Three To Watch

Three myth, legend and folktale based series to watch this autumn via Netflix

Autumn’s here and as the evening’s start to draw in many of us like to curl up beside the virtual hearth that is the TV and watch a good series. Subscription services come to the fore this season in our house and we are lucky enough to have two that we vacillate between: Disney+ and Netflix.

I am by no means endorsing either of these services, however at the moment Netflix have a jolly decent offering when it comes to series for the myth, legend and folklore enthusiast and here’s three I’d like to share with you.

Decameron

With its bawdy, dark and often violent humour, writer Kathleen Jordan has been heavily influenced by the premise of Giovanni Boccaccio 14th century book of the same name, as well as those fairytale writer’s and collectors that followed him - Straparola, Basile and Calvino.

The humour is very Neapolitan and follows the stories of ten individuals who have retreated to the relative safety of an Italian villa just outside Florence during the Black Death. Its overarching themes are the swift rise and fall of personal fortune, class divides which essentially mean nothing against the back drop of the pestilence and ultimately what people will do to survive.

Well cast with a clever twists and turns, this series is rated MA (mature audiences) and it’s definitely an adult watch, not for the faint hearted.

Kaos

A stellar cast take to our screens for the latest in Greek myth fan fiction, reimagining the gods of Olympus as crass, über rich figures who behave, in the main, like spoilt toddlers, whilst those down on contemporary Earth seek to please their every whim in the hope that once they die they will be reborn into a greater life.

I’m not sure I understand all the casting decisions, and sometimes it takes a character a little while to bed in, but none of this hampered my enjoyment of the series. The casting is, however, fabulously diverse, without making any attempts to draw attention to this, which is fantastic to see and as it should be frankly, both for Greek myth and well … life! Yes I’m painfully aware of the irony in drawing attention to this but I feel it needs to be applauded.

Overall this is an intelligent rewriting of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice with nods to the original myths here and there, so as not to offend the gods themselves. Not sure whether it needs a second series, but I’ll certainly give it a go when it does eventually grace our screens.

Another TVMA, like Decameron, this one’s for mature audiences too.

Hilda

Long have I loved Hilda, both the TV series and the graphic novels, and Netflix currently has three seasons for you to enjoy. This cartoon takes the mythology of Scandinavia and weaves it into the every day lives of Hilda and her friends Frida & David.

Hidden people, giants, trolls, queen rats, black dogs, Nisse and Draugen, Hilda has it all. It’s rated as a PG as there are some scary moments for the young and gentle of heart, but in the main I would say this is a folklore filled, fabulous family watch for autumn.