The Great Summer Sofa Negotiation: The Best TV Shows For When the Kids Are Finally in Bed

The UK may be basking in climate destruction (sorry, heatwaves) this summer, but let’s be honest – there’s only so long you can perch on a wonky garden chair with your bad back, swat away mozzies and pretend the abandoned Nerf guns and slowly deflating ‘family-sized pool’ are giving aspirational garden lifestyle, while the grass murmurs “lazy bastard” from the vantage of its parched, overlong blades.

Eventually the rosé runs out, the dishes are being circled by flies like gazelles on the Serengeti, the sofa whispers come hither incantations, and you start wondering which of the current best TV shows you need to hit.

The only problem? Coming to a unanimous decision.

One of you wants danger and excitement, but the other wants comfort and chuckles. One is threatening to restart Breaking Bad for the nth time, as the other pretends a Friends rewatch couldn’t BE more ironic. Both are bad ideas.

So before you spend another evening scrolling every streaming service known to mankind – which somehow costs £1m per month but still never delivers an answer – here are the shows worth the vestiges of your evening energy this summer.

⭐ The best TV shows everyone should be talking about

Widow’s Bay (Apple TV+)

If you only watch one new series this summer, make it this.

Hilarious, atmospheric and unsettling, Widow’s Bay feels less like TV and more like a modern folk tale. Even Guillermo del Toro took to X to declare it one of the best shows he’d seen in years.

The character work is pure skill, the setting bleak perfection, and the tonal balance between absurd, funny and creepy is spot on. Matthew Rhys (who needs to win all the awards) segues from bumbling cynic to reluctant hero with ease, while Kate O’Flynn and K Callan are just two of a cast full of standouts who’ll make you laugh, cry, and require therapy wine.

Side note: the show doesn’t discriminate by age when it comes to brilliant casting – another reason it feels so refreshing.

If you like having your expectations confounded and your intelligence properly rewarded, this is the one.

The Four Seasons (Netflix)

If Widow’s Bay is the show that makes you put your phone down, The Four Seasons is the one that reminds you why Tina Fey remains one of the sharpest observers of modern midlife relationships. It’s funny, bittersweet, full of hot locations and perfect for couples who’ve survived family holidays, WhatsApp groups and the passive-aggressive kids’ parties together Also Steve Carell is always a must, whether or not he ends up repeating past character behaviours (and getting payback).

It’s aspirational in much the same way as a kitchen in a Nancy Myers movie, and occasionally just as exasperating. But Season 2 tightens the pace, deepens the characters, and takes you on a ride you weren’t expecting. Totally worth your summer night time.

😂 When you need to laugh and cringe

Hacks (NOW)

One of two classic Boomer/Gen Z buddy comedies out there, but this one starts fully frenemy, with a script as sharp as a Nobu chef’s knife belt. 

Jean Smart continues to prove she’s one of television’s greatest actors, alongside the peerless Hannah Einbinder, who steps into her role with absolute gusto. Razor-sharp dialogue, brilliant performances and characters who somehow become more loveable despite making increasingly terrible decisions before somehow winging it back to greatness.

It gets political, but that’s a huge part of the fun, especially when Lauren Weedman, playing the mayor of Las Vegas (and her favourite sex worker) is involved. Hard recommend.

The Studio (Apple TV+)

Stuffed with celebrity cameos, Catherine O’Hara’s final show, and all about the inner workings of Hollywood studios, with a cast as glittering as its premise.

Every episode contains at least one moment where you’ll hide behind a cushion (cringe trigger warning: Episode 2, ‘The Oner’, co-starring Greta Lee). Hollywood satire rarely feels this painfully accurate. Bryan Cranston’s spectacular mushroom-induced ego collapse before a major presentation is already the stuff of comedy legend, and Seth Rogen’s antihero gets you slowly on side despite his many fuck-ups.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair (Disney+)

The revival has no right to be this funny. Seeing Bryan Cranston back as Hal, ultimate dad is pure joy, and yes, he somehow finds himself on another psychedelic journey of self-discovery.

❤️ When you want brilliant storytelling

Small Prophets (BBC iPlayer)

Written by national bug-eyed treasure Mackenzie Crook, Small Prophets feels exactly like discovering a beloved children’s novel adaptation, except it’s completely original – I literally had to check whether I’d read it as a kid. Magical, devastating and healing, it’s proof that television doesn’t need explosions or endless plot twists to feel extraordinary, just really clever writers. Michael Sleep and Lauren Patel play oddball buddies with exceptional nuance.

The Pitt (NOW)

Medical dramas are back, baby, and this Noah Wyle white coat reboot is the new ER, but way more addictive. Fast-paced and emotionally intelligent, proceed with caution if you don’t want a late night.

Severance (Apple TV+)

Still one of the best and cleverest TV shows out there, and spawned a viral ‘innie’ meme trend. There aren’t enough superlatives for this meditation on extreme grief and terrifying corporate cults, in a world that’s both modern and weirdly analogue, and if you need a respite from summer heat, then you’re in the right place.

The only downside is that everyone involved is so busy and successful (Ben Stiller, Adam Scott, Patricia Arquette, Tramell Tillman), and the show so audaciously ambitious, that we’ll be waiting at least another year for Season 3. It’s a long game, but it’ll be worth it.

🍸 When the best TV shows mean you need to indulge yourself

Rivals (Disney+)

The world waited a long time for a hedonistic Jilly Cooper adaptation, and it delivered. In fact it landed with a literal bang, via knee-shuddering orgasms delivered in a Concorde toilet.

At times rather like living in an 80s fever dream (see David Tennant having the time of his life as Tony Baddingham, destroying reams of VHS tape, cigar in mouth, as Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now plays in his Cotswolds mansion), Rivals is glorious escapism at it’s finest, going big on the shoulder pads and affairs and OTT facial hair, and has everyone from Emily Atack to Aidan Turner raiding the costume department and having a wonderful time, even whilst they’re ostensibly facing certain downfall. A perfect couple watch.

🎸 When you want something different

The Beatles: Get Back (Disney+)

One of the greatest music documentaries ever made.

Even if you don’t think you’re particularly interested in The Beatles, watching genius unfold in real time is strangely hypnotic. It’s one of those rare shows that almost everyone enjoys, regardless of age or musical taste. And yeah, most of it happens in a studio with cups of tea. Iconic.

🤔 The best TV shows you’ll still be thinking about tomorrow

Pluribus, (Apple TV+)

The kind of ambitious television that sparks conversations long after the credits roll. As clever, confident and genuinely original and you’d expect from the man who created the Breaking Bad universe, though absolutely not what his fans were expecting.

An alien virus invades Earth, and only 13 people are immune, including grumpy author Carol Sturka (Rhea Seehorn, formerly Kim Wexler of the swishy ponytail in Better Call Saul). The alien race are a hive mind, and they’ll do anything for the immune humans, except stop trying to convert them.

Deeply weird, deeply interesting, this is Vince Gilligan’s first outing outside of the BB universe, and it’s probably not what you were expecting. Rather like Breaking Bad, there are some scenes which absolutely take your breath away, but it couldn’t be more different.

📺 The best TV shows for shits and giggles

Vintage Love Island, (Channel 4+)

It’s a pivot from quality drama, but when motivation is low for brainpower then considering going back, before the wellness branding, the influencer deals and the identical white veneers.

Contestants smoked on screen, drank actual alcohol, woke up looking like they’d slept outside and generally behaved as though they hadn’t yet realised millions of people were watching.

Reality television has never quite been this gloriously unfiltered again.

📺 Keeping it weird on BBC iPlayer

Am I Being Unreasonable?

An absolutely chaotic pick in our best TV shows list features Daisy May Cooper as the ultimate unreliable narrator, through a twisty narrative which is currently filming its third and final season, so a perfect time to get involved and slack-jawed at the sheer amount of red herrings and OMG moments. It’s dark, completely confounding, and bloody brilliant.

Because the best TV shows aren’t just a way to while away the bit before bedtime, when kids have expended all your energy. They’re a way to connect and share a little low-investment joy. And in an age of endless scrolling, that’s all too rare.

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