3 superbly surreal TV shows to watch after Severance

People are weird. We might pretend to those around us that everything is normal and mundane, but inside all of us is that weird little voice that just wants things to be a bit different.

The same goes with our taste in television. We all love a bit of gentle comedy, cozy crime shows, and have grown up on the day-to-day soap operas, but secretly we all crave something a bit odd and unusual... something a bit surreal.

You only need to look at the outstanding success of Severance to see that.

But now that the second season has finished on Apple TV+, what other weird wonders can you turn to next? Here are my three recommendations on what to watch on the streaming services.

The Mighty Boosh (BBC iPlayer)

There was a time back in the early 2000s when The Mighty Boosh was the biggest underground success in British comedy. We had the TV series, live shows, radio shows, merchandise, magazine articles – it seemed almost impossible to escape from, and we didn't want to because it was so good!

An evolution of the tradition of surreal British comedy (think Monty Python but with better hair and boots) the show created and led by Noel Fielding (The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin, Great British Bake Off) and Julien Barratt (Knuckles, Mindhorn) became a cultural landmark.

A sitcom at heart, it follows Vince Noir and Howard Moon as they stumble through life. There is no real aim, no real storyline, just a collection of running gags and surreal characters to interact with.

There was never really the intention to make sense, it basked in its own weirdness and became a beacon to every viewer who felt a bit different.

The Mighty Boosh ran for three series and a huge live tour (a return to the stage from whence it came). There have been constant calls for it to come back, but with the main cast now a lot older, it's probably something best left in the memory banks and to watch for free on iPlayer.

Twin Peaks (Paramount+)

When I was at school, there were rumours of a huge new American show coming to one of the BBC's channels that could blow our tiny minds. We all waited for the day and then as a collective, watched the first two episodes of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.

School the next day was… interesting.

Nobody understood it. We were all equally confused and nobody wanted to admit that it was just a bit too weird and unsettling. We were a generation raised on light British dramas, like The Bill, Londons Burning and Bergerac. All of a sudden we had weird backwards-speaking blokes in red rooms and people possessed by demons.

To many of my generation, Twin Peaks was the gateway into fantastical, surreal storytelling. Bold, lavish, inventive and different, it was delivered to us by a director who was quite simply the best at what he did. This was our first glimpse into what event TV could be.

The basic story of a missing girl was seemingly unimportant compared to the overall feel and world the show built, and its legacy lives on today. The new season that arrived decades later shows just how popular it remains, and there's still the constant chatter of reboots.

However, with the recent passing of David Lynch, it is hoped by many that Twin Peaks can now be left alone – to age gracefully and stand as a perfect example of how the surreal and downright weird can become mainstream.

It's been 35 years since I first watched it, and at least now I fully understand it.

That is a lie.

Dark | Teaser [HD] | Netflix - YouTube

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Dark (Netflix)

The first German production from Netflix, Dark is set in a present-day town where the disappearance of two young children exposes the double lives and fractured relationships among four families. It is comprised of 10 hour-long episodes, and takes on a surprising twist that ties back to the same town in 1986.

The seemingly simple premise turns out to be a red herring, when you realise that there is far more going on behind the main plot. It's a genre bending, multiverse spewing, time travelling mystery, in fact. And keeping a grasp on what's go takes intense concentration. However, by then you will be hopelessly hooked.

Dark is also beautifully shot and masterfully paced. It is bold, inventive and intelligent – it's surreal sci-fi at its very best.