Germany

Dark (2017-2021)

Wiki

The story follows dysfunctional characters from the fictional town of Winden in Germany, as they pursue the truth in the aftermath of a child's disappearance. They follow connections between four estranged families to unravel a sinister time travel conspiracy that spans several generations. The series explores the existential implications of time and its effect on human nature and life.

Babylon Berlin (2017-)

Wiki

The series is set in Berlin during the latter years of the Weimar Republic, beginning in 1929. It follows Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), a police inspector on assignment from Cologne who is on a secret mission to dismantle an extortion ring, and police clerk Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries), who aspires to become a police inspector.

Ok, it's honestly much better than this description. It gives a feeling of those times (1929-1931) in Germany, shows social and political issues.

ZeroZeroZero (2020)

🇮🇹 Drug crime, thriller, action-adventure

One of my favourites, it manages to intertwine several stories and locations quite nicely.

ZeroZeroZero follows the journey of a cocaine shipment, from the moment a powerful Italian cartel buys it, to its packaging in Mexico and shipment across the Atlantic. The journey is followed until final delivery and payment in Europe. At the same time, it sparks an epic power struggle throughout the chain, from local dealers to the most powerful boss in the hierarchy of international organised crime.

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/92137-zerozerozero

The Day of the Jackal (2024)

🇬🇧 Action-adventure, thriller, spy, hitman

Super thrilling, every single episode had something going on and it had great characters all around.

An unequalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living by committing murders at the highest rate. But after his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who begins tracking the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse game across Europe, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake.

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/222766-the-day-of-the-jackal

Au Service de la France / A Very Secret Service (2015)

🇫🇷 Comedy, spy, cold war

Typical French humour, I really loved it. Easy to watch and I felt it made use of the spirit of 1960s France quite elegantly.

Paris 1960. 23-year-old André Merlaux is proud to join the French secret service - the best in the world. Under the strict supervision of his superior Moïse, André is trained by three elite agents to carry out the most delicate missions. He could become the best of the best, but he falls in love with the wrong person.

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/64249-au-service-de-la-france

Kleo (2022)

🇩🇪 Comedy, spy, cold war

Great characters and I feel they mimicked the period style very well.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, a former East German spy resolves to find out who betrayed her and why — and use her lethal skills to exact revenge.

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/206010-kleo

Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter / Generation War (2013)

🇩🇪 War (WWII), drama

I thought this series is rather unique, because it shows the war from a German perspective and on a human scale, focusing on the individuals rather than the action.

Wilhelm, his younger brother Friedhelm, Charlotte, Viktor and Greta say goodbye in Berlin in the summer of 1941, promising to see each other again after the war. They do not know how long the war will last, let alone to what extent the unfathomable experiences, hardships and horrors will change them.

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/46849-unsere-mutter-unsere-vater

Eigen Kweek / Home Grown (2013)

🇧🇪 Comedy, drug crime

This one is mostly for a Dutch speaking audience I think, it has typical Flemish humour and lovely characters.

Home Grown tells the story of the Welvaert family, a family of sympathetic potato farmers from Heuvelland. Jos and Ria have two sons, Frank and Steven, who, to Jos' frustration, show no interest whatsoever in growing potatoes. And then there is Geoffrey, a distant cousin they raised as their own son after his father was killed.

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/61519-eigen-kweek

After Life (2019)

🇬🇧 Dark comedy, drama

I think a lot of people know this one, full of dark British humour.

Tony had a perfect life. But after his wife Lisa suddenly dies, Tony changes. After contemplating taking his own life, he decides instead to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes from now on.

https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/79410-after-life

I advice you to always watch comedies (or preferably any series) in their original language with subtitles

My favourite series of all time is Brideshead Revisited (UK, 1981). A beautiful and melancholic look at British high society between the wars, following the recollections of one Charles Ryder as he remembers his youth, college years and early adulthood. Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews give star performances as the two leads, while John Gielgud and Lawrence Olivier steal the show as their respective fathers.

Also I've been quite partial to the range of crime dramas from N. European countries. Ones I can remember offhand include:

• The Killing (Sweden), award winning crime drama, multiple remakes
• The Bridge (Denmark and Sweden), possibly the apotheosis of the Nordic crime drama subgenre
• Endeavour (UK) a prequel to Inspector Morse
• Jack Taylor (Ireland) gritty police procedural from the West of Ireland
• Corp & Anam (Ireland) Irish language crime drama, great cast
• Wallander (Sweden, UK remake) long running series, also remade a few times
• Poirot (UK) charming and eccentric series based on the Agatha Christie stories
• There are many others but that's what I came up with on the fly

Also Father Ted is something the Irish are still very proud of. 3 misfit priests are exiled to an island off the west coast where they get up to all kind of ridiculous high-jinks. The show lampoons Irish culture and society in the 1990s, and absolutely eviscerates the Irish Catholic Church.

And there is of course a wealth of excellent stuff out of the UK: comedies and dramas, sketch shows and miniseries.

UK - The office. If you are familiar with the US version, and like a little bit more spices. You will love the UK version. Some scenes would be impossible to be seen in US TV IMO. The UK version has my preference.

UK - Utopia. This one is a cult series for the people that appreciated it. It was pre-covid and IMO this is a masterpiece. I highly suggest to watch the correct version with the correct image ratio and not watch the cropped version on most stream providers. Unfortunately the last season was cancelled. But this should be a must watch IMO.

France - Guyane. Marvelous picture, and discovered an aspect of this world I didn’t have any clue about. Also I loved how different it felt from US series in general.

All of these are very high quality, well witten series I watched. A lot of stuff from UK, for some reason

• "Capitani" crime series on Luxemburg well written, quite dark

• Hinterland: crime series in galles Wales

• Briadchurch: this is top notch, in England

• Sherlock Holmes (2010 or so) wow, this eas fantastic, all the seasons. A lot of mistery, logic, suspense

• Luther. Another crime, very well written

• Dark : top notch sci-fi time paradix series, coherent, surprising. Strongly siggested

Parlement A fun way to understand the inner gears of European politics!

Aforementioned the day of the jackal and slow horses (both UK)

• How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) banger German show
• Lupin banger french show

[UK Shows that Bang]

• The End of the Fucking World
• Sex Education
• Black Mirror

I’m sure there are many more I’ve enjoyed, but thats what I remember.

Der Tatorteiniger is a banger german show but idk how watchable in english it is.

Finnish tv shows are probably not widely available, but I'll list some nonetheless. Most what I'm going to recommend are comedies and Finnish humour might be weird for someone who has not grown in Finland (even dark and absurd at times, second-hand embarrassment is also very common) but I feel like comedy series are the most authenic we have, dramas often try to imitate international series and by doing that they don't feel as authentic. I've also only chosen to list shows that I feel like would have some appeal even for a non-Finn and shows that are unique, not everyday shows that have a very basic premise.

Queen of Fucking Everything (2024) Real estate agent's husband disappears with all their money and leaves her with a 3 million euro worth of debt. She gets mixed into illegal drug business and shady renovating practices to get the money to pay her debt. Absurd characters and twists and turns.

Toinen tuleminen / Money Shot (2024) Sari is a 40-year old porn star that gets fired because she's too old. She starts her own porn film company, hires a film school reject Linnea as writer and together they start to make feminist porn. Absurd characters, twists and turns.

Poromafia / Reindeer Mafia (2023) One family has ruled a little town in Lappland. The matriarch of the family dies and her testament causes the remaining family to start fighting. There's a snowmobile gang, a Norwegian druglord, paid off authorities etc. Mostly drama but at times dark or absurd humour sprinkled in.

M/S Romantic (2019) Miniseries about a cruise ship journey and what happens during that. Characters include both tourists and staff, there are a lot of hilarious situations. This is what White Lotus would be like if it was written about Finnish people who are not rich by any means.

1670 (Polish)

A satirical comedy following a Polish lower nobleman, his family, and a few of the serfs. The nobleman (Jan) wants to secure his legacy and increase his status/power, but doesn't do a great job. The characters are very well made, and the story is very ridiculous.

Norsemen (Norwegian, but in English)

Also a satirical, dark comedy about vikings. This one primarily relies on absurdism for its humour.

Both are on Netflix (which is sadly American, but I'm sure there are alternative ways of watching).

Babylon Berlin (Germany, 2017 - now)

Set in 1920s Berlin, Babylon Berlin explores the clash of social conflicts, vibrant pop culture, the emancipation of women and sexual minorities, the aftermath of World War I, and the rise of fascism. The plot is characterized by political intrigue in the context of historical events, some dramatic elements and a bit of mystery. The series shines with high production quality and well-acted protagonists Gereon Rath and Charlotte Ritter.

I really liked Los Serrano, a Spanish television drama comedy from 2003.

It was my childhood series that my whole family sat down together to watch. Just a comedy drama about Serrano family and their daily lives that ran for years.

Detectorists 🇬🇧

Comedy about the lives of 2 nerdy friends and their hobby; metal detecting. I've never seen anyone talk about it, which is a damn shame because it deserves much more love. It features nice music and beautiful shots of rural England, very funny dialogue and lovable characters.

I liked The Rain, a Danish series

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rain_(TV_series)

Nice idea, curious to see the recommendations

Love/Hate - 5 seasons of good to great Irish crime drama with some very familiar faces

Thanks for suggesting Matador, we really enjoyed it!

[off topic]

Back in 1966 Alan Arkin and Carl Reiner did a movie called "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!"

The plot was that a Russian submarine gets caught on the rocks off a small New England town. The ship's crew goes ashore to steal a boat powerful enough to get the sub free.

Once again, life imitates art!

Throw a subscription on ![email protected] as we'll flag up new and classic UK TV there.

The Bureau

🇨🇵 Amazing French spies series from 2015: Le Bureau des légendes is a French political thriller television series, which revolves around the lives of agents of the DGSE (General Directorate of External Security), France's principal external security service. "Malotru", a French intelligence officer, undercover in Syria for 6 years, is called back home. He will face the difficulty to forget his undercover identity, the disappearance of a colleague in Algeria, and the training of a young woman.

Conflict

🇫🇮 Breathtaking Finnish series from 2024: A small, Finnish seaside town is preparing to celebrate midsummer's eve. An unknown enemy arrives and takes the entire area hostage.

Bad Banks

🇩🇪🇨🇵 German-French series from 2018: Ambitious Jana is confronted with the unscrupulous machinations of the world of finance. Her working life is determined by egotism, the pressure to succeed and machismo. She soon has to decide how far she is prepared to go for her career.

On Spain we have loads of TV series, some of them really really good. I recommend, among others, The Ministry of Time, The Cable Girls, Alpha Males, Los Serrano, The time in between, Money Heist, Patria and Riot Police. But there are many many others worth watching.

Here you have a very big list (also recommend this web to search for European TV series)

https://theeurotvplace.com/euro-tv-shows-by-language/spanish-language-tv-programs/

Outside Spain what I have liked most in European series is Borgen, Danish, although the last period has some money from Netflix, is very good.