The best British shows Americans should be watching on Netflix
Forget Charli XCX’s Brat summer. For Netflix, this has been the year of the Brits. The company’s co-chief executive, Ted Sarandos, has revealed British drama topped its viewing charts for 2024.
Describing the UK as “the birthplace of prestige television”, he revealed the Michelle Keegan/Joanna Lumley potboiler Fool Me Once is the most popular show on Netflix in 2024 to date. It is followed by London-set dark comedy Baby Reindeer, Guy Ritchie’s toffs v gangsters caper The Gentlemen and the
Americans have long had a soft spot for a British accent – with the Great British Bake Off and Doctor Who among the franchises with big cult followings across the Atlantic.
But what other gems are they missing out on? Grab your Union Flag and a Beefeater hat as we count down the 15 best British shows accessible via streaming that Americans are missing.
1. The Fall
Gillian Anderson is arguably as well-known today for playing Margaret Thatcher on The Crown and as a sex therapist on Sex Education as for anything she did early in her career. But when she appeared opposite Jamie Dornan in Belfast-serial killer thriller The Fall, she was still generally thought of as that American actress from The X-Files.
She embarked on a chilly image makeover as Superintendent Stella Gibson, a senior investigations officer tracking a suave killer (Dornan) targeting young women in this BBC-originated thriller set in post-ceasefire Northern Ireland.
2. Giri/Haji
Keno Mori is a Tokyo cop who goes to London searching for his missing brother and is caught in a conflict between criminal gangs. Mori (Takehiro Hira) also strikes up a friendship with Kelly McDonald’s DC Sarah Weitzmann that leads to places neither ever expected. Back in Tokyo, meanwhile, Mori’s semi-estranged wife is targeted by the Yakuza. Writer Joe Barton blends action, thriller and rom-com conventions to dazzling effect while drawing a moving portrait of middle-aged romance – and then chucks in some interpretive dance for good measure.
3. Red Rose (2022)
The smartphone horror has had a bit of a moment recently with filmmakers utilising the format to satirise our always-on era. The genius of this excellent show, though, lies in its ability to sustain that tension over the course of an entire series as it sees a cluster of gossiping, jockeying teens succumb to a curse seemingly spread via their online interactions. As always with these set-ups, it’s the real-life horror of a life lived mostly online which terrifies more than the supernatural mumbo-jumbo. Read our Red Rose review
4. The Last Kingdom
It’s 866 AD, and England has been overrun by the Great Heathen Army. They sound as if they should be headlining Donington for the annual rock festival but are, in fact, a Viking horde straight outta Denmark. All that stands in their way is King Alfred and his armies – aided by Uhtred, a Saxon raised by the Danes. (Read our The Last Kingdom review)
5. Boiling Point
A sequel to the 2021 Stephen Graham movie of the same name, Boiling Point stars Vinette Robinson as sous-chef Carly, who has opened a high-end restaurant after her boss (Graham’s Andy) has a breakdown and closes his establishment. There are a lot of scenes of people shouting at each other while chopping onions – but Boiling Point also captures the trauma of putting up with customers who expect restaurants to move heaven and earth catering to their whims. Graham returns, too. (Read our Boiling Point review)
6. Last Tango in Halifax
Two widowed pensioners reconnect over Facebook and discover they still have feelings for each other. Anne Reid and Derek Jakobi charm as Celia and Alan, a duo of septuagenarians who shock their respective families when they begin a relationship and then marry. (Read our Last Tango in Halifax review)
7. Cunk on Earth
Not since the heyday of Ali-G has a TV presenter reduced so many talking head experts to embarrassment and befuddlement. Comedian Diane Morgan excels as the spectacularly ignorant Philomena Cunk, who wanders the landscape, talking to academics and authors and delivering observations such as: “Despite being the stuff of nightmares, Santa is the world’s most popular home intruder.” (Read our Cunk on Earth review)
8. Black Earth Rising
Michaela Coel puts in a breakout performance as a survivor of the Rwandan genocide who grows up in Britain and becomes a legal investigator. She is drawn into a dangerous conspiracy after an attempt to bring to justice those responsible for the mass-killings in the 1990s leads to murder – and forces Kate (Coel) to reckon with enemies both past and present.
9. Supacell
Superheroes with a British twist are front and centre of this fantastical tale of five black Londoners who develop extraordinary powers at moments of stress. Tosin Cole and Adelayo Adedayo star, while former musician Rapman marshals the action with an assured touch. (Read our Supacell review)
10. Top Boy
Megastar Drake loved this tale of feuding gangs in East London so much that he convinced Netflix to bring it back. Dushane (Ashley Walters) wants to become “Top Boy” in his neighbourhood but that puts him into conflict with other drug dealers and his best friend Sully (Kane Robinson). Series four introduced Barry Keoghan as an Irish gangster who drives around listening to the Wolfe Tones at full blast. (Read our Top Boy review)
11. Crashing
Phoebe Waller-Bridge warmed up for Fleabag with Crashing, a 2016 sitcom about friends who shack up together at an abandoned hospital set for demolition. It’s as dry as a plate of crackers and illuminated by Waller-Bridge’s deadpan humour.
12. The Inbetweeners
American dramas such as Euphoria portray adolescence as a riot of sex, drugs and high-jinks (with the “teenagers” invariably played by actors in their late 20s and 30s). For a more accurate depiction of the indignities of growing up, you can’t beat The Inbetweeners, Damon Beesley and Iain Morris’s uproarious comedy about a quartet of suburban teenagers struggling with romantic rejection and their uneasy relationship with lad culture.
13. Broadchurch
Nordic noir with a melancholy English twist, courtesy of David Tennant and Olivia Colman, who play rumpled detectives investigating the killing of an 11-year-old boy along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset. (Read our Broadchurch review)
14. The End of the F***ing World
A high-octane black comedy that originated on Channel 4 and tells the story of Bonnie and Clyde-style teenagers James (Alex Lawther) and Alyssa (Jessica Barden). James believes he’s a psychopath, while Alyssa is a rebel without a cause – until she and James hook up for a road trip across Britain, spreading mayhem and mischief as they go.
15. Behind Her Eyes
You’ll have to go far and wide to find a drama as bonkers as this eye-swivelling adaptation of Sarah Pinborough’s supernatural thriller. Simona Brown plays a single mum drawn into a web of forbidden love with her new boss (Tom Bateman) – and his creepily passive wife (Eve Hewson). Silly fun and worth staying with for a twist that will have you hooting aloud. (Read our Behind Her Eyes review)
