My Favourite TV Series

I have already shared with you some current favourite songs and my favourite films. I thought it was now time to mention my favourite TV series. Here are my top ten favourite TV series:-

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)

This series is about a teenager who becomes the next vampire slayer. Only one slayer is born into every generation and one has to die for another to be activated. It is a kind of coming of age story and I love strong female characters. I also just loved the fight scenes. I was only four when this series first came out, so I did miss a few seasons at first. About five years ago, I did re-watch all seven seasons. I was sad it ended, but there are only so many monsters you can introduce and slay before it gets monotonous! It did watch the spin-off show Angel, but it didn’t have the same magic and feel to it for me.

 

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-)

I am quite partial to a crime drama and it all started with CSI: Miami. I watched all of the American CSI series and one-by-one they were cancelled, but Law & Order: SVU is still going strong! It is the only Law & Order series I have watched, but I just know it is my favourite. It’s been going for many years and there are still two original cast members (I know ICE-T hasn’t quite been there from day one). If for some reason you have never seen this series, it is about a fictional Special Victims Unit based in New York. It deals with the most heinous of crimes. The unit helps the victims/survivors and you see the court cases/trials play out (not all get justice).

 

Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

I love medieval/period drama series and especially with a little fantasy mixed in! I watched the first episode of this series and I thought it was boring, but something in me told me to carry on and I am glad that I did. The series is based on the Song of Ice and Fire book series by George RR Martin. It’s basically about the fictional world of the Seven Kingdoms and fighting over who is the rightful ruler. Whilst various families are fighting over the throne, there is a threat brewing in the deep north. We get to see various fights and other threats along the way. I do love the fight sequences of this series, that’s one of the reasons why I love medieval dramas! I did think of this show as my number one show/series of all time, but the last season was a bit of a let-down! Throughout the first seven seasons we learned about the biggest threat to humanity and we knew the end game would be inevitably coming, but I don’t think we realised the biggest threat of the past seven seasons, would be squashed in the first couple of episodes of season eight! Characters that were built up over the years and showed growth had their paths take a bit of a cliff dive! Daenerys was set up to be a saviour and then turned into a whiny, entitled, self-centred, psycho arsonist! Jon Snow was done so dirty and the least deserving character won the throne in the end! The last season just felt very rushed and it felt like a lot of the things that happened came out of nowhere. Season eight kind of ruined the series and overall experience for me a little. I knew there probably wouldn’t be a hugely personal satisfying ending for me because not all heroes can win, but this was something else! Everything just goes back to that Ramsay quote; “If you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention.”

 

Vikings (2013-2020)

The series is inspired by the tales of the Norseman of early medieval Scandinavia. It is based on the adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok and his family. Over the six seasons, we see many raids and wars across the globe. There is also great sheildmaiden representation, my favourite character was Lagertha. It did also catch the fans off guard when the star character was killed off; some of us are still not over it! I’m so sad that the series ended, but I have heard there may be a spin-off coming in the future.

 

The 100 (2014-2020)

I only started watching this series towards the end of 2020 and it didn’t take me long to binge watch all seven seasons and I absolutely loved it! I can’t believe it took me so long to even start watching in. It is a series about the survivors of the human race after a nuclear apocalypse ninety-seven years prior. Three generations of humans have now been born in space on the space station, but their supplies are depleting as they hadn’t planned on staying in space for so long. They decide to send ninety-nine teenage detainees to the ground (Earth), to see if it is habitatable. There is a stowaway on board the Earth bound detainee craft as it crashes through the atmosphere. This stowaway makes up the hundred. They soon realise that the ground is somewhat habitatable, but they are not alone. There are many power struggles and it leads to two other Earth apocalypses, humans seem to be the problem every time. Will it ever change or can they break the cycle? I love the grounder language (Trigedasleng) and there are some great quotes. There was also a character that I sort of hated in the beginning, but he really grew throughout the seven seasons and became one of my favourite characters. I’m sad it ended, but it did have a generally happy ending. The story was told in exactly one-hundred episodes.

 

The Last Kingdom (2015-)

This series is very different to Vikings, but it still covers the Viking Age. It is set around one-hundred years after the age Vikings is set. This series is mostly based on the relationship between the Vikings and Anglo-Saxons in England (UK). The story also centers on the life of the main character, Uhtred (he is one handsome human!). Everything is taken away from him as a child and he spends the majority of his life trying to get it back. He also struggles with his identity, he was born Anglo-Saxon, but was raised by a Dane (Viking) family. He is a great fighter and ignites loyalty in his friends and followers. Four seasons have aired so far and a fifth one has been confirmed, but I don’t know what stage it is at. I do love this series, but I do think I prefer Vikings. I enjoyed the sheildmaiden representation on Vikings and there isn’t any on The Last Kingdom, probably because it is set in Christian England and not Norway (we have Aethelflaed, but she’s not Lagertha)!

 

Poldark (2015-2019)

I loved watching this on cosy Sunday evenings! It is set in 1783 Cornwall, England (UK) and is mostly based on the Poldark family. The main character returns from the American War of Independence after having been away for three years. He finds that his father has died, his estate in ruins and in debt. To top it off, his childhood sweetheart, who he had hoped to marry, is now engaged to his cousin! Over the years, the lives of the characters play out and there are many lost loves, deaths, births and wars. It ended after five seasons and I was happy with the ending.

 

Killing Eve (2018-)

I am waiting for season four, but filming has been delayed due to the pandemic. It may not actually air until 2022, which means it will have had a year break. It is a series based on the Villanelle novel series. Eve, an intelligence officer, is tasked with capturing a psychopathic assassin, Villanelle. They are in a constant cat and mouse chase all over the world and they develop a mutual obsession which each other. Villanelle takes out her marks in various imaginative ways and it also adds a sort of comedy factor to the series. It is a great series, but I am not sure what the end game really is. The name of the series may be the giveaway to the end game, but it seems so far off at the moment.

 

Manifest (2018-)

I am eagerly waiting for season three to start this April and I can’t wait! This series is based on passengers and crew of a commercial airliner (Flight 828), which goes missing for five years and everyone on board is presumed dead. The flight mysteriously reappears after the five years, with everyone still on board. It has only been a few hours flight for those on board, but five years have actually passed. The main characters are trying to piece together what might have happened to them and there are lots of twists and turns throughout. I feel like we are a bit of a way off finding out what happened in those five years and why it didn’t seem like five years to those on board. I hope it gets a least a fourth season to tie it up, but I would love for it to have many more.

 

Siren (2018-2020)

This series is set in a small fictional coastal town called Bristol Cove, located in Washington (USA). It has a long history relating to mermaids/sirens, but the majority of the locals in the modern day believe the history stories to be just legends, it turns out they are very wrong! It is one of the most realistic portrayals of mermaids/sirens I have seen. You actually get to see the transformations into human and mermaid/siren form. I’m sad that it was cancelled after just three seasons. It kind of had a tied up ending, but it does leave you wanting much more.

 

I do like quite a few other TV series too, but the above are my absolute favourites. Here are some honourable mentions; The Tribe (1999-2003), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000-2015), CSI: Miami (2002-2012), The Story of Tracy Beaker (2002-2005), CSI: New York (2004-2013), The Big Bang Theory (2007-2019), The Tudors (2007-2010), Merlin (2008-2012), The Vampire Diaries (2009-2017), Downton Abbey (2010-2015), Grimm (2011-2017), The Borgias (2011-2013), Ripper Street (2012-2016), The Originals (2012-2018), Reign (2013-2017), Black Sails (2014-2017), The Musketeers (2014-2016), CSI: Cyber (2015-2016), Versailles (2015-2018), Medici (2016-2019), Harlots (2017-2019), The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-), Legacies (2018-), His Dark Materials (2019-), See (2019-), Bridgerton (2020-) and Fate: The Winx Saga (2021-).

 

TV Shows I Currently Watch

Shows that run every week on television (like soap operas):

Casualty (1986-)

Holby City (1999-)

 

TV series that run for series/seasons:

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999-) - Season 22

Legacies (2018-) - Season 3

 

TV series that have already aired, but I am catching up:

A Discovery of Witches (2018-) - Season 1 Episode 2 of 8

Britannia (2018-) - Season 2 Episode 2 of 10

Batwoman (2019-) - Season 1 Episode 8 of 20

Dickinson (2019-) - Season 2 Episode 1 of 10

The Witcher (2019-) - Season 1 Episode 5 of 8

 

The TV series I still need to watch are; Black Mirror (2011-2019), Peaky Blinders (2013-), The Crown (2016-), Knightfall (2017-2019), Still Star-Crossed (2017), Black Lightning (2018-), The Alienist (2018-), Carnival Row (2019-), Nancy Drew (2019-), The Umbrella Academy (2019-), Emily In Paris (2020-), Filthy Rich (2020), Gangs of London (2020-), Raised by Wolves (2020-), The Stranger (2020), The Wilds (2020-) and Unorthodox (2020).

 

Do you have any suggestions for other TV series I might like?