The 25 best television series on Netflix

The notion of the "box-set binge" dates – well, duh – to the packaging of physical DVDs into boxes, but it reached epidemic proportions when punters got the opportunity to swallow whole days of digital entertainment without moving from their armchair. Netflix keeps us on our toes by pulling popular series just as they deliver new (or vintage) delights. We have it all here: classic comedy, manga, Netflix Originals, that thing with the talking horse. Why go outdoors?

ARCHER

You think espionage spoofs have been done to death? They probably have. What sets Adam Reed's suave animation apart is its admirable contempt for its central characters. Master spy Sterling Archer really is a chiselled jerk. For all that, the deliberately anachronistic style makes it go down easily. DC

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Orphan Black

ATTACK ON TITAN

In common with the rest of humanity, Eren, his adoptive sister, Mikasa Ackermann, and their childhood friend Armin live inside a walled city that is frequently attacked by Titans, giant humanoid creatures that devour humans. When Eren's mother is killed, they vow revenge. But this is only the beginning of Yasuko Kobayashi's epic saga. TB

BLUE EXORCIST

When teenager Rin Okumura discovers he is the son of Satan, he trains as an exorcist to defeat his father. Robot to Usakichi creator Kazue Kato layers her fun, supernatural comedy with biblical references. TB

BOJACK HORSEMAN

Will Arnett is a washed-up star. And he's a horse. Imagine Sunset Boulevard but as a surreal, sour, animated comedy. With a dog named Mr Peanutbutter as the primary antagonist and a pink Persian cat as the love interest. Sit tight, get past the weirdness and it's genius: a show that everybody thinks is somehow about them. TB

BREAKING BAD (and BETTER CALL SAUL)

Is there anyone left who hasn't watched terminally ill Walter White (Bryan Cranston) transform into his meth-dealing alter-ego Heisenberg? Anyone? Veterans can still savour the universe expansion offered by spin-off Better Call Saul. Binge rewatching is another viable option. TB

DOCTOR WHO

Can't pick between Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant, Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi? Now you don't have to. You don't have to be a proper Whovian to find something to enjoy in eight available seasons of suspenseful time-travel adventures. TB

FARGO

The pitch for series one is hard to get your head around. It's not an adaptation of the Coen brothers' film, but it maintains the frozen-noir tone and replays key incidents. The result is an endlessly gripping comic mystery that is cautious with its twists and ruthless in its bloody executions. DC

FAWLTY TOWERS

Long before Netflix Originals had the same idea, the episodes were of uneven lengths. And there are only 12 of them. And you've probably seen them all 100 times or more. Still, it's simply impossible to tire of John Cleese goose-stepping and shouting "Don't mention the war". TB

FIREFLY

Back in the pre- Avengers days, when Joss Whedon was best known as the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he fashioned this splendid space-western. The show's cancellation launched a thousand online petitions. Devout fans were rewarded with Serenity, a spin-off movie, in 2005. TB

THE GOOD WIFE

There comes a point when the word "underrated" has been used so often that it ceases to carry weight. Almost everybody now knows that this gripping American legal series about politics and love is among the best shows of the past decade. DC

HAPPY VALLEY

How rarely do we come across a new TV cop who looks set to bed in for the ages? Sarah Lancashire's Catherine Cawood – a courageous, bereaved, funny Yorkshire officer – is just such a creation. Writer Sally Wainwright's plotting is not quite up to the standard of her characterisation, but series one remains addictive. DC

HOMELAND

It seems an awfully long time since CIA officer Claire Danes first voiced suspicions that the enemy had turned former prisoner-of-war Damian Lewis. Four series are currently available. The first two are indisputably excellent. DC

HOUSE OF CARDS US (and HOUSE OF CARDS UK)

The original British series, detailing one sort of cynical political operator, emerged as Thatcher was on the way out. The American show, featuring Kevin Spacey as a different sort of conspirator, emerged as congress was turning increasingly sour and confrontational. DC

IT’S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

It was often argued that Seinfeld was unique in focusing on four largely misanthropic characters. They had nothing on the relentlessly nasty Irish-Americans who strive to screw each other royally in every episode of Rob McElhenney's blackly hilarious show. Ideal binge fodder. DC

ONCE UPON A TIME

The only TV show in which King Arthur (Liam Garrigan) might rub shoulders with Cruella De Vil (Victoria Smurfit), Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin), Red Riding Hood (Meghan Ory), Belle (Emilie de Ravin), Captain Hook (Colin O'Donoghue), Robin Hood (Sean Maguire), the Huntsman (Jamie Dornan) and Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle). Highly entertaining. TB

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK

New York yuppie bisexual (Taylor Schilling) goes down for a 15-month stretch in this dramedy inspired by Piper Kerman's autobiographical misadventures. Nobody ever went broke from using a women's prison as a backdrop, but the show has managed to reinvigorate the subgenre. TB

ORPHAN BLACK

Is this the only Canadian series in our list? We can only apologise. A show based around clones always sounded like a delicious idea, but we needed a gifted actor to carry the concept. Step up Tatiana Maslany. The young performer is brilliant as a con artist who learns she is one of many identical copies. Slippery and original. DC

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE

The Voice hasn't produced a hit in a geological age, and The X Factor has lost its x-factor, but RuPaul's ongoing search for "America's next drag superstar" has lost none of its sparkle. The funniest, bitchiest, most glamorous show on TV. TB

SHERLOCK

We have to wait until 2017 for the fourth series of the contemporary reworking of Sherlock Holmes. Luckily, we can revisit Benedict Cumberbatch's all-conquering depiction of Arthur Conan Doyle's intellectual, superior sleuth. All three series plus the 2016 New Year's special. TB

STAR TREK

We prayed this day would come: every episode of every Star Trek series – including the animated series – is now available on Netflix. Klingons versus Borg. Kirk versus Picard. A wonderful world of squabbling awaits. TB

STRANGER THINGS

The makers would not deny that this delicious horror series inclines towards near-fetishistic adoration of the 1980s. Indeed, scored to tracks by Joy Division, The Clash and The Bangles, Stranger Things plays a little like the Stephen King adaptation Steven Spielberg never got to make. There is, nonetheless, real emotional punch to the juvenile performances. DC

THE THICK OF IT

So influential has the Westminster satire become that – like Yes Minister before it – political commentators frequently argue that some outrage or other is "worthy of The Thick of It". We would love to hear Malcolm Tucker's assessment of Jeremy Corbyn. DC

TOKYO GHOUL

Although hunted by the authorities, ghouls, which must consume human flesh to survive, live unseen among us. When college student Kaneki is attacked by one, he survives, but with his assailant's organs inside him, as a half-ghoul. Can he survive, undetected, as the police and a mysterious underground faction circle? TB

THE TRIP

It should never have worked. Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play versions of themselves travelling around exotic European climes, eating delicious food. The show is indulgent, but the two are such gifted improvisers that the pace never slackens. DC

THE UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT

An unstoppably jolly escapee from a death cult makes her way about contemporary New York City. The brilliant first series of this Netflix Original – spiked up with songs and mayhem – suggested we could have a Mary Tyler Moore Show for the new century. Sadly, the second season is not nearly so strong. We remain hopeful. Pinot Noir, smoke a cigar! DC