“The thing all writers do best is find ways to avoid writing.”

I'd love to have time during the day to sit and plough through blog posts but with two demanding and adventure seeking children its just not on the cards. When everyone is in bed though (Mrs M included), I curl up on the sofa with my laptop and write. I don't generally like writing in silence so Netflix has been a great friend on these quiet lonely nights. I do try my best to pick something that isn't going to grab my attention too much, if I have work I desperately need to get done I will opt for something I love that Ive seen many times as it wont distract me and is just noise in the background. Sometimes though I click on shows I have never seen before and I get transported to another plane, where absolutely no writing gets done at all.

Here's my top 5 Netflix shows for binge watching (and getting minimal work done)...

1. 'Lie to Me' dragged me in by the title picture, I thought to myself 'there's that guy off of the Hulk movie, I like him' and BANG! that was a good few weeks of my evenings taken up with minimum work completed! Cal Lightman as a character won me over from the first episode. The show is about a deception expert who can read all manner of facial expressions and works with the police and private clients, it is extremely clever and well written and Tim Roths character is just the right amount of crazy.

2. Its really hard to find a show that me and Mrs M can sit down and watch together. I love action and gritty drama but Mrs M has a very nervous disposition and things tend to play on her mind so its usually the Carebears or Spongebob for us! (Seriously, if there is anything that Mrs M cant stand more than violence on TV its Spongbob). If Mrs M had it her way we would watch Gavin and Stacey or Sex and the City episodes each night. One evening though (again while I was trying to write) we came across 'White Collar', a show about a convicted conman working for a white collar division of the FBI to shave time off of his sentence. I'm not sure if it was the episode content or just the main character that hooked Mrs M but it was 5 seasons that took up many of my working evenings. It was great to have something to watch with Mrs M, who doesn't love snuggley sofa time!

3, From the list so far (and including this one) it seems that my top 5 is going to be police/crime heavy. I'd  actually not thought about it until I started writing this but I guess that must be what I like. 'Person of interest' was a great show for having on that had my attention but I still managed to get a little work done. The thought that we are being watched continuously is something that concerns me all the time. Im surprised this show didn't freak me out but I loved every minute of it and I am hoping the next series pops up on Netflix very soon.

4. Oops! another crime related show has jumped in. I wasn't impressed by the movie years back and I thought Ben Affleck had made a complete douche of the character but the Netfix Original series Daredevil was amazing. Being an enormous Marvel fan, the show really did the character of Matt Murdock justice. I debated putting Gotham in here as it was also and amazingly well written story line but for me Daredevil definitely came out on top.

5. I suppose I better put in something a little lighter and with less police presence despite going to add 'Prison break' in next. I was going for a show that me and Mrs M sat and watched together in its entirety but sadly 'Californication' is no longer on Netflix (such a shame as it was a great show). hmmmmm.... something funny??? Me and Mrs M have watched a few funny shows together. 'The unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' was a great show and I loved 'The Fuzz' as it appealed to my very childish side but seeing as I've had to replace 'Californication', 'Benidorm' solely on the fact of the amount of time it has taken up while I have attempted to write. The show is cliche british humour at its best and I think thats what I love about it most.  Plus despite trying my best most nights to write, I'd take curling up with Mrs M on the sofa for a giggle any day.

This top 5 came about because as of tomorrow with the release of the Netflix original Marvel show 'Jessica Jones', I know that all writing will be on standby. There's nothing that is going to get in the way of a new marvel show and with Netflix doing such an amazing job with Daredevil I am expecting Jessica Jones to have me hooked within the first five minutes.