As we move into Autumn, you may have become familiar with the terrifying term 'cuffing season', the dating phenomenon in which happily single people latch themselves onto a significant other for fear of growing old alone as the evenings get darker. These relationships, born out of a sudden necessity to fill the void in your social life left by Summer, usually don't last. So in lieu of attaching yourself to your latest tinder match who can barely string a sentence together, we would recommend building a more lasting relationship, with telly. Is there a purer, more comforting love than TV? We're not talking Strictly or X Factor (although, sometimes), this year it's really been a no from us. We mean the documentaries that illuminate and niggle into your subconscious for days after, weird new comedies that spring from nowhere but seem to whisper to your soul, and juicy crime dramas.
It's time to go easy on your Netflix subscription, because honestly haven't you watched the Amanda Knox documentary already? The best things in life are free / available as part of your very reasonable and well-priced television license.
Ahead are the best series and shows that you might have missed initially but that you shouldn’t let slip on All 4 and BBC iPlayer, right now.
Channel 4 - National Treasure
A British acting masterclass. Robbie Coltrane, Julie Walters and Andrea Riseborough depict a family under severe strain after accusations of rape are levelled at Coltrane's ageing TV personality, Paul Finchley. Loosely based on cases unearthed by Operation Yewtree, this drama, impeccably written by Jack Thorne, doesn't start with the assumption of guilt but observes the ways in which our memories can deceive us. The final scene gave us chills for days.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4
Channel 4 - Catastrophe
Written by Sharon Horgan (basically the funniest woman on earth) and Rob Delaney, Catastrophe follows a couple who try committing to a relationship after a brief fling results in pregnancy. In the first episode Rob says to Sharon, "A terrible thing has happened, let's make the best of it", and they do. Their observations on modern love are searingly perceptive and hilariously funny; their bickering is vicious, their sex life is ace, he clips her toenails as an act of love and they make each other laugh. This a relationship we want to be in.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4
Channel 4 - This is England
Shane Meadows’ first ever television series, This is England, spans from 1986 – 1990 and follows the lives of Lol, Shaun, Woody and their tight-knit friendship group who we first meet in his award winning film of the same title, set in ‘83. The series, often harrowing but surprisingly funny, tackles issues of sexual abuse, racism and growing up in working class Nottingham. Music plays a central role in their lives, and as the gang evolve from young Skinheads to the early rave scene, expect big drama and big beats.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4
BBC - The Missing
The abduction drama that saw James Nesbitt’s tormented character chase his missing son around France ended on an ambiguous note last series, but he hasn’t returned to reprise his role. This season follows a new case, that of Alice Webster, a young girl who went missing (obvs) 11 years ago – only to return from the French town from which she was taken. The drama runs across dual timelines, so expect plot twists aplenty!
Photo: Sophie Mutevelian/BBC
BBC - Savile
Master documentary maker Louis Theroux re-examines evidence from his 2000 doc When Louis met Jimmy, an in-depth look at the life of BBC broadcaster and (now known to be) prolific sex offender, Jimmy Savile. In light of the many recent horrendous allegations made against Savile, Louis questions how he was able to get away with it and how he, as a documentary maker, was able to overlook the signs, which seem only too obvious in hindsight. Particularly telling is when a victim of Savile's asks if Louis felt he had been groomed too.
Photo: Richard Ansett/BBC.
Channel 4 – First Dates
A bit of light relief. There are currently 63 episodes of First Dates available to view and we suggest you watch every single one. In just one episode you can see the full spectrum of human emotion; we feel their nerves as they wait at the bar, the hope when they see their potential partner and the disappointment that sets in when they realise their chemistry is less than zero. We live for the final moments, will they carry on to a bar? Will it be shots in Soho (it often is)? And, most importantly, will we see the couple selfie, four weeks in, newly in love and on top of the London Eye? God I love TV.
Photo: Courtesy of Channel 4
BBC - The Fall
Ok, so admittedly this season has yet to properly kick off and the new hospital setting does feel somewhat more Doctors than psycho-sexual drama, but stick with it. Gillian Anderson's steely DSI, Stella Gibson, is the beating heart of the show, fiercely intelligent, driven and standing head and shoulders above her male peers, she’s also worth watching just for her never-ending collection of silk shirts and indefatigable blow-dry. In this series, the cat and mouse tension between Stella and serial killer Paul Spector, played by Jamie Dornan, takes on a new dimension as she finally has him in her custody. Will she bring him to justice? And what will happen to that nurse???
Photo: Helen Sloan/BBC
BBC - Fleabag
Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes and stars in a comedy that shouldn't be funny. Her character Fleabag is unlikeable; she's angry, she steals, she's pretty messed up by a traumatic past experience – but therein lies her beauty. Fleabag is a bit of all of us, at one stage in our lives or another. She makes acerbic asides to the camera, she masturbates to Barack Obama speeches and her idea of a romantic surprise for her boyfriend is to confront him with a knife while he showers. It's weird and brilliant, Fleabag forever.
Photo: Courtesy of BBC
BBC – HyperNormalisation
Only to be found on iPlayer, this documentary (weighing in at over two and a half hours) is vital viewing. Cult doc filmmaker Adam Curtis explores issues of reality versus perception and questions the way in which our knowledge of the world has been selectively spoon fed to us. Who holds the power in an increasingly chaotic world? Don’t expect your hand to be held throughout, Curtis expects your intellect to match up to his.
Photo: BBCLike what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?
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