In need of relentless optimism? The 10 best ‘hopepunk’ shows to binge now
It’s the TV genre that offers a sunny, uplifting take on the world, in contrast to, well, everything else. Here are the shows to watch when ‘grimdark’ programming becomes too much
The BBC has announced that it has invested £150,000 in a podcast series that will attempt to cash in on the trend for “hopepunk”. Based on the assumption that we are living in mercilessly dystopian times, it is a genre that offers a softer alternative for fraught millennials: optimism delivered as powerfully as possible through acts of kindness and “consciously chosen gentleness”. It is generally considered the opposite of “grimdark”, which is also a thing. But if you can’t wait for this buoyant new podcast, I have good news: we are already awash in hopepunk, whether you knew it or not. Here are 10 of the best series to get into: