So we have covered films and books, and now it is time for me to try and choose five TV programmes that I think would help someone get to know me better.

I honestly thought this would be the easiest one for me to do, until I started trying to choose and then I had a list that was much longer than five and no idea how to start cutting it down!

In the end I decided that this need to be a two-parter. Part 1 is going to be ‘fictional’ TV and Part 2 will be ‘non-fiction’ TV, because that means I at least get to choose ten in total instead of five.

There are still far too many on both lists, so I sort of grouped similar ones together and picked one from each group (apologising profusely to the others and changing my mind several times) to give the widest spectrum possible.

I might just add a few titles of the others too though, for further study of me, if anyone so desires/anyone wants TV show recommendations.

Five TV Shows To Watch To Get To Know Me Better (Fiction)

Doctor Who

This was always going to be number one. Always.

I don’t care which era, I love it all. All of them. Every Doctor transformation.

My favourite is the tenth Doctor, but honestly, I will happily watch and rewatch any of it. From William Hartnell in black and white, right through to the latest episodes – they are all genius.

Space, time, mystery, heartbreak, mythology, comedy, love, horror, legends, humanity, monsters, aliens, everything.

It makes me laugh, makes me cry, makes me think, has given me recurring nightmares (Are you my Mummy?), made me incapable of walking through/past graveyards without chanting ‘don’t blink’ to myself whilst my eyes water furiously, and has made my whole world a little brighter and my imagination a little wider.

And yes, I am excited to see what the fourteenth Doctor brings to the legacy. I’m always here for wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.

(The other shows in this vague category that were on my list were: Primeval, Torchwood, Merlin, Grimm, Battlestar Galactica, and Supernatural)

Vera

This was possibly one of the hardest decisions I had to make from my mini lists – I do love a good, gritty, British crime drama series.

I went for Vera over the others, because I adore the character building of Vera herself. Brenda Blethyn is a brilliant actress and she carries the role beautifully. Vera is tenacious, strong, witty, and dedicated to her work, but she is also kind hearted and gentle underneath her brusque exterior. Her relationships with the other characters are so very human – she tries to take care of everyone, even when the person who most needs looking after is herself, and the dynamics between her and her team are brilliantly depicted.

(But also I could have chosen any of these as well: A Touch Of Frost, Inspector Morse, Lewis, Happy Valley, Broadchurch, or even The Bill)

Death In Paradise

And here we have my other British crime genre love. Where it is everything that is not dark and gritty.

Yes there are murders, but the whole series is light-hearted, the inspectors are delightfully and awkwardly British in an environment that is the polar opposite of what an awkward Brit feels comfortable in. It’s funny and heartwarming, but not without serious and sad moments as well. The characters are all larger than life and, much like in Doctor Who, whenever a new inspector starts they bring something new and yet also stay familiar enough to not break the dynamics. So yes, I started watching this for Ben Miller, but I kept watching it for the stories and the fun, even after he left. (Why yes, I will watch anything just for Ben Miller. He stole my heart in Doc Martin when he had an invisible squirrel friend…)

(The others in this category of British programmes that are hilarious whilst also somehow serious included: Doc Martin, Rosemary & Thyme, New Tricks, and Midsomer Murders)

Feel Good

I absolutely loved this series.

It is a grown up comedy, that covers sexuality, mental health, gender dysphoria, relationships (both romantic and familial), and general adulthood growing up *stuff*

Mae Martin is a brilliant writer, comedian, and actress – they wrote a show that was hilarious, but also heart wrenching and brutally honest about all sorts of things. Addiction, sex, anxiety, love, friendship, all the crazy things that nobody ever talks about because it’s ‘taboo’ but that are all part of being a human.

The characters are a mess, the situations are often cringe-worthy, mostly because they are larger than life examples of things that so many people go through and it makes you see them and think about them. The humour stops it from all becoming unbearable, but it still made me think and it opened up conversations that I’d wanted to have but never really known how to approach.

It was a bit like a coming of age show for twenty/thirty somethings.

And it also featured the most accurate representation of sensory/anxiety overload I have ever seen.

(Okay so this list of comedy shows was *a lot* shorter than all my other lists. Because I am quite picky with comedy. But the others were: Maid Marian and her Merry Men, Ghosts, and Black Adder)

House MD

I am even pickier with medical dramas than I am with comedies. This was the only category with a list of one.

I think this one works so well for me, because it is much like the murder mysteries with each episode being about a complicated medical issue that needs identifying by Dr House and his team, rather than just medical procedural drama.

And, again, it’s also a lot about being human and dealing with all the crappy stuff life throws at you.

Also Hugh Laurie is amazing. And so is the rest of the cast and the writing.

I love this series so much that it is the naming theme for our household furries – Amber ASBO Cut-Throat-B*itch Cat is named after one of House’s team from Season 4 Dr Amber Volkis (whose nickname is Cut-Throat-Bitch in the series, and whose character was pretty catty), and Chase the Red is named after Dr Robert Chase (aka Jesse Spencer who I have been in love with since he was Billy Kennedy in Neighbours). The second part of Chase’s name isn’t House related, it is ‘the Red’ because he was called Red at the Dogs Trust before we rescued him.

So there you go, my *cough* five *cough* TV series for you to watch to get to know me better.

Next time I will be doing non-fiction TV shows and maybe by then I will have got that list down to five…