20 of the best Netflix original shows you can watch right now

At first, the idea of Netflix – essentially a video rental site – making its own TV shows and films sounded bizarre. This simply wasn’t how the industry worked, right? Wrong. Fuelled by its vast piles of subscriber money, Netflix now wields the power of a Hollywood studio. We’ve scoured through Netflix’s hundreds of original series, documentaries and movies to pick out 20 favourites. Here they are.

THE MEYEROWITZ STORIES (NEW AND SELECTED)

Netflix has sought out real quality with its original movies, as evidenced by this wry, intelligent indie comedy-drama written and directed by Noah Baumbach. Starring Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson and Dustin Hoffman, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) examines a dysfunctional New York family through the prism of several of its members, all of whom revolve around Hoffman’s preening, needy and manipulative patriarch.

STRANGER THINGS

Stranger Things is a love letter to many of the movies, TV shows and books that children who grew up in the 1980s will cherish: it’s replete with references to E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Goonies, Stephen King, Dungeons & Dragons and Poltergeist, packed with period music, and the mood and feel is sure to dredge up nostalgia aplenty. Take away the retro vibes and the show still stands up as a fine sci-fi drama-thriller, concerning a small town, a missing boy and his friends and family’s attempts to find him.

GODLESS

This seven-part miniseries is a dark, character-driven Western set in a tiny New Mexico mining town inhabited almost entirely by women. Any mystery surrounding this demographic curiosity is cleared up quickly – the real pull of this story comes from the sense of impending doom as a merciless outlaw band (led by a magnificent, malignant Jeff Daniels) homes in on a defector seeking shelter among the women. Can the town’s ailing sheriff and the rest of its odd assortment of characters avert the incoming carnage?

THE OA

In the seven years that Prairie Johnson has been missing she’s regained her sight and apparently changed her name to ‘The OA’ – and that’s really just the start of this sci-fi drama series’ unusualness. Comparisons to Stranger Things come easily: most of the protagonists are young, and there’s a hearty helping of fantasy mixed in with the sci-fi. But just because The OA isn’t as good as Stranger Things doesn’t mean it’s not worth a watch (after all, what is as good as Stranger Things?).

THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD

If you prefer your quirky comedy-drama to remain mired on the bleak, dark and murderous side of the fence, this one-season Brit series co-created by Netflix and Channel 4 deserves to sit high up on your shortlist. When a couple of misfit teenagers embark on an impromptu road trip, things quickly take a chaotic turn – and little wonder, given that one of them, believing himself to be a psychopath, plans on killing the other as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

OKJA

Circumventing the traditional studio distribution model got this big budget drama booed by cinematic purists at the beginning of its Cannes Film Festival premiere. By the end of the screening, the same audience was giving it a four-minute standing ovation. This tale of a huge genetically-modified pig, her devoted tween companion, big business and animal rights is a delight, benefitting from a fine cast (Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton and Paul Dano among them), brisk narrative pace and fantastic visual effects that bring Okja herself convincingly to life.

HOUSE OF CARDS

One of its original Originals, House Of Cards is still perhaps the jewel in Netflix’s crown. With David Fincher behind the camera and Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in front as scheming Democratic Majority Whip Frank Underwood and his equally devious wife Claire, its depiction of Capitol Hill as a cesspool of self-interested career politicians is light years away from (and let’s be honest, far more convincing than) anything you may have seen in The West Wing.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT

Dysfunctional families have been done to death on both the big screen and TV, but the Bluths are arguably the most self-centred, destructive and, well, downright hilarious bunch of the lot. Superb performances from the likes of David Cross, coupled with tonnes of re-quote potential make this a must-watch. It gets a little lost after the first three seasons thanks to the actors’ other projects clashing with filming, but it’s still well worth watching until the very end.

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

Arguably Netflix’s second-best original series after House of Cards, this is a prison show that goes its own way: less brutal than Oz, less daft than Prison Break and more compelling than Prisoner Cell Block H, it begins as a fish-out-of-water drama (very loosely based on a true story) in which a yuppie Brooklynite winds up in a low-security women’s jail for a crime committed almost a decade previous.

BOJACK HORSEMAN

This animated sitcom features Arrested Development’s Will Arnett as the titular Horseman, a… er… “horse man” who found fame in a beloved 1990s sitcom but now lives in a haze of booze and self-loathing. Set in a skewed version of Hollywood where humans coexist with anthropomorphic animals, BoJack Horseman features a strong cast (Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul plays BoJack’s best friend Todd), and offers a surprisingly nuanced portrayal of the “washed-up former star” trope.

MAKING A MURDERER

Steven Avery served 18 years in prison for a horrible crime that he didn’t commit, and the revelations about the police handling of that case could be a 10-part documentary series of their own, but here that’s just the start. Just two years after his exoneration and release, Avery is charged with a new crime: the brutal murder of a young woman. Given the circumstances of the previous case, the local sheriff’s involvement is under serious scrutiny, and to say there are suspicious inconsistencies in the case against him would be a huge understatement.

BETTER CALL SAUL

The best spinoff since Frasier puts the spotlight on Breaking Bad’s sleazy-yet-likeable lawyer Saul, in a series (now three seasons’ deep) that begins seven years before Walter White’s descent into crime and mayhem. Bob Odenkirk slips into Saul’s garish suit with remarkable ease, and his superb performance allows his character’s desperation, tenacity and humour to seep through the screen and grab our attention with both hands.

DARK

Dark is a bit like the German version of Stranger Things – except much more difficult to watch (and not just because of those German subtitles). This is a complex series that delights in constantly pulling the rug out from under you just when you think you know what’s going on; we guarantee it’ll leave you with brain-ache at times. It’s also seriously gruesome and really puts its characters (and viewers) through the emotional wringer. Don’t let that put you off though, because this is one Netflix Original not to miss.

NARCOS

This critically lauded series dramatises the bloody rise of Colombian cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar, and the gringo tasked with taking him down. Not exactly a laugh-a-minute jaunt, eh? While Narcos lacks much in the way of light relief, watching US DEA agent Steve Murphy immerse himself in a viciously amoral cesspit is a constant thrill. What could well be a high-minded exercise in true crime drama becomes nothing less than nerve-shredding nirvana via classy performances and the disturbing use of archive footage.

BLACK MIRROR

Black Mirror has made the move from Channel 4 to Netflix in sumptuous, unsettling style. Not only has the platform given Charlie Brooker and his team the freedom to tell more stories (the two Netflix-funded seasons each have six episodes rather than the usual three), it’s also given them a budget big enough to expand the scale, scope and special effects. The feature-length final episode, “Hated in the Nation”, is a perfect case in point.

CHEF’S TABLE

It might not feature Greg Wallace shovelling food into his maw every ten minutes, but that doesn’t make Chef’s Table any less appealing to hardcore foodies. This documentary series (now three seasons strong) follows world-renowned chefs as they take viewers on a personal journey through their culinary evolution, providing an intimate, informative glimpse into what gets their creative juices flowing.

13TH

There’s a sequence from Netflix documentary 13th that went viral just after America elected Donald Trump as its new president. It shows the moron-in-chief eulogising the “good old days” while clips of protestors getting roughed up at his rallies are shown next to old footage of African-American citizens being beaten in the streets. It’s a powerful summary of 13th, a film that lays bare the realities of being black in modern-day America, and shows exactly how far we have (or haven’t) come since the abolition of slavery.

MARVEL’S DAREDEVIL, JESSICA JONES ETC.

Yes, these are comic book adaptations and will likely do very little to convince non-comics fans of their worth, but the series are by-and-large impeccably produced, with excellent casts, effects and stunts – you won’t see better fight scenes on the small screen. They’re also aimed at adults rather than kids, with all the violence, sex and bad language we’ve come to expect from a 21st-century prestige TV show. The way each series’ characters spill over into the other shows also nicely mimics the way Marvel’s heroes pop up in each other’s comic runs.

THE CROWN

The Crown’s appeal is partly down to the astronomical production values that have been instilled in this retelling of Queen Elizabeth II’s early years. Over £100 million was invested in this period extravaganza, and that all adds up to a dizzying amount of convincing detail. Even those of a staunchly republican bent will find themselves sucked in to the two full seasons, which chart a series of major national events as well as delve deeply into the personal lives of the Windsors and those surrounding them.

DIRK GENTLY’S HOLISTIC DETECTIVE AGENCY

As a “holistic” detective, Dirk Gently simply investigates crimes he happens across randomly and follows the most obscure and seemingly unconnected of leads as he does so. What transpires is a gloriously muddled mess of offbeat diversions, Technicolor characters and bizarre events taking in psychic powers, cats, dogs, homicidal angels, torture, some really lovely leather jackets and Elijah Wood.