Travel the world in 11 TV dramas
With the announcement of another lockdown and boredom kicking in, now is the perfect time to relax and binge watch a new box set. Unsure of what to choose from? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with our team’s favourite foreign box sets – so get cosy, grab a glass of wine, some popcorn and settle in for an evening of entertainment.
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The Best Foreign Box Sets to Binge Watch Now
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Caliphate
Chosen by Lucy Cleland, editorial director
After a slightly dodgy start and a bit of dodgy dubbing (it’s Swedish but dubbed in English), this engrossing eight-parter, which flips between Syria and Sweden, focusses on three women embroiled in an impending Isis attack on Swedish soil. It’s a taught, gripping thriller, where I notably screwed up my face in moments of, ‘Noooooo!’. On Netflix
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Call My Agent
Chosen by Charlotte Metcalf, associate editor
As foreign box sets go, Call My Agent is without question the happiest, funniest and most heart-warming binge-watch ever. Paris looks crazily beautiful, the plot twists and turns and the characters are glorious in their foibles and catastrophic love affairs. It’s sheer joy. On Netflix
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![fauda]()
Fauda
Chosen by Ed Vaizey, culture editor
Anything Danish is a good bet (The Bridge, Borgen, The Killing etc.), but for me the most outstanding foreign language has been Fauda, set at the heart of the Israeli-Palestine conflict. It’s absolutely gripping and I binged all three series. On Netflix
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![gomorrah]()
Gomorrah
Chosen by Jeremy Isaac, managing director
The Naples slum of Scampia provides the backdrop to this powerful 4 season tale of the internecine struggle between warring mafia gangs to control the city’s drugs trade. Ciro and Gennaro trade power over friendship and Patrizia appears as one of the strongest female leads ever. Season 5 is filming now. On Amazon Prime
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![the-bridge]()
The Bridge
Chosen by Carole Annett, interiors editor
Laid-back Danish family man, Martin, and Swedish single woman, Saga, blunt, brilliant and socially awkward, investigate a body in two halves lying on the Øresund Bridge that connects Denmark and Sweden. Two very different detectives from two countries, forced to work together on the investigation. A grizzly murder mystery always makes me feel happier with my lot – perfect lockdown antidote. On Amazon
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Magnificent Century
Chosen by Harriet Compston, contributing editor
An Ottoman-era Sex and the City, this Turkish historical series kept me occupied on long overnight journeys in India. Based on the life of Suleyman the Magnificent, the longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and his wife Hurrem, it’s a fabulous, fascinating and gripping depiction of life in the royal palace. On Netflix
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![The-returned]()
The Returned
Chosen by Amy Wakeham, managing editor
If you like your zombies more stylish than ghoulish, then let me introduce you to brilliant French series The Returned (or Les Revenants). An atmospheric show about people who return from the dead – and the ones alive who have to deal with it – it gets gradually more spooky and strange as the two seasons progress. You can watch the American adaptation on Netflix, but as usual the original, with subtitles, is much better. On YouTube
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Baby
Chosen by Rebecca Cox, online editor
This Italian teen drama is loosely based on the ‘baby squillo’ scandal that unfolded in Rome in 2013-14, where two teenage girls were found to be at the centre of a far-reaching prostitution ring. Baby sees two high-schoolers in the elite Paroli district of Rome being drawn into sex work from their state of ennui, driven by the appeal of sexual and financial independence and the journey this leads them on, into the underworld of Rome’s elite. It’s well-acted, well-shot and just trashy enough to feel like a guilty pleasure; six episodes zip by in the blink of an evening. On Netflix
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![Inspector Montalbano]()
Inspector Montalbano
Chosen by Bea Cerullo, office administrator
The Sicilian detective Inspector Salvo Montalbano investigates murder, intrigue, the Mafia, greed and corruption. Yet this series is based in the beautifully picturesque fictional town of Vigata, where the architecture alone makes you want to visit and experience the beauty, the gastronomy and the history of this sun kissed island. Based on the enormously loved novels by Andrea Camilleri, you will be hooked. On iPlayer
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Spiral
Chosen by Charlotte Cole, contributor
An antithesis to the Paris currently presented by Emily in Paris, you won’t get a glimpse here of the Champs Elysees or the Eiffel Tower. No, this French police series with its flawed characters – the complicated commander Laure Berthaud at its core – and slightly grey, depressing colour palette set in the grimier environs of the French capital, is decidedly unglamorous but utterly compelling. On Amazon Prime
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My Brilliant Friend
Chosen by Kate O’ Gorman, online intern
I loved Elena Ferrante’s quartet so much that I was very hesitant to watch HBO’s adaptation. However, it just proves that you shouldn’t judge a TV show (necessarily) by the book/s that came before it. This is a heart-wrenching, insightful, visually compelling telling of the incredibly complicated story of female friendship at the heart of the books – and it works to enhance Ferrante’s language, not detract from it. A treat. On Now TV
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