With so much content to choose from, finding the best Netflix shows can be a bit of a minefield.
That's where Rotten Tomatoes can help. The aggregator website serves up two scores that can help you choose whether a show is worthy of your time or not. One comes from audience ratings, the other from critics — and it's the latter that can really guide you towards the best options.
We've looked through every series released on Netflix in the past couple of months to bring you this list of the highest-rated shows according to RT. Each of the five options here has scored at least 90% with critics, meaning you can be sure they're a worthy choice for binge-watching.
The Longest Night
This recently dropped Spanish-language thriller series has been very well received by the critics who have reviewed it on Rotten Tomatoes — as its 100% rating attests.
It tells the story of what happens when armed forces try to abduct a serial killer who is holed up in a psychiatric prison and — spoiler alert — the results are not good.
Admittedly, that 100% rating comes from just five reviews, but as Jonathon Wilson on Ready Steady Cut says, it "delivers a high-octane viewing experience in a digestible package."
Describing it as having "a bit of a Prison Break crossed with 24 vibe to it," Joel Keller on Decider, adds that this is "one of those shows that has a lot going on" and concludes that "Even though the writers of The Longest Night are juggling a lot of plot balls, and may drop one or two during its six episodes, they have set up a story that’s packed with story, taking place in a relatively compressed space and time."
Seasons: 1
Years: 2022
Genre: Thriller
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous
Sadly, season 5 of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous will be its last, with the animated Jurassic Park spin-off having now run its course at Netflix. But it's certainly not ending due to poor reviews — it has a 92% Rotten Tomatoes rating across its 49 episodes.
It follows a group of six teenagers who are the first to find themselves at an amazing adventure camp on Isla Nublar. However, the dinosaurs soon start causing chaos (don't they always), so the teens must work together to deal with it all.
While it's aimed at kids, it boasts a great voice cast (including the likes of Jenna Ortega, Jameela Jamil and Haley Joel Osment) and might just find an audience among people of any age who have a soft spot for the blockbuster movies.
As Daniel Hart of Ready Steady Cut writes, "While it’s sad that this series is put to bed, the people behind it can be proud of what they’ve achieved."
Seasons: 5
Years: 2020 - 2022
Genre: Kids
Rotten Tomatoes score: 92%
Stranger Things
There was a lot resting on Stranger Things season 4, not least the fact that it reportedly cost a staggering $30 million per episode, but the penultimate season of the Duffer brothers' dark fantasy show delivered when it mattered.
The fourth season saw the core characters stray beyond their small hometown of Hawkins, Indiana, with new locations including Siberia, California and the Nevada desert. It can also be praised for introducing a whole new generation to Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” in the process.
The show's overall Rotten Tomatoes score of 91% is particularly impressive, considering it's been reviewed by virtually everyone on the planet, and though S4 just slips below that (with 89%), that's still admirable for as high-profile a production as this.
If you've not yet seen it, settle down and prepare for a treat. And if you have, well, then why not watch it again…
Seasons: 4
Years: 2016 - Present
Genre: Sci-fi, drama
Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
D.B. Cooper: Where Are You?!
Who needs fiction when real-life is as interesting as this! D.B. Cooper was the name erroneously given to the unidentified hijacker of a Boeing 727 airline in 1971. He didn't hurt a single person during the hijack, then leapt out of the plane over Washington with $200,000 in ransom and was never seen again.
The case continues to attract attention more than 50 years on, and this four-episode documentary does a superb job of both telling the original story and following the speculation around one particular suspect.
It has a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but strangely only a 26 audience score on the same site. Still, critics seem to love it, with Michael Hogan at The Daily Telegraph declaring it " a cracking yarn, full of derring-do and colourful characters," and Joel Keller at Decider calling it a "stylish docuseries that fills in a lot of blanks about a legend that has made a permanent home in our pop culture firmament."
Seasons: 1
Years: 2022
Genre: Documentary
Rotten Tomatoes score: 90%
How to change your mind
In the wrong hands, a documentary about psychedelic drugs could be an excuse for a controversy-baiting rehash of '60s excess and drug culture. But the team of best-selling author Michael Pollan and acclaimed filmmaker Alex Gibney instead take a rather different tack, exploring the potential of LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, and mescaline to help with mental health.
It's a fascinating — and serious — look at the subject, and as its 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes shows, one that critics have been mightily impressed by.
Bob Strauss of the San Francisco Chronicle is particularly positive, stating that "'How to Change Your Mind' provides multiple worthy views that can be mind-blowing." Natalia Winkelman in the Boston Globe is a bit more sceptical, noting that "There is something oversimplified about this TV version of 'How to Change Your Mind,' as if its knowledge has been run through a sieve," but still concludes that "worthy pieces of insight still fleck the episodes."
Seasons: 1
Years: 2022
Genre: Documentary
Rotten Tomatoes score: 100%
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