THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL ★★★★
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When mash-ups don't work, they're shambolic: incoherent and derivative. But when they do work? What fun! From the quicksilver pen of Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls, Bunheads) comes this utterly delightful comedy – with dramatic bits – that brings a distinctly 21st century sensibility to a gorgeous 1950s setting complete with show tunes, slapstick, and the witty fast-talking Sherman-Palladino is famous for.

The series follows the sometimes-screwball, sometimes-tragicomic adventures of Miriam "Midge" Maisel, an Upper West Side housewife whose husband Joel (businessman by day, struggling stand-up comedian by night) cheats on her with his secretary. After a couple of cocktails Midge takes to the comedy stage herself to vent her spleen and a star is – sort of – born.

Rachel Brosnahan has deservedly won both an Emmy and a Golden Globe (along with a couple of other trinkets) for her portrayal of Mrs Midge Maisel but – as with all Sherman-Palladino's work – a fabulous cast of distinctive, quirky female characters all contribute to our pleasure (Alex Borstein as Mrs Maisel's would-be manager, Susie Myerson, is especially fabulous). And the production is the last word in lush, a fantasy of the late 1950s and early '60s that's impossible to resist. It's the perfect way to laze away the summer and forget your workaday blues and two delicious seasons are available to binge right now.