Television series

Code 404

A near-future buddy cop comedy where a detective is resurrected via AI after being killed, but comes back fundamentally broken—arrogant and reckless but stripped of actual police instinct. His long-suffering partner must scramble to keep him functional while maintaining the fiction that the experiment worked. Absurd, dark, and built on the chemistry between two actors who make disaster hilarious.

TVMaze rating3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like sharp-edged workplace comedy where the laughs come from a partnership straining under an incompetent colleague who is still certain he is brilliant.

Skip it if you need the laughs to come thick and fast, because this takes its premise seriously and the gags can feel sparse between its half-hour episodes.

What it asks of you: Eighteen episodes across three seasons of half-hour runs, a light commitment finishable in a few evenings, with the mood swinging between broad silliness and something bleaker.

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

If you liked this

The Night Manager2016

Tom Hiddleston and Tom Hardy as undercover operatives in a slick spy thriller with impeccable cinematography, intricate plotting, and that rarest of things: a limited series that knows when to end.

But Slow-burn espionage can feel bloodless if you're after propulsive drama, and it demands patience with its long sequences of people looking meaningful in expensive hotels.

The Night Manager poster

Severance2022

A sci-fi workplace drama that mines dark comedy from corporate dysfunction and existential horror. Incomparable craft, Adam Scott's trapped eyes, and a premise that gets funnier as it gets more sinister.

But The tone is deliberately unsettling rather than comforting, and Season 1 leaves you hanging hard. It's not a show that rewards passive watching.

Severance poster

Peaky Blinders2013

Stephen Graham actually appears here, dominating scenes as a fascist villain opposite Cillian Murphy. Explosive period crime drama with operatic violence, style to burn, and performances that feel like they might detonate.

But The accent-heavy dialogue can be hard to parse, and the later seasons trade coherence for ambition. Some plot threads collapse under their own weight.

Peaky Blinders poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Code 404

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency2016

Both centre on a detective whose actual methods work despite (or because of) their fundamental wrongness—the AI-broken cop and the holistic detective are mirror images, solving crime through incompetence made manifest.

A deranged detective solves cases through chaos and intuition rather than logic, trailing destruction and bizarrely perfect coincidences. It's *Code 404* from the other direction—the detective who solves things by accident, played with demented charm by Samuel Barnett.

But The narrative is deliberately fractured and refuses to explain itself; if you need clarity and linear storytelling, this will feel like homework you're failing.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency poster
More like this (8)

Taskmaster2015

Five comedians attempt absurd creative challenges in a small studio. Unscripted, anarchic, genuinely funny without trying, and every episode is a complete story. Perfect comfort television with surprise heart.

But If you don't find the comedians' personalities engaging on sight, an entire episode of them doing odd tasks won't convert you. It's not about plot.

Taskmaster poster

Fleabag2016

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's one-woman show expanded into television: thirty minutes of ferocious wit, emotional ambush, and a protagonist so alive you forget you're watching. The fourth wall-breaking is essential, not a gimmick.

But The protagonist is deliberately unlikeable and the tone whipsaw between comedy and devastation can feel manipulative if it doesn't land for you personally.

Fleabag poster

Killing Eve2018

A brilliant MI6 agent obsesses over a charming psychopath. Candy-coloured violence, witty dialogue that actually crackles, and Jodie Comer's performance is a masterclass in playing someone unknowable while remaining magnetic.

But The show's quality is inconsistent across seasons, and the finale divides viewers sharply. The premise can feel thin if stretched too far.

Killing Eve poster

Line of Duty2012

Tense police procedural about corruption and cover-ups, built on interrogation scenes where every word lands like a punch. Jed Mercurio's dialogue is precise and the twists generally earn themselves.

But Later seasons collapse into conspiracy nonsense and the fandom became insufferable. The final reveal disappointed enough people that rewatches feel tainted.

Line of Duty poster

Brooklyn Nine-Nine2013

Precinct-set sitcom that actually cares about its characters and manages genuine warmth without saccharine. The ensemble clicks immediately and it gets better at balancing humour with real stakes.

But Relentlessly upbeat in a way that can feel exhausting, and the Holt-Peralta dynamic, while excellent, doesn't vary much across seasons. Some find the tone too safe.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine poster

MINDHUNTER2017

Early FBI profilers interview serial killers in the 1970s. Methodical, unsettling, beautifully shot, and genuinely interested in how psychology becomes a tool. Fincher's direction makes bureaucracy feel like horror.

But Glacially paced with no satisfying ending—Netflix cancelled it mid-thought. If you need resolution or propulsive plot, this will frustrate you into rage.

MINDHUNTER poster

Russian Doll2019

Both use speculative technology (resurrection, time-looping) as a canvas for questions about whether you're still *you* after the experience—identity haunting the body that contains it.

A woman dies and restarts the same night repeatedly, but the show uses that premise to explore identity, consequence, and the self—with razor-sharp comedy and a visual language that shifts with each iteration. Natasha Lyonne is mesmerising.

But Season 2 abandons the time-loop formula for something more experimental and loses the thing that made Season 1 click. The tonal shifts can feel like different shows.

Russian Doll poster

Delirious2007

Both find their comedy in the gap between incompetence and sincerity—people trying genuinely to do a job they're fundamentally unequipped for, and the tenderness that emerges from watching them fail earnestly.

A mockumentary about a fictional film-within-a-film, where a desperate director tries to salvage chaos on set. It's surreal and affectionate toward its characters' failures, shot through with genuine pathos beneath the absurdity.

But Obscure, low-budget, and the humour is entirely dependent on loving its flawed characters' delusion. If indie quirk without commercial sheen bores you, this won't convince you otherwise.

Delirious poster

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Recommended by

The Unlisted, Our Girl, Kill It, Telefon, Spycraft