Weeknight comfort shows

Maeve Kelleher

@paperlanesmaeve

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These are the series I actually curl up with after a long day of spreadsheets, LUAS delays, and pretending I don’t have three unread book club picks on my bedside table. Some are pure comfort, some feel like getting whacked over the head with a very well-written hardback, but they’ve all kept me up past a sensible bedtime. Think of this as the TV shelf that lives next to my kettle and gin bottles. If you’re hovering over the remote tonight, maybe one of these will nudge you into ‘just one episode’ (that inevitably turns into three).

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Weeknight comfort shows — 8 items
Name	Genre	Country	Where I watch	Vibe	My take
1Bad Sisters	Dark comedy drama	Ireland / UK	Apple TV+	Scheming sisters, seaside gloom, laugh-then-gasp plotting	Like eavesdropping on a very Irish Greek tragedy set in Howth, with enough wicked one-liners to make you forget you were meant to switch off an hour ago.
2Normal People	Romantic drama	Ireland / UK	BBC iPlayer / Hulu	Soft, slow, intensely emotional	Feels like reading a Sally Rooney chapter with your whole chest – all the awkward silences, college kitchens and rainy train platforms are painfully familiar if you’ve ever been 20 and too in your own head.
3Derry Girls	Teen sitcom	UK / Northern Ireland	Netflix	Chaotic, heartfelt, ’90s school memories with politics humming in the background	This is my go-to ‘bad day’ show – like being dropped into the loudest table in a chipper; you’re half crying with laughter and half weirdly moved by the end credits.
4Slow Horses	Spy thriller	UK	Apple TV+	Grubby MI5 back office with razor-sharp banter	For nights when I want intrigue but not glamour – more dingy canteen than Bond martini, with dialogue that snaps like good gin on an empty stomach.
5The Bear	Drama	USA	Disney+ / Hulu	Sweaty kitchen chaos, found family feelings	Plays like a short, intense novel set entirely in a kitchen; I watch an episode and suddenly I’m reorganising my own cupboards like I’m about to get reviewed by a food critic.
6Succession	Satirical drama	USA	Sky / NOW	Shakespeare in skyscrapers	Every episode feels like an outrageously rich family doing King Lear as a party game, and I’m just there, clutching my tea, whispering ‘please go to therapy’ at the screen.
7Stranger Things	Sci‑fi horror adventure	USA	Netflix	’80s nostalgia, monsters, found family	Feels like crawling inside a slightly spooky childhood paperback – bikes, best friends, and the creeping dread of something lurking just past the estate lights.
8Only Murders in the Building	Mystery comedy	USA	Disney+ / Hulu	Cosy murder, New York apartment gossip	Perfect ‘rain against the window’ viewing – like a locked-room mystery you read in one sitting, except the neighbours are all eccentrics you’d absolutely stalk on Instagram.

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