Welcome to part two of my personal guide to the absolute must-see TV shows of the last few years. It is, as you might have already guessed, very idiosyncratic. No The Wire? Nope, ‘fraid not. I found it dreary and unintelligible. No, The West Wing? Also no, for ideological reasons. I’m simply not interested in a drama where the central premise is: ‘Just how amazing is this wise, benign left-liberal President?’ (If he were cut more from the cloth of Coolidge, Reagan or Trump, I might have been more enthusiastic.)
This week, my loose theme is ‘quirky’: shows that slipped through the net and didn’t get quite the attention they deserved; shows that are just beguilingly odd or eerily atmospheric; or have a strong sense of time and place. If you haven’t watched these, you’re in for a treat.
The Returned
By turns unsettling and lyrical, this French-language drama (Les Revenants) is set in a mountain village where – spoiler alert – a bus-load of locals who died in a terrible accident mysteriously reappear, apparently alive and well, years later.
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