The best British TV dramas punch well above their weight. A country with a fraction of America’s television budget has produced police thrillers that gripped the nation, period dramas watched in hundreds of countries, and in recent years a run of limited series that have swept awards on both sides of the Atlantic. Many run for just six episodes a season, which makes them easy to start and hard to stop.
This list picks 20 series worth your time, from long-running classics to recent hits. Each entry gives the years it aired and the channel or service it was made for. Streaming rights change often and differ between the UK and the US, so check a guide such as JustWatch for where each one is available now.
Table of Contents
How we chose these British TV dramas
We looked for series that tell a strong story, have lasting reputations and are still worth watching today. We covered a range of genres, from crime and politics to history, science fiction and family drama, and we mixed older favourites with newer shows.
We left out pure comedies, however brilliant, and focused on drama and dark comedy-drama. That still left too many good shows to fit, so you will find honourable mentions near the end.
Crime and thrillers
British television has a special talent for crime drama. These are the best of the genre.
1. Line of Duty (2012 to 2021, BBC)
Jed Mercurio’s series follows AC-12, a police anti-corruption unit, as it investigates officers suspected of wrongdoing. The interview room scenes, which can run for twenty minutes or more, became famous, and the long-running mystery of “H” kept viewers theorising for years. Its later series drew some of the biggest drama audiences British television had seen in decades.
2. Happy Valley (2014 to 2023, BBC)
Sarah Lancashire gives one of the great television performances as Catherine Cawood, a police sergeant in West Yorkshire whose life is shaped by a personal tragedy. Written by Sally Wainwright, it is tough, funny, humane and at times hard to watch. Its three series tell one complete story.
3. Broadchurch (2013 to 2017, ITV)
The death of a boy in a small Dorset coastal town sets off an investigation that exposes secrets across the community. David Tennant and Olivia Colman play the mismatched detectives. The first series is as much about grief and suspicion in a close community as it is about finding a killer.
4. Luther (2010 to 2019, BBC)
Idris Elba stars as John Luther, a brilliant but reckless London detective. The series is darker and more stylised than most British crime drama, with memorable villains, especially Ruth Wilson’s Alice Morgan. A feature-length film followed in 2023.
5. Bodyguard (2018, BBC)
Richard Madden plays a police protection officer and army veteran assigned to guard a controversial home secretary, played by Keeley Hawes. Another Jed Mercurio creation, it is a tense six-part political thriller that became one of the most-watched BBC dramas of its decade.
6. Slow Horses (2022 onwards, Apple TV+)
Based on Mick Herron’s novels, Slow Horses follows a group of disgraced MI5 officers exiled to a dingy office called Slough House. Gary Oldman is magnificently unpleasant as their boss, Jackson Lamb. It mixes spy thriller with sharp comedy and has become one of the most popular British shows on a US streaming service.
7. Killing Eve (2018 to 2022, BBC America and BBC)
Sandra Oh plays an MI5 officer obsessed with catching Villanelle, a stylish assassin played by Jodie Comer. The first series, led by Phoebe Waller-Bridge as head writer, is playful, violent and very funny. Comer’s performance made her a star.
Recent limited series
Some of the most talked-about British drama of recent years has come in short, complete stories.
8. Adolescence (2025, Netflix)
A 13-year-old boy is arrested for the murder of a girl from his school. Each of the four episodes is filmed in a single continuous shot, which makes the drama feel painfully immediate. Created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, who also stars, it sparked national debate about boys, social media and online misogyny, and won several Emmy awards in 2025.
9. Baby Reindeer (2024, Netflix)
Richard Gadd adapts his own stage show about being stalked, and about the abuse that preceded it. Uncomfortable and brave, it became a global hit and won major Emmy awards in 2024. It also drew controversy over how closely some characters were linked to real people.
10. Mr Bates vs The Post Office (2024, ITV)
This four-part drama tells the true story of sub-postmasters wrongly accused of theft and fraud because of a faulty computer system called Horizon. Toby Jones plays Alan Bates, who led the fight for justice. The drama caused public outrage and pushed the government to act, with Parliament later passing a law to overturn the wrongful convictions. Few television dramas have had such a direct effect on real life.
Period and historical drama
From stately homes to Tudor courts, British period drama is one of the country’s best-known exports.
11. Downton Abbey (2010 to 2015, ITV)
Julian Fellowes’ drama about an aristocratic family and their servants in the early 20th century became a worldwide phenomenon, especially in the United States, where it aired on PBS. It led to three feature films. For many viewers abroad, it defined what British television looks like.
12. The Crown (2016 to 2023, Netflix)
Peter Morgan’s lavish drama follows Queen Elizabeth II’s reign from her marriage to the 2000s, with the cast changing as the characters age. Claire Foy, Olivia Colman and Imelda Staunton all played the Queen. It is drama, not history, and some scenes were criticised as inaccurate, but its scale and performances were remarkable.
13. Wolf Hall (2015 and 2024, BBC)
Mark Rylance plays Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith’s son who rose to become Henry VIII’s most powerful adviser, in adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s novels. The second series, The Mirror and the Light, arrived nearly a decade after the first. Quiet, intelligent and beautifully filmed, it rewards patience.
14. Peaky Blinders (2013 to 2022, BBC)
Cillian Murphy leads a Birmingham gangster family in the years after the First World War. Steven Knight’s series is famous for its style: slow-motion walks, flat caps, razor blades in hats and a modern rock soundtrack. It grew from a cult show on BBC Two into an international hit.
15. Call the Midwife (2012 onwards, BBC)
Nurses and nuns deliver babies in London’s East End from the late 1950s onward. Gentle on the surface, it takes on poverty, disease, disability and social change with real seriousness. It is one of the BBC’s longest-running and most-loved dramas.
Science fiction and something different
16. Doctor Who (1963 onwards, BBC)
The world’s longest-running science fiction television series follows a time-travelling alien who changes face and personality when near death, allowing new actors to take on the role. Its modern revival from 2005 brought it to a new generation. Few shows are as British, or as strange.
17. Black Mirror (2011 onwards, Channel 4 and Netflix)
Charlie Brooker’s anthology series imagines the dark side of technology, with each episode telling a separate story. Some episodes feel like warnings that later came true. Start with the ones people recommend most, as quality varies.
18. Sherlock (2010 to 2017, BBC)
Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman play Sherlock Holmes and John Watson in modern-day London. Each episode is feature length. The early series are sharp, fast and funny, and made both leads international stars.
19. Fleabag (2016 to 2019, BBC)
Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s comedy-drama about a grieving, chaotic young woman in London is funny, filthy and heartbreaking, often in the same scene. The second series, featuring Andrew Scott as a priest, won a string of Emmys. Its twelve short episodes are a perfect weekend watch.
20. Top Boy (2011 to 2023, Channel 4 and Netflix)
Set on a fictional estate in Hackney, east London, Top Boy follows drug dealers, their families and the young people drawn into their world. It was cancelled by Channel 4, then revived by Netflix with support from the musician Drake. It is one of the most honest portrayals of modern urban Britain on television.
A short history of British TV drama
British television drama has been ambitious for a long time. In the 1970s, the BBC’s Play for Today anthology series brought hard-hitting single dramas about working-class life, politics and social problems to mainstream audiences, and launched the careers of directors such as Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.
The 1980s brought lavish literary adaptations, most famously Brideshead Revisited on ITV in 1981. The 1990s delivered two landmarks in very different styles: Prime Suspect, with Helen Mirren as a detective battling sexism in the police, and the BBC’s 1995 Pride and Prejudice, whose lake scene with Colin Firth became one of the most replayed moments in British TV.
The current golden age grew from those roots, helped by bigger budgets from international co-producers and, later, streaming services looking for distinctive British stories.
When British drama changes real life
Some British TV dramas have had an effect far beyond the screen. Mr Bates vs The Post Office is the clearest example. The scandal had been reported for years, but the drama turned it into a national outrage within days of broadcast, and the government moved quickly to overturn hundreds of wrongful convictions.
Adolescence prompted a similar national conversation, this time about teenage boys, online influencers and smartphones. Politicians discussed it in Parliament, and Netflix made the series available to secondary schools in the UK so teachers could use it to start discussions.
Earlier examples exist too. Cathy Come Home, a 1966 BBC play about homelessness, is often credited with helping to launch the housing charity Crisis. Drama can move people in ways news reports sometimes cannot.
Tips for watching British drama
If you are new to British television, a few tips help. Regional accents can be strong, especially in shows set in Yorkshire, Birmingham, Glasgow or Belfast, so there is no shame in turning on subtitles. Many British viewers do the same.
Give a series two or three episodes before judging it. British dramas often start slowly and build tension over a whole season, rather than hooking you with a cliffhanger every few minutes.
Finally, pay attention to the writers as well as the stars. If you enjoy one Jed Mercurio, Sally Wainwright or Jack Thorne series, their other work is a good bet.
Honourable mentions
If you get through all 20, these British TV dramas are well worth adding to your list: The Night Manager, a glossy spy thriller based on John le Carré; Industry, about young bankers in the City of London; Vera, a long-running Northumberland detective series; Shetland, a mystery series set on the Scottish islands; Prime Suspect, Helen Mirren’s landmark police drama from the 1990s; and Blackpool, an unusual musical crime drama.
Why British TV dramas travel so well
British drama has a few habits that help it succeed abroad. Seasons are short, often six episodes, so stories stay focused and do not have to stretch across 20 or more episodes a year. Many series are written largely by a single writer, which gives them a distinctive voice.
British productions also cast character actors rather than only stars, and they are often willing to let dramas be bleak, ambiguous or unresolved. American viewers have long sought out British drama through PBS, BBC America and specialist services, and streaming has made that far easier.
There is a similar story in other countries. Our piece on why K-dramas are so popular looks at how Korean television won a global audience in a different way.
Where to watch in the UK and the US
In the UK, BBC dramas are usually on BBC iPlayer, ITV shows on ITVX, and Channel 4 shows on Channel 4’s streaming service. Series made for Netflix or Apple TV+ are on those platforms. Older BBC and ITV titles also appear on subscription services from time to time.
In the United States, British drama is spread across several services. PBS Masterpiece has long been the home of period dramas such as Downton Abbey and Wolf Hall. BritBox and Acorn TV specialise in British shows. Netflix, Apple TV+, Hulu and other services carry many popular titles. Availability changes frequently, so check before you start.
How to pick your next British drama
If you are not sure where to start, choose by mood:
- Want a gripping thriller? Try Line of Duty or Bodyguard.
- Want something emotional and brilliantly acted? Try Happy Valley or Adolescence.
- Want escapism? Try Downton Abbey or Call the Midwife.
- Want something funny and sharp? Try Fleabag or Slow Horses.
- Want to be unsettled? Try Black Mirror or Baby Reindeer.
Many of these contain violence, strong language or disturbing themes, so check age ratings if you are watching with teenagers.
British TV dramas the whole family can watch
Many of the series on this list are for adults, with violence, strong language or disturbing themes. If you want British TV dramas you can watch with children and teenagers, a few are much gentler.
Doctor Who is the classic choice, with adventure, monsters and humour, though some episodes can be scary for younger children. Call the Midwife deals with serious topics but in a warm, careful way that suits older children and teenagers. Downton Abbey works for families who enjoy history and romance.
All Creatures Great and Small, a remake of the story of a young vet in the Yorkshire Dales, is gentle, funny and beautifully filmed, and it has also found a large audience in the United States. His Dark Materials, based on Philip Pullman’s novels, is a fantasy adventure suited to older children and teenagers who enjoy big stories.
Best British TV dramas: common questions
What is the best British TV drama of all time?
There is no single answer, but Line of Duty, Happy Valley, Fleabag and The Crown are among the most frequently praised.
What are the best British TV dramas on Netflix?
Adolescence, Baby Reindeer, The Crown, Black Mirror and Top Boy were made for or by Netflix. Availability of other British titles varies by country.
Where can I watch British TV in the US?
PBS Masterpiece, BritBox, Acorn TV, Netflix, Apple TV+ and other services all carry British dramas. Check a streaming guide for current availability.
Why are British TV series so short?
Many British dramas are written largely by one writer and made in six-episode seasons, which keeps stories tight and costs manageable.
What is the longest-running British drama?
Doctor Who, which began in 1963, is the longest-running science fiction TV series in the world.
Pick one crime drama and one period piece from the list, and you will see why British television has such a loyal audience. For more entertainment picks, see our list of the best Halloween movies and our entertainment section.
