The Decameron and 3 Period Comedy Shows to Stream on Netflix Right NowImage credit: Channel 4, Netflix

Buckle up, we’re going back in time!

Undoubtedly, it’s great to have the possibility to travel to distant times and to peep its secrets with a TV show. The strong viewership of Netflix ’s Bridgerton and Vikings: Valhalla proves people’s never-ending interest in historical series.

What if we make a period show and remove all the drama from it? We’ll get period comedies, with 4 of worth-watching ones, available on Netflix, listed here.

    The Decameron (2024)

First up is a series that is now holding the 4th place on Netflix’s global chart. It tells the tricky story of a group of nobles, who decide to wait out the Black Death plague in the hills of Tuscany, only to find out they’re still in danger. It offers a great satire of both the period genre and the times when the COVID-19 pandemic defined our lives.

 

 

    Norsemen (2016 – 2020)

Set in the village of Norheim around the year 790, this comedy show focuses on the lives of Vikings trying to make it through the cold and the growing threat from powerful rivals. It’s a series full of top-notch jokes related to those distant times and even allusions to our today’s realities, artfully hidden as easter eggs.

 

 

    Derry Girls ( 2018 – 2022)

Next period comedy takes place in the near past, the mid-1990s, focusing on five teenage girls who attend a fictional Catholic secondary school based on the real-life Thornhill College in Northern Ireland. The girls’ exploits and attempts to lead a social life are hilarious, yet the show is still rich in emotional moments.

 

 

    Documentary Now! (2015 – 2022)

Last entry on today’s list is, surprisingly, a mockumentary show that satirizes the whole genre of documentaries by parodying the style of each doc with a similar, but fictional subject. It mostly mocks the events of the 20th century, laughing at the back-then sensations and revelations that now seem ridiculous.