Best NOW TV shows

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.

Think of your favourite American comedy movie from the last ten years and, chances are, Bill Hader has appeared in it. You’ll recognise him from Pineapple Express, Popstar: Never Stop Stopping, and Trainwreck. But the lead in Barry gives Hader his biggest chance to shine.

Starring as the titular Barry in the HBO comedy drama series, Hader plays a hitman turned aspiring actor. He won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series in the process.

No show got the world talking like global phenomenon Game Of Thrones. The iconic drama, arguably the greatest in TV history, aired its eighth and final season this year, which included ‘The Long Night’. A feature-length 82 minutes, it’s the longest episode in the series, and was shot over a brutal 55 night shoots.

Director Miguel Sapochnik has cited the siege of Helm's Deep from The Lord Of The Rings films as inspiration for staging it in way so as "to not have an audience feel battle fatigue".

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.

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.

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.

Forget Sex And the City: Broad City is the all-female NYC sitcom you need to see. Hilarious, smart, free-spritied and feminist, it follows stars real-life pals Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobsen as two twentysomething slacker best mates living their lives while trying to ‘make it’ in New York.

It turns even the most mundane of situations into awkward and hysterical comedy, usually involving some combination of schemes, spliffs and strap-ons – or all three.

Telling the story of a high power family squabbling over control of a Murdock-esque media and entertainment conglomerate, 2018 series Succession is equal parts comedy, drama and super sharp satire.

The laughs are no surprise when you see the talent behind the show. It’s written by Jesse Armstrong, co-creator of Peep Show. The second series will premiere in August 2019, so now is the perfect time to catch up with the first season.

The rest is still unwritten… or not anymore, because there’s more Los Angeles drama unfolding now on NOW TV! The iconic 2000s reality show about the trials and tribulations of the rich and gorgeous residents of LA returns for a newly rebooted series, a whole nine years after the final episode aired.

The original cast, including Heidi and Spencer Pratt are back, alongside new stars including actress Mischa Barton. She starred in The OC, which itself inspired reality show Laguna Beach, from which The Hills was a spinoff. It’s a perfect, confusing La La Land circle.

NOW TV isn’t just about critically acclaimed dramas – the latest reality shows direct from the US are on offer on the service too. Project Runway is the best of them all: aspiring designers battle it out in a knock out competition to win the chance to show a collection at New York Fashion Week and be crowned champ.

The latest series comes with a new host, supermodel Karlie Koss, and new mentor, previous winner Christian Siriano.