Review: Why The Good Fight - cartoons, music, dream sequences and all - is one of the best shows on TV

I’ve been watching The Good Fight (More4, Thurs, 9pm) from the start, and now, four series in, I’ve only just realised it’s one of the best things on TV.
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This legal drama – a spin-off from US hit The Good Wife – uses animation, music and dream sequences, breaks the fourth wall, often makes farce out of its most dramatic moments and takes its storylines from the day’s headlines.

All of this could be irritating at best, using tricks to hide deficiencies in the plotting or the performances.

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However, The Good Fight does everything with such bravado, energy and joie de vivre that you can’t help warming to it, and once you’ve got the idea that it’s laughing at the absurdity of the world, it takes you along for the ride.

Audra McDonald and Christine Baranski star in US drama The Good FightAudra McDonald and Christine Baranski star in US drama The Good Fight
Audra McDonald and Christine Baranski star in US drama The Good Fight

The four series have taken on issues ranging from the Me Too movement to racism and liberal guilt, but while you always know what stance the creators, Robert and Michelle King, are taking, it’s never preachy.

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Initially, it was difficult to tell whether they took the conspiracies seriously or not, but it became clear that really they were asking why we look for ulterior motives when the plain evident truth – whether incompetence, corporate inertia or underfunding – is so awful.

As lead lawyer Diane Lockhart (the elegant Christine Baranski) says: “We were chasing a whodunnit in the middle of a tragedy.”

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In the end, it’s that rare thing – a comedy-drama that’s both comedic and dramatic, and it’s one of Four’s best-kept secrets. And it’s time more of you realised it.

I fell in love with falling in love this week, as romcom Starstruck (BBC1, Mon, 10.45pm and iPlayer) appeared in a slightly unlikely but hugely likeable cloud of comedy stardust. Watch it.

I was going to review Viewpoint (ITV, Mon-Fri, 9pm) this week, but then certain allegations emerged and I was glad to stop. Dull and implausible, why it was afforded five hours is beyond me.

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