Can we have a "brilliant tv programmes that centre women and manage to be brilliant without using violence and rape"?☺

[CatNamedEaster]

I've never had a stomach for violence on tv but even less so now, so I thought I'd start a thread for people who want shit-hot drama/comedy/whatever that has women at its heart but isn't fluffy Sunday night filler (nothing wrong with that, I'm not a snob).
My recent highlights have been:

Impeachment. About the Monica Lewinsky affair. I find the actresses playing Monica and Linda mesmerising and they manage to convey so much with a look.

Cutting It. Watched the whole lot in lockdown. Really funny and poignant and unafraid to show women who are strong and vulnerable and sexual.

The Pact.

In The Club. Followed a group of pregnant women, with Hermione Norris and Jill Halfpenny. Haven't seen it since it was first on so not sure if it's aged well!

My first thought was Call the Midwife. Although that has featured violence and rape... but is mostly about women helping women.

Mrs America

The Morning Show?

Scandal is great

THE GOOD WIFE! And it's spin off, The Good Fight.

Decent glossy legal drama where a majority of the main characters are female.

If you haven't heard much about it then don't be put off by the title. It is most emphatically not about being a good wife. In fact I'm many ways one of the early story arcs is about a woman finding her strength to rail against her sleazebag politician husband and not be a good wife in the required way.

If I could wipe my memory and watch one program again this would be it

Have you tried The Queens Gambit?
I was expecting there to be sexual assault in there but there wasn't.

Derry Girls

Mare of Easttown does have violence but brilliant female acting and characters that aren’t perfect and glossy and centred on their looks.

Remembered more:

Dr Foster. I found her voiceover at the end heartbreaking and I cried so much at it as it resonated with some aspects of my life at the time.

Last Tango in Halifax. Not deep and some might put it in the "fluffy" category but I loved the writing and seeing Nicola Walker and Sarah Lancashire on screen.

I also loved parts of Happy Valley purely for the relationship between the two women but I found the violence extremely hard to take so had to give up on it.

Yes loved Derry Girls!

Haven't seen any of the rest so will look those up .

If you want a lovely sitcom with a female lead, try the boxed set of Surgical Spirit.
It's about a fearsome female consultant surgeon, Sheila Sabatini, who has a brilliant line in razor sharp put downs of male colleagues, and is played with huge relish by Nichola McAuliffe.
Duncan Preston is her hapless consultant anaesthetist.
There are lots of good supporting female roles too, notably the operating theatre manager, played by Marji Campi.
It is so refreshing to find a series that is genuinely funny, where the female characters get all the best lines!

@Aroundtheworldin80moves

My first thought was Call the Midwife. Although that has featured violence and rape... but is mostly about women helping women.

Second this

I’ve just started Alma is not normal on iPlayer. That’s shaping up quite well

Call my agent has lots of great female characters.

Shtisel is really engaging and the female characters are so interesting. No violence.

Queens Gambit. I loved this series so much, beautifully filmed. But as mentioned by a pp, there were a few moments where I thought the character would be sexually assaulted, but it didn't happen and it was so refreshing that the writer didn't go down that path.

Bit of a random one, but I really liked the mini-series Bump on BBC recently (think it was a repeat).

Lots of the historical dramas centre round women:
Middlemarch
North and South
Cranford
Mapp and Lucia
South Riding

Derry Girls, definitely
Dinnerladies

The Durrells
Bletchley Circle (bit naff but first series was OK)
Home Fires

If you have Netflix and are ok with dubbed foreign dramas, Cable Girls and High Seas are Spanish dramas with strong female leads. Can't remember any gratuitous violence.

Another film -Nomadland.
I thought there would be sexual assault but thankfully there wasn't.

Indeed, wouldn't that be great. The recent drama Angela Black - I was thinking 'wouldn't it be an idea if it showed her, after the FIRST instance of violence from her husband, reporting it to the police, seeking legal help, sorting out the finances and leaving him. Then and she and her kids would be happy and violence-free. But no, probably does not make 'great drama' (which this wasn't).

Recently, loved Bump.

Going back a bit, Borgen. Favourite series ever.

Motherland
Fleabag

Queen’s Gambit
The Good Life

Sorry! The Good Place, not the Good Life.

Though actually good life works too.

Great thread! Some of my recent favourites have subtitles.
I am currently watching Impeachment (about Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky) which absolutely centres the female characters. TV should be full of dramas like this - I'm glued.
State of Happiness (iPlayer) about the oil industry coming to Norway, so much better than it sounds.
A Very Scandi Scandal on All4 - heist comedy about two unlikely female crooks, has the great actress from 30 Degrees in February, which is also brilliant.
Feud! Bette and Joan (about Betty Davies and Joan Crawford), it was on iPlayer, not sure where it's available now.

Succession, The Good Place