Culture, and television in particularly in Europe has been quite America-dominated for a while. I’d love to hear what’s good from your home countries. If I can make a request, give a short description of the shows that you are recommending, try to sell it a bit, and don’t just post the titles. Particularly, I’d recommend:
Matador (Danish, 1978)
This is the best TV series in the history of Denmark, possibly the world. Set in a small fictional town, it takes place in the years 1929-1947, and the changes Danish society goes through at the time. While this is interesting, the real strength is the fantastic characterization, with the show starring pretty much all famous Danish actors of the era, doing their best work.
Whiskey on the Rocks (Swedish, 2025)
A Swedish satirical series about the Whiskey on the Rocks incident of 1981, where a Soviet Whiskey-class nuclear submarine ran aground in Karlskrona. It got a lot of criticism for depicting the Soviet Union as lovable drunken buffoons instead of brutal imperialists, but I found it pretty funny regardless.
Braunschlag (Austria, 2011)
Another comedy. The mayor of the upper Austrian village of Braunschlag ran the town bankruptcy. In order to get some money flowing back into the town, he decides to fake a Marian apparition. The series is generally very Austrian, but fantastic if you like that sort of thing.
Germany
Dark (2017-2021)
The story follows dysfunctional characters from the fictional town of Winden in Germany, as they pursue the truth in the aftermath of a child’s disappearance. They follow connections between four estranged families to unravel a sinister time travel conspiracy that spans several generations. The series explores the existential implications of time and its effect on human nature and life.
Babylon Berlin (2017-)
The series is set in Berlin during the latter years of the Weimar Republic, beginning in 1929. It follows Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), a police inspector on assignment from Cologne who is on a secret mission to dismantle an extortion ring, and police clerk Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries), who aspires to become a police inspector.
Ok, it’s honestly much better than this description. It gives a feeling of those times (1929-1931) in Germany, shows social and political issues.
ZeroZeroZero (2020)
🇮🇹 Drug crime, thriller, action-adventure
One of my favourites, it manages to intertwine several stories and locations quite nicely.
ZeroZeroZero follows the journey of a cocaine shipment, from the moment a powerful Italian cartel buys it, to its packaging in Mexico and shipment across the Atlantic. The journey is followed until final delivery and payment in Europe. At the same time, it sparks an epic power struggle throughout the chain, from local dealers to the most powerful boss in the hierarchy of international organised crime.
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/92137-zerozerozero
The Day of the Jackal (2024)
🇬🇧 Action-adventure, thriller, spy, hitman
Super thrilling, every single episode had something going on and it had great characters all around.
An unequalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living by committing murders at the highest rate. But after his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who begins tracking the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse game across Europe, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/222766-the-day-of-the-jackal
Au Service de la France / A Very Secret Service (2015)
🇫🇷 Comedy, spy, cold war
Typical French humour, I really loved it. Easy to watch and I felt it made use of the spirit of 1960s France quite elegantly.
Paris 1960. 23-year-old André Merlaux is proud to join the French secret service - the best in the world. Under the strict supervision of his superior Moïse, André is trained by three elite agents to carry out the most delicate missions. He could become the best of the best, but he falls in love with the wrong person.
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/64249-au-service-de-la-france
Kleo (2022)
🇩🇪 Comedy, spy, cold war
Great characters and I feel they mimicked the period style very well.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a former East German spy resolves to find out who betrayed her and why — and use her lethal skills to exact revenge.
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/206010-kleo
Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter / Generation War (2013)
🇩🇪 War (WWII), drama
I thought this series is rather unique, because it shows the war from a German perspective and on a human scale, focusing on the individuals rather than the action.
Wilhelm, his younger brother Friedhelm, Charlotte, Viktor and Greta say goodbye in Berlin in the summer of 1941, promising to see each other again after the war. They do not know how long the war will last, let alone to what extent the unfathomable experiences, hardships and horrors will change them.
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/46849-unsere-mutter-unsere-vater
Eigen Kweek / Home Grown (2013)
🇧🇪 Comedy, drug crime
This one is mostly for a Dutch speaking audience I think, it has typical Flemish humour and lovely characters.
Home Grown tells the story of the Welvaert family, a family of sympathetic potato farmers from Heuvelland. Jos and Ria have two sons, Frank and Steven, who, to Jos’ frustration, show no interest whatsoever in growing potatoes. And then there is Geoffrey, a distant cousin they raised as their own son after his father was killed.
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/61519-eigen-kweek
After Life (2019)
🇬🇧 Dark comedy, drama
I think a lot of people know this one, full of dark British humour.
Tony had a perfect life. But after his wife Lisa suddenly dies, Tony changes. After contemplating taking his own life, he decides instead to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes from now on.
https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/79410-after-life
I advice you to always watch comedies (or preferably any series) in their original language with subtitles
My favourite series of all time is Brideshead Revisited (UK, 1981). A beautiful and melancholic look at British high society between the wars, following the recollections of one Charles Ryder as he remembers his youth, college years and early adulthood. Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews give star performances as the two leads, while John Gielgud and Lawrence Olivier steal the show as their respective fathers.
Also I’ve been quite partial to the range of crime dramas from N. European countries. Ones I can remember offhand include:
- The Killing (Sweden), award winning crime drama, multiple remakes
- The Bridge (Denmark and Sweden), possibly the apotheosis of the Nordic crime drama subgenre
- Endeavour (UK) a prequel to Inspector Morse
- Jack Taylor (Ireland) gritty police procedural from the West of Ireland
- Corp & Anam (Ireland) Irish language crime drama, great cast
- Wallander (Sweden, UK remake) long running series, also remade a few times
- Poirot (UK) charming and eccentric series based on the Agatha Christie stories
- There are many others but that’s what I came up with on the fly
Also Father Ted is something the Irish are still very proud of. 3 misfit priests are exiled to an island off the west coast where they get up to all kind of ridiculous high-jinks. The show lampoons Irish culture and society in the 1990s, and absolutely eviscerates the Irish Catholic Church.
And there is of course a wealth of excellent stuff out of the UK: comedies and dramas, sketch shows and miniseries.
UK - The office. If you are familiar with the US version, and like a little bit more spices. You will love the UK version. Some scenes would be impossible to be seen in US TV IMO. The UK version has my preference.
UK - Utopia. This one is a cult series for the people that appreciated it. It was pre-covid and IMO this is a masterpiece. I highly suggest to watch the correct version with the correct image ratio and not watch the cropped version on most stream providers. Unfortunately the last season was cancelled. But this should be a must watch IMO.
France - Guyane. Marvelous picture, and discovered an aspect of this world I didn’t have any clue about. Also I loved how different it felt from US series in general.
All of these are very high quality, well witten series I watched. A lot of stuff from UK, for some reason
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“Capitani” crime series on Luxemburg well written, quite dark
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Hinterland: crime series in
gallesWales -
Briadchurch: this is top notch, in England
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Sherlock Holmes (2010 or so) wow, this eas fantastic, all the seasons. A lot of mistery, logic, suspense
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Luther. Another crime, very well written
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Dark : top notch sci-fi time paradix series, coherent, surprising. Strongly siggested
