Every woman comes prepackaged with her own unique grab bag of fears. Maybe you fear being murdered, or raped, or even killed! There’s nothing better than coming back from a night out on the town, feeling frightened by the footsteps behind you, and then turning on Netflix to watch your favorite shows and see other women getting followed and killed instead. Here are the best ones to keep your heart racing while being aurally pleasured by sexy British accents.
If you fear being kidnapped/raped/murdered…
The Bletchley Circle
This series is light-hearted and fun and because of the costumes and upbeat background music. But the terror sneaks up on you like a real rapist or murderer might, when the four 1940s lady coder friends start investigating a brutal kidnapping/murder/rape. When you get to see the graphic but beautiful image of the lipsticked dead woman, you’ll be scared, but not that scared. The old-timeyness of the WWII-era costumes makes it seem like it could never happen to you.
If you fear the mundanity of evil…
Happy Valley
The greatest part about this show is how well we get to know the rapist as one of our main characters. No mysterious man jumping out of the bushes here! He is just a free citizen of the world living among us after raping and then impregnating the 15-year-old daughter of a lady cop. If you like to imagine your friends and coworkers as violent psychopaths, this show is for you!
If you fear being a woman, even in a country with a very low murder rate…
Wallander
In this BBC remake of Wallander, we get to watch hunky 50-something Kenneth Branagh to play a Swedish police detective with an overarching narrative that focuses on his own tortured soul. This is a nice juxtaposition against the physical torture of all of the women who are routinely slaughtered in his small Scandinavian town. The male savior trope is strong here and reminds you that as a woman you are helpless and will probably die at a young age, but at least have a ruddy middle-aged man who will solve your murder after you’re gone. Smell that seaside air!
If you fear being attracted to a killer…
The Fall
Gillian Anderson plays the ice queen detective in this thrilling series. Like Happy Valley, it also focuses on a sadistic serial killer of beautiful young women – women just like you! It’s set up so that you feel strangely attracted to this sick man and so you can feel increased shame alongside your abject fear – a combination that is sure to make you stress-eat an entire box of Cheez-Its while weeping on the couch. The creepy babysitter storyline is sure to give you complicated sexual feelings. A great way to end a day!
If you fear being murdered with no legal recourse…
Copper
This show is one of those great reminders that being a sex worker was and still can be a bad idea. You’ll get killed and raped UNLESS you have a hot cop who has your back. Civil War-era New York City was a dirty messy place to be! Here we have brothels, prostitutes and killers all in the same weird story and the cops are also sort of sleeping with the prostitutes so we don’t really know what’s going on. Meanwhile, young girls are being sold to the brothels and we get to see old men kiss them sort of? You should go with Copper, especially if you have vivid dreams and are currently taking a vacay from therapy.
Happy browsing!
