10 binge-worthy shows when you want to stay in bed wrapped like a kathi roll all weekend
Low-commitment, full entertainment
As an adult, you don’t anticipate how much of your time will be spent folding laundry, washing bartans and figuring out when to schedule repairs for your water filter. After a week of making decisions at work and then coming home to cook up innovative ways to make little Ginni eat parwal, can leave you mentally fatigued by the weekend. It’s a no-brainer then that you’d rather spend any free hours with a warm cup of chai, wrapped in a blanket like a paneer kathi roll doing some binge-watching.
When your attention span has already been through a five-day sprint, it’s cruel to subject your mind to a multiple-season series that has several subplots. Enter: Limited TV series. They are short and sweet with five to six episodes and gripping storylines that are perfect to keep you company for one weekend. To help you plan your weekend binge-watch, we’ve rounded up this list of limited series that cover all your interests from a political drama, a passionate romance and an edgy thriller.
10 limited series to stream this weekend
A Man in Full (2024)
If you loved the Pratik Gandhi starter, Scam 1992 The Harshad Mehta Story, this limited series will satisfy your thirst for an engrossing business and political drama. Based on Tom Wolfe’s novel, A Man in Full is set in Atlanta and revolves around Charlie Croker, a 60-year-old real estate mogul. Crocker appears to be at the peak of his career, living a lavish and successful life. However, in reality, he’s deep in debt, facing financial collapse and dealing with a tumultuous marriage. How Crocker defends his empire from his foes who are waiting to capitalise on his failure forms the rest of the plot.
Stream it on Netflix
Bank Under Siege (2024)
All Money Heist fans assemble, we found you a new show that won’t drag the thrill of the robbery for five seasons. Bank Under Siege is a Spanish show based on a real-life bank robbery that took place in Barcelona in 1981. In this limited series, eleven masked robbers take 200 hostages at Barcelona’s Central Bank, demanding the release of political prisoners tied to a recent coup attempt. Viewers are drawn into the tense situation through the eyes of a journalist Maider, who risks her life to uncover the robbers’ true intentions and the political implications. This high-octave suspense thriller will have your tashreef ka tokra glued to the couch.
Stream it on Netflix
Sweetpea (2024)
A dark take on the wallflower archetype, Sweetpea follows Rhiannon, an admin assistant at a local newspaper in a small English town. Having endured bullying throughout her childhood, she leads a quiet life with her father and a pet dog. Her father’s sudden death triggers a series of distressing events that sets Rhiannon on a murdering spree seeking revenge from those who have wronged her. Think of her as the sociopathic version of Penelope from Bridgerton — a wallflower who blooms into a killer. Peppered with a few laugh-out-loud moments, the series progresses as Rhiannon tries to maintain a facade of normalcy while grappling with the seriousness of her actions.
Stream it on Jio Cinema
Don’t Come Home (2024)
Time travel, ghosts and a twisted ending capture the essence of this six-episode Thai series on Netflix. Don’t Come Home follows Varee and her young daughter Min who run away to Varee’s abandoned family home after escaping an abusive relationship. Once there, they encounter supernatural events linked to Varee’s mother, Panida, who was a scientist and had created a time machine that left anomalies in that home, disrupting reality. The haunting cinematography will transport you to another world and will keep you hooked on to every scene.
Watch it on Netflix
Deceitful Love (2024)
If thrills, jump-scares and mind-boggling time machines are not your cup of tea, and you’d like to spend your weekend soaking in a dramatic romance, consider Deceitful Love. Set against the picturesque backdrop of the Amalfi Coast, the limited series revolves around Gabriella, a 60-year-old wealthy hotel owner who starts a torrid love affair with Elia, a man half her age. How the couple navigates their age difference, societal pressures and Elia’s true intentions form the crux of the plot. The show will have you wonder whether Elia is a gold digger or if he truly has feelings for Gabriella, while touching upon the emotional depth of such romantic relationships.
Watch it on Netflix
IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack (2024)
Based on the real-life hijacking of the Indian Airlines flight IC 814 in December 1999, this limited series will give you goosebumps and a tight knot in your stomach. The flight, en route from Kathmandu to Delhi, is taken over by five terrorists diverted to Taliban-controlled Kandahar in Afghanistan. The hijackers demand the release of three high-profile militants from Indian prisons, which leads to an intense eight-day standoff between the terrorists and the Indian government. With an ensemble cast of brilliant actors from Vijay Varma to Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur and Manoj Pahwa, the series manages to successfully recreate the terror of hijacking and the plight of the passengers stuck inside a plane facing death, under the vigilance of the gunned men. If you love shows based on real-life events, IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack will prove to be a perfect weekend watch.
Stream it on Netflix
Shekhar Home (2024)
London becomes Lonpur, Sherlock Holmes becomes Shekhar Home (played by Kay Kay Menon) and Baskervilles becomes Bhaskarvilla in this unofficial Hindi adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. Menon stars as the brilliant and eccentric detective solving twisted murder mysteries in a small West Bengal town in the early ’90s with his partner, retired army doctor Jayavrat Saini (played by Ranvir Shorey). Set against a backdrop of Bengali folklore, the six-episode series is a good blend of suspense, humour, and classic whodunit.
Watch it on Jio Cinema
A Man on the Inside (2024)
A retired engineering college professor doubling up as an investigative assistant at a retirement community, what could go wrong? Well, loads. From the makers of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place, the comedy follows Charles Nieuwendyk who applies for a job to go undercover at a luxury retirement community and solve the case of a stolen necklace. What ensues is a comedy of errors as he puts his new skills (mostly learnt from detective novels) to work while navigating quirky residents. This series has eight episodes, but they’re 20 minutes each, which makes it a breezy watch for the weekend. Ted Danson’s Charles will remind you of Steve Martin’s Charles from Only Murders in the Building with his goofy energy and determination.
Stream it on Netflix
Eric (2024)
Set in the 1980s New York, Eric, stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Vincent Anderson, a puppeteer whose life unravels after his nine-year-old son, Edgar, goes missing. Over six episodes, Anderson’s desperate search leads him to create Eric, a puppet inspired by his son’s drawings, who he thinks will reunite him with Edgar. The show explores themes of addiction, psychological turmoil and redemption through Anderson who grapples with his roles as a husband in an unhappy marriage and a father. If you enjoy constant edge-of-the-seat twists, Eric should be the next show you stream this weekend. Reviewers have raved about this show, appreciating Cumberbatch’s performance as a desperate and helpless father fighting many demons.
Watch it on Netflix
Expats (2024)
Nicole Kidman fan club, if you’ve already binged The Perfect Couple add this show to your watchlist. Based on the 2016 novel The Expatriates by Janice Y. K. Lee, this limited series is set in 2014 Hong Kong and follows three American women—Margaret (Nicole Kidman), Hilary (Sarayu Blue), and Mercy (Ji-young Yoo)—whose intertwined lives are disturbed by the disappearance of Margaret’s son, Gus. The series exposes the dark side of being an expatriate, particularly cultural displacement and identity issues while capturing the stark contrasts between the lives of the affluent expats and the hardships faced by locals.
Stream it on Amazon Prime Video
