Television series

Nighty Night

A pitch-black comedy about Jill Tyrrell, a monstrously selfish woman who sees her husband's cancer diagnosis not as tragedy but as an opportunity. Julia Davis's creation is gleefully cruel, nasty, and completely uninterested in your comfort. It's a show that laughs at the worst in people—and finds it hilarious.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you relish comedy about a monstrous narrator, the kind that lets a character get away with far too much and makes you squirm at your own laughter, with black humour delivered deadpan and unflinching.

Skip it if you want warmth or someone to root for, since Jill is relentlessly selfish and the meanness is the point, with little relief from her choices.

What it asks of you: Thirty-minute episodes, twelve across two series; it is brisk, and the sly, sour jokes arrive without warning and rarely pause for sympathy.

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

If you liked this

Fleabag2016

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's self-loathing protagonist breaks the fourth wall and charms you despite being fundamentally broken. Sharp, unsentimental comedy with a woman you shouldn't like but absolutely do.

But The whimsy occasionally softens the bite, and the sentimentality of later seasons may feel like betrayal if you wanted uncut moral chaos.

Fleabag poster

Peep Show2003

Mitchell and Webb's claustrophobic sitcom lives inside two men's heads as they fumble through their worst impulses. Painfully funny, perfectly observed, never lets you off the hook.

But The handheld POV can feel gimmicky, and the comedy hinges on secondhand embarrassment that builds to exhausting levels.

Peep Show poster

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia2005

Five genuinely awful people scheme and fail in Philadelphia with zero redemption arc. Nasty, brilliant, and committed to never punching down—only at itself and its own characters.

But The American setting and thirteen-season sprawl mean tonal drift; early seasons are sharper. Some plots are just repugnant rather than darkly funny.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia poster

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

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Sorry!1981

Both use a single selfish protagonist as an observation device for how people destroy themselves and each other; both find comedy in stasis and moral rot rather than narrative.

A man in his forties lives with his mother. That's the premise, repeated exactly. Each episode finds new dimensions in resentment, dependency, and quiet domestic horror, with almost no plot.

But Absolutely nothing happens. The comedy is in watching two people slowly suffocate each other for 25 minutes, which is not everyone's idea of entertainment.

Sorry! poster
More like this (6)

Arrested Development2003

An entire family of selfish monsters, each deluding themselves about who they are. Layered, quick-witted, endlessly rewatchable because the jokes live in character, not premise.

But The fourth season and revival lose their way chasing complexity. The whole show hinges on rewatches, which excludes people who just want to enjoy something once.

Arrested Development poster

The Thick of It2005

Malcolm Tucker's volcanic torrents of abuse mask a show about how power corrupts and consensus-seeking fails. Vicious, smart, and accidentally tragic about ambition.

But The Scottish swearing is relentless and can become white noise. Peter Capaldi's brilliance somewhat overshadows the ensemble around him.

The Thick of It poster

Skins2007

British teenagers written with absolute clarity about their awfulness, their genuine pain, and how little they understand either. Generation 1 is exceptional before it fades into soap melodrama.

But Tonal whiplash between comedy and trauma; later generations dilute what made the first special. Some plots aim for darkness but hit tastelessness instead.

Skins poster

Psychoville2009

Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's gallery of freaks and grotesques collide in a mystery box of a show. Cruel, funny, and structurally ambitious in ways sketch comedy rarely attempts.

But The web of connecting plots requires attention most viewers won't give a sketch show. Some characters are just gross rather than meaningfully dark.

Psychoville poster

Brass1983

Victorian brass-band town comedy where everyone's selfish, corrupt, and pursuing sex; written by John Godber with genuine affection for human failings and industrial grit.

But The dated sitcom format feels antiquated even by 80s standards. Laughs per minute are lower than modern comedy, which tests patience.

Brass poster

In the Loop2009

Same writer, same moral logic—power and ambition corrupt everyone, and the funniest thing about people is watching them fail—compressed into film form with sharper focus on the comedy of moral collapse.

Armando Iannucci's film version of The Thick of It minus the redemptive arc; chaos and obscenity in service of showing power as fundamentally absurd and corrosive to everyone in it.

But The swearing is so relentless and context-free that by minute forty it stops registering as satire and just becomes texture. The plot is secondary to watching powerful people unravel.

In the Loop poster

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Recommended by

The League of Gentlemen, Man to Man with Dean Learner, Black Books, Psychoville, That Mitchell and Webb Look, Monkey Dust, Absolutely, Smack the Pony, Sorry!, Jam, You Have Been Watching