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Taskmaster, late to it but it is brilliant, the task where John Kearns infuriates Dara Ò Briain & Fearn Brady whilst sabotaging a task is superb.
Liked Justified but felt it lacked the edge The Shield and The Wire both had.
Spaced is as close to perfect as you can get - watched it many times.
Spooks is excellent, watched all of that a few times as well. Gets better towards the end.
Recently really enjoyed Counterpart, bit tricky to find online (on Starz channel):
+1 for Green Wing.
Film? Cabaret
TV series, Black sails, Band of brothers and Generation kill.
Films, A million ways to die in the west and The usual suspects.
yeah definitely. Just the perfect amount of surreal-ness (is that a word?) Everyone involved in it is brilliant & I don't think have ever done anything better (even Simon Pegg who's obviously had loads of success in Hollywood etc now)Spaced is as close to perfect as you can get – watched it many times.
don't know how they keep coming up with new stuff but they do. That particular one was a masterstroke, I agree 😃Taskmaster, late to it but it is brilliant, the task where John Kearns infuriates Dara Ò Briain & Fearn Brady whilst sabotaging a task is superb.
Update.....Although my head is turning to mince, through the afternoon this thread has had me thinking/remembering about a lot of stuff before streaming and catch-up,you know the ones,C4 or BBC2 would put them on once a week at 10.30pm ,so if you weren’t organised with recording they passed you by.
Two more that I remember ’staying up’ for was the first series of Skins and Misfits, again ,at the time nobody I knew or worked with was watching these .
C4 Utopia
The Spiral
Happy
Blackadder II
Life of Brian
Leon
Liked Justified but felt it lacked the edge The Shield and The Wire both had.
Love Justified, partly because it doesn't have an edge. It's pure entertainment, and the way they extended the Elmore Leonard characters from the books was great.
Others - The Expanse, Firefly, Buffy, Black Books, Parks and Recreation.
TV - one I've not seen on these pages yet is the BBC adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley's People with Alec Guinness. Absolutely brilliant and still great to watch today.
Film - Alien, for me it's cinematic perfection. The pacing, the design, the performances, everything just clicked. Blade Runner also (The Director's Cut obviously) as it ignited my imagination and set me off on my career path. Ridley Scott was imperious for a while there, sadly less so now. And the first 10 minutes of Up! It's incredibly moving, Pixar are absolute sods for gut punching the adults at the start of a kids movie.
Spooks is excellent, watched all of that a few times as well. Gets better towards the end.
it was superb I thought. until they made a film. that was almost a parody of the series.
Films:
the 1986 film Trick or treat, with ozzy as a vicar, gene simmonds as a DJ, etc
flight of the navigator.
I love the Nolan batman trilogy.
nothing recent that's realy stood out.
TV:
Wire in the blood.
Spooks
Ragnarok was really good, must've been as I really struggle with subtitles.
The boys, is just wonderful.
Anything David Attenborough does.
Tucker & Dale vs Evil
Great movie that seemed to slip under most people’s radar, probably because of Zombieland as a kind of comedy horror. It’s a lot of fun.
Dark on Netflix.
German with subtitles.
Complex and a bit bewildering at times but wraps itself up nicely.
This is a radio show rather than TV (don't shoot me; this is STW, thread divergence is almost mandatory) but I've been banging the drum about Cabin Pressure for some years now. Genuinely believe it to be the best sitcom ever written.
26 episodes (in alphabetical order) and it helps if you listen to them in order as it's very character driven.
I've noticed a couple of votes for Leon - really hope you guys have also seen Nikita (the original Luc Besson film, not the US series).
Lots of great stuff, but slightly under the radar/mightnt have bothered:
Fringe
Six Feet Under
More recently, I'll advocate for Queens Gambit and Fauda.
Tv:Battlestar Galactica (the 2000s) version.
Though I think it does lose its way near the end. Glad at least someone had mentioned it earlier in the thread.
Movie: Transformers:The Movie (1986)
It's just fantastic and the soundtrack is second to none. Fact.
1986 is up there for the best film year IMO
The Big Easy Express; music film with Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Old Crow Medicine Show, and Mumford & Sons. Never fails to lift my mood.
Also, Local Hero, and The Big Blue.
Two lesser known films that I always recommend are "god bless america" and "free fire" although GBA is fairly well known I guess.
I’ve been banging the drum about Cabin Pressure for some years now. Genuinely believe it to be the best sitcom ever written.
Yep, Cabin Pressure is superb.
May be on my own here but tv wise….sons of anarchy.
Man, did I love that series!
When young: Buffy and Frasier.
Now: Vikings and Last Kingdom.
Been very impressed with Slow Horses and Serverance.
Film: Fight Club.
Anything on the radio by John Finemore. Strange that I’ve not seen any tv shows by him.
Film
Infernal Affairs
The Big Lebowski
Apollo 11
TV
Fifteen Storeys
The Sopranos, obvious, but just amazing and when it came out, wow, jaw droppingly good.
The Ren and Stimpy Show (series 1 and 2) Gravity Falls is a great shout as well.
Duckman
TV series:
Dads Army
Porridge
Monkey (goes west)
Star Trek
Movies:
Unforgiven
LOTR
Film: The Lives of Others, and Boyhood. Both are astonishing pieces of deeply moving film making.
For TV, I reckon Better Call Saul is even better than Breaking Bad.
Andor
The Peripheral
Oooo. I do love Infernal Affairs. The Departed wasn't a patch on it andcwon lots of Oscars by being a copycat.
If all that they had on apple TV was Severance, it would still be worth signing up
Likewise sky/now and Succession
What we do in the Shadows the series (still on iPlayer apart from the latest). It's true genius. If you don't like it, you are wrong.
Film sunshine Danny Boyle , near on perfect
Tv The wire . And recent slow horses
Stuff I’ve evangelised about at one time or another to friends and family:
Detectorists and Whitehouse and Mortimer (best of the British countryside; good banter)
The Night Manager (ace cast, great script)
Better Call Saul (better than Breaking Bad IMO)
Clarkson’s Farm (didn’t expect much, but entertaining and eye opening in some ways)
The Bridge (gutted when I got to the end of the last episode)
Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister (never fails to disappoint)
The proportion of US shows is notable.
What we do in the Shadows the series
Currently watching that, genuinely laugh out loud stuff. Love it.
Chernobyl
The Almighty Johnsons
Local Hero
I like and rave about a lots of TV/film, but the ones that stick are probably...
TV
Robin OF Sherwood
Ultraviolet
Spaced
Daredevil
Trap Door
Preacher
Sandman
Films (I love 'proper' cinema but tend to go on more about trashy B movie stuff)
Tremors
Dog Soldiers
Blade Runner
Les Amants Du Pont Neuf
28 Days Later
The 5th Element
Moulin Rouge
From The Earth To The Moon - the HBO mini series which paved the way for Band of Brothers, is better than Band of Brothers and most people don’t even know it exists!
It’s bloody amazing!
TV - spaced, green wing, black books, father ted, Friday night dinner, year of the rabbit and what we do in the shadows.
Film- hunt for the wildepeople
Deutschland 83 (and 86/89)
Phone shop
Teachers
Films wise, most of mine have been mentioned apart from Full Metal Jacket.
Off top of my head
Films - Whiplash, Shane, Searching for Sugarman, The Barkley Marathons, Good fellas, Matrix, Donnie Darko, Big trouble in little China, The King of Kong, Behind the curve (purely for the laser test bit in the last twenty minutes, genius).
TV Series - Detectorists, People just do nothing, Black Mirror, Happy, Better call Saul, King Gary.
Malcolm in the Middle (I have always loved the whole interplay between the main characters, and IMO there is some real stand out moments like the race walking, skating and Hal's masterpiece episodes).
Well I think I may add Everything Everywhere All At Once to my list. Just watched it and it felt bizarrely personal.
Had another think
Films - District 9, Chappie and The Speed cubers.
TV Series- Grimm - Buffyesque, silly monster hunter show which I watched by accident and got sucked into.
Also Shane Meadows This is England film and later sequels. Tough watch at times but some stellar performances.
Bad Boy Bubby. Everyone should be made to watch this. You can learn a lot.
Strange that I’ve not seen any tv shows by him
His style of writing wouldn't necessarily survive the dumbing down that's usually involved when moving radio shows to TV. However he has done some TV work, most recently writing for the comedy Avenue 5 (which is brilliant I should add).
The Wire was sublime, extraordinary story telling.
Mine are the usual suspects: Band of brothers, the Wire, Generation kill, True Detective, west wing blah blah blah
I thought Mare of Easton was superb, and The Vietnam War (Doc by Ken Burns) is amazing - would happily evangelise about those.
Although by far-and-away, the best TV show I've ever seen - knocks all of that lot into a cocked-hat (perhaps except BoB) is Chernobyl. Simply perfect.
Best film Ive seen recently is Greyhound with Tom Hanks. I'm sure others will poke holes in it - but I found it absolutely gripping.
However he has done some TV work, most recently writing for the comedy Avenue 5 (which is brilliant I should add).
I better look that up then
Northern Exposure
Snowfall on iPlayer. Great characters, rise and rise story of a drug kingpin in 80s LA. Gritty as you’d expect. Brilliant.
Thanks for the reminder to rewatch Interstellar. I’ve only seen it once at the cinema and I couldn’t get it out of my head for a week.
Surprised there's not more love for Detectorists on here...
Happy Valley seems overlooked too - especially given its location!
Early Doors. 12 episodes was all they needed.
Little Big Man, currently free on Prime. Great film (and book), one of the earlier revisionist westerns that, unlike some, hasn't dated too badly.
Dad's Army - still.
Bad Boy Bubby. Everyone should be made to watch this. You can learn a lot.
+1 like the potential of cling film.
Time travel films: Time crimes. Triangle. Predestination. Tenet.
Trippy 80s weirdout vibe with electronic music: Over the Black Rainbow.
Recent TV series: The Peripheral. Severance.
Recent films: 3 billboards missisipi. Everything everywhere all at once.
Don't think it's been mentioned but you should watch Taboo,The big bang theory and Young Sheldon
Sopranos
Jacob's Ladder
Loads of good shouts
The Wire
Sopranos
BoB
Generation Kill
Chernobyl
Nathan Barley
Barry
Severance
Andor
BB
Succession
Six Feet Under
True Detective
The Boys
But if I had to try to narrow it down it would be The Leftovers followed by Watchmen.
To add to the excellent suggestions:
I was so glad Our Friends in the North stood up to scrutiny when it re-aired recently. You have to be of an age but is superb first to last.
Film wise....Parasite deserved very award it received
The Ken Burns Vietnam doc that Batfink mentions is indeed excellent, takes a bit of getting through, but really thorough and beatifully made.
I've never met anyone else who watched Person of Interest. I'm not sure how I found out about it, or if it was properly broadcast over here, but it's properly excellent. Network telly from the states, so suffers from 'we need to make 24 episodes a seson' syndrome slightly, but really well done show about pervasive surviellance, the possiblities that might lead to and shooting peole in the knee a lot.. From the mind of Jonathan Nolan (who did the new Westworld thing) and has Jim Caviziel in. Not as highbrow or dense as yer Wire and the like, but not braindead either.
Tv series:
Breaking bad
The Expanse
The peripheral
Movies:
Interstellar
Watchmen
1917
A few more
Films - Marvellous (Toby Jones), The Social Dilemma (scary insight into our current reality), American Graffiti, The Truman show, The Game, Ruthless People; Gone Girl, Rumble Fish, Sin City, Looper, Memento. I.D.
TV Series- Arcane, Queens Gambit. Fortitude, Killing Eve (First two series), Him and her (final series).
TV
Arcane (netflix league of legends based animation (don't let that put you off)). Knew nothing about it & hadn't played the game but amazing animation, action & great story.
Queens Gambit
West wing / the Wire (tho not seen either for a while)
Chernobyl
30 Rock / Parks & Rec / Arrested Development (not every series is great (think some were subject to the US writers strike) but the majority are brilliant with lots of great characters & re watch value) 'there's always money in the banana stand'
Severance (if only for the final 5 minutes of the last episode. Proper tense wow TV)
Andor
I have literally just returned from the pub, where i insisted that my friend watch Detectorists.
He will love it, as will you.