4 Underrated Australian TV Shows

Australia has been making its mark on cinema for decades. From Crocodile Dundee to Moulin Rouge to Animal Kingdom, no one can dispute Australia's place in the film industry. Television though? The mind wanders vaguely to... Neighbours? Australia has a well of creative television talent if you know where to look. Luckily, you have me as a guide.

Please Like Me (for fans of: Sex Education, Freaks and Geeks)

Wentworth (for fans of: Orange Is The New Black, Skins)

Crownies (for fans of: Suits, How To Get Away With Murder)

Love Child (for fans of: Girls, Mad Men)

The four season long Please Like Me rivals shows like Firefly and Mad Men as my all time favourite series. It's a low budget, Melbourne-based, young adult dramedy. Written and created by comedian Josh Thomas (who also plays the lead, Josh), the show explores life in modern day Australia as a semi-privileged, gay, white twenty-something. The very first scene involves Josh's girlfriend, Claire, breaking up with him because he's "probably gay". He's then thrust very quickly (and only somewhat deliberately) into the queer dating scene. Ex-girlfriend Claire remains in his life, along with hopeless best friend Tom (played by Josh's real life friend Tom Ward), Josh's bipolar mother, Rose, and his emotionally stunted but trying-his-best father, Alan. Season two also introduces the chronically depressed Hannah, played by Hannah Gadsby who has since received immense praise for her Netflix special Nanette.

Please Like Me showcases Aussie humour in all its dryness. Josh and his friends act like people I've actually met, and make jokes that take me by surprise. You will spend most of an episode laughing, only to require a long walk afterwards because of its heavy themes. It displays some of the most uncomfortably realistic representations of mental health disorders and familial dynamics. Multiple Logie Award winning and IMDB 8.5 star rated, Please Like Me is one of the most criminally unheard of TV series. At roughly 25 minutes per episode, it requires very little commitment to jump onto Netflix and give this one a go.

Wentworth is the little known hard hitting drama set in a New South Wales women's prison. The first season relies heavily on lead actor Danielle Cormack's unrivaled stage presence. Airing in the same year as Orange Is The New Black's first season, Wentworth follows a similar ensemble-style format. Protagonist Bea Smith (Cormack) is arrested for the murder of her husband, and finds herself in the middle of a brutal prison gang war. At first she struggles desperately just to survive each day, before learning the rules and finding a way to come out on top. As Bea finds her feet, we spend more time with side characters, like overtly sexual Franky, nervous deputy governor Vera Bennett, mother hen Liz, and intimidatingly calculated Jacs.

No social issue is too delicate or too heavy for Wentworth. The show dives head first into alcoholism, drug abuse, sexual, psychological and physical abuse, homosexuality, problems with the judicial system, systemic racism, indigenous and trans rights and every way to approach what being a "woman" means. Wentworth is incredibly entertaining and suspenseful. I tried watching Orange Is The New Black once I'd run out of episodes to watch and I wasn't engaged. Your heart goes out to every women locked up in Wentworth Prison, and some of those on the outside too. If you like it, I'm so sorry, but you have 9 whole seasons of viewing material to get through.

The single season, 22 episode long Crownies is nonstop entertainment. Five young rookie solicitors are thrown into the high intensity office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, liaising with police, victims and prosecutors. Todd, Hamish, Ella, Andrea and Indiana butt heads, flirt and scramble together to cope with cases and personal obstacles. Senior prosecutor, Janet King (Marta Dusseldorp) unofficially mentors the rookies, and takes a personal interest in one or two of them. It's another show that tackles social issues, but this time from a legal and political perspective.

Reminiscent of the first two seasons of Suits, Crownies effortlessly balances character progression with hard hitting cases. With only 22 episodes to work with, Crownies does not fall down the trap of getting lazy with writing complex cases. If you are a fan though, treat yourself to another 3 seasons of the similarly formatted spin-off Janet King.

Against the backdrop of 1960's and 70's New South Wales, Love Child is vibrant and passionate. It follows the historic forced adoption of children of unmarried women. The young mothers are sent to Stanton House for the duration of their pregnancies, where they wait to give birth to children they will never know. Starring South African born Australian talent Jessica Marais, this show is a colourful celebration of women and social progression.

Each of the girls eventually has to experience the unique pain of childbirth, and the inevitable loss of their baby. Under the care and loose supervision of midwife Dr. Joan Millar (Marais), they all find a way through the pain, or discover a way to fight against the oppression. Love Child offers its political themes in a glittery, flair-panted, disco-filled manner. It's the most polished and fun of my recommendations, and is likely to appeal to the widest audience.

Finally, if you can find reruns of Thank God You're Here, it's a worthy time waster of a show that deserved a longer run.

More recommendations: Rake, Janet King, Cloudstreet, Utopia, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Underbelly: Razor, Jack Irish, Cleverman