The best sci-fi series on Netflix

From Doctor Who to Stranger Things, here are our favourite science fiction programmes to binge

Stranger Things

2016’s breakout hit is a horror masterpiece steeped in nostalgia. Set in 1980s small-town USA, the series is littered with throwbacks to the most revered films from the 1980s. The young protagonists, who are thrust into action when their friend Will is smuggled into another dimension (known as the ‘upside-down’) by a mysterious demon, mirror the characters from The Goonies and ET, against an incredible soundtrack of 80s hits. It’s at turns moving and terrifying: one of the few shows that live up to astronomical levels of hype.

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Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

A loose adaptation of the Douglas Adams novel of the same name, Dirk Gently is a sci-fi mystery quirked up to the nines. Mark Landis’ adaptation transports the action from miserable Blighty to Seattle, and knocks the energy levels of the protagonist, played by Samuel Barnett, up a few notches. Elijah Woods, very far from the Shire, plays the Watson to his Holmes.

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Rick and Morty

Picking up where Matt Groening’s Futurama left off, Rick and Morty is a sci-fi animation based around the adventures of an alcoholic mad scientist Rick and his grandson Morty, a relationship which shadows that of Doc and Marty McFly from the Back to the Future series. It  was created by former Community showrunner Dan Harmon, and is full of the same madcap humour, with an added pinch of cynicism.