Netflix has nearly 2,400 series, and these eight are the ones that actually worth binging

Let’s not pretend Netflix invented binge-watching—but they definitely poured petrol on the fire. These days, instead of hanging about for the next episode every week, we swallow whole series in one mad, sleepless weekend. The catalogue’s now massive: 325 million subscribers around the globe and nearly 2,400 TV series, with the majority being Netflix Originals. If your only problem is picking the right show (and who doesn’t know that pain), I’ve rounded up the best completed Netflix originals you can definitely finish—no endless cliffhangers, no waiting another year for a finale that’s maybe been cancelled anyway.

Netflix's library currently features over 2,400 series, and an estimated 65% are originals.

I’ve cherrypicked shows that are actually done and dusted—the sort where you dive in knowing you’ll get a full stop, not an ellipsis. Want something short for the weekend? Or a big saga to inhale over several weeks and forget what passing time means? Either way, you'll find it here. Rest easy: every recommendation on this list sticks the landing (or at least actually gets to land). None of that ‘Netflix pulling the plug just before the ending’ drama. Here’s the best of the lot:

• 'The Crown' (2016–2023): One of Netflix’s most acclaimed dramas, charting Queen Elizabeth II’s life. Lavish production values, a proper prestige cast—the lot. But it does deal in weighty themes and can get a bit much for a binge. Gorgeous TV, sometimes exhausting.
• 'Umbrella Academy' (2019–2024): Superhero done differently, uneven out the gate but finding its groove in Series 2. Netflix slashed the final run from ten to six episodes, which made the ending feel a tad hurried. Still: bold, bonkers, strangely lovable.
• 'Squid Game' (2021–2025): Talk about global sensations—this South Korean behemoth became unavoidable. Think 'Hunger Games' but meaner, sharper and less American. It’s brutal. Class and inequality, fascism, all wrapped up in games where 'lose' means 'die'. But—even now—entirely in Korean, so if you’re anti-subtitles, best look away. Netflix did briefly flirt with a US spin-off (with David Fincher attached, no less), but pulled the plug before it got off the drawing board.
• 'BoJack Horseman' (2014–2020): Not your average adult animation. Understated humour, striking artwork, and—unapologetically—a show that treats trauma, addiction, and the British disease of famous-people-misery with zero sugar-coating. You’ll laugh at animal puns. You’ll be floored by the darkness.
• 'Ozark' (2017–2022): If you’re craving something to fill the void left by 'Breaking Bad', start here. It’s a familiarly ordinary couple dragged into money-laundering hell, all played out around the Lake of the Ozarks. Twisty, grim, and compulsive as they come. Now, the finale split opinions—a certain character’s death hit a lot of fans the wrong way—so you might not love where it all ends up, but at least you get a proper ending.
• 'Stranger Things' (2016–2025): The one that blew '80s nostalgia back into fashion. Imagine 'The Goonies' but add other-dimensional horror, synths, and the sort of strangely-dressed kids who seem to have stepped straight out of 1985. There are five big series, with episodes ballooning in length towards the end—so definitely not a light weekend job.
• 'Safe' (2018): If it’s a “just one more episode” style mystery you’re after, Harlan Coben’s crime series is built for you. Rapid pacing, relentless cliffhangers, every trope you could hope for. Set in Manchester but, odd as it sounds, it plays like an American drama. And as for Michael C. Hall’s ‘British’ accent… less said, the better.
• 'Sex Education' (2019–2023): This was honestly groundbreaking. It’s side-splittingly awkward (in the best and worst sense) and endlessly warm, pushing boundaries about sex and relationships—positive, honest, and properly weird at times. Adore cringe comedy? Dive in. Hate squirming from second-hand embarrassment? Maybe steer clear.
• 'Mindhunter' (2017–2018): For those who like murder mysteries disturbingly clinical. Two FBI agents study serial killers, and the whole thing leans into the grim procedural reality of the '70s and early '80s. Pacing: glacial. Mood: tense, methodical, suspenseful. If you like your crime drama less CSI, more psychology class, get stuck in.
• 'The Queen’s Gambit' (2020): A complete story in under seven hours. Girl-genius chess star versus self-doubt, addiction, and the Cold War boys' club. Sharp, stylish, with chess matches made genuinely dramatic, and not an ounce of filler in the run.

Every series above is 100% finished, so you won't be left in limbo—just pick your poison.