TV for cocooners: 20 high-quality, old-school series to stream

You will be coming down with suggestions as to which hip series and zippy films are currently available to the broadband user. When stressfully isolated, however, the most suitable option may be some cosy entertainment that helps soften the sharper edges of confinement. Netflix is your friend. So is Amazon Prime.

Also, don’t forget “catch-up” (as they originally started out) Apps such as the RTE Player and All 4 from Channel 4. Both are free in this country and can be used on your computer, handheld device or smart TV. Unfortunately Irish viewers can use neither the BBC iPlayer or – a joint venture between the Beeb and ITV for American and UK markets – BritBox.

So access to giants of cosy TV such as Miss Marple or Inspector Morse is limited. Keep in mind, however, that with even a basic Sky package you can download recently screened repeats of such shows. Other warming shows can be rented from the likes of Amazon or Apple.

Our list below includes material that, at time of writing, is available for no cost beyond initial subscription (if such a thing is even required).

ANNE WITH AN E

All hail Amybeth McNulty. The Donegal actor is terrific as snooty Anne Shirley, orphan adrift on Prince Edward Island, in this subtle adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s indestructible Anne of Green Gables. Adored by a fanatical fanbase before being unexpectedly cancelled after three series. (Netflix)

BIRDSONG

A fine array of rising talent – Eddie Redmayne, Matthew Goode, Richard Madden – were there for the BBC's take on Sebastian Faulks' enormously popular novel of the first World War. For reasons that only lawyers can explain, the series is now available on the Channel 4 service (All 4).

CALL THE MIDWIFE

If there is a book out there on “Cosy Sunday Night Telly” then it will surely have a snap of this easy-going natal drama on the cover. Jenny Agutter, Miranda Hart, Pam Ferris? Narration from Vanessa Redgrave? The East End in 1960? Wrap me up in the thing and feed me Ovaltine. (Netflix)

THE CAMOMILE LAWN

A massive hit on Channel 4 in 1992, this beautiful adaptation of Mary Wesley’s novel stars Toby Stephens and Jennifer Ehle in a saga set around a Cornish country house before and during the second World War. No less a legend than Peter Hall directs. (All 4)

THE CROWN

What else? By some definitions the most expensive series ever made, The lavish study of the British royal family has lured in some guilty republicans with its delicious recreations of wider post-war life. The three series have taken us up to the early 1970s. (Netflix)

A DANCE TO THE MUSIC OF TIME

They said it couldn’t be done, but, in 1997, Channel 4 managed to boil Anthony Powell’s untouchable 3,000-page roman-fleuve - detailing 50 years of English life - into a lucid 12-hour series. Simon-Russell Beale excels as the monstrous Widmerpool. (All 4)

DINNERLADIES

There are just 16 episodes of Victoria Wood's charming series set in the canteen of a Manchester factory. Wood's reputation was so (justifiably) high that she need only snap her fingers to assemble an untouchable cast: Julie Waters, Thelma Barlow, Maxine Peake, Celia Imrie, Shobna Gulati. The gang were all there and they were quietly on fire. (Netflix)

DOWNTON ABBEY

Look, I know it’s just Upstairs Downstairs in the country, but that ancient ITV series is not free to stream, so we must settle for Julian Fellowes’s phenomenally successful variation on his own script for Gosford Park. Five seasons of posh with Maggie Smith are available. (Amazon Prime)

ER

It seems like centuries ago that George Clooney first put his head on his side before delivering mixed news to a coughing infant. The consistently well-written medical soap was a staple of Irish Sundays throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. Relive those years in very different times. (RTÉ Player and All 4)

FRASIER

We all know what this is. Among the best of sitcom spinoffs, Frasier moved Kelsey Grammer’s psychiatrist from Cheers to a spectacular apartment in Seattle where his even more precious brother Niles (David Hyde-Piece) immediately upstaged him. Went off a bit when Niles finally scored with Daphne. (RTÉ Player and All 4).

Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel as mother and daughter Lorelai and Rory Gilmore.

GILMORE GIRLS

Forget the pompous West Wing. Amy Sherman-Palladino’s dramedy concerning a single mom and her super-smart daughter’s adventures in picturesque Connecticut was the talky millennial show that mattered. Enjoyed equally by tweens and brighter parents. See also Mrs Maisel. (Netflix)

JONATHAN CREEK

Running on and off for 10 years, David Renwick’s hit BBC show remains hard to categorise. Alan Davies plays an expert on magic who - in the company of Caroline Quentin and others - uses his knowledge to solve seemingly impossible murders. Odd, but, even in 1997, a bit old fashioned. Yay! (Netflix)

THE MARVELLOUS MRS MAISEL

Though an Emmy and Golden Globe winner, Amy “Gilmore Girls” Sherman-Palladino’s drama concerning a female Jewish comic in late 1950s New York has “divided the critics”. The nay-sayers are schlemiels! Rachel Brosnahan is delightful in a series that relishes its period setting. (Amazon Prime)

MISS FISHER’S MURDER MYSTERIES

An underappreciated pleasure from Netflix’s Australian list, Miss Fisher stars Essie Davis - so memorable in The Babadook - as a sleek private detective in 1920s Melbourne. Adapted from Kerry Greenwood’s novels, the series has gathered up a devoted cult following. (Netflix)

NORTH AND SOUTH

Faithful and moving adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1855 novel concerning a young woman’s traumas after moving to the north of England. Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage spark off one another as a couple divided by class and regional character. All the rich period detail you expect from the BBC. (Netflix)

OUTLANDER

The Golden Globes wouldn’t be the Golden Globes without Caitriona Balfe - late of Monaghan - receiving a nomination for Starz’s take on Diana Gabaldon’s time-travelling romance series. Most of the time it wallows indulgently in the 18th century Scotland that so inspired Sir Walter Scott. (Amazon Prime)

OUTNUMBERED

Simultaneously innovative and super-reassuring, the hugely successful sit-com encouraged its juvenile actors to improvise around grounded performances from mum Claire Skinner and dad Hugh Dennis. All five series are available in the usual place. (Netflix)

PARKS AND RECREATION

Is there still a role for nice comedy about nice people in divided America? Launched in 2009, this wonderful show - starring Amy Poehler as a senior figure in the Parks Service - eventually answered in the affirmative. The first series is shaky. But it is unstoppable from season two. (Amazon Prime).

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

It is hard to overestimate the cultural impact of the BBC's 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen's most admired novel. Colin Firth still has to answer questions about his emergence from the lake. Overnight, Austen eclipsed Dickens as the UK's favourite 19th century author - and the adaptations are still coming. (Netflix)

THE VICAR OF DIBLEY

In 1998, when Dawn French’s cosy smash debuted, “Women Vicar” was an odd enough concept to serve as the starting point for a sitcom. Just six years later, more women were ordained in the Church of England than men. It’s pretty thin stuff, but well-acted and undeniably comforting. (Netflix)