'It's my job to recommend TV shows. Here are my favourite shows on each streaming platform.'

I don't know about you guys, but it feels like there's a new streaming service popping up every week. 

I swear, I was walking down the street the other day and a streaming service jumped out of the bushes. I screamed and batted it with my handbag, then signed up immediately because I bloody love TV. 

And in 2023, we're spoiled for choice. 

Lucky for you, it's part of my job to watch all the new TV shows and figure out what's worth your time and what's not. 

With that in mind, I've put together probably the most comprehensive TV recommendations roundup you'll ever wrap your eyes around. (P.S if you'd like to see my weekly recommendations, follow me on Instagram.) 

Here are my top TV shows on each of the streaming services: 

Stan

Hacks 

Image: Stan.  

Veteran comedian Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) has been at the top of her game for years, but when her regular Las Vegas show is in danger of being cancelled, she's forced to hire 'woke' millennial Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) to help write her jokes. 

What follows is a story about generational differences, female friendship, and what happens after failure. 

Watch it if you like: Leopard print, laughing at cancel culture, and road trips with your frenemies. 

Bump

Image: Stan.  

Bump follows Olympia 'Oly' Chalmers (Nathalie Morris), a high-achieving 16-year-old who has her entire life mapped out in front of her when she suddenly has a surprise baby. 

Not a surprise pregnancy. A surprise baby. 

After feeling unwell at school, Oly has a baby in the back of an ambulance on the way to the hospital, and immediately becomes a mother, and her parents, Angie (Claudia Karvan) and Dom (Angus Sampson) become instant grandparents. 

Watch it if you like: Surprise babies, dysfunctional families, and coming of age in the most unexpected ways. 

It's A Sin

Image: Stan.  

It's A Sin was created by critically-acclaimed screenwriter and television producer, Russell T Davies, whose previous works include Queer as Folk, and Years and Years. 

Set in London in the 1980s and 1990s, the series follows a group of young friends who are discovering who they are and who they love, and living their best lives in London's vibrant gay scene, just as the AIDS crisis hits. 

It's not an easy watch, but it's an important one. One of the most brilliant and beautiful series of the past couple of years, It's A Sin will make you laugh out loud in one scene, and break your heart in the next. 

Watch it if you like:... Crying. 

Prime Video

The Wilds

Image: Prime Video.  

The Wilds follows a group of teenage girls who are en route to a women's empowerment retreat in Hawaii – led by Gretchen Klein (Rachel Griffiths) – when their plane crashes into the ocean.

Miraculously, the young women survive the crash, finding themselves stranded on a deserted island with no memory of how they got there.

At first, it seems like an unfortunate accident. But as the series moves forward, it becomes clear that good ole' Gretchen Klein is up to something. 

And in season two, things get even weirder. 

Watch if you like: Being stranded on a deserted island, WILSOOOOOON, plot twists, Rachel Griffiths and cans of Coca-Cola fresh out of the middle of the ocean. 

Luxe Listings Sydney

Image: Prime Video.  

Luxe Listings Sydney follows D'Leanne Lewis, Gavin Rubenstein, Simon Cohen and Monika Tu, as they buy and sell the biggest, most expensive properties in Sydney. 

The series features plenty of flashy cars, multi-million dollar mansions, and harbour views. 

It also features a lot of drama and some truly eccentric characters.  

Watch it if you like: Small men and big houses, rich people throwing their money around, and plenty of manufactured drama. 

A League of Their Own

Image: Prime Video. 

When I was a kid in the 1990s, I would watch the original 1992 A League of Their Own at least once a fortnight. 

It was one of a handful of movies that would get slipped into the VHS player over and over again. 

So when I heard Abbi Jacobson was making a new TV series based on the original movie for Prime Video, I was excited but also a bit... worried. 

But I needn't have been. 

A League of Their Own tells the stories the original movie couldn't. It takes what was brilliant about the original and makes it even better. It's funny, warm and always surprising. 

Fleabag

Image: Prime Video.  

Ok, Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a legend. 

The first season of Fleabag took us into the messy, broken mind of a 30-something woman who just can't seem to get her sh*t together. 

Then season two took it to a whole new level and also made millions of people around the world develop... unusual feelings for sexy Irish priests. 

Both seasons were groundbreaking and the final scene will stay with you for years after you've watched it. 

Watch it if you like: Hot priests, smoking in alleyways, and breaking the fourth wall. 

Binge/Foxtel 

Colin From Accounts

Image: Binge. 

It's a tale as old as time. Woman flashes man with nipple. Man hits dog with car. Man and woman are bound together by a very expensive vet bill. 

That's the premise of Colin From Accounts, the Binge original written by and starring Australia's favourite acting duo, Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer. 

Set in Sydney's inner west, the eight-part series follows Ashley (Dyer), a 20-something medical student, and Gordon (Brammall) a 40-ish brewery owner, who cross paths one January morning and soon find they can't stay away from each other. Even if they want to. 

Watch it if you like: Poo jokes, overbearing mothers and unexpected love stories. 

Mare of Easttown 

Image: Binge.  

I think about Mare of Easttown and its brilliant twist at least once a week. 

When it premiered in April 2021, it quickly became one of my favourite shows.  

There are two reasons for this:

1. In just six episodes, the writers created a TV universe that I fell in love with. Although it was bleak, the people and the stories of Easttown were so compelling, I never wanted to leave. 

2. The twist was a stroke of genius. It WENT there. 

The series follows Mare Sheehan (Kate Winslet), a detective in the fictional American town of Easttown, where everyone is a bit down on their luck. 

Mare is a divorced single mum, who is raising her young grandson after her son ended his own life. Her mum Helen (Jean Smart) is also living with her. 

While trying to keep her life together, she is tasked with investigating the murder of a local teen mum. And everyone in town is a suspect. 

What I loved about the series was how it combined a brilliant mystery, an amazing cast, a few well-placed laughs, and a study of the human condition into one show. 

Watch it if you like: Greasy ponytails, dive bars, bleak weather, and brilliant twists. 

I May Destroy You

Image: Binge.  

I May Destroy You is created by and stars Michaela Coel, the brains behind the hit British comedy, Chewing Gum. 

The series - which took two and a half years and 191 drafts to complete - is a fictionalised version of Coel's own experience of sexual assault. 

In episode one, the show's heroine Arabella Essiedu (played by Coel) is drugged and sexually assaulted. She spends most of the 12-episode season unable to remember the night in question and attempting to put together the pieces of the puzzle to bring her assailant to justice. 

Watch it if you like: Your trauma with a side of lols and strong female leads. 

Succession

Image: Binge.  

I love watching rich people do terrible things to each other. 

Succession follows the story of the Roy family (loosely based on the Murdochs), a wealthy media family who find themselves locked in an ongoing battle for power when the patriarch of the family suffers some health issues. 

It's like Game of Thrones without the throne and more... money. And nice suits. 

Watch it if you like: Angry short kings, The Beastie Boys, daddy issues and backstabbing. 

Love Me

Image: Binge.  

Love Me was written by Alison Bell (The Letdown) and directed by Emma Freeman (The Newsreader, Glitch, Offspring), and it stars Hugo Weaving, Bojana Novakovic, and William Lodder as three different generations of the same family who are dealing with grief and looking for connection. 

Glen, alone for the first time in decades, is wondering whether he can take a chance on love again. Clara is approaching 40 and wondering whether love and a family is in her future, and Aaron is navigating heartbreak and all the messy, complicated feelings of being in your early 20s. 

Watch it if you like: Baby boomers having sex, dysfunctional families, and second chances. 

This Is Going To Hurt

Image: Binge.  

This Is Going To Hurt is a completely different type of medical drama. 

The gritty BBC comedy-drama, which is based on Adam McKay's bestselling memoir of the same name, takes the audience behind the curtain of Britain's much-loved National Health Service (NHS). 

Set in 2006 in a busy obstetrics and gynaecology ward in an NHS hospital, the series follows junior doctors Adam (Ben Whishaw) and Shruti Acharya (Ambika Mod) as they juggle abusive patients, horrible bosses, and medical emergencies.

The series shows the horror and the hope of working in a labour ward and doesn't shy away from the more confronting storylines. 

It's absolutely brutal one minute, and laugh out loud funny the next. 

Watch it if you like: British humour, unexpected loss, and lots and lots of blood. 

The White Lotus

Image: Binge.  

When The White Lotus returned for its second season in 2022, the cocktails were even more potent, the one-liners even zingier, the simmering tension reached a delicious fever pitch. 

Set in Sicily, season two follows several groups of American tourists staying at a beachside resort. In the first scene, trophy wife Daphne (Meghann Faye) stumbles upon a body in the ocean. 

For the next seven episodes, we try to find out who meets their watery end as the cocktails get guzzled and the sexual tension reaches a crescendo. 

This season is all about sex and power and, of course, a dash of murder. 

Watch it if you like: Sipping cocktails by the pool, watching rich people doing terrible things, and... unexpected poos. 

Apple TV Plus

Ted Lasso

Image: Apple TV Plus.  

I think if I could choose what heaven looks like, it would involve me sitting on a comfy couch, eating chips, while Ted Lasso gives me inspirational speeches and Roy Kent yells at me a little.

That is how much joy I get from watching Ted Lasso. 

The series stars Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso, an American college football coach who is unexpectedly recruited to coach an English Premier League team, AFC Richmond, despite having no experience in association football. And knowing absolutely nothing about the game. 

What makes Ted Lasso such a brilliant TV show is the main character's relentless positivity in the face of adversity. And Roy Kent's relentless... swearing. 

Watch it if you like: Moustaches, swearing a lot, believing in something, and unexpected friendships. 

Bad Sisters

Image: Apple TV Plus. 

Bad Sisters follows the five Garvey sisters. There's Eva (Horgan), the eldest who took on the maternal role after their parents died. Ursula, a nurse and sensible mum-of-three, who also happens to be having an affair with her photography teacher. Fierce middle child Bibi (Sarah Greene), and aimless baby of the family Becka (Eve Hewson). And then there's Grace, the only sister who seems to be mourning the premature death of her husband John Paul (Claes Bang). 

When the series flashes back six months, we find out why. 

Watch it if you like: Plotting murder with your sisters, swims in the ocean, and terrible men getting their comeuppance. 

Severance 

Image: Apple TV Plus.  

Severance is a dystopian thriller that takes all your anxieties about work and the corporate world and turns them into a true horror story. 

Created by Dan Erikson and mostly directed by Ben Stiller, the series follows a group of "severed" employees working at a mysterious company called Lumon.

Mark (Adam Scott) chose to be severed after the death of his wife, in the hope it would lessen his grief. During his work hours, he’s the happy-go-lucky department head of the macro-data refinement division at Lumon, where he and three other employees - Dylan (Zach Cherry), Helly (Britt Lower), and Irving (John Turturro) - organise some mysterious numbers all day. 

But after one of his ex-colleagues reaches out to him, Mark has doubts about what's really going on at Lumon. 

After a slow start, Severance builds to a cliffhanger finale that will leave you on the edge of your seat. 

Watch it if you like: Office gossip, depressing colour schemes, and secretly believing that your bosses are 'up to something'. 

Loot

Image: Apple TV Plus. 

Loot is a laugh-out-loud comedy that will warm the cockles of your dark, dark heart. 

The series follows socialite Molly Novak (Maya Rudolph) who seems to have the dream life until she finds out her billionaire tech husband John (Adam Scott) is cheating on her. 

After they divorce, Molly has to figure out what to do with her $87 billion fortune and all her free time. 

Watch it if you like: Yachts, awkwardly cute love interests, and fun sidekicks. 

The Afterparty

Image: Apple TV Plus.  

The Afterparty follows a group of former high school friends who come together for their 15-year high school reunion. When someone dies at the reunion afterparty, everyone else immediately becomes a suspect. 

Each episode is told from the perspective of one character/suspect as they tell their own version of events to a rogue detective (Tiffany Haddish) who is trying to crack the case before it's taken off her. 

The cast includes Dave Franco, Ilana Glazer, Ben Schwartz, Ike Barinholtz, Zoë Chao, and Sam Richardson. 

Watch it if you like: Your high school reunions with a side of murder, nostalgia, and bad rapping. 

Disney Plus 

The Bear

Image: Disney Plus. 

Just like the perfect Italian sandwich, The Bear is layered and meaty and a bit surprising. 

The series follows 20-something chef Carmy (Shameless' Jeremy Allen White), who returns to Chicago to run his brother's fledging sandwich business after his unexpected death. 

Set mostly in the kitchen of the sandwich shop, the series is whip-smart and unexpectedly funny as it explores grief, addiction, failure, family dynamics, burnout, and what it's like to give up on your dreams. 

Watch it if you like: Kitchen drama, a very specific type of man who is unexplainably attractive to you, and sandwiches. 

Only Murders In The Building

Image: Disney Plus.  

At the end of season one, Only Murders In The Building's unlikely detectives actually solved the murder of Tim Kono. That was a genuine surprise.

Season two kicks off where season one left us, following the murder of the Arconia's Board President Bunny Folger. 

Our trio - Charles (Steve Martin), Oliver (Martin Short) and Mabel (Selena Gomez) - race to unmask the killer, after being publicly implicated in the crime. Things are complicated by the fact that all their neighbours think they're guilty, and uh, there's also a new, competing true crime podcast to contend with.

If you love your murder mysteries mixed with a dash of clever comedy, you need to watch Only Murders immediately. 

Watch it if you like: Solving murders, talking about making a podcast, and unexpected friendships. 

Abbott Elementary

Image: Disney Plus.  

If The Office and Parks and Recreation had a wholesome baby in the middle of the pandemic, the result would be Abbott Elementary. 

Abbott Elementary takes us behind-the-scenes of a fictional elementary school in Baltimore, where the teachers are underpaid and overworked, and there's not enough money to buy even the most basic of supplies. 

But don't worry, this series is anything but a downer. The "mockumentary" style of filming, plus the Michael Scott-esque principal, the burgeoning love story between two of the junior teachers, and the genuine friendships between the characters mean you'll be laughing out loud one minute and genuinely moved by the wholesomeness of it all the next. 

Watch it if you like: Jim Halpert, classroom supplies, and feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. 

Paramount Plus 

Yellowjackets

Image: Paramount Plus.  

Yellowjackets quietly premiered on Paramount Plus in Australia in November 2021 and achieved a 100 per cent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes from just one episode. 

Set in the mid-1990s, the series follows a group of high school champion soccer players, the 'Yellowjackets' who are travelling to the national championships on a private plane, when it crashes in the middle of nowhere. 

The survivors spend the next 18 months in the wilderness before finally being rescued. During that time, clans are formed, alliances are broken, and not everyone makes it out alive (we're talking cannibalism here, people). 

The series flashes between their time in the wilderness and 25 years later, when four of the survivors are still trying to piece their lives together. 

Watch it if you like: 90s music, high school cliques, plot twists and just a touch of cannibalism. 

Spreadsheet

Image: Paramount Plus.  

If you're a fan of Sex and the City and Offspring, you need to watch Spreadsheet immediately. 

In order to shake up her sex life post-divorce, Lauren (Katherine Parkinson) and her assistant Alex (Rowan Witt) create a spreadsheet of potential lovers. 

But instead of the no-strings-attached sexual revolution she was expecting, Lauren soon finds her life becoming more and more chaotic, which makes for hilarious viewing. 

Watch it if you like: Keeping your messy love life organised, sassy personal assistants, and finding love in the most unexpected place. 

Why Women Kill

Image: Paramount Plus.  

This show definitely doesn't get enough love. 

Starring Lucy Liu, Ginnifer Goodwin and Kirby Howell-Baptiste, the first season of Why Women Kill follows the lives of three women living in the same house in three different decades. 

And each of their stories ends in... murder. 

Watch it if you like: Shoulder pads, taking down the patriarchy, and your soaps with a side of murder.  

Netflix

Heartbreak High

Image: Netflix. 

Like the original series, Netflix's reboot of Heartbreak High follows a group of students at Hartley High as they navigate friendship, sex, consent, relationships, and family dramas. 

A discovery in the first episode makes Amerie (Ayesha Madon) an instant pariah at school, at the very same time her ride-or-die bestie Harper (Asher Yasbincek) dumps her in front of the whole school. 

Later she teams up with Quinni (Chloe Hayden) and Darren (James Majoos) as they navigate the messiness of high school together. 

The reboot combines the edginess of Euphoria, with the hilarity of Sex Education, all while giving a nod to the original series. 

Watch it if you like: Dirty street pies, your teen drama with a side of lols, and telling people to rack off. 

Schitt's Creek

Image: Netflix.  

It took me most of the first season to get into Schitt's Creek. 

For at least the first five episodes I didn't get it and I, quite frankly, found the characters... annoying. 

Sometime between the end of the first season and the start of the second season, I fell in love with the Rose family. By the series finale, they felt like family... albeit a Canadian/American family who wore a lot of black and chucked epic tantrums whenever they were mildly inconvenienced. 

The series follows the Johnny and Moira Rose, and their two grown-up kids, David and Alexis, who are forced to move into a motel in the small town of Schitt's Creek after they lose all their money. 

Over six seasons, the Rose family slowly learn that there are more important things in life than money. 

Well, kind of. 

The series also gave us the greatest love story of all time. I can't listen to 'Simply The Best' without thinking about David and Patrick. 

Watch it if you like: A genetic disposition for great eyebrows, dysfunctional families, and small, quirky towns. 

Sex Education

Image: Netflix.  

Sex Education is the complete opposite of the teen TV shows I grew up with, where there were clear social groups and predictable storylines. 

The series takes all these teen show tropes and turns them on their head. 

It stars Asa Butterfield as Otis, a sexually repressed teenager who lives with his single mum Jean (Gillian Anderson), who is a sex therapist. 

Soon Otis and his potential love interest Maeve (Emma Mackey) start charging their classmates for sex advice. 

Watch it if you like: Wearing stylish kaftans while raising your socially awkward son, hustling in school toilets, and unexpected friendships. 

Keryn Donnelly is Mamamia's Pop Culture Editor. For her weekly TV, film and book recommendations and to see photos of her dog, follow her on Instagram and TikTok.  

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