Television series

Monarch of the Glen

A gentle, funny, hopelessly soft-hearted drama about Archie MacDonald, a chef dragged home from London to run his family's collapsing Highland estate, and the tartan-clad chaos of tenants, ghillies and relatives who come with it. It's Sunday-night comfort television: gorgeous scenery, mild peril, warm hearts, and problems solved by the final teatime. Perfect if you want cosy without stupid.

TVMaze rating8.0

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Hamish Macbeth1995

Same misty Highland charm, same parade of lovable eccentrics, but swap the laird's manor for a sleepy village policed by Robert Carlyle at his most rumpled and wry. Whimsical, funny, and unmistakably Scottish.

But Odder and more surreal than Monarch — dream sequences, a talking dog's-eye view of things, and a much darker undertow at times.

Hamish Macbeth poster

Ballykissangel1996

An outsider priest lands in a small Irish community full of feuds, romance and gentle absurdity. The same slow-burn charm of people who annoy each other because they love each other.

But Cast changes across its run unsettle the show's rhythm, and some later seasons lose the light touch that made it work.

Ballykissangel poster

To the Manor Born1979

A crumbling estate, a family clinging to dignity and debt in equal measure, and class comedy sharp enough to still sting. The prototype for every 'aristocrat adjusts to reality' story since.

But Studio-bound and stagey by modern standards, with a laugh track that dates it hard against Monarch's cinematic sweep.

To the Manor Born poster

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Succession2018

Both hinge on someone who never wanted the family inheritance being forced to decide what they owe it — Monarch just answers with warmth where Succession answers with knives.

Take the reluctant-heir-inherits-crumbling-empire premise and strip out every ounce of comfort: same question of duty versus escape, answered with knives instead of kindness.

But Vicious, cynical and often deliberately unpleasant — nobody here gets a tidy Sunday-night resolution, or much affection at all.

Succession poster
More like this (6)

Downton Abbey2010

Bigger house, bigger cast, bigger stakes, but the same core question: what do you owe a pile of stone and the people who depend on it? Gorgeously mounted and soapy in the best way.

But Far more plot-heavy and melodramatic — scandal, war, death — where Monarch prefers a shrug and a cup of tea.

Downton Abbey poster

Doc Martin2004

A prickly outsider forced to build a life among Cornwall's eccentrics, much like Archie among his glens. Sharper-edged comedy, but the same fish-out-of-water warmth underneath.

But Martin himself is genuinely abrasive rather than charmingly reluctant — less cosy hug, more comic friction.

Doc Martin poster

The Durrells2016

A shambolic, loving family adrift on Corfu, forever broke and forever delighted with themselves. Sunnier and sillier than Monarch, but the same gentle chaos and stubborn optimism.

But Lighter on plot and conflict — if you wanted the estate-in-peril stakes, this drifts closer to pure whimsy.

The Durrells poster

All Creatures Great and Small2020

Yorkshire instead of the Cairngorms, but the same rural rhythms, kindly old mentors, and gentle life lessons delivered between beautiful landscape shots.

But Even gentler and more episodic — practically no serialised drama if you were hoping for ongoing family intrigue.

All Creatures Great and Small poster

Last of the Summer Wine1973

Proof the 'gentle rural comedy about people who refuse to grow up' formula can run for decades. Slower, sillier, and strangely soothing once you settle into its pace.

But Very much of its era — glacially paced, almost plotless, and a taste some modern viewers simply won't acquire.

Last of the Summer Wine poster

Whisky Galore!1949

Written by the same author, Compton Mackenzie, and set among the same kind of tight-knit, tradition-versus-modernity Highland community — decades earlier, in black and white, and much sillier.

A Scottish island community outwits wartime bureaucracy to get its hands on shipwrecked whisky — pure, mischievous, black-and-white Ealing comedy at its most beloved.

But Broader and more farcical than Monarch, with a hurried 82-minute runtime that leaves less room for character.

Whisky Galore! poster

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