he finds himself catapulted into a lethal conspiracy involving a Russian mole deep within the government.
With echoes of The Bourne Identity and 24, this slick modern thriller series, created by The Shield’s Shawn Ryan – a past master of macho action, with a TV CV that includes LAPD dramas The Shield and S.W.A.T. – ticks all the right boxes for fans of tense revelations and all-out action scenes.
Trivia fans may like to know that the show is a direct result of the Covid lockdown – Ryan read the Matthew Quirk novel it’s based on while he was quarantining in 2020, and liked it so much that he decided to adapt it for TV. The result was a big hit for Netflix, so there will be a second series. (One series)
Mindhunter
In the 1970s, FBI agents interview serial killers to tackle unsolved cases
Year: 2017-2019
Certificate: 18
If grisly true crime is your thing, Mindhunter is nothing less than superlative – it merges nostalgia, some brilliant detectives and a collection of the most gruesome serial killers in history.
The story is based on the pioneers of behavioural profiling and the people who came up with the term ‘serial killer’. It features maverick FBI investigators, played by Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany, and a brilliant psychotherapist (Anna Torv).
Series one introduces us to the detectives and has a story-of-the-week element, while the second focuses solely on the brutal Atlanta child murders of 1979 as the cops frantically interviewed serial killers to try and get a clue as to motivation.
The series is best loved for its gruelling serial killer interviews – the finale of series two is famously gruesome. (Two series)
Wellmania
Raucous Australian comedy drama about health and fitness
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Australian food critic Liv (Celeste Barbe) loves living the high life of booze, grub and parties in New York, regardless of the effect it has on her body. But all that backfires when, after a visit back home to see her family, she fails the medical test she needs to pass in order to renew her US visa. Throwing herself into a world of vegan protein shakes and fitness classes, she’s determined to get back into shape and back to New York. Even if it kills her…
This comedy-drama sees Barber make a delightfully mouthy everywoman, as she learns to value not only her own body but also – reluctantly – the friends and family she left behind Down Under. (Eight episodes)
Griselda
Fact-based drama about a female crime boss starring Sofia Vergara
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Almost unrecognisable under a raft of prosthetics designed to mimic the hawk-faced profile of real-life drug boss Griselda Blanco Restrepo, Modern Family star Sofia Vergara is icily impressive in this six-part miniseries. A story of female empowerment and brutal criminality in equal bloody gobbets, it charts the Colombian immigrant’s rise to become one of the most powerful and feared drug importers in Miami. It’s all the more powerful a story because, when she first arrives with children in tow, Griselda’s position is very precarious indeed. You can see the vulnerability in her face, although it doesn’t last too long.
Created by many of the same team behind Narcos and with Vergara acting as producer, it’s exciting, dark and no-holds-barred stuff that brings the freewheeling cocaine underworld of the 1980s US to dangerous life. Episode one grabs you by the throat right from the start with this quote from Pablo Escobar: ‘The only man I was ever afraid of was a woman named Griselda Blanco’. You’ll see why in short order. (Six episodes)
Loudermilk
Biting black US comedy about a recovering alcoholic
Year: 2017-2020
Certificate: 18
Former music critic-turned-substance abuse counsellor Sam Loudermilk (Ron Livingston) is not the most touchy-feely of advisors. The recovering alcoholic masks his grudging concern and reluctant affection by unleashing hair-trigger and sarcastically hilariously rants – about the nature of life, the universe and everything – on anyone who crosses his path in the streets or the coffee shops of Seattle.
Written and produced by Dumb And Dumber’s Peter Farrelly, Loudermilk is a ferociously smart and wincingly funny comedy drama series that also isn’t afraid to be bittersweet and touching when the need arises. Livingston is a fantastically grouchy and grumbly figure across the three series to date. (Three series)
Alias Grace
Miniseries based on Margaret Atwood’s novel of 19th-century murder and madness.
Year: 2017
Certificate: 15
Former servant Grace Marks (Sarah Gadon) languishes in a Canadian prison in the mid 19th century after being convicted of murder. She claims that she has no memory of committing the crime. Is she lying? Did someone else do the deed? Or is there more to Grace than meets the eye? That’s what psychiatrist Dr Simon Jordan (Edward Holcroft) wants to discover as he visits Grace in order to hear the story of her life.
Eerie and atmospheric, this is a fine six-part adaptation of the novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, creator of The Handmaid’s Tale, and it unspools with a real sense of deliberate menace and even hints of the supernatural. It’s got an excellent cast too, with appearances by Anna Paquin, Zachary Levi, David Cronenberg and even Atwood herself in a cameo. (Six episodes)
Girls5Eva
Hilarious US comedy about an ageing girl band’s reunion
Year: 2021-
Certificate: 15
Imagine a US sitcom about a one-hit wonder version of the Spice Girls reforming in their 40s, and you’ve got the idea of this sharp returning series produced by 30 Rock’s Tina Fey. It has the kind of jokes that lead you one way, then snap back and surprise you at the end of the line.
That clever humour is part of why this show is so funny, but those gags would fall flat if the characters didn’t feel real. These ‘girls’ mostly do though, even when they’re in the most absurd situations, like working as a judge on spoof show American Warrior Singer as a result of money woes, or suddenly requiring a new knee. The show spent its first two series on Sky in the UK, but later moved to Netflix where the latest, third series follows the band on a tour to promote their comeback album – the hilariously titled Returnity. (Three series)
Kaleidoscope
Rufus Sewell stars in a clever heist thriller that can be watched in any order
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Netflix’s smart Ocean’s Eleven-style series has a clever storytelling twist. Viewers are encouraged to watch the thriller’s eight time-hopping episodes in any order they wish, except for the finale, entitled ‘White’ (each instalment is named after a different colour, hence the show’s title), which will always come last.
This ingenious idea attracted a good cast, including Better Call Saul’s Giancarlo Esposito as the charismatic leader of the thieves, and Rufus Sewell as the shady tycoon with $7 billion just waiting to be stolen. The show itself feels both familiar and different at the same time, which is always an intriguing combination. (Nine episodes)