The Bear fans should check out this underrated TV show before Season 4

The Bear Season 4 is coming up in 2025, but if you’re in need of some trauma, addiction, and existential dread, I’ve got the perfect TV show to watch right now. Just be warned: it’s about as devastating as it gets. 

We LOVE TV & Movies here at Dexerto, but I love a particular type of entertainment more than others: the messed-up kind. It’s one of the reasons The Bear is not only one of my favorite shows of the past few years but also strangely cathartic. 

The authentic, raw intensity of the Berzatto family and the ripple effect Mikey’s addiction and subsequent suicide has on Carmy and co. is an emotional journey that digs into some dark, uncomfortable places, but ones that feel deeply relatable to so many of us. 

If you’re in the mood for that same kind of emotional gut-punch this Valentine’s Day (hell, aren’t we all?), you might want to consider putting The Virtues on top of your watchlist. 

Love The Bear? Check out Shane Meadows masterpiece The Virtues

Channel 4

The Virtues is a 2019 British mini-series starring the ever-talented Stephen Graham as an alcoholic man who relapses when his ex-wife and young son move to Australia. After a binge, he travels to find his estranged sister in Ireland and confront the dark secrets of his past.

Firstly, Graham is perfect for the role. When isn’t he? But particularly in this case, the actor has been upfront about his struggles with alcohol use in the past, and you can feel that authenticity in his performance. 

As a recovering alcoholic myself, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a realistic portrayal of “the madness,” as it’s called, put to the screen as it is in The Virtues. Not only during his binge but also the moments that led him to that first pint, from having to say goodbye to his son to the atrocities the character faced in his childhood. 

Graham’s vulnerability adds weight to the show, and when it comes to depicting trauma, abuse, and the complexity of addiction, it doesn’t get more real than this. 

It’s as honest and hard-hitting as The Bear in its exploration of these topics, albeit with a far grittier, more devastating (yes, really) look at its complex subject matter.

A massive owing of its success goes to director Shane Meadows, who co-wrote the series alongside Jack Thorne. 

If you’re familiar with Meadows’ work, you’ll know that he has a knack for bringing gritty UK settings to life, exploring the intense, painful struggles of forgotten communities while also injecting some much-needed gallows humor. 

We’re talking This Is England, Dead Man’s Shoes, and Somers Town. There’s no glossing over the hard truths in his work, and this is certainly true for The Virtues. 

So, if you’ve got the emotional bandwidth to face something this devastating on Valentine’s Day, you’re in for an experience that’s as rewarding as it is painful. A bit like The Bear, it’s one that will leave you in floods of tears but maybe, just maybe, help you process a little bit of your own stuff along the way.

If you’re in the US or anywhere else outside the UK, the best way to The Virtues is via Channel 4’s on-demand platform, which you can access using a VPN. As for The Bear, Season 4 is set to drop sometime in June 2025.

For more shows to watch, check out our 2025 TV show release calendar, as well as new series to stream this month.