Finished The Keepers, watched Love twice and can't wait for the new series of Orange is the New Black? Netflix is more than just its incredible roll call of original content - in fact, there are a surprising amount of TV shows from the '90s and '00s in its back catalogue. Here, we round-up the most nostalgic of them all - so whether you were a fan the first time round or totally missed it, these are the cult shows we'll be binging on ASAP.
1. Gossip Girl
The final big reveal in Gossip Girl, was, to be frank, disappointing - but we haven’t let that colour our impression of one of our favourite guilty pleasures from the noughties. The show made stars of Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, while its impact on fashion and pop culture is still being felt today. Based on the book series by Cecily von Ziegesar, it was set in a prestigious upper east side school in New York and followed the social manoeuvring of Blair Waldorf (Meester) and her frenemy, Serena van der Woodsen (Lively). A worthy replacement for The OC, Gossip Girl quickly became a fan favourite throughout its six seasons, with plotlines involving blackmail, false identities, love triangles and even murder.
2. The Office
Frankly, it’s a crime that The Office only ran for two series – but at least you can cherish all 14 episodes (including the two legendary Christmas specials) on Netflix. Granted, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s fly-on-the-wall mockumentary about life in Wernham Hogg Paper Company is an acquired taste, but if you can get into the very dry sense of humour, you’ll be hooting. While David Brent is undoubtedly the star of the show, it’s Martin Freeman’s Tim who is its beating heart – particularly his relationship with receptionist Dawn.
3. Gilmore Girls
While the recent Netflix revival may have been poorly-received, there’s no denying the enthusiasm surrounding the original seven seasons of family-favourite Gilmore Girls. The definition of easy viewing, it followed the lives of the residents of the sleepy town of Stars Hollow, and particularly single mother Lorelei Gilmore and her highly-intelligent daughter, Rory. Ahead of its time, it has been praised for its feminist qualities, particularly in its portrayal of its female leads. It also explored issues connected to social class, as Rory was a scholarship student and the daughter of a working mother. Depth-aside, it was also laugh-out-loud funny and thoroughly heart-warming, making it the fan favourite it is today.
4. Full House
Full House has surfed the recent wave of nostalgia for all things nineties (no matter how good) and was another series that got the Netflix revival treatment (and a documentary) last year. One of the main draws was the cuteness of the Olsen twins, who both played the same character in their first ever starring role. While it’s not going to win any awards for scriptwriting, the show does have a heart-warming appeal, largely due to the dynamic between widowed father Danny Tanner and his daughters, plus their surrogate guardians drafted in after the death of their mother: Uncle Jesse and Danny’s best friend Joey.
5. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
‘Now this is a story all about how, my life got flip turned upside down...’ not a week goes by without someone bursting into the The Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song, in our experience. The hit ‘90s show was a classic fish-out-of-water tale, in which Will Smith plays a street-smart kid transplanted to the bourgeois home of his uncle and cousins. The show, despite its clearly nineties aesthetic, endures today, particularly as there is still so much love for Smith himself. Oh, and Carlton’s dancing, natch.
6. When Louis Met…
Louis Theroux’s documentaries have come on leaps and bounds since this early noughties series aired, but the tenets of his investigative journalism are still very much intact (namely an ability to befriend but also keep a distance from his subjects and his faux naïve way of asking questions). This series features some of his most famous early work, namely that controversial interview with Jimmy Savile (which he filmed a response to last year) in which he gets very close to exposing his horrific secrets, as well as a fan favourite with Paul Daniels and Debbie Magee.
7. The Thick Of It
If there are any TV shows that feel particularly relevant at the moment, it’s The Thick Of It. Although the political satire about a prime minister, his spin doctor and government ministers and advisers draws heavily on the Tony Blair years, its depictions of the machinations that go on behind the scenes in Westminster are all too familiar today. Starring Peter Capaldi, it was filmed using hand-held cameras, giving it a documentary-style feel much like another great comedy of the same era, The Office.
8. Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey is pure unadulterated comfort viewing. It’s the on-screen equivalent of a massive bowl of pasta (or one of the endless omelettes that the characters use as a form of conflict resolution). The story of Essex boy meets Barry Island girl is the opposite of cutting edge, but the show’s charm lies in the fact that its scenarios are so very ordinary, yet spikily observed by writers Ruth Jones and James Corden (aka Nessa and Smithy). You’ll keep re-watching for the brilliant and often bizarre cast of characters: from the pathologically mundane Uncle Bryn (as played by Rob Brydon) to Alison Steadman’s Pam, Essex’s premier fake vegetarian and Camilla Parker Bowles devotee.
9. Coupling
One of the newest additions to Netflix’s back catalogue is popular early noughties’ sitcom Coupling. Written by Sherlock’s Steven Moffat, and featuring characters based on him and his partner Sue Vertue, it was the UK’s answer to Friends, following a group of men and women as they negotiated life in their 20s. Now a cult favourite, the show has been praised for its portrayal of women as sexually confident, while its men are pretty useless and awkward, while Moffat cemented his reputation as one of the best writers of his generation while working on it. A sarcastic, self-deprecating but equally as funny series as Friends? Yes please.
10. The Tudors
The Tudors was something of a first in many ways. A sexed-up history lesson with an A-list star in the leading role, this wasn’t like other period dramas we’d seen. Indeed, it was unthinkable that Henry VIII could be, well, sexy, before Jonathan Rhys Myers took on the part – ditching the ginger beard and belly for roguish good looks and a six-pack. A precursor to Game of Thrones (and even featuring one of its stars, Natalie Dormer, as Anne Bowelyn), it won’t win any points for historical accuracy, but it’s a great escapist romp.
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