TV shows you most recently finished watching

The Dropout 8 episodes 

Set around the time of the aftermath of the 2007 Wall street crash, Elizabeth Holmes, a 19 year old college 'Dropout', wants to revolutionise healthcare and make her fortune in the process. Failure is not an option for this very driven attractive blonde played by Amanda Seyfried as she attempts to raise capital investment for her 'start up'. A lot of humour and a fun watch, great supporting cast including Stephen Fry as British chemist Ian Gibbons. 8/10

Under The Banner Of Heaven 7 episodes

Altogether more darker, this covers the investigation of an especially brutal murder of a young wife and her child within the Mormom community in the early 80's. If you think Islamic fundamentalism is bad enough then Mormon fundamentalism is on a whole different level of sh*t. Andrew Garfield's detective and practising Mormon has to solve the crime while under pressure not to expose secrets about the church that may show them in a bad light. Very impressive drama with excellent support from Gil Birmingham (well known for his role as the Native American tribal leader in Yellowstone) and Wyatt Russell (son of Kurt). 9/10

Yep I do wonder what they have in mind and hope it's not as annoying as the end of Lost.
 

Stephen King inspired horror (''aren't they all?'' I hear you say) as various families and groups find themselves trapped in a 'mini universe' with only some nasty creatures for company. It's clearly being delivered on a budget so don't expect great special effects like Stranger Things, this concentrates on trying to create a creeping tension but for the most part falls short. For me it works better as a Lost style mystery. Quite fun but could do with being scarier. 7/10

Talking of shows that have migrated onto Netflix check out Loudermilk. Another excellent comedy drama.

Perhaps a bit left field by I am currently enjoying Ted, the TV series based on the films that were created and written by Seth McFarlane ( he also voices the animated teddy bear). Cleverly lampooning sexist/chauvinistic attitudes of the 90's while also being extremely funny albeit very rude at times.

Feel a bit short changed by only 6 episodes. This is so good in depicting events surrounding the deployment of German U-boats in WWII (Churchill singled them out as the most important threat to the allied war effort). Sadly this may be the last season. In the end the message is clear , they are just pawns in the machinations of war. 9/10

The back story to the cult film that starred Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley, neither are in this fictional tale of London gangsters from the late seventies early eighties. Not many well known names, Stephen Moyer is heavily involved as both actor and director. Extremely well cast and written, I enjoyed it a lot. 8/10

Breathtaking 3 episodes

A short and very punchy dramatisation of how the NHS 'dealt' with the pandemic and the 3 lock downs that the UK were put into between March 2020 and January 2021. This would have been better if it hadn't felt then need to go for a political message in the final episode. Yep we know the government failed badly in so many ways but I would rather they had kept just to the human stories. 7/10

The Push 2 episodes

True crime story of a man accused of pushing his wife off the extinct volcano named 'Arthur's Seat' (located near Edinburgh) to her death a few years ago. This is mostly actual trial footage plus interviews with the victim's family and also with the barristers that repesented the accused and the prosection. Remarkable. 10/10

Box set binge! This series ran for 4 years (2011 to 2014) and is long regarded as one of the best crime dramas of this century. Certainly strong writing and great acting in abundance with Joel Kinnaman's 'fake Eminem' ex undercover cop teaming up with Mireille Enos sometimes over zealous female detective to solve a particularly nasty murder of a young woman. The first story runs over 2 seasons before it concludes. Season 3 and 4 feature different cases that need solving but there is an overriding story thread that carries over from Season 3 into the final season. All is resolved allbeit a tad too neatly in the end but that's a small criticism of a show that it totally addictive and compelling. The cliche's are all present and correct but it is kind of reinventing the wheel with the depth of writing and respect afforded to it's main characters. 9/10

I wasn't really going there as such, more the patriarchal family structure and the need to leave a legacy. Do the 'kids' get it and can they take on the family tradition. Costner's character is a lot less nasty than Cox's Logan Roy who is a complete c**t. Nevertherless the enduring theme is that they want to leave something of themselves behind and expect their children to help. Succession was always more ironic and perhaps ultimately less serious. You can laugh a lot with that one!

Season 5 is only partly finished at 8 episodes with Paramount intending to put out the remaining episodes last year but it ended up being delayed due to the Hollywood writers and actors strike.

This show certainly vies with Succession in my mind exploring similar themes. Perhaps it goes a but darker with the attack on Beth in her office around Season 2 being a case in point. The superb ensemble cast includes Costner, Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes and Wes Bentley. Overall this is 10/10 and capping it to 5 Seasons should maintain that (as was the case with Six Feet Under, Boardwalk Empire and Breaking Bad, other 5 star shows). Succession only did 4 seasons but 4 or 5 is usually the right number. The likes of GOT and Lost got dragged out which eventually diluted the quality as a result.