Notable TV shows on Netflix Canada are not limited to stuff that's produced by Netflix itself. Luther, Happy Valley and People Just Do Nothing are great examples of this. They're originally from the BBC, but are available to stream in Canada. Same with Flowers, the incredible yet little-known TV show with Olivia Colman, Outlander, and many other picks from this list of the very best little-binged TV shows on Canadian Netflix.
40 Best Shows on Netflix Canada Right Now
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40.
Immigration Nation
For three years, the makers of this docuseries gained in-depth access to ICE and other government agencies to document the current state of the U.S. immigration system.
Immigration Nation looks at how ICE functions from within, but it also focuses on the human toll of its methods. When a migrant freezes to death, an officer calls his distraught father to notify him. It quickly becomes apparent that the officer is using the same call to try to establish if the father is in the U.S. legally or if he should be deported.
The show also makes an important point of noting that the harshness of the U.S. immigration system didn’t start with the current administration. “Prevention through deterrence” Clinton-era policies, for example, forced migrants towards desert routes, killing around 10,000 people from dehydration.
Our staff rating: 8/10
Genre: Documentary
Go to Netflix Canada
39.
Move to Heaven
In Move to Heaven, a man and his son clean up after the dead—specifically, the dead who have no one else to look out for them. Believing that no one should be robbed of a respectable farewell, they piece together the deceased’s possessions and celebrate them postmortem. It’s a noble job, but its existence is threatened when the father passes away. It’s now up to the ruffian uncle with a heart of gold to continue the business and bond with his nephew, who himself struggles with Asperger's.
It’s easy for Move to Heaven to feel weighed down by all the important stories it tries to tackle; represented here are disabled people, depressed people, queer people, overworked people. But it breathes so much life into these stories that they hardly feel like the drag other shows and movies make them out to be. Tragedy here is expertly blended with humanity, and the result is a moving and compassionate series that stands out even in the saturated content space that is Netflix.
Our staff rating: 8/10
Genre: Drama, Family, Reality
Actor: Hong Seung-hee, Im Won-hee, Jeong Seok-yong, Ji Jin-hee, Jung Ae-yeun, Jung Young-joo, Lee Jae-wook, Lee Je-hoon, Lee Moon-sik, Tang Jun-sang
Director: Kim Sung-ho
Go to Netflix Canada
38.
The Keepers
With true crime hitting an all-time high, and Making a Murderer making millions, here comes Netflix's The Keepers. However, while the two shows share a common genre and general tone of voice, The Keepers is a much more interesting show. For one, it focuses on the victims and their stories, instead of the grisly perpetrators. Second, it trades cliffhangers for substance without compromising on breathtaking twists and revelations. Across seven taut episodes, it meticulously examines the unsolved murder of Catherine Cesnik, a Baltimore nun in 1969, who is suspected of being murdered to cover up sexual abuse at the Catholic high school she taught at. Adroitly edited, beautifully shot, and featuring great music by Blake Neely, The Keepers unfolds a horrific tale and emphatically captures the pain still lingering on five decades later.
Our staff rating: 8.1/10
Genre: Crime, Documentary, Mystery
Actor: Abbie Schaub, Gemma Hoskins, Jean Hargadon Wehner, Tom Nugent, Virginia Anzengruber
Director: Ryan White
Go to Netflix Canada
37.
Dix pour cent
Think of Dix pour cent, or Call My Agent!, as it was so horribly translated, as a smart French version of Mark Wahlberg's Entourage or, as the director once quipped, Desperate Housewives with actors and their agents. Ten percent (dix pour cent) is the fee that said French agents receive as compensation from the actor's fee. It chronicles the life of an aspiring talent agent at a French casting agency. New to Paris, she lands her dream job, but now has to deal with a variety of very stressed-out, capricious characters on both sides of the bargain. It is one of those shows that finds hilarity in the fact that nobody actually talks to each other over sometimes simple issues. On the actor's side, many of the appearing A-listers star as themselves. The countless cameos include the likes of Jean Reno, Monica Belucci, and Charlotte Gainsbourg. It's basically a soap opera but so well-written and complex, you might refrain from binging it too hard just to make it last longer.
Our staff rating: 8.1/10
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Anne Marivin, Assaad Bouab, Camille Cottin, Fanny Sidney, Grégory Montel, Laure Calamy, Liliane Rovere, Nicolas Maury, Ophélia Kolb, Ophélia Kolb, Stefi Celma, Thibault de Montalembert
Go to Netflix Canada
36.
Godless
Very violent, very Western, and, in a breath of fresh air: very female. Godless is a grim and visually stunning series about a small New Mexico town populated almost entirely by women, including Alice Fletcher, a reserved and self-reliant widow played by Michelle Dockery. Roy Goode (played by Jeff Daniels, who won an Emmy for it) is an outlaw chased by a much worse outlaw, Frank Griffin, who is taking in by the mysterious, gun-toting widows. Written and directed by Scott Frank and executive-produced by Steven Soderbergh, Godless is an honest and powerful show with amazing performances. So amazing, it's hard to single one of them out. If you love Westerns but sometimes find them too foreseeable, this show is for you.
Our staff rating: 8.1/10
Genre: Drama, Western
Actor: Jack O'Connell, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Sula, Joleen Baughman, Kim Coates, Luke Robertson, Merritt Wever, Michelle Dockery, Rio Alexander, Sam Waterston, Samuel Marty, Scoot McNairy, Tantoo Cardinal, Thomas Brodie-Sangster
Go to Netflix Canada
35.
The Letdown
If you're like us, there's always room for good 20-minute comedy show in your life. But we also live in the “age of the cerebral”, so you're typically getting some really deep stuff to go with it. Written with a lot of heart by Alison Bell (who you might know from Laid), the female lead, and Sarah Scheller, The Letdown perfectly captures the transition from being a care-free thirty-something to becoming a mother, where everything feels too much and failing feels only a second away. It doesn't help that new mother Audrey Holloway seeks help at a parenting group with a rather unhelpful maternal health nurse (Noni Hazlehurst). Audrey's career-focused husband Jeremy (Duncan Fellows) also has a penchant for being unhelpful and so it's up to her to somehow make things right. Anybody who has had a child or knows somebody that does will be able to confirm the hilarious honesty of The Letdown's writing and performances. And from that honesty comes a lot of dramatic realness but also a very funny, well-paced show.
Our staff rating: 8.1/10
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Alison Bell, Celeste Barber, Duncan Fellows, John Leary, Leah Vandenberg, Leon Ford, Lucy Durack, Noni Hazlehurst, Patrick Brammall, Sacha Horler, Sarah Peirse, Xana Tang
Go to Netflix Canada
34.
Schitt’s Creek
Unlike Lovesick, which rightfully changed its name from Scrotal Recall, Schitt's Creek is still called Schitt's Creek many seasons in. After flying under the radar for a while, the sitcom about a wealthy, Arrested-Development-style family coping with the sudden loss of their fortune is starting to get the attention it deserves. Warm and witty writing, very gif-able catchprases, and a great main cast have turned this slightly slim-sounding premise into a long-running cult classic. The great Catherine O'Hara plays Moira Rose, the cynical matriarch, while many of you 00s kids will immediately recognize the male lead, Eugene Levy, as “Jim's dad” from American Pie aka them most embarrassing dad ever to grace a screen. In all its simplicity, the steadily fleshed out riches-to-rags plot is hilarious, undemanding, and witty, exactly what you want a sitcom to be.
Our staff rating: 8.1/10
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Annie Murphy, Catherine O'Hara, Catherine O'Hara, Chris Elliott, Dan Levy, Daniel Levy, Dustin Milligan, Emily Hampshire, Eugene Levy, Jennifer Robertson, Karen Robinson, Noah Reid, Sarah Levy, Tim Rozon
Go to Netflix Canada
33.
Rita
You might not have heard of it, but this show was huge in Denmark. I mean, one million people watching in a 5-million-people country huge. Far from being the tasteful Nordic Noir international audiences are used to, Rita revolves around a mid-40s, single mum of three older kids, leather jacket-clad private high school teacher with a big mouth and a heart to go with it. Mille Dinesen plays the titular female lead, who smokes in the school bathrooms and, well, bangs the school principal. But in addition to the rule-bending rebel facing off overprotective parents, know-it-all students, and her growing kids, Rita also deals with serious topics like balancing work and family, being a role model, and abortion, albeit in a hilarious and, well, delightfully Danish way.
Our staff rating: 8.1/10
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Actor: Alexandre Willaume, Carsten Bjørnlund, Carsten Bjornlund, Carsten Norgaard, Charlotte Munck, Elena Arndt-Jensen, Ellen Hillingsø, Ellen Hillingso, Ferdinand Glad Bach, Lise Baastrup, Lotte Andersen, Lykke Sand Michelsen, Mille Dinesen, Morten Vang Simonsen, Nikolaj Groth, Sara Hjort Ditlevsen, Sofie Juul Nielsen, Tessa Hoder, Tommy Kenter
Go to Netflix Canada
32.
Flint Town
Since the 1960s, Flint, Michigan, has experienced a series of shocks. When General Motors downsized their workforce by several 10.000, the town's population nearly halved. Unsurprisingly, it later became known for being one of the most dangerous cities in the US and for off-the-charts crime statistics. Since 2014, Flint again rose to tragic fame for a public health emergency due to contamination of its local water supply. Flint Town homes in on this perpetual state of crisis through the eyes of the local police department, who had to grapple with this dire scenario, while losing more funding year over year due to the city's deteriorating financial situation. The few officers that are left for policing are at breaking point. The result is a gripping and rich docuseries with a host of strong characters. But it is also a brutal and sobering account of the extent to which an American city is being allowed to fail.
Our staff rating: 8.2/10
Genre: Action & Adventure, Crime, Documentary
Actor: James Tolbert, Karen Weaver, Wayne Suttles
Director: Drea Cooper, Jessica Dimmock, Zackary Canepari
Go to Netflix Canada
31.
The Staircase
The latest addition to the murder mini-series genre is the incredible thriller “The Staircase.” It originally aired in 2004, but the producers took the same director and allowed him to add new episodes in 2018 to complete the story.
The plot: A famous American novelist’s wife is found dead, and he is accused of killing her. His life comes under scrutiny as everyone asks whether she died in an accident or was murdered. If you liked their other hit, “Making a Murderer,” you will love this. You should also definitely check out “The Keepers” or Netflix’s binge-worthy crime documentary, “Evil Genius.”
Our staff rating: 8.2/10
Genre: Mystery
Actor: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
Director: Jean-Xavier de Lestrade
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