Years and Years (UK)
This is a new show from Russell T. Davies (Casanova, Doctor Who, The Second Coming) that, as of this writing, has just completed its six-episode run on BBC One and is just about to be broadcast on HBO in America.
Davies creates shows which are both deeply engaging and quirkily English. And with Years and Years he has created an ensemble drama that follows an extended family through the technological, social, and political changes coming in the next 15 years. Part Black Mirror, part The Day After, and part Eastenders, this show poignant, funny, and always very British. It reminds me quite a bit of the 1984 post-atomic war drama, Threads.
I've only watched the first of the six episodes, so far, and I'm hooked. Davies deftly creates well-formed, real characters that we can relate to, and then casts them into the world identify politics and populism. The result is a fuller picture of the motivations and attractions of our current political landscape. This can be dark stuff, but nothing as dark as the first season of Black Mirror, so far.