The best NOW TV shows (July 2020): the best Sky series in one place

The landmark miniseries dramatises the real-life events of the horrific 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, and is the first ever production collaboration between Sky and HBO.

If that wasn’t itself a marker of the 2019 miniseries being about as high-quality as you can get, it’s officially the top rated TV show of all time, with a 9.7-star rating out of 10 on IMDB. This puts it ahead of Breaking Bad, which has been knocked into second place.

We may be in a golden age of telly right now, but it had to start somewhere. And twenty years since it first aired, Sopranos is still among the finest TV shows of all time.

It place in TV history is cemented, but when it first aired HBO was so concerned audiences would think ‘The Sopranos’ was about music, that they popped a gun into the title’s logo design. Wise guys.

Excuse me HBO, just what size are these lies? We’re still not sure, but either way, this is must-watch TV.

The cast of this murder mystery alone demands your attention: Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Shailene Woodley head up the ensemble cast, with Meryl Streep joining the recent second season. Witherspoon actually turned down a role in 2017’s Downsizing due to star in Big Little Lies instead. We think she made the right choice.

Our editor was so smitten with Boardwalk Empire, when it first aired, that he bought the same shoes Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) wears in the intro to the show. But don't let that put you off: this is an epic gangster drama set during the Prohibition and is packed with old-school charm. Featuring an amazing cast, this is event TV at its finest.

The entire eight series of Game of Thrones are back on NOW TV, which means that the show goes straight back into our best NOW TV show list. Game of Thrones was the biggest thing on TV for years, focusing on the warring factions in Westeros that are all after one thing: to ascend the iron throne. The last season may feel rushed but the show as a whole is absolutely epic.

A new gang drama has landed on Sky Atlantic – and therefore you can now watch it on Now TV too. Gangs of London is a hard-hitting new series from action maestro Gareth Evans – the director and driving force behind The Raid and The Raid 2. Set in a fantastical modern-day London, the high-production series follows the stories of rival gangs, and the ensuing chaos and shifting power dynamics in the wake of the death of a criminal kingpin.

It feels like this crime drama has been going for ages, which is correct given it's now entered its seventh season that's just landed on Now TV. Liev Schreiber plays the lead role, Ray, who is a 'fixer', private investigator and bodyguard, depending on whose hiring him. The story follows the ups and downs of his life as his family tie up loose ends from the past and deal with challenges in the present.

Season one and two of Succession are now back on NOW TV until December and they are an absolute must watch. The show focuses on Logan Roy, a media mogul who may or may not be stepping down in the near future. The comedy here is jet black and revolves around the Roy family, their in-fighting and the machinations of the rich and the powerful. Everything from the theme tune to the acting to the script is just an absolute joy.

Flight of the Conchords is back on NOW TV and it's still as good as you remember it. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzi are New Zealand's 4th Most Popular Parody Duo, who move to New York City to conquer America. Packed with brilliant songs and astute comedy, this is a must watch

If you didn’t see this one first time around, then it demands your attention. Riz Ahmed stars in an eight-part crime drama television miniseries that revolves around a grizzly murder. He’s implicated but he doesn’t seem to know anything about what happened or what went on. It’s a taut thriller that exposes some nasty truths about the justice system and everyone involved.

The super popular comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm first aired in 2000 and there have been nine seasons since. But fans of Larry David are in luck because the highly-anticipated tenth season is now available on Now TV, where Larry tackles the MeToo movement and sets up a rival coffee shop to someone who wronged him. The celeb cameos this season have ramped up, too.

There's a new adaptation of H.G. Wells' sci-fi classic War of the Worlds on Now TV this month. It's not totally faithful to the original story – it's set in modern times for a start. But it's well worth a watch for fans of the book. It's also worth mentioning that it's been created and written by BAFTA award-winner Howard Overman (you'll know him from Misfits and Merlin fame). It's only five episodes long and it's a good watch if you have the stomach for apocalyptic catastrophe TV right now.

Billions is a really easy watch. Now 4 seasons long, the show is about Wall Street billionaire Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and his constant sparring with a prosecutor who wants to take him down, as he things the way Axelrod is making his money is, well, illegal. We're not quite sure how they manage to keep the show going, stretching the premise like they do but it's fun to watch

If you can get through the first season, which is fun but not a patch on subsequent seasons, then Parks and Recreation is a lot of fun. Originally seen as an Office spin-off, the show focuses on the town of Pawnee and the public officials trying to make where they live a better place. The likes of Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) and Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman) are up there with the best sitcom characters and the humour here is full of warmth.

The Trip To Greece is bittersweet. While it’s fantastic to see Rob Brydon and Steve Coogan back as versions of themselves critiquing restaurants in some of the most beautiful settings of Greece, it’s the final one and we are going to miss this show terribly. The good news is, the impressions are still there, as is the outdoing of one another. But there’s more plot this time around, all there to make sure that we know that this one really is the end.

The Wu-tang Clan are perhaps the greatest hip-hop band of all time and this documentary is a fantastic tale about how they came to be. Following the 9-strong group from their childhood in the Projects of Staten Island, New York to the hustling they did to getting their first record heard, to the stardom after this, this is a fantastic documentary that shines a light on everything from the music business, the racial divide and politics.

This isn’t the show you think it is. Yes, it’s a funny and honest look at parenting, with Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard the frayed parents bringing up two children, but it also goes to places you wouldn’t think it would. The hilarity is punctuated by sadness and heartbreak and this makes for a really rounded show. While the humour is sometimes a tad more vicious than we would have liked (something that is actually brought up in the end), it’s certainly worth a watch.

Dynamo had a near death experience recently and this made him reassess his life. It also made him think about the ways he could control pain and, in turn, that gave him an idea for his new show. This has been a massive success for Sky, with the broadcaster announcing that it was its biggest entertainment launch of the last 10 years.

The Benedict Cumberbatch-starring drama based on a series of semi-autobiographical novels follows an upper class Brit in the 1980s trying to overcome his addictions. It won two BAFTAs this year: for Best Mini-Series and for Best Actor.

Cumberbatch can thank Reddit for the award-winning role. In a 2013 AMA, when asked which literary character he wants to play next, he replied with Patrick Melrose. Years later, his forum post led to meeting the producers to cast the series.

It has never been a better time to revisit Treme. Made by the creator of The Wire, David Simon, it charts how New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katrina and how that community was broken and rebuilt by the natural disaster. It shines a not-very-nice light on the US government and how they deal with people in need. This is a heart-breaking, heart-warming slow burn, filled with the best music and acting ever seen on TV