Want to make summer 2025 feel even more disconcerting? Why not do what I’m doing and spend the evenings of the longest days watching Severance, which is set in a mysterious dark corporate netherworld where the sun never shines, and the only light comes from spooky fluorescent strip lights that flicker on and off?

Ah, yes, not for me the flirtatious firepit shenanigans of Love Island or the sweaty kitchen nightmares of The Bear season four. Just give me an unsettling workplace drama set in the dead of winter where the character’s brains have been bisected by a microchip. Then sit back, relax and have an Aperol spritz while you try to figure out what the hell is going on. Cheers!

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If you don’t already know, Severance explores the disturbing world of Lumon, a terrifying L Ron Hubbard-esque family business/corporate cult that does such ‘mysterious and important’ work that, in the interests of secrecy – and/or slavery – some employees opt to work on the Severed floor. That means they have a procedure that separates them into innies (work personas) and outies (their true selves).

Neither have any knowledge of what the other is doing, and nobody, including the audience, has a clue what Lumon does, either. It seems to have something to do with numbers. Or paintings. Or sacrificial goats. Or forced birth. It doesn’t matter, anyway – this mystery is what keeps the whole thing moving. In fact, the minute we find out what they do, the entire series will have to go into administration.

The protagonist is Mark S (Adam Scott), who opted to be severed after the death of his wife, and of course, it all starts to go Horribly Wrong almost straight away.

His colleagues include Patricia Arquette as the borderline psychotic boss of the Severed floor and the incredible Britt Lower as Helly, whose innie is outraged to be there. Also, Christopher Walken is in it, so you know that in TV terms, this is the big time.

Severance is deeply stylish, deeply mysterious, meticulously made, absolutely compelling, a bit goofy and the sort of thing you wish you were involved in if you had an iota of talent and also knew the director (some bloke called Ben Stiller). The praise and awards it’s received are entirely well deserved.

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What I wasn’t expecting, though, was for it to be my favourite comfort watch. What might seem like a dystopian nightmare for some is a joyful fantasy for me. Since I went freelance, I have longed to have a chip implanted into my brain which would separate my work self from my true self.

Instead of sitting here like an amorphous blob, with an overheated skull and a laptop attached to my body like a cursed kangaroo pouch, working at random times on weekends and in the evenings, I would be free! As for my innie, who cares? She can pitch ideas, hustle, invoice and be constantly ghosted via email.

And actually, after decades of working in the creative industries for five pence an hour, Lumon work looks pretty good to me. The Macrodata Refinement department would be perfect. I could just look at funny numbers on the screen and put them into little baskets all day long, without a thought in my head.

Occasionally my wonderful boss, Mr Milchick, would come in with a tray of melon, or a mandatory dance party, and as long as I didn’t do anything wrong and end up in the Break Room (where you are psychologically tortured), everything would be great.

Then my outie could go home and watch TV. Ideal – as long as I don’t think about what they’re doing and nobody mentions the goats. I wonder if Lumon need any interns over the summer.

Severance is on Apple TV.

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Lucy Sweet

Why the dystopian world of Severance is my unlikely comfort watch