Wenlei Ma’s 12 best Netflix original shows of all time

There is so much new, mostly mid-range, basic stuff out on Netflix every week it can feel like a gargantuan task to actually find something that isn’t reality TV.

But they exist, especially if you reach back further into its originals library, even if it’s not being surfaced by the algorithm that pushes you towards new, new, new.

Here are the 12 best Netflix original series* of all time (so far) that deserve a rewatch – and if you’ve never seen it before, we’re jealous.

MINDHUNTER (2017 - 2019)

David Fincher has a reputation for being meticulous and specific when it comes to his filmmaking choices – for example, even the way an actor is holding their finger would have to be exactly where he wants it to be. But it pays off. He has made some incredible things, including Mindhunter.

The crime thriller only lasted two seasons but they were glorious ones. Set within the FBI, it follows the travails of two agents (Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany) and an academic (Anna Torv) in the fledging behavioural sciences unit as they establish the practice of criminal profiling.

The series was patient, considered and had character depth, so, basically the opposite of the sensationalist true crime slop that has taken over culture since. Mindhunter stands above them all.

BOJACK HORSEMAN (2014 – 2020)

A cartoon world where anthropomorphic animals and humans mix as if it’s nothing was probably not where you’d expect to find some of the most emotionally poignant storytelling Netflix has ever made.

Yet Bojack Horseman was a wildly ambitious project that spanned from strange and goofy to genuine pathos with heartbreaking insight into the frailties of human psyches. The emotional truths explored in the show really punched, especially when it came to dealing with things like depression.

At the centre of it was the character of Bojack (Will Arnett), a self-sabotaging former TV sitcom star with many personal and professional failings, trying to mount a comeback or three.

LUPIN (2021 - )

When brazen thieves broke into the Louvre this week and stole priceless jewels, it was like something out of a movie – or maybe a TV show? Specifically, this TV show. The details and the plot differ, of course, but this more-ish French thriller opens with a jewel heist at the Louvre.

Starring the infinitely charismatic Omar Sy, Lupin is the story of Assane Diop, the son of a Senegalese immigrant who was accused and convicted of stealing from his employers, the very rich and connected Pellegrini family. Assane is out to vindicate his dad, using his prodigious smarts and skills, and a love for Arsene Lupin, a fictional master thief.

The slick Lupin requires some suspend-your-disbelief faith with its wildly twisty schemes, but it clips along, keeps you hooked and is just so much fun to watch. A fourth season is due next year.

THE CROWN (2016 – 2023)

When it comes to lush, prestige television, The Crown has few counterparts. With a massive production budget (at the time of its first season, one of the most expensive shows ever made), its production design and costuming were so impressive, that every re-watch uncovered fresh details.

It tracked the drama of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, from her time as a young woman in love to an experienced monarch who has seen some of the most tumultuous events of the 20th century. It explored the responsibilities and burdens of power, especially as a figure kept at a remote from her subjects.

Not every episode was as superb as the ones that covered The Great Smog of London or the Aberfan landslide, but the one thing that never wavered were the spectacular performances from the likes of Claire Foy, John Lithgow, Vanessa Kirby, Josh O’Connor, Emma Corrin, Gillian Anderson and Elizabeth Debicki.

BEEF (2023 - )

What even was Beef? An irreverent comedy that delved into the dark depths of the human condition? A drama about two despairingly unhappy people? A thriller about road rage?

It was all of those things, and it was perfection. The series came out of a real-life experience creator Lee Sung Jin went through when he and another driver got into it and Lee found himself tailing that person. Thankfully, saner heads prevailed and he let it go, but what if he hadn’t?

Beef follows Amy (Ali Wong) and Danny (Steven Yeun), two Los Angelenos, and their escalating conflict after a carpark run-in, and what the aggressive incident triggers in confronting all the aspects of their lives that aren’t working.

There is so much cracking energy in this clever show that always brings it back to the pain and anxieties of modern life.

RUSSIAN DOLL (2019 – 2022)

Nadia may be the sweet birthday baby but she’s also prickly and argumentative, and seemingly allergic to growth. Her ex calls her “the abyss”. Natasha Lyonne co-created this series with Leslye Headland and Amy Poehler, but this very singular character feels so completely of her making.

Nadia is caught in a time-loop, forced the relive the night of her 36th birthday over and over again. Every cycle ends with her sudden death, and she is transported back to the moment she enters her party. The mystery is unravelled with this enticing deliberateness, just like the matryoshka dolls the title refers to. Each layer slowly revealed, like when Nadia discovers another person stuck in the same loop.

The show is also something of a surprise, starting off as a dark comedy with witty one-liners, before it morphs into something much more profound.

RIPLEY (2024)

Patricia Highsmith’s slippery con artist Tom Ripley has been a magnetic figure since he first appeared in her pages in 1955, and he continues to beguile modern audiences. The Tom Ripley in Steve Zailian’s Ripley is different to the Highsmith version, as he is from the 1999 Anthony Minghella iteration Matt Damon played.

Here, he’s older, so there is something even more sinister about his moral morass when it isn’t offset by the naivete of youth. Andrew Scott makes a meal out of this character, and in his hands, the calculating and always slightly panicked Ripley becomes an even more complex soul.

The baroque eight-part miniseries is also almost overwhelmingly too beautiful to look at, the textures of its striking black-and-white photography playing with light and shade as a nod to its visual inspiration, Caravaggio. You can’t stop staring.

BABY REINDEER (2024)

No one saw this coming, not even Netflix. Baby Reindeer became an absolute phenomenon, steamrolling through the culture because of its raw, emotional honesty about trauma and assault, and the unexpected ways it can change your place in the world and your relationships to other.

The topline description of a man being stalked by a woman may not inspire discerning audiences to press play, but then word got out that this series is so much more than some middle-of-the-road crime thriller.

Donny Dunn (series creator Richard Gadd) is not an easy character to like and you may initially judge his decisions, but there when he peels back the layers, the only response is empathy.

The only asterisk to all this is it unleashed a torrent of online sleuths desperate to unmask the “real Martha”, completely missing the point of the show.

MASTER OF NONE (2015 – 2021)

Master of None came at the peak of “dramedy” era, when conventional high laughs-per-minute ratios gave way to understated observational humour. It was at times a formalist experiment – the black-and-white season two opener set in Italy was both a gastronomic delight and a nod to post-WWII Italian neo-realist filmmakers – but it was always witty and warm.

Aziz Ansari did this straight after Parks and Recreation, co-creating the series with Alan Yang, a writer he met on the Amy Poehler-starring show, and it really revealed him as an artist capable of a lot more to say.

Though the show was centred on Dev, a 30-year-old New Yorker still trying to make it as an actor, it expanded out to take in the city and its people, and how things like race, gender and class intersect with work, dating, family and love in modern America.

A belated third season in 2021 shifted focus to Dev’s friend, Denise (Lena Waithe).

GLOW (2017 – 2019)

One of the greatest disappointments of Covid disruption to Hollywood productions was the increased cost of shooting due to health protocols resulted in the cancellation of GLOW. The show had been renewed for a fourth season but then the higher budget needed tipped whatever formula Netflix was using into “no longer worth it”.

What a shame because, artistically, it surely would have been. GLOW was a surprise because you just don’t expect a series inspired by the cultural artefact that was a syndicated TV show about women’s professional wrestling to be something this good.

Starring Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Marc Maron and a fabulous ensemble, the 1980s-set series followed a group of women as they tried to establish the league as a legitimate endeavour. It had the outlandish costumes and storylines in the ring, but it was really about the relationships between them, and the constant struggle of survival.

ADOLESCENCE (2025)

Wow. So rare is the TV series that goes for the highest reaches on a filmmaking level and also manages to be so provocative and thematically urgent as to actually make an impact on wider scale.

Adolescence did all that. On the first point, the craft and expertise on display is incredible. The team shot every one of its four episodes as an oner, meaning there are no sneaky edits. The level of performance and behind-the-scenes planning and coordination is insane, and it’s not just for show, it works to serve the story because the audience is dropped in the same inescapable space as the characters. The claustrophobia enhances the story.

And what a story it was. The arrest of a 13-year-old boy arrested on the suspicion of murdering a female classmate triggered serious conversations about the manosphere and the pernicious influence on young boys and men, and just what are they being exposed to, terrifies not just parents but everyone.

UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT (2015 – 2020)

“They alive, dammit!” isn’t just a lyric in its theme song, but a catchcry for Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’s philosophy for life. We are alive, dammit, so let’s live as Kimmy would.

This quirky and loveable show with an often very literal sense of humour is sunshine and optimism because its lead character looks at everything with the zest of someone who got a second chance after being tricked into an underground bunker by a cult leader.

She may be Pollyanna but she’s not without hidden darkness, which comes out in strange ways that make for funny scenarios. But she never loses her moral centre or her generous capacity to care for other people.

The ensemble including the uncompromisingly fabulous Titus Andromedon or the privileged rich girl Jacqueline, all come together like a symphony of quips, absurdities and, above all, heart.

Honourable mentions: Chef’s Table, Black Mirror, The OA, Maniac, Godless, Unbelievable, The Eddy, Maid, Dark, Lady Dynamite, Sex Education, Asura, Never Have I Ever, Orange is the New Black, House of Cards S1-2, Bloodline S1, Squid Game, and Stranger Things S1.

*Netflix original is classified as a series the streamer commissioned from the very first season, not acquisitions (for example, Peaky Blinders) or shows it took over in later seasons (for example, One Day at a Time)