The creators of Little Lunch went on to make The InBESTigators, which IS on Netflix. Two seasons of ten half-hour episodes, with each episode divided into two. It’s basically four Australian 5th graders who form a “detective agency” to solve little mysteries. It’s done mockumentary-style (they are video blogging their cases for a class project), and is really clever.
I thought of another recommendation- “Toast of London” with Matt Berry. It is weird and funny and sometimes he starts singing. 
Two Weeks To Live, starring Maisie Williams, is pretty good.
Been watching some British detective shows. My most recent favorite is Broadchurch with David Tennant as an irascible Scotch detective inspector on duty in Broadchurch on the English coast for various reasons. Three seasons and done was the intention of the producers.
Hidden takes place in remote dank Wales with a healthy dose of creepy characters.
The Kettering Incident was a good watch in part because it’s set and shot in Tasmania. Strong eco-warriors vs. locals theme.
Hinterland also takes place in Wales and each episode is practically a 90 minute movie.
I really enjoyed Britannia which depicts the second invasion of the British Isles by the Romans (the first failed due to mysterious circumstances). The cool part about this series is the presence and influence of the druids on all of the goings-on. Season one is on Amazon but season two is on epix.
If remote Australian satellite listening station drama is your thing, Pine Gap is the show for you! I did enjoy it.
Caliphate is an excellent drama that toggles between a Swedish Muslim woman and her child being held in Isis-controlled Raqqa in Syria and Muslim immigrant teens in Sweden being recruited by a terrorist leader and the Swedish security agent trying to solve it all before something bad happens.
If you like Broadchurch and Hinterland, you’ll love Shetland.
Also–big +1 on Staged. But if you don’t already know who David Tennent and Michael Sheen are, you might not enjoy it that much.
This thread has been helpful because I’m into nice little shows. Currently watching Detectorists. So far so good!
I’ll second Enlightened (HBO), which is criminally unknown. Great work by Mike White.
Here are a few I’ve enjoyed lately:
This Way Up, one season of six so far, Hulu. Shades of Fleabag and Enlightened, but definitely nicer than either. Quite wholesome, at the end of the day.
My Mad Fat Diary, 3 seasons of 6 eps, Hulu. Oh hey, someone’s just out of the mental hospital! Kind of a motif with my recs. This one reminds me of Derry Girls. Pretty filthy but again wholesome in the end.
Flowers, 2 seasons of 6 eps, Netflix. Starts with a suicide attempt. More depressed people being funny. This one’s not like anything I can think of. Olivia Colman is great as usual, but the whole cast is great.
We are obsessed with this show- have watched it 3 times in a row within a month of starting it. Lovely show with so many Easter eggs considering how few episodes there are.
And now season five has just released.
I recommend “Station Eleven” to this thread. It’s on HBO, will be a total of 10 episodes long, and roughly follows the very-highly praised book by the same name. I listened to the audiobook very casually when I was traveling a lot for well a few years ago, and roughly remember the plot. It was engaging then, and even more so now. The writing, plot and acting are superb.
I watched season 4. I’ll be binging 5 this weekend!
It is great- I love it even more than the book - which I mostly forgot after I read it so it is pretty fresh for me. The last 3 episodes in particular have been incredible and moving- needed to bawl my eyes out for the last one.
I’m glad it’s on someone else’s radar. When I heard they were making it, I hoped for three seasons of 8-10 episodes. But I think this is turning out to be something really beautiful and special. Absolutely no fluff, pure economy of scenes.
And I can safely say that season five did not buck the trend of being significantly different than other seasons.
Season 1:
Dory sees flyers for a missing person who she (barely) remembered from college. It gave her a bit of an existential crisis, realizing that it could have been her that disappeared. She convinces three of her fellow shallow, affluent Gen Z friends to help her try to track down the missing girl by talking to people from her life and trying to retrace her movements.
Season 5;
After returning from the dead, Dory becomes the messianic leader of a cult dedicated to bringing enlightenment to the world by attempting to use drugs to reproduce Dory’s experiences. But instead the drugs cause the Zombie Apocalypse.
I was several episodes into the series when I decided to read the book. The characters were pretty much the same, but the plots really veered off in two different directions.
Both of them had a fairly optimistic ending (hope that’s not a spoiler), but they were nowhere near the same.
I did enjoy thinking about how different things would be in a world where most of the people had died and technology was non-existent.
Adding a new show to this thread - Somebody Somewhere on HBO Max. Starring Bridget Everett (who you might recognize from Inside Amy Schumer) It takes place in Kansas, after Everett’s character’s sister dies. It follows her midlife crisis as she figures out what to do next.
It’s the quintessential “little show”. Interesting characters, sweet and crazy situations, interesting backdrop, and nothing too exciting happens. Character studies I guess.
I like it. There’s just 7 episodes and there will be a second season.
This show really did grow on me, especially the choir practice…
I think it kind of reminds me of a cross between the characters in Abby McEnany’s Work In Progress and the backdrop and pacing of Detectorists
I will recommend ClickBait which I found thoroughly engrossing. And for something a bit creepier, Behind Her Eyes.
Has anyone watched Sprung? It’s on FreeVee which is a free, ad-supported channel on Amazon Prime (formerly IMDB. TV).
The show is another Greg Garcia joint, the same guy who brought us My Name Is Earl and Raising Hope, and the show The Guest Book which was mentioned earlier in this thread.
It stars Garrett Dilahunt (yeah!) as an ex con who gets out of jail due to covid, and goes to live with at cell mate’s mom’s house (Martha Plimpton! Yes!), along with the cell mate and a woman who had also been in jail and had been in a “relationship” with Dilahunt’s character via talking through the sewer pipes.
Like other Garcia shows it’s hilarious and absurd and full of heart. Plimpton once again kills it as a trashy middle aged lady. Dilahunt is a joy to watch and so are all the other newcomers in the cast.
The premise is the group commits Robin-Hood-like crimes while they wait out covid, culminating in a big heist.
Not sure what the future of this show is, being that FreeVee is kind of the bottom of the streaming barrel. The season is over and the characters stories resolved. But it’s the perfect example of the type of show this thread is about. I highly recommend watching it!
In this country, there’s a whole style of "Nothing happens but everything happens in what’s not being said’ comedy (and if that doesn’t tell you about British culture, nothing will). A couple of examples you might be able to track down are The Royle Family, by Caroline Aherne, and Mum by Stefan Golaszewski.
Another small-ensemble show is the Scottish Two Doors Down, but I suspect that most Americans would be puzzled as to why they put up with each other.