This week we have Elizabeth Olsen in the emotional drama Sorry for Your Loss and an early series, The Fades, from the Adolescence writer Jack Thorne. Oscar-winner Emma Stone stars opposite Jonah Hill in Maniac, Julia Roberts heads the cast of the thriller Homecoming and we’re off to Denmark to enjoy the Seaside Hotel.

1. The Fades (2011, iPlayer)

Available to watch on Prime Video in the US

While Jack Thorne has spent the past year collecting awards for co-creating Adolescence, and has this week released his four-part adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, there are many more fine shows in the writer’s varied back catalogue. The Fades, an early work of Thorne’s, has a talented ensemble cast, which includes Iain de Caestecker, Natalie Dormer and Tom Ellis with a uniquely gritty take on the supernatural genre across six episodes.

2. Maniac (2018, Netflix)

A product of the late-2010s streaming boom, Maniac pairs double Oscar-winner Emma Stone with a powerhouse cast including Jonah Hill, Justin Theroux and Sally Field. This near-future psychological black comedy is set against a surreal New York City. Despite its stellar cast, many viewers may have missed both series of the director Cary Joji Fukunaga’s quirky story about two strangers who connect during mind-bending medical trials.

3. Sorry for Your Loss (2018, Tubi)

Available to watch on Prime Video in the US

It was originally produced for the short-lived Facebook Watch platform, so you could be forgiven for having missed this fine drama starring Elizabeth Olsen. She plays recently widowed Leigh Shaw, who quits her writing job and moves back in with her mother and sister after the death of her husband. A poignant and powerful drama, it explores grief, relationships and family with honesty, insight and enjoyably dark humour.

4. Homecoming (2018, Prime Video)

Julia Roberts is Heidi Bergman, a former caseworker at the Homecoming Transitional Support Centre, a high-end facility for soldiers returning from war. Four years after leaving her job, she begins to realise that she didn’t know the full picture during her time there. The action cuts between two timelines — one featuring past therapy sessions with a young veteran and another showing a later Bergman working at a seaside diner. This is a chance to enjoy a masterful turn from Roberts in a show that many may have missed.

5. Seaside Hotel (2013, Channel 4 streaming)

Available to watch on PBS Masterpiece in the US

Fans of Downton Abbey will enjoy delving into this charming Danish series set at a fancy beach hotel in the Twenties, Thirties and Forties. The central character is Fie (Rosalinde Mynster), who leaves her widowed father to work as a chambermaid, but can she contend with the drama among the staff and the stuffy hotel owner (Ole Thestrup)? This delightful series was a huge hit in Denmark and, for those seeking escapism, it’s a real treat.

What hidden gem TV shows would you recommend? Leave your suggestions in the comments below

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