5 Underrated Female Led Shows

*I am aware it is now Winter, but this post has been a along time in the writing haha!
Now that Autumn is here I feel like it's the perfect time to curl up with a blanket and a hot drink in my pyjamas as the weather's already started to turned here in England. I mean I do that in summer too, but now it's more socially acceptable. I do love summer but there is definitely something special about cosy evenings in with hot chocolate and your favourite tv. 

I've tried to avoid the more obvious choices so this is in fact a PLL free zone! I also tried to get options from a variety of genres, hopefully something to suit everyone. Enjoy!

^Best line in anything ever (Particularly with context)

1//The 100-  As I write this I'm just now sitting down to watch the newest episode of the third season and I can't believe how far the story has come and how well the characters have been/are being developed. But the reason I've chosen to include it among this list is because of how strong the female leads are. They don't do what other people say they should and they don't take the easy option. They have their own opinions and ideas and are constantly trying to do the right thing for the good of the others, even at cost to themselves. There's also a fair amount of action and a little side of romance, particularly a love triangle which I was never a fan of but I'll try to avoid spoilers!

2//Agent Carter- This is probably the most well known among feminist TV fans and comic book lovers alike. Peggy Carter, though introduced as the love interest of Steve Rogers AKA Captain America in the first Captain America movie, has managed to step out (gracefully may I add) of his shadow to become a near enough superhero in her own right. After the war Peggy (and women in general) are once again pushed aside as the men return home from the front-line, so the first season begins with her dealing with this at work whilst doing secret missions with the great inventor and scientist Howard Stark (Tony Stark AKA Iron man's dad) on the side. As Agent Carter, Hayley Atwell, plays a proud, intelligent, witty, unapologetic woman who can kick ass both physically and verbally all whilst embodying the glamour of the 1940's. To add to this she is simply gorgeous with an amazing figure and cute British accent. In my eyes this woman can do no wrong. The supporting cast of James D'Arcy, Enver Gjokaj and Lyndsey Fonseca in the first season provide ample opportunity for laughs, sass and cute heartfelt moments aplenty and I cant wait see what the second season has in store.

3//Sex and the City- This is the most light-hearted, comedic of the shows I picked. It's rather an old show now, and you will definitely cringe at the giant mobile phones and the clothes that they wear but it is genuinely so hilarious.
The 4 main characters are all female and pretty sure of themselves which I love. Plus I love the way it explores sex, sexuality, romance and relationships in a light hearted way, whilst still being quite thought provoking.There are times when a scene will play and I don't find it that funny and then 5 minutes later it clicks with me and I can't stop laughing. It's definitely for a more mature audience as you can probably guess from the title. I found the entire 6 seasons for £12 in Cex the other day and was so tempted to buy it, but since I've already watched 3 seasons I thought it would be bit of a waste.

4// Outlander- The weirdest thing about this one is that I've never actually seen any promotion for this or even seen anyone talk about it on social media except for the booktuber Sasha Alsberg who is obsessed with the book. After seeing her enthusiasm I had to give it a go and was very pleased that I did! As it's set in the Scottish Highlands I decided to watch most of it on my way to Edinburgh in the summer to get me in the mood. It was so surprising how strong Claire was in the story because neither of the time periods that she visits are periods particularly enlightened to equality yet in both the 1940's and 1700's Claire manages to speak up and more importantly get herself heard. Every time you expect her to back down she finds a new and better way of doing things. It's also a great romantic love story with plenty of angst and drama.

5//The Fall- This is a much lesser known option that's again for a more mature audience as it's very dark. It's about the hunt for a serial killer in Belfast and focuses around Stella Gibson who is the lead officer in hunting him. Her philosophies and attitudes towards sex and being a woman are very open and refreshing in a city like Belfast. The screencaps above are from the show and it's just so inspirational the way she deals with the daily sexism and harassment she  suffers, particularly in her line of work.

I think that what I've learned most from writing this is that all I want from a TV programme is to see multi-dimensional female characters who are not only able define and lead their own stories but are representative of real women- Which is something I really don't feel I should be having to ask for at this point! As always leave me your suggestions about what I should be watching below...

5 Great shows for LGBQT Representaion

Today I thought I'd share with you 5 shows that I watch that I believe offer positive and I hope accurate representations of sexual and ethnic minorities, as I know how difficult it is to find such shows. The idea for this post actually came from another TV post I was writing about female led shows and I found a probably quite unsurprising correlation between shows which offered great portrayals of women and those that offered positive portrayals of gay/lesbian/transsexual etc. people. It just goes to show that in order to believe in one kind of equality you often have to believe in all types of equality. Anyway I'm rambling now so please enjoy this little compilation and I hope that this article is enlightening to you.

1//Sense8- I'll admit, when I first heard the premise of this show, I was very sceptical, but I ended up watching the whole season within a week, it was that good. It centres around 8 complete strangers who become mentally and physically linked so that they can access each other memories, skills and feelings. There are Gay, Lesbian and Trans characters amongst the main 8 in this show, but what I love about it is that it shows so many different perspectives. One character is hiding the fact that he's gay for the sake of his career whilst others are out and proud. I also love that they have a trans character in the show but it doesn't centre around her transition and shows her post transition living a very happy life. Arguably the two lesbian characters have the most functional relationship in the entire show, which is unusual to see too.

2//Orphan Black- I think I've talked about this show on my blog far too much now but I really don't care because it's easily one of my favourite shows ever (And I say that as a committed TV addict). The entire idea of the show is brilliant and Tatiana Maslany is just such an incredible actress, I so frequently forget when I'm watching the show that it's just one person. I think my favourite clone is Cosima and her and Delphine are definitely OTP material. Evelyne Brochu is just gorgeous as well which helps. It really helps. The initial stages of their romance are just so cute; the way Delphine is slightly in denial about her feelings.

3//OITNB- I feel like this really doesn't need any explanation because if you haven't seen this you must have been living under a rock the last three years. It's brilliant and you should just watch it. So much sass. So much hotness. What's not to love.

4//Carmilla- Lesbian Vampires. I just thought I'd get that out there to begin with. This is a relatively unknown webseries as far as I know, but over summer I spent an entire day watching every episode available to me (1 1/2 seasons) and really enjoyed it. It's based off a rather old book and it's very cheesy and sometimes the acting really does make me cringe but the reason that it's included in this post is because the two main characters are lesbian and there's also an agender person and whilst this isn't part of the main plot, it's a great side story to see how the persons friends struggle with it. It's available to watch on the Verve Girl youtube channel with new episodes of season 2 coming out every week.

5// Girl Meets Boy-  I probably shouldn't be including this as currently I've only actually seen one episode of it, but I was just so impressed. It's rather a ground breaking romcom about a transsexual woman which I found genuinely very amusing and heart warming. I'm just very disappointed that it's on BBC 2 and not BBC 1 as I really think that this show needs a more prominent position on TV schedules simply because it's so unusual to see a trans character on British TV, especially on a major broadcasting network such as  the BBC.

As always, I would love to read your comments and hear from you, particularly about any shows which you think offer great representation!