My Favourite TV Drama & Action Shows
by DougWonnacott | created - 28 Jul 2018 | updated - 1 week ago | PublicThis are my favourite tv drama and action series. I have a separate list for my favourite tv comedies.
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1.
BBC Sunday-Night Theatre (1950–1959)
Episode:
Nineteen Eighty-Four
(1954)
114 min | Drama
In a totalitarian future society, Winston Smith, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love.
Director: Rudolph Cartier | Stars: Peter Cushing, André Morell, Yvonne Mitchell, Donald Pleasence
Votes: 681
2. Shaft (1973–1974)
73 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Based on the films of the same name, John Shaft is a two-fisted black private eye modeled on Mike Hammer and Phillip Marlowe.
Stars: Richard Roundtree, Eddie Barth, Judie Stein, Robert Culp
Votes: 448
3. Planet of the Apes (1974)
TV-PG | 47 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Two astronauts and a sympathetic chimp friend are fugitives in a future Earth dominated by a civilization of humanoid apes.
Stars: Roddy McDowall, Ron Harper, James Naughton, Mark Lenard
Votes: 5,437
4. The Sweeney (1975–1978)
TV-PG | 51 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Jack Regan and George Carter are hard-edged detectives in the Flying Squad of London's Metropolitan Police. They pursue villains by methods which are underhanded and often illegal, frequently violent and - more often than not - successful.
Stars: John Thaw, Dennis Waterman, Garfield Morgan, John Alkin
Votes: 2,656
5. The Incredible Hulk (1978–1982)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A fugitive scientist has the curse of becoming a powerful green monster under extreme emotional stress.
Stars: Bill Bixby, Lou Ferrigno, Jack Colvin, Charles Napier
Votes: 16,130
6. Roots (1977)
TV-14 | 74 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatization of author Alex Haley's family line from ancestor Kunta Kinte's enslavement to his descendants' liberation.
Stars: LeVar Burton, Robert Reed, John Amos, Louis Gossett Jr.
Votes: 18,888
7. Roots: The Next Generations (1979)
120 min | Biography, Drama, History
The dramatization of Alex Haley's family line from post Civil War America to the writer's search for his roots.
Stars: Debbi Morgan, Dorian Harewood, Paul Koslo, Stan Shaw
Votes: 2,786
8. The A-Team (1983–1987)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
Four Vietnam vets, framed for a crime they didn't commit, help the innocent while on the run from the military.
Stars: George Peppard, Mr. T, Dwight Schultz, Dirk Benedict
Votes: 41,834
9. Robin Hood (1984–1986)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
A forest mystical being appoints two men in succession as the legendary outlaw defender of the oppressed.
Stars: Peter Llewellyn Williams, Ray Winstone, Mark Ryan, Clive Mantle
Votes: 4,991
10. The Equalizer (1985–1989)
TV-PG | 48 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A retired Intelligence Agent turned private detective helps various threatened clients to equalize the odds.
Stars: Edward Woodward, Keith Szarabajka, Robert Lansing, Mark Margolis
Votes: 5,928
11. Roots: The Gift (1988 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 100 min | Drama, History
On Christmas Eve 1770, a young African warrior, who three years prior had been captured and sold into slavery in America, leads a desperate group of runaway slaves as they attempt to reach freedom in the North.
Director: Kevin Hooks | Stars: Louis Gossett Jr., LeVar Burton, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew
Votes: 668
12. Queen (1993)
TV-14 | 282 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A plantation owner's son falls in love with a slave named Easter and together they have a Biracial daughter named Queen. As Queen grows up, she faces the struggle of trying to fit into the ... See full summary »
Stars: Ann-Margret, Patricia Clarkson, Tim Daly, Ossie Davis
Votes: 1,717
13. Sharpe (1993–2008)
TV-14 | 1,673 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A series of stories starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe, a fictional British soldier in the Napoleonic Wars as he fights both Napoleon's forces and the strong prejudice of British aristocracy.
Stars: Sean Bean, Daragh O'Malley, John Tams, Jason Salkey
Votes: 2,354
14. Due South (1994–1999)
TV-PG | 46 min | Adventure, Comedy, Crime
The adventures of an impossibly upright Royal Canadian Mounted Police constable and his American colleagues in the city of Chicago.
Stars: Paul Gross, Beau Starr, Tony Craig, David Marciano
Votes: 7,575
15. Martial Law (1998–2000)
45 min | Comedy, Crime, Action
A Shanghai cop who is a master of martial arts fights crime in the Los Angeles Police Department.
Stars: Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Kelly Hu, Arsenio Hall, Tom Wright
Votes: 3,142
16. Midnight Diner (2009–2014)
TV-MA | 24 min | Drama
Shinya Shokudo is a tv series from Japan since 2009. It tells many stories about ordinary people eat in shinya shokudo, which means a restaurant at midnight. This small restaurant opens from 12 in the evening to 7 in the morning.
Stars: Kaoru Kobayashi, Mansaku Fuwa, Toshiki Ayata, Shôhei Uno
Votes: 3,163
17. Daredevil (2015–2018)
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A blind lawyer by day, vigilante by night. Matt Murdock fights the crime of New York as Daredevil.
Stars: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson
Votes: 475,050
18. Jessica Jones (2015–2019)
TV-MA | 56 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Following the tragic end of her brief superhero career, Jessica Jones tries to rebuild her life as a private investigator, dealing with cases involving people with remarkable abilities in New York City.
Stars: Krysten Ritter, Rachael Taylor, Eka Darville, Carrie-Anne Moss
Votes: 226,852
19. Stranger Things (2016–2025)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one strange little girl.
Stars: Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Winona Ryder, David Harbour
Votes: 1,337,842
20. Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (2016–2019)
TV-14 | 24 min | Drama
An anthology of human relationship stories connected by the only open in the wee hours diner the characters frequent. Resolutions are often facilitated by the owner/chef.
Stars: Kaoru Kobayashi, Mansaku Fuwa, Asako Kobayashi, Joe Odagiri
Votes: 4,926
21. Luke Cage (2016–2018)
TV-MA | 55 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When a sabotaged experiment gives him super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive attempting to rebuild his life in Harlem and must confront his past and fight a battle for the heart of his city.
Stars: Mike Colter, Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, Alfre Woodard
Votes: 139,704
22. Roots (2016)
TV-MA | 388 min | Drama, War
An adaptation of Alex Haley's "Roots." Chronicles the history of an African man and his descendants sold into slavery in America.
Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Malachi Kirby, Forest Whitaker, Laurence Fishburne
Votes: 8,476
23. Cobra Kai (2018–2025)
TV-14 | 30 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
Decades after their 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament bout, a middle-aged Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence find themselves martial-arts rivals again.
Stars: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Courtney Henggeler, Xolo Maridueña
Votes: 203,881
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