Twenty-five years ago today, Aaron Sorkin’s Oval Office drama started – and its principled, zippily scripted take on the importance of governance feels more important now than ever

Three-quarters of the way through Sam Esmail’s 2023 apocalypse film Leave the World Behind, 13-year-old Rose (Farrah Mackenzie) is lying in bed with her family. Her father (Ethan Hawke) is dead to the world. Her mother (Julia Roberts) is fretting over her brother, who is running a fever and losing his teeth. Rose lies in the middle, wide awake. When her mom whispers, “What are you still doing up?”, her reply is most unexpected.

“I keep thinking about this one West Wing episode,” she says and starts retelling a life-and-death story someone tells the president.