Also written by Wainwright, it follows the professional and personal exploits of two Manchester police detectives. (Hulu) This is one of my go-to recommendations for anyone looking for something to watch. There is a reason “Happy Valley” is consistently on critics’ lists - it’s by S ally Wainwright which means it’s great. West Yorkshire police sergeant Catherine Cawood (Sarah Lancashire) is perhaps Jane Tennison’s most recent and glorious descendant, only she is also a working granny, plagued by the death of her daughter. Holds up to this day for reasons laudable and lamentable. Jane Tennison introduced the now-legendary Helen Mirren to those Americans who did not remember her from “Excalibur,” and proved that women could head police departments and police procedurals. A little more adult and procedural-based than “Doctor Who” but still very fun, “Torchwood” is also where I first encountered the great Eve Myles, and for that I will always be grateful.Įqually obvious.

At least as long as it lasts - Turner and Cricklow were brought in after the pilot episode, and Turner and Tovey left after the third season - this supernatural trinity cannot be beat.Ī spin-off of “Doctor Who” follows Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and his team at the Cardiff-based Torchwood Institute as they investigate alien activity on earth. well, it’s just as wonderful as you would imagine).

Whether you go all the way back to the 1960s original, with its eight incarnations of the Doctor, or start with the 2005 reboot, which is up to its fifth lead and about to announce its sixth, you will fall for at least one of these fast-talking, endlessly clever champions of Earth, past, present and future.Ī vampire (Aidan Turner), a werewolf (Russell Tovey) and a ghost (Lenore Cricklow) share a Bristol flat, and many adventures, in this wonderful mash-up of pathos, horror and coming-of-age comedy (and Tovey as a werewolf. The chronicles of a regularly regenerating Time Lord as he/she travels through time and space in a TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimensions In Space) disguised as a blue police box is possibly the most innovative, creative and enduring television show ever made.

Cosy the british art of comfort