Another show that I missed entirely when it aired was the BBC/HBO's series "Industry". It again featured on the Guardian's top TV of 2020 list and so I decided to give it a try. Provided you accept that they're all unlikable people, there's plenty for enjoyment to be wrung from the story.
Five young bankers try and negotiate a trial period at Pierpoint, a London based financial institution. Harper (Myha'La Herrold) is an American, negotiating cultural differences as well as secrets in her past. Robert (Harry Lawtey) has no mind for finance, but very much enjoys the client relationship aspect of the job. Yasmin (Marisa Abela) has issues at home as well as a strange rapport with her line manager. Gus (David Jonsson) is supremely confident in his ability but not in his relationship with his colleague Theo (Will Tudor) and Hari (Nabhaan Rizwan) is desperate to prove his value by working every hour and pushing his body to the limit.
I do think, that you have to accept that you're not going to like these people in order to progress with the show. Finance is not a world for nice people. It attracts the worst and then forces them to compete mercilessly against each other, in order to succeed. None of our five characters, and rarely any of the supporting ones show enough chinks in the armour to win you over, though you do see the areas in which they are all struggling.
It's a story-based show though. The culling that comes at the end of their year is set out early, and it's about who can impress, cajole or backstab themselves to a continued job at the end of it. There is an ungodly amount of drugs and sex along the way too, some of the most explicit of both that I've seen on what is essentially network television here in the UK.
There will definitely be people shaken off but the sex or by the shows uncompromising decision not to have a likable character to get behind, but I watched the whole series in a couple of sessions and really enjoyed it. I hope covid hasn't put paid to a second run.