The Good Wife: Trailer, certificate and where to watch
A politician's wife restarts her legal career when her husband is hit by scandal
Year: 2009-2016
Certificate: 15
A masterful blend of legal and political drama, with the emphasis on sexual politics in the workplace and beyond. Julianna Margulies stars as Alicia Florrick, the dutiful wife standing beside her husband after a sex and corruption scandal takes his scalp.
Inspired by too many to mention real-life cases, the show is fast and frantic, as Alicia scrambles to restart her paused legal career as breadwinner and mum of two while her ex state's attorney husband appeals his case from prison.
She has help and support from other strong women, notably the law firm's investigator (played by Brit Archie Panjabi) and Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski), the fearsome mentor who would go on to take top billing in spin-off series The Good Fight.
Through seven series the show remained consistently strong and compelling and is shot through with surprises and unusual, often eccentric characters, including Michael J Fox's fan favourite courtroom opponent Louis Canning and Denis O'Hare as sensitive Judge Abernathy. The fifth series, in particular, is right up there with the best TV to have come out of the old pre-streaming US network system - it's a perfect balance of all the strands that made the show so compelling. Workplace, relationship and family drama, political and legal thriller, it's all there in one neat and addictive bundle. Spin-off The Good Fight carried on the show's success for a while, although became too weird for its own good after its first series. (Seven series)
