From Wandavision to The Tourist: the television programmes making millions of shielders’ lives bearable as they continue to weigh up isolation and safety
It is March 2020 and a new illness called “coronavirus” means 3.7 million people with pre-existing health conditions in England are being told by the government to shield at home. As someone with weak breathing muscles in a respiratory pandemic, my mind goes to the important question: is there anything good on TV? With all entertainment venues – and basic human contact – off limits, reacquainting myself with an old friend called television seems like a plan.
I start with BBC iPlayer’s Him and Her: an alternative romantic comedy about people who never leave their flat seems fitting. As the world goes to hell, I continue with the genre known as “incredibly wholesome”: Schitt’s Creek; Ted Lasso; Ghosts. When TV soap production stops, I have even more time on my hands and decide to take this pursuit seriously. I use the hours to finally finish shows I let fall by the wayside in more sociable times. Parks and Recreation. Orange is the New Black. Pandemics apparently curb productivity, but not from where I’m sitting.
