On the face of it this might be a hard sell: chronic skin disease, child abuse, and the National Health System. But Dennis Potter’s six-part 1986 television series is all about what lies beneath the surface. Crime writer Philip Marlowe (Michael Gambon) drifts between hallucination and memory while hostage to his hospital bed. A crime has been committed and he has to solve it, but is he the victim or the perpetrator or both? Think the British Blue Velvet, which was released the same year. Dive in and be overwhelmed. —George Pendle

George Pendle is an Editor at Large at AIR MAIL