I agree. I stopped watching Peaky Blinders after a couple of series as whilst it was good, the violence was gratuitous and I found some of the characters off-putting.
The Sopranos is a masterpiece and in a different league. It’s never a celebration of violence. It’s sad James Galfofini died at a relatively young age, but what a legacy.
Oh I disagree! I cannot enjoy a series unless I can relate to the characters and CARE about what happens to them. Even if they are flawed I want to find out what happens to them. Series that just rely on a clever storyline where I really couldn’t care less what happens to the characters themselves bore me within an episode or two. Had that problem with Schitt’s Creek (even though it was well reviewed). They were such obnoxious characters I quickly lost interest - or even stronger than that, found them repugnant. Why would I spend my time watching repugnant people?
Though many might well laugh at me… I’m thoroughly enjoying Death in Paradise, Doc Martin, Doctor Blake and Miss Fisher…
Yes, there is some violence, but I can handle that small amount and the rest is such fun.
Then we’ll move on to A Year in Provence… we have found every single one of those “characters” in our commune and surroundings… 
Have you considered “The Walking Dead”? It’s only got “comic book” style gratuitous violence so it doesn’t really count…does it?
No way Mark. Something that describes itself as “horror” is so not for me.
Thanks everyone for the suggestions and comments. We’re going to give The Sopranos a try after we’ve finished the Maigret series we’ve recorded from ITV3. It’s the Michael Gambon version and oh my does it date! But it’s good to see him in a previous incarnation and old films of Paris are enjoyable to watch.
Are you a fan of the Joan Hickman Miss Marples as well, Stella? I like all your list.
I’m planning to get a DVD of all the Joan Hickmans when I next visit the UK (though who knows when that will be). Not having it sent as it would probably attract £25 worth of VAT and delivery charges for something probably costing around £45.
Same here
We have the Miss Marple dvd’s but OH is not enamoured and as he doesn’t let the controls out of his grasp (even when taking a siesta)… so I can’t watch them by myself.
New Year’s Resolution is to sneak the controls away and have a go… 
We love Poirrot too (David Suchet).
by the way… OH has his annual list of dvd’s ready (to be bought through Amazon fr) and it seems they come out from UK via Europe somehow… and don’t attract any extra payments. I remain to be convinced, so they’re sitting in the “basket” at the moment.
Stella, just gets spare remote of Amazon then you can have fun for a while making everything work randomly when he is trying to use his remote 
I enjoyed watching Kingdom, Hellbound and Alice in Borderland etc. etc. etc. purely for language improving purposes, obv.
I thought I’d get the dvd of Death of a Salesman as I’m doing it with my T° but shock horror everyone else is too so it is unobtainable but you can get the Italian version which obv lets you put it in English so win win. I never watch dubbed things in any case, subtitles all the way.
I hate dubbed stuff… we now buy UK film/series dvd’s where we can change the language, so long as the original language is English… a lot come from Holland with a selection of languages, including English… Hurrah.
Mind you, we have some lovely French language comedy films, with Bourvil and Louis de Funes… and they helped us so much in the early days, although one of our earliest French films was the black and white Jour de Fete. We loved it so much that we later bought the “coloured” version.
Gerard Depardieu (?) (Monte Cristo) is excellent in French !
Edit: not really a love of subtitles either.
Has anyone else chuckled at the Spaghetti Westerns which have subtitles. A whole excited conversation is often reduced to just a couple of words… has us in fits. 
Just finished 4th (last) episode of the BBC thriller You Don’t Know Me. Completely implausible in terms of courtroom procedure, but gripping…. Violence is more in terms of tension than actual blood and guts.
The lack of verisimilitude is a big problem. I’ve been watching Prime Suspect and have to grit my teeth as the Detective Chief Inspector conducts suspect interviews. The same was true of Unforgotten, which I enjoyed. The problem is having a main character who is a ranking officer. They spend most of their time in offices. All the spadework is done by constables and sergeants.
I totally agree. It’s cruel, clever, devastating, (un)compromising, nervewrackingly realistic, deep dark and funny at the same. So please, dive in asap. You will not - I repeat NOT - be disappointed.
Thanks @jan_laboyrie and @almondbiscuit for your endorsements. Dive in we will. I will report back in due course.
I’m struggling. I’ve watched three episodes and in two of them I had to leave the room because I didn’t want to see what might happen next and didn’t want to sit there feeling anxious while I waited to find out whether it would happen or not.
I can see it’s really well done. “Great production values” as a film-buff friend would say.
BUT I’m being sucked into a world of corruption and violence and being invited to see these men in a sympathetic light. To understand that they loved their families and each other and that they had their anxieties and worries. That they are just trying to bring up their kids and sort out their business issues.
And I feel grubby watching it and being asked to be amused and entertained by them and their world.
OH will go on watching it, but I’m going to walk away.
Why do you say you are being asked to see the characters in a sympathetic light? It is a story, you see them as they are. If you do have to duck behind the sofa, maybe it isn’t for you.
Because at critical moments of high tension the writers and the director bring in humour.