Based on Piper Kerman’s acclaimed memoir of the same name, Orange Is the New Black is a sharp, blackly-funny series set in a women’s prison. Here, our staff tell us what they think of the show.

Nina says:

I adore this show. It hooked me from the pilot episode, and only got better and better as it went along.

The show’s greatest strength is its huge cast of talented women. Over the course of a season, it intimately tells the stories of so many different woman, from all ages, races, backgrounds and walks of life. It looks at friendships, rivalries, romances, betrayals, alliances and heartbreak. Every character is taken seriously – inmates that might seem one dimensional in the pilot episode, there to simply prop up a joke, will make you cry by season’s end.

Bronte says:

Earlier this year a work colleague pointed out to me that all the shows I’d been watching pretty much just featured men. Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, True Detective. She recommended Orange Is the New Black as an antidote and I’m so glad. Funny and heartbreaking, I totally fell for the characters. Unlike a lot of other people, I honestly felt so much sympathy for Piper, despite her annoying traits. I could easily see myself becoming her if I ever went to prison! The show’s version of prison felt like a strange, awful boarding school and given this, I can 100% attest to the fact that I definitely don’t want to go to there.

Chris says:

I had some problems with this show – the recurring scenes where men belittled women; depictions of class were badly handled at times – but it still made me laugh (and shudder) at times. The scene where Piper makes her fiance Larry promise that he’ll wait to watch Mad Men until she gets out instantly resonated with me!

Belle says:

I like the plotting of this show best – there was the overarching narrative of Piper to propel the general storyline, but this was neatly punctured with the back stories of the wider cast. It allowed even minor players to become emotional forces in their own right, and move outside displays of the stereotypical prison cast we thought we were familiar with.

Cat says:

I watched the entirety of Orange Is the New Black in one sitting. The show’s mixture of hilarious situation comedy and a keen focus class, gender and power (or lack thereof), made the Dostoevsky-inspired journey of our protagonist a truly enjoyable and harrowing affair. Unable to leave the couch for an entire day, I emerged from season one starved and bleary-eyed (and in desperate need of the bathroom), and everything about that felt just right.