In honour of World Television Day on 21 November, we’re bringing you the shows that defined the decades. But now you can watch them in a whole new way. Here are four iconic TV series to rediscover on streaming platforms.
1. Monty Python's Flying Circus
This comedy sketch show, which first appeared on the BBC in 1969, has been played and replayed for 50 years and counting. Most fans would agree that each premise is totally bizarre but that Monty Python is a masterpiece of parody and playfulness that revolutionised comedy. Catch famous sketches such as ‘Dead Parrot’, ‘The Ministry of Silly Walks’ and more by Michael Palin, John Cleese and the Pythons on Netflix.
2. Friends
Friends was there for us from 1994 until 2004. Joey, Chandler, Phoebe, Ross, Rachel and Monica represented a generation dealing with rapid technological changes. If you’ve watched the celebrated sitcom before, you still won’t understand what Chandler does for a living. And if you’ve never seen it, you’re in for a binge-watching session of big laughs because every one of the 236 episodes is available on Netflix.
3. Isidingo
Isidingo, the soap opera that saw us into a new millennium and a new South Africa, was one of our first experiences of authentic local drama. The goings-on between diverse families in a fictional mining town gripped a nation from 1998 and continues to mirror the realities of modern-day life in Mzansi. Stream episodes easily on Video Play.
4. Vetkoek Paleis
Still sticking to local is this hilarious Afrikaans TV series that hails from the 90s. And now you can relive the adventures of Worsie, Frik and rest of the gang on YouTube! This comedy may be more than two decades old, but many of the witty comments on the state of affairs in South Africa remain as relevant today.
5. Girls
This American comedy-drama series made its way from the shrewd mind of creator and star Lena Dunham to our screens in 2012. Its disruptive take on friendship, ambition and sex shocked and amazed us until it came to an end in 2017. It marked a new age for the televisual depiction of young women unafraid to be bold, boisterous and – to be perfectly frank – a bit disgusting. See it all on Showmax.
