TV series that have had an effect on you…

[Foolsrule]

Just musing about this. Most memorable would have to be The Americans, Orange is the New Black and Handmaid’s Tale. Not just the imagery/storylines/characters but the soundtracks too. Which shows have stayed with you long after they’ve finished?

Years and Years
The Good Place ( especially Chidi's speech at the end)

I need to finish the Americans, got about 3 series in.

@Tailendofsummer @Mackers17

That Torchwood 5 parter still haunts me. Awful.

Buffy I love the metaphors behind it, was a cult classic, handmaiden tale is amazing. I loved maid

Definitely it’s a sin.

Also the good place

Dr Death. I'm due spinal fusion but have pulled out after watching that.

Twin Peaks - rewatched it all recently and it is still so original.
Buffy
Oz - HBO prison drama.
The Wire
Red Riding - 3 part series on C4 - it was amazing!
This is England
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel - just love it!
The Good Place

I love tv - love to throw myself with into a series. I wanted to love It's a Sin but I couldn't. I just found the main character to be irritatingly smug and hated the confrontation between his friend and his Mum at the end.

@Viviennemary

Tenko. I thought how did anybody survive that. And it was meant to be toned down.

I loved that too.

Threads…. If that bomb ever drops I want it straight on my house….
Handmaids Tale… especially as I feel women are being erased, rights are being trampled on
This Life I was a bit younger than the cast and post uni felt very real mirror of the life I was living then

Not a series but ‘ No Child of Mine’ with Brooke Kinsella was a traumatic but a brilliant depiction of how children are failed time and time again

The Shield. For me, one of the best endings to any show I've ever watched. There are also still songs from that show I listen to now.

I'm going to show my age now but Heartbreak High, especially the early episodes with Nick & Jodie. I lived my teens vicariously through that programme.

Some episodes of Call the Midwife, especially the early ones.

RuPaul's Drag Race is my happy place. I put off watching it for years even though people were raving about it because I thought it was just going to be standard reality TV full of bitchiness and backstabbing, but I absolutely love it. It never fails to cheer me up after a crap day and it's helped me to be a bit more kind to and accepting of myself.

On the other end of the spectrum, there have been some really uncomfortable and thought provoking episodes of Black Mirror that have stayed with me. I wasn't a fan of the "create your own story" episode, though.

Back to Life. Kept thinking about it for days afterwards. Thought provoking and just so beautifully written and acted.

Is no one going to mention Breaking Bad?

Mrs America, I was riveted, and did not realise until watching it how the feminist movement started in the US. It was brilliantly cast as well.

The Leftovers - so underrated and underwatched - as a portrayal of loss it’s amazing…

Would definitely say Red Riding, Twin Peaks ( which I think scared me more than most things I’ve watched for sheer creepy factor - Bob 🥺), The Wire (season 5 was pants but necessary to wind things up) but the other 4 seasons take you into a level of understanding about modern America which I haven’t seen depicted elsewhere (from education to politics to the justice system, policing etc) - it’s uncomfortable watching but it should be.

So much I can think of - I think tv stays with me more than film because of the breadth and depth shows can cover in multiple story arcs

The Wire, just heartbreaking in parts showing you the injustice in the world and what people do to survive and gets you rooting for people you never would have thought you'd like.

Oz the series set in a men's prison. This was brutal and shocking but the characters kept you watching.

Forgot to add Inside no9. The series is absolutely genius and twists on each episode. Some episodes are very disturbing but some episodes really stay with you

Fleabag...loved it
Normal people... just beautiful tv

Years and Years. Terrifying.

Definitely the Americans for me. I’m currently in the middle of yet another re-watch.

@CatNamedEaster

River. It was a detective series with Nicola Walker assisting her former boss. Hard to say anything else without giving anything away, but there is a dancing scene at the end that made me weep buckets.

I LOVE that dance scene at the end. I used to watch it on repeat on YouTube until it got taken down. So beautiful.

Six Feet Under
Chernobyl

I can't remember the name of the show, but it was on maybe a couple of years ago and had a soap star actress in it. She's had a baby with a hairy Australian man and they go to visit Australia with their baby. But their baby cries, a lot, and he just sits in the plane snoozing while she gets complaints about the crying. Then their baby goes missing when they get there!

DD was a big crier as a baby - she cried all the time, loudly and mostly through the night - and I had undiagnosed PND, and the show was so unbelievably relatable in how the female character was struggling, frustrated and feeling extremely lonely. It actually brought back so many memories that I'd buried - of times that I was so tired and miserable I wouldn't have cared if I'd died, and thought seriously about walking out forever on DD - that I had to stop watching for a bit. It was so eerily spot on about what having a 'noisy' baby is like.

She was maybe 7 when this show aired and I'd been spending some time donning my rose-tinted glasses about how I loved holding a tiny baby. But the show made me remember how AWFUL it is to have a newborn and how I'm so, so grateful for the lovely little person she is today. And it reminded me of how I got from feelings of hate (yes that's horrific but I did at time feel like I hated her ) to building an amazing bond with my wonderful daughter.