Prison break

Michael Scofield deliberately enters prison because his brother is inside and he believes he can get him out. Prison Break builds its strongest season around the difference between having an intricate plan and trying to carry it out among people with their own demands.

Wentworth Miller's controlled performance makes Michael's calculations readable without revealing every move. Dominic Purcell supplies the personal reason for the risk, while the other inmates turn a technical problem into a social one. Information and cooperation both have prices.

The first-season setup is the main recommendation. Its confined space gives the obstacles a satisfying relationship to one another. The wider story becomes more extravagant as the series continues, and does not always retain that clarity.

If watching a plan adapt under pressure is your kind of thriller, start here. 24 offers a similar appetite for urgent complications. Oz is a much harsher prison drama, concerned with the institution and its inhabitants rather than the ingenuity of one escape attempt.