Culture, and television in particularly in Europe has been quite America-dominated for a while. I’d love to hear what’s good from your home countries. If I can make a request, give a short description of the shows that you are recommending, try to sell it a bit, and don’t just post the titles. Particularly, I’d recommend:
Matador (Danish, 1978)
This is the best TV series in the history of Denmark, possibly the world. Set in a small fictional town, it takes place in the years 1929-1947, and the changes Danish society goes through at the time. While this is interesting, the real strength is the fantastic characterization, with the show starring pretty much all famous Danish actors of the era, doing their best work.
Whiskey on the Rocks (Swedish, 2025)
A Swedish satirical series about the Whiskey on the Rocks incident of 1981, where a Soviet Whiskey-class nuclear submarine ran aground in Karlskrona. It got a lot of criticism for depicting the Soviet Union as lovable drunken buffoons instead of brutal imperialists, but I found it pretty funny regardless.
Braunschlag (Austria, 2011)
Another comedy. The mayor of the upper Austrian village of Braunschlag ran the town bankruptcy. In order to get some money flowing back into the town, he decides to fake a Marian apparition. The series is generally very Austrian, but fantastic if you like that sort of thing.
UK - The office. If you are familiar with the US version, and like a little bit more spices. You will love the UK version. Some scenes would be impossible to be seen in US TV IMO. The UK version has my preference.
UK - Utopia. This one is a cult series for the people that appreciated it. It was pre-covid and IMO this is a masterpiece. I highly suggest to watch the correct version with the correct image ratio and not watch the cropped version on most stream providers. Unfortunately the last season was cancelled. But this should be a must watch IMO.
France - Guyane. Marvelous picture, and discovered an aspect of this world I didn’t have any clue about. Also I loved how different it felt from US series in general.
With utopia, also make sure that it’s the UK version, not the US remake
Never watched The Office til I met my partner, and it’s brilliant.
Americans get very upset if you say the British version is funnier.
Another vote for Utopia. And the soundtrack by Cristobal Tapia de Veer is worth a listen to even on its own. He was also behind the opening theme in White Lotus.
Utopia is definitely one of my favourite all time series, the cinematography alone is stunningly well done