Historical Drama Series
Sometimes it is nice to take a break from everyday modern life and travel back in time. When horses were cars, ravens were cell phones, marriages were National Security, dragons were weapons of mass destruction, tweets were delivered via smoke signal, carriages were Uber, painted portraits were selfies, and there was only ONE doctor per town that heroically saved all lives, even the bad guys. I have seen and enjoyed almost all of these shows, and hey...probably even learned a few things that I should've learned in school instead of day dreaming about that guy from 4th period. Please let me know if I am missing any...and enjoy!!
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- CreatorDavid BenioffD.B. WeissStarsEmilia ClarkePeter DinklageKit HaringtonNine noble families fight for control over the lands of Westeros, while an ancient enemy returns after being dormant for millennia.
- CreatorMichael HirstStarsKatheryn WinnickGustaf SkarsgårdAlexander LudwigVikings transports us to the brutal and mysterious world of Ragnar Lothbrok, a Viking warrior and farmer who yearns to explore--and raid--the distant shores across the ocean.
- CreatorJohn FuscoStarsLorenzo RichelmyBenedict WongJoan ChenIn a world replete with greed, betrayal, sexual intrigue and rivalry, "Marco Polo" is based on the famed explorer's adventures in Kublai Khan's court in 13th century Mongolia.
- CreatorRobert LevineJonathan E. SteinbergStarsJessica Parker KennedyToby StephensHannah NewFollows Captain Flint and his pirates twenty years prior to Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel "Treasure Island."
- StarsAlexander DreymonEliza ButterworthArnas FedaraviciusAs Alfred the Great defends his kingdom from Norse invaders, Uhtred--born a Saxon but raised by Vikings--seeks to claim his ancestral birthright.
- CreatorMichael HirstStarsJonathan Rhys MeyersHenry CavillAnthony BrophyEpic series reveals the scandalous life of a young king whose affairs and obsession with producing a male heir changed marriage, the church, and the world.
- CreatorNeil JordanStarsJeremy IronsFrançois ArnaudHolliday GraingerIn the fifteenth century, Pope Alexander VI tries to control all power in Italy with the help of his several sons, through murder, intrigue, war, and marriage alliances.
- StarsAneurin BarnardRebecca FergusonAmanda HaleThree different, yet equally relentless women vie for the throne in 15th-century England.
- CreatorLaurie McCarthyStephanie SenguptaStarsAdelaide KaneMegan FollowsCelina SindenMary, Queen of Scots, faces political and sexual intrigue in the treacherous world of the French court.
- StarsIan McShaneMatthew MacfadyenEddie RedmayneSet against a backdrop of war, religious strife and power struggles which tears lives and families apart.
- StarsPaul DanoJames NortonLily JamesAs the Russian conflict with Napoleon reaches its peak, five aristocratic families face the possibility of their lives being changed forever.
- CreatorDaisy GoodwinStarsJenna ColemanAdrian SchillerTommy KnightThe early life of Queen Victoria, from her ascension to the throne at the tender age of 18 to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert.
- CreatorDebbie HorsfieldStarsAidan TurnerEleanor TomlinsonJack FarthingRoss Poldark returns home after the American Revolutionary War and rebuilds his life with a new business venture, making new enemies and finding a new love where he least expects it.
- StarsMaeve DermodyCharles DanceToby StephensTen strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious host, and start to get killed one by one. Could one of them be the killer?
- CreatorSimon MirrenDavid WolstencroftStarsGeorge BlagdenAlexander VlahosTygh RunyanIn 1667, 28-year-old all-powerful king of France, Louis XIV, decides to build the greatest palace in the world - Versailles. But drained budget, affairs and political intrigues complicate things.
- StarsDaniela Denby-AsheRichard ArmitageTim Pigott-SmithNorth and South is a four-part adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's love story of Margaret Hale, a middle-class southerner who is forced to move to the northern town of Milton.
- StarsTuppence MiddletonSophie RundleAlexandra MoenDrama set within the fictional realms of Charles Dickens critically acclaimed novels, bringing together some of his most iconic characters as their lives intertwine in 19th century London.
- CreatorJulian FellowesStarsHugh BonnevillePhyllis LoganElizabeth McGovernA chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early twentieth century.
- CreatorPeter MorganStarsClaire FoyOlivia ColmanImelda StauntonFollows the political rivalries and romances of Queen Elizabeth II's reign and the events that shaped Britain for the second half of the 20th century.
- CreatorNicholas MeyerFrank SpotnitzStarsDaniel SharmanAlessandra MastronardiSynnove KarlsenA political family drama set in Florence in the early fifteenth century. Cosimo de Medici finds himself at the helm of his banking dynasty when his father, Giovanni, dies suddenly.
- StarsMatthew RhysAnna Maxwell MartinMatthew GoodeElizabeth and Darcy, now six years married, are preparing for their annual ball when festivities are brought to an abrupt halt. An adaptation of PD James's homage to Pride and Prejudice.
- StarsBen ChaplinCharlotte RileyNora WaldstättenThe English town of Kingsbridge works to survive as the King leads the nation into the Hundred Years' War with France while Europe deals with the outbreak of the Black Death.
- CreatorChris ChibnallMichael HirstStarsJoseph FiennesJamie Campbell BowerTamsin EgertonWhen King Uther dies and Britain faces chaos, Merlin presents an unknown named Arthur as the new king by birthright, as the late king's son, against the ambitious desires of his half-sister, Morgan.
- CreatorMartine BrantPeter FlanneryStarsAndrea RiseboroughDominic WestTom Goodman-HillDrama charts the progress of the English Civil War through the story of a young woman, the fictional Angelica Fanshawe, and her three husbands.
- StarsIan HolmMike BaileyFrancis MageeDespite earlier promises to pass his crown to one of his Flemish, Viking, or Norman relatives, English King Edward the Confessor dies in 1066, leaving his crown to Anglo-Saxon Harold Godwinson, causing a bloody succession war.
- StarsRomola GaraiChris O'DowdAmanda HaleSet in 1870s London, a young prostitute finds potential power and status after becoming the mistress of a powerful patriarch.
- StarsTom HardyCharlotte RileyAndrew LincolnFoundling Heathcliff is raised by the wealthy Earnshaws in Yorkshire but in later life launches a vendetta against the family.
- StarsMark RylanceDamian LewisClaire FoyAfter the downfall of Cardinal Wolsey, his secretary, Thomas Cromwell, finds himself amongst the treachery and intrigue of King Henry VIII's court and soon becomes a close advisor to the King, a role fraught with danger.
- StarsAnton LesserSimon Russell BealeTom GeorgesonA mini-series of adaptations of Shakespeare's history plays: Richard II, Henry IV: Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V.
- CreatorBill GallagherStarsOlivia HallinanSarah LancashireJulia SawalhaAn adaptation of Flora Thompson's autobiographical novel "Lark Rise To Candleford", set in 19 century Oxfordshire, in which a young girl moves to the local market town to begin an apprenticeship as a postmistress.
- CreatorSue BirtwistleSusie ConklinStarsJudi DenchImelda StauntonJulia McKenzieIn the 1840s, Cranford is ruled by the ladies. They adore good gossip, and romance and change is in the air, as the unwelcome grasp of the Industrial Revolution rapidly approaches their beloved rural market-town.
- CreatorBill GallagherSarah BartonSarah BrownStarsJoanna VanderhamEmun ElliottStephen WightThe story of a young woman who works in a department store and gets caught up in the charms of the modern world.
- CreatorHeidi ThomasStarsKeeley HawesEd StoppardAdrian ScarboroughA new family and their servants live at the London townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in 1936.
- StarsFrancesca AnnisJustine WaddellBill PatersonThe daughter of a country doctor copes with an unwanted stepmother, an impetuous stepsister, burdensome secrets, the town gossips, and the tug on her own heartstrings for a man who thinks of her only as a friend.
- StarsJodhi MayEdward FoxAmanda RootSet in Victorian London, Gwendolen Harleth is drawn to Daniel Deronda, a selfless and intelligent gentleman of unknown parentage, but her own desperate need for financial security may destroy her chance at happiness.
- StarsDouglas HodgeJuliet AubreyTrevyn McDowellMiddlemarch is a story of provincial life on the brink of momentous change and a deeply moving saga about a group of people striving to give meaning and value to their lives during the Industrial Revolution.
- StarsCarla GuginoAlison ElliottMira SorvinoFour American girls go to England to find husbands.
- StarsToby StephensTara FitzgeraldRupert GravesAn adaptation of Anne Bronte's novel; a young widow takes her son and moves to Yorkshire.
- StarsDavid SuchetMatthew MacfadyenCillian MurphyAugustus Melmotte is a European-born city financier whose background is as mysterious as his business. Only weeks after his arrival in London, he announced a new venture and promises instant fortune.
- StarsPaul McGannKeeley HawesDominic MafhamIntertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's 1860s London.
- CreatorDeborah CookSuzanne van de VeldeStarsVictoria SmurfitClare WilkieTabitha WadyThree young women from very different backgrounds meet, become friends and share experiences when they all gain positions as nannies in the wealthy households of London's exclusive Berkeley Square.
- StarsSiân PhillipsAlun ArmstrongBen Daniels18th-century England and Ireland viewed through the eyes of four beautiful high-born sisters - Caroline, Emily, Louisa, and Sarah Lennox, great-granddaughters of a king, daughters of a cabinet minister, and wives of politicians and peers.
- StarsMatthew MacfadyenClaire FoyTom CourtenayThe Dorrits are a family whose life revolves around the Marshalsea, a debtor's prison. Amy Dorrit's kind nature brings the family into contact with a wide swath of English society, from the poorest to the richest, and back again.
- StarsDominic CooperCharity WakefieldHattie MorahanThe sisters Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood try to find love and security in the 1800's. These two sisters coudn't be more different. Where Eleanor is calm and always acts proper Marianne is passionate and usally forgets herself.
- StarsColin FirthJennifer EhleSusannah HarkerWhile the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.
- StarsAnna Maxwell MartinCarey MulliganDenis LawsonA suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.
- StarsRuth WilsonToby StephensLorraine AshbourneA young governess falls in love with her brooding and complex master. However, his dark past may destroy their relationship forever.
- StarsOliver DimsdaleChristina ColeLaura FraserLouis Trevelyan's refusal to trust his wife Emily destroys their marriage.
- StarsHarry RichardsonTom HollanderStefanie MartiniPenniless Mary Thorne grows up with her uncle, Doctor Thorne, and develops a friendship with the family at the nearby Greshamsbury Park estate.
- CreatorSteve ThompsonStarsJessica RaineSamuel BottomleyHans MathesonIn the Yorkshire Dales in the 1870s, the shantytown of Jericho is the home of a community that will live, thrive and die in the shadow of the viaduct they've been brought together to build.
- CreatorLisa Quijano WolfingerDavid ZabelStarsMcKinley Belcher IIISuzanne BertishNorbert Leo ButzFollows the lives of two volunteer nurses on opposing sides of the Civil War - New England abolitionist Mary Phinney and Confederate supporter Emma Green.
- StarsHermione NorrisOona ChaplinRichard RankinDuring the First World War, Kitty Trevelyan tries to put the past troubles behind her as she joins two other girls to volunteer at one of the busy war hospitals in northern France.
- CreatorSimon BlockStarsClare CalbraithBrian FletcherSamantha BondA drama following a group of inspirational women in a rural Cheshire community during World War II.
- CreatorDaisy CoulamStarsRobson GreenTessa Peake-JonesAl WeaverA Cambridgeshire clergyman finds himself investigating a series of mysterious wrongdoings in his small village of Grantchester.
- StarsRachael StirlingJulie GrahamSophie RundleIn 1952, four women who worked at the wartime code-breaking centre, Bletchley Park, reunite to track down a serial killer.
- StarsToby JonesVicky McClureCharlie HamblettVerloc, the owner of a seedy shop in Victorian Soho, plays a dangerous game spying on an agitating anarchist group that will prove useful to the foreign power he is secretly working for.
- CreatorColin TeevanStarsMichael Ford-FitzGeraldJordanne JonesBrian GleesonRebellion is a five part serial drama about the birth of modern Ireland. The story is told from the perspectives of a group of fictional characters who live through the political events of the 1916 Easter Rising.
- CreatorSteven S. DeKnightStarsAndy WhitfieldLucy LawlessManu BennettThe life of Spartacus, the gladiator who lead a rebellion against the Romans. From his time as an ally of the Romans, to his betrayal and becoming a gladiator, to the rebellion he leads and its ultimate outcome.
- CreatorRonald D. MooreStarsCaitríona BalfeSam HeughanSophie SkeltonClaire Beauchamp Randall, a nurse in World War II, mysteriously goes back in time to Scotland in 1743. There, she meets a dashing Highland warrior and gets drawn into an epic rebellion.
- StarsFelicity DeanDavid RobbMaureen O'BrienThe classic story of King Arthur and his knights of the Round Table.
- StarsOliver TobiasMichael GothardJack WatsonCelts fighting among themselves and the Saxons in 5th century Briton after the Roman pullout.
- StarsKevin McNallyJenny SeagroveGillian RaineSeries follows the very different lives of Jan Leigh, a poor but studious young country lad and Diana Gayelorde-Sutton, the equally single minded daughter of a rich landowner, from the 1920s through to post-war Britain.
- StarsJenny SeagroveBarry BostwickDeborah KerrEmma Harte, a bright and ambitious servant girl, overcomes her impoverished beginnings in her quest to become a retailing magnate and one of the world's richest women.
- StarsAnjelica HustonJulianna MarguliesJoan AllenTales of Camelot and Avalon, told from the perspective of the women of Uther and Arthur Pendragon's world.
- StarsJodie ComerRebecca BensonJacob Collins-LevyBased on the Philippa Gregory book of the same name, the story of Elizabeth of York, the White Queen's daughter, and her marriage to the Lancaster victor, Henry VII.
- StarsPatrick GibsonJack LowdenHubert BurtonAn epic historical drama spanning the five years of the First World War, as seen through the eyes of two ordinary young soldiers.
- StarsTim RothNico MirallegroSamantha MortonA three-part drama about serial killer John Christie and the murders at 10 Rillington Place in the 1940s and early 1950s.
- StarsDouglas BoothJack RothRay WinstoneThe orphan Pip becomes a gentleman when his life is transformed by a mystery benefactor.
- StarsJohn Rhys-DaviesAnthony CalfJean SimmonsA humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
- StarsDaniel RadcliffeTrevor EvePauline QuirkeA gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.
- StarsColin HurleySimon CallowBrenda BruceA gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.
- StarsIan HoggDavid TroughtonPatience CollierA gentle orphan discovers life and love in an indifferent adult world.
- StarsJames WilbyXavier DelucSerena GordonTwo men, one an aristocrat, and one a drunken lawyer, fall in love with the same woman during the early stages of the French Revolution.
- StarsDerek JacobiCharlie ClayHugh Edgar21 people from the 21st century are being brought together in an Edwardian Country House. 6 of them are the Upstairs family and the 15 others are the servants. For three months, these people have only the rulebook and each other...
- StarsPaul GiamattiLaura LinneyJohn DossettThe life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.
- StarsNaomi BattrickMax BeesleyClaire CoxA drama about English settlers in America in 1617.
- StarsLyall B. WatsonMichael SheenJames D'ArcyA docu-drama covering the rise and the fall of the Roman world, including the establishment of strong individual rule by Julius Caesar and the rebuilding of Rome under Nero.
- William the Duke of Normandy defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 to become William I, the first Norman King of England. His wife Matilda of Flanders helped him transform English and European history.
- StarsGemma ArtertonEddie RedmayneRuth JonesThe story of Tess Durbeyfield, a low-born country girl whose family find they have noble connections.
- StarsClémence PoésyAlessio BoniAlexander BeyerThe story of five aristocratic families in Russia during the Napoleonic Wars of 1812
- StarsBilly ZaneTimothy DaltonRupert GravesPrincess Cleopatra becomes Egypt's Queen and has an out-of-wedlock son with the son-less Roman ruler Julius Caesar. Through two romances, she strives to protect Egypt from the Romans, and make her son the heir to Caesar's Roman Empire.
- StarsEmilia FoxJames CallisDaniel LapaineThe abduction of beautiful Helen, wife of Spartan King Menelaus, by Paris of Troy triggers a long war.
- StarsArmand AssanteGreta ScacchiIsabella RosselliniFollows Odysseus on his wanderings back to Ithaca following the Trojan War.
- StarsShawn AshmoreKristin KreukIsabella RosselliniA reckless young man is destined to become the greatest sorcerer the mystical land of Earthsea has ever known.
- CreatorBilly RayStarsMatt BomerKelsey GrammerLily CollinsCenters on Hollywood's first wunderkind studio executive in the 1930s, Monroe Stahr, and the power struggle between him, his mentor, and current head of the studio, Pat Brady.
- CreatorDawn PrestwichNicole YorkinStarsChristina RicciDavid HoflinKristine NielsenThe story of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, a brilliant and beautiful Southern belle who became the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant Jazz Age.
- StarsDaniel BrühlDakota FanningLuke EvansNewspaper illustrator John Moore meets with criminal psychologist (alienist) Dr. Laszlo Kreizler to investigate a serial killer in New York during the late 19th century.
- CreatorDavid MilchStarsTimothy OlyphantIan McShaneMolly ParkerA show set in the late 1800s, revolving around the characters of Deadwood, South Dakota; a town of deep corruption and crime.
- StarsKevin CostnerBill PaxtonMatt BarrDramatization of the bitter blood feud between the two families on the West Virginia/Kentucky border in the years after the Civil War.
- CreatorTony TostStarsLogan Marshall-GreenKillian ScottSarah JonesAn epic saga about the secret history of the 1930s American heartland, centering on the mythic conflict and bloody struggle between big money and the downtrodden.
- CreatorRonan BennettKit HaringtonDaniel WestStarsKit HaringtonLiv TylerEdward HolcroftRobert Catesby leads Guy Fawkes a group of English Catholic traitors plan to blow up the Palace Of Westminster and kill King James I in the infamous Gunpowder Plot.
- StarsSarah GadonEdward HolcroftRebecca LiddiardGrace, an Irish immigrant in 19th-century Canada, is convicted of the murder of her employer. However, things take a different turn when a psychiatrist arrives to analyze her mental state.
- CreatorDon HandfieldRichard RaynerStarsTom CullenPádraic DelaneySimon MerrellsA look at the final days of the Knights Templar during the 14th century.
- StarsJack O'ConnellMichelle DockeryScoot McNairyIn the 1880s American West, murderous outlaw gang leader Frank Griffin hunts for ex-protege Roy Goode. Frank's chase leads him to La Belle, New Mexico--a town inhabited, after a mining disaster, almost entirely by women.
- StarsRichard CoyleVincent ReganAdam LevyFollows the book of ACTS. Shows the complete message of Christ and the transformation of Saul to Paul and how the high priest of Judea does not believe in what has taken place after the Crucifixion of Christ.
- StarsKeith DavidRobert PowellJake CanusoA religious dramatic miniseries about God's creation and physical landmark events leading up to the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- CreatorMaureen JenningsCal CoonsAlexandra ZarownyStarsYannick BissonHelene JoyThomas CraigIn the 1890s, William Murdoch uses radical forensic techniques for the time, including fingerprinting and trace evidence, to solve some of the city's most gruesome murders.
- CreatorDavid FarrStarsLouis HunterChristiaan SchoombieBella DayneRetells the story of the 10 year siege of Troy, which occurred in the 12 or 13th century BC.
- CreatorRob BlackiePeter BlackieStarsJason MomoaLandon LiboironZoe BoyleFollows Declan Harp, a half-Irish/half Cree Native-Canadian outlaw who is campaigning to breach the Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly on the fur trade in Canada.
- StarsNatalie DormerLily SullivanLola BessisThree schoolgirls and their governesses mysteriously disappear on Valentines Day in 1900.