Television series

Bodies

Name: Bodies
Genre: Crime, Science Fiction, Thriller
Released: 2023
Cast: Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, Amaka Okafor, Kyle Soller, Shira Haas, Greta Scacchi

A time-hopping crime thriller where four detectives across four centuries investigate the same corpse. Each timeline holds clues to a conspiracy that threatens Britain itself. Propulsive, intricate, and genuinely surprising—it treats its premise as a locked room puzzle rather than a gimmick. For anyone who loved the architecture of *Prestige*-style storytelling.

TVMaze rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy puzzle-box mysteries where the clues are scattered across centuries, and you like the slow pleasure of watching separate threads click together.

Skip it if you want a sleek, fast procedural, because this is a deliberate puzzle that asks you to hold four timelines in your head and rewards attention more than momentum.

What it asks of you: Eight episodes of under an hour each make a short commitment, but you'll be juggling four eras and mentally rewinding clues between them.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Severance2022

A high-concept thriller that treats its sci-fi premise as emotional architecture, not spectacle. Like *Bodies*, it builds dread through mystery and asks you to trust the storytelling completely.

But The pacing deliberately withholds resolution. If you need answers before episode four, this will frustrate you.

Steins;Gate2011

A time-travel mystery that respects the audience's intelligence and the implications of its own rules. Dense, rewarding, and genuinely moving—it earns every emotional beat through logic.

But Anime. The first episodes are slow setup. Subtitles required unless you speak Japanese.

Dark2017

German sci-fi that weaves timelines and families into an intricate knot. If you loved untangling *Bodies*' layered structure, this goes deeper and darker with even higher stakes.

But Three seasons of escalating complexity. Some viewers find the final season philosophically unsatisfying; others find it perfect. There's no middle ground.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Bodies

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Arrival2016

Both use the puzzle-box structure to ask: what if understanding the mystery changes who you are? Both suggest that solving the crime is secondary to what the solution means.

A science-fiction film about communication and time that completely reframes how you understand cause and effect. Philosophical without being inaccessible, emotional without manipulating. A meditation on language as destiny.

But Slow-burn contemplative science fiction. No explosions, minimal plot momentum in the traditional sense. If you need forward motion every ten minutes, you'll be checking your watch.

The OA2016

Wildly inventive mystery that refuses easy answers. Jumps genres and timelines, rewards close attention, and builds a world that feels genuinely alive and strange.

But Cancelled after two seasons on a cliffhanger. It's unfinished, and knowing that will colour your investment.

Maniac2018

Two leads in a drug trial that fractures reality across multiple timelines and genres. Clever without being smug, emotional without being sentimental, and beautifully paced across ten episodes.

But Tonal shifts from sci-fi thriller to broad comedy to indie romance. If tonal consistency matters to you, you'll find it jarring.

Baccano!2007

Non-linear narrative across decades about immortality and crime. Jumps timelines gleefully and rewards rewatching. Pure narrative joy.

But Anime. Very fast-paced dialogue-heavy exposition. Easy to lose the thread if you're not engaged.

Altered Carbon2018

Cyberpunk noir with genuine mystery at its heart and a compelling central question about identity and consciousness. The first season is excellent.

But The second season drops sharply in quality. Even the first season relies on graphic violence and sex that some find gratuitous rather than narratively necessary.

12 Monkeys2015

Time-travel thriller with real emotional stakes and an ending that actually lands. Character-driven despite the high-concept framework.

But Inspired by the film, but exists somewhat in its shadow. Some found the TV expansion less elegant than the original.

The Underground Railroad2021

Speculative alternate history across timelines and eras. Visually stunning and morally serious, with Barry Jenkins directing. Each episode is almost a standalone story while building something larger.

But Deals with slavery and racism directly and unflinchingly. The fantasy element doesn't soften the historical reality. Some found it more impressive than moving.

Goodnight Mommy2015

Like *Bodies*, it's a crime mystery that uses genre to explore something darker: identity, trust, and what we believe when presented with evidence. The twist does the same narrative work.

An Austrian horror film that operates as a locked-room mystery with a twist that recontextualizes everything you've watched. Visually precise, deeply unsettling, and narratively elegant.

But Austrian cinema, minimal dialogue, deeply disturbing imagery. The twist is not a comfort—it's a horror. Visceral body horror throughout.

The Midnight Club2022

Both are mystery-driven narratives where the structure IS the story. Multiple timelines/perspectives converging on a single truth. Both ask: which story is real, and why does it matter?

Mike Flanagan's anthology series where ten strangers in a hospice tell horror stories to each other—and one of the stories is real. Clever, genuinely eerie, and structurally ambitious in ways that reward attention.

But Cancelled after one season. More interested in mood and mystery than plot resolution. If you need closure, you won't get it—which is kind of the point, but frustrating regardless.