Netflix & Chill: Top 5 Netflix shows for Lockdown

It’s Corona time*.

You’re working from home? You’re in quarantine and self-isolating? Or you’re in desperate need of a good series to watch? Don’t worry, we got you. As a team, we thought why not get together (albeit over Skype) and share our top five Netflix shows to help make your life that little bit easier. So, without further ado and in no particular order:

Love is Blind

If you haven’t heard of Love is Blind, where have you been? In case we weren’t already drowning in a tsunami of dating shows, we’re thrown another to obsess over. Love is Blind sees thirty singletons caged into a Big Brother style house, where the boys are split from the girls, and the only time they mingle is when in the ‘pods’. Think Blind Date meets Dating in the Dark and Married at First Sight, with a touch of speed dating.

The contestants spend a few days ‘dating’ until they find their match and ultimately decide to propose to their chosen mate. Yes, propose for marriage (because nothing is permanent, right?). We then get a big reveal where they meet in-person and we follow their lives there-after. Did they choose the right mating partner? Will they make it down the aisle? Is love really blind?

The suspense.

Some may say that the concept is flawed because everyone in the show is attractive. Everyone. Trust, if Amber was overweight with a wart on her forehead, Barnett would have looked elsewhere (*coughs* Jessica). But, it works and is a fascinating watch.

If you’re looking for escapism, brain-numbing reality, lessons in social distancing, or simply like to watch hyper-emotional Americans share their every waking thought for 11 hours, then this is the show for you.

The English Game

Julian Fellowes is back. And he’s brought his Downton Abbey costume designers with him. In classic Fellowes style, The English Game is set in a bygone era (1878 to be precise), where the rich wear Black Tie and ball gowns to supper, and the poor live somewhere up north.

For many years, football had been dominated by the upper classes, the Old Etonians being a particular infamous team. The English Game is a drama which follows the story of Fergus Seuter, a working-class Scot, known as the first professional footballer. The show depicts his journey as he helps football move from an amateur game into a professional one. And, as a result, follows Seuter’s team rise throughout the ranks in the FA Cup - a defiance to old traditions of the ruling class and deeply rooted divisions within English society. A nod of things to come.

The English Game is more Downton Abbey than Football Factory, but has enough game history to keep the football fans happy and plenty of costume fondlings for your traditional Fellowes viewer to lust after.

Top Boy

Wagwan fam?

Top Boy is the crème de la crème of British TV (sitting at the Wuthering Heights of Line of Duty, the Bodyguard and Happy Valley). It’s been hailed as the British version of the Wire and rightly so. It does not disappoint.

Top Boy follows the lives of Dushane and Sully, two low-level drug dealers on an East London estate, as they work their way through the criminal underworld to become the top dawgs of their turf.

The East London slang might be a minefield to get around, but as soon as you’ve learnt the basics you won’t be able to stop watching. Top Boy is a gritty, gripping and (sometimes) grotesque adaptation of what life is like for kids growing up in East London estates. It brings to life the stories behind the headlines, a sympathetic and forgiving view of gangs and gang culture.

Friends

In times of need, we need our friends. So, there is no better time than now to get out the Friends box set and sift through some old classics. Like the one when Phoebe gets hit in the head by a pigeon and drops the lottery tickets, or the one where everybody finds out about Monica and Chandler, or the one with Unagi... unaaagi.

Friends is ideal for working from home. It acts as background noise, but also doubles up as a companion(s). Am I right? Also, the reunion is almost upon us so we need to brush up on the highlights.

The Witcher

The Witcher is a fantasy drama, you’ll either love or hate. The show follows the story of a monster slayer and his two companions, switching between story-lines, and rehashing past events which were formative to the characters before coming together and merging as one story-line.

The Witcher is action-packed from the start and doesn’t really stop throughout the series. It’s incredibly fast-paced, a show made for the fans of the video games and books? For fantasy-lovers it’s a dream, for everyone else, it’s confusing.

There’s whisperings in rumourville that it’s the new Game of Thrones. Don’t be fooled, this is not true. Unfortunately, for the die-hard GoT fans, it’s not going to fill the empty void. But, if you can get past the jumpy-ness of the storyline and Henry Cavill’s ridiculous voice then you will be entertained.

Other notable series we love;

What If?
Ozark
You
Money Heist
Narcos
Schitt's Creek
Formula One: Drive to survive
Cheer
You

In other news, if you’d love to enjoy any of these series while curled up on a brand new sofa, hit this link to explore the collection.

*If you know, you know. (But, just in case you don't, click here)