Last updated March 2024
On the hunt for sensationally spectacular Best bleak Tv Shows? We assembled 30 marvelous, universally beloved Best bleak Tv Shows handpicked by our experts for your immediate streaming enjoyment. With through the roof acclaim from revered IMDB critics and our own community of savvy users, these elite titles simply can't be matched for quality. Help other viewers find overlooked gems by voting for your personal favorites. We appreciate your help showcasing the finest titles available!
Breaking Bad (2008)
Plot Summary:
When Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, is diagnosed with Stage III cancer and given a prognosis of only two years left to live, he becomes filled with a sense of fearlessness and an unrelenting desire to secure his family's financial future at any cost as he enters the dangerous world of drugs and crime
Duration: 3030 min
IMDB Rating: 9.5/10
IMDB Votes: 21000000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: criminal, cancer, peril, life turned upside down, drug dealing, drug cartel, unlikely partners, drug lord, master criminal, family problems, life is a bitch, drug, ambition, meth lab, desperation, double life, success, anti hero, hidden identity, lifestyle change, cartel, methamphetamine, chemistry, drug dealer, outlaw
Chernobyl (2019)
Plot Summary:
A dramatization of the true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A tale of the brave men and women who sacrificed to save Europe from unimaginable disaster
Duration: 330 min
IMDB Rating: 9.3/10
IMDB Votes: 835000
Genere: Drama, History, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Plot tags: radiation, nuclear holocaust, radiation poisoning, nuclear power plant, nuclear reactor, save the day, nuclear explosion, salvation, scientist, nuclear radiation, nuclear threat, disaster, abandoned city, evacuation, accident, heroic mission, cold war, save the world, society, post nuclear, nuclear power, propaganda, government coverup, government official, nuclear
Narcos (2015)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Colombia's infamously violent and powerful drug cartels
Duration: 49 min
IMDB Rating: 8.8/10
IMDB Votes: 458000
Genere: Biography, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, Colombia
Plot tags: drug cartel, gangster, drug dealer, cartel, drug dealing, rise to the top, drug lord, illegal drugs, cia agent, dea, master criminal, ambition, hitman, criminal heroes, drug, organized crime, smuggling, politics, mafia, terrorism, cocaine, kidnapping, cold war, president, hidden money
The Boat (1985)
Plot Summary:
Life aboard a German U-Boat during World War II
Duration: 293 min
IMDB Rating: 8.8/10
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany, France, UK, Italy
Plot tags: submarine, world war two, underwater, navy, sinking ship, battles, torpedo, military, survival, nazism, life is a bitch, confined, military life, boat, moving, cthulhu, kriegsmarine, world war, convoy, sea, war, ocean, profanity, anti war, escapades
Black Mirror (2011)
Plot Summary:
A contemporary British re-working of The Twilight Zone with stories that tap into the collective unease about our modern world. Over the last ten years, technology has transformed almost every aspect of our lives before we've had time to stop and question it. In every home; on every desk; in every palm - a plasma screen; a monitor; a smartphone - a black mirror of our 21st Century existence
Duration: 60 min
IMDB Rating: 8.7/10
IMDB Votes: 622000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK
Plot tags: technology, dystopia, twists and turns, human nature, satire, alternate reality, society, social decay, computers and web, media satire, dystopian future, media, dark humor, distopia, technology gone awry, gadget, media coverage, mind control, storytelling, chaos, loneliness, serial killer, social satire, cyberpunk, dehumanization
Battlestar Galactica (2004)
Plot Summary:
When an old enemy, the Cylons, resurface and obliterate the 12 colonies, the crew of the aged Galactica protect a small civilian fleet - the last of humanity - as they journey toward the fabled 13th colony, Earth
Duration: 44 min
IMDB Rating: 8.7/10
IMDB Votes: 173000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Plot tags: space travel, outer space, space and aliens, space wars, cyborgs, space opera, space battle, androids and robots, artificial intelligence, extinction, human in outer space, military, heroes, alien planet, robot, end of the world, female assassin, space, apocalypse, invasion, androids, spacecraft, battles, prophecy, totalitarianism
Oz (1997)
Plot Summary:
The daily lives of prisoners in Emerald City, an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison where ingroups - Muslims, Latinos, Italians, Aryans - stick close to their mutual friends and terrorizes their mutual enemies
Duration: 55 min
IMDB Rating: 8.7/10
IMDB Votes: 105000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: prison life, prison, gay, life is a bitch, confined, violence spree, rape, homosexual rape, rapist, strong sexual content, gang violence, racism, prison rape, survival, power struggle, punishment, african american, solitary, lgbt, ku klux klan, neo nazism, electric chair, danger, warden, peril
Yellowstone (2018)
Plot Summary:
Follow the violent world of the Dutton family, who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. Led by their patriarch John Dutton, the family defends their property against constant attack by land developers, an Indian reservation, and America’s first National Park
Duration: 60 min
IMDB Rating: 8.7/10
IMDB Votes: 199000
Genere: Drama, Western
Country: USA
Plot tags: ranch, family business, family relations, cowboy, rivalry, death, cattle ranch, society, old west, dishonesty, violence, killings, small town, dishonor among criminals, gunfight, sheriff, boss, shooting, greed, lifestyle, racial slur, small town life, tough guy, hunting, criminal
Gomorrah (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on Robert Saviano's bestselling book, this gritty Italian crime drama paints a portrait of the brutal Neapolitan crime organisation the Camorra, as seen through the eyes of Ciro Di Marzo, the obedient and self- confident right-hand man of the clan's godfather, Pietro Savastano
Duration: 55 min
IMDB Rating: 8.6/10
IMDB Votes: 43000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy, Germany
Plot tags: mafia, mob boss, drug lord, gang war, camorra, social decay, society, life is a bitch, gangster, urban, strong violent content, criminal heroes, rivalry, urban ghetto life, gang, italian mafia, violence spree, poverty, juvenile delinquency, organized crime, multiple storylines, mobster, social problems, outlaw gang, gory
What We Do in the Shadows (2019)
Plot Summary:
A documentary-style look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of three vampires in Staten Island who have “lived” together for hundreds and hundreds of years
Duration: 30 min
IMDB Rating: 8.6/10
IMDB Votes: 97000
Genere: Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
Country: USA, Canada
Plot tags: supernatural, vampire, blood, friends, supernatural being, nudity, supernatural power, fantasy world, sex, murder, house, society, social problems, victim, lifestyle, city life, social relations, storytelling, urban setting, social satire, satire, apocalypse, teenager, halloween, ancient
Wentworth (2013)
Plot Summary:
Bea Smith is locked up while awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her husband and must learn how life works in prison. A modern adaptation and sequel of the iconic Prisoner series
Duration: 45 min
IMDB Rating: 8.6/10
IMDB Votes: 24000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Australia
Plot tags: prison, lesbian, women in prison, prison life, women's prison, power struggle, protest, lesbian relationship, life is a bitch, danger, government facility, survival, sadism, convict, lgbtq, warden, female prisoner, lawyer, lgbt, smuggling, racial issues, anti hero, confined, blood, arrest
Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995)
Plot Summary:
At the turn of the century, the Angels returned to Earth, seeking to wipe out humanity in an apocalyptic fury. Devastated, mankind's last remnants moved underground to wait for the day when the Angels would come back to finish the job. Fifteen years later, that day has come... but this time, humanity is ready to fight back with terrifying bio-mechanical weapons known as the Evangelions. Watch as Shinji, Rei, Asuka and the rest of the mysterious shadow agency Nerv battle to save earth from total annihilation
Duration: 24 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 81000
Genere: Animation, Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Japan
Plot tags: self doubt, existentialism, father son relationship, loneliness, depression, loss, psychological trauma, young heroes, suffering, piloted giant robot, absent mother, post apocalypse, insanity, secret organization, symbolism, alien encounter, alien invasion, philosophy, giant robot, chaos, cyberpunk, father son estrangement, fear, violence, teenage sexuality
Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Plot Summary:
After a 40-year armistice in a war between the Twelve Colonies and the Cylons, the Cylons launch a surprise nuclear attack intended to exterminate the human race. Virtually all of the population of the Twelve Colonies are wiped out
Duration: 183 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 79000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Plot tags: space travel, outer space, space wars, imaginary, space battle, cyborgs, space and aliens, androids and robots, space, space opera, alternate universe, good versus evil, obsessive quest, military, society, chaos, battlestar galactica, storytelling, complex characters, fate of humanity, dystopian future, genocide, dystopia, escapades, spaceship
Mushi-Shi (2005)
Plot Summary:
They are neither plants nor animals. They differ from other forms of life such as the micro-organisms and the fungi. Instead they resemble the primeval body of life and are generally known as "Mushi". Their existence and appearance are unknown to many and only a limited number of humans are aware of them. Ginko is a "Mushi-shi" who travels around to investigate and find out more about the "Mushi". In the process, he also lends a helping hand to people who face problems with supernatural occurances which may be related to the "Mushi"
Duration: 25 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 14000
Genere: Animation, Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Country: Japan
Plot tags: mysterious character, nature, legends and myths, supernatural, youkai, supernatural power, danger, imaginary, good versus evil, japanese mythology, countryside, spirit, tragedy, journey, folklore, environmentalism, heroes, doctor, supernatural ability, magical, enlightenment, darkness, mature, dying, alternative present
Mr. Robot (2015)
Plot Summary:
A contemporary and culturally resonant drama about a young programmer, Elliot, who suffers from a debilitating anti-social disorder and decides that he can only connect to people by hacking them. He wields his skills as a weapon to protect the people that he cares about. Elliot will find himself in the intersection between a cybersecurity firm he works for and the underworld organizations that are recruiting him to bring down corporate America
Duration: 49 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 410000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: hacker, computer hacker, hacking, computers and web, fighting the system, conspiracy, psychotherapy, split personality, paranoia, conspiracy theory, secret society, introvert, society, hallucination, schizophrenia, drug addict, social anxiety disorder, rebellion, friendship, childhood trauma, psychotherapist, revolution, brother sister relationship, murder, multiple personality disorder
Horace and Pete (2016)
Plot Summary:
Horace and Pete (stylized as Horace and Pete's Est. 1916) is an American comedy-drama web series created by Louis C.K. starring himself and Steve Buscemi as Horace and Pete, co-owners of an Irish bar, Horace and Pete's
Duration: 437 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Plot tags: family business, pub, parent child relationship, family relations, brothers, mental illness, hopelessness, father daughter relationship, sibling relationship, politics, voodoo, alcoholic, drug use, psychosis, family history, abusive father, age-gap relationship, brother brother relationship, brother sister relationship, one location, bar, show
The Knick (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in downtown New York in 1900, 'The Knick' is centered on the Knickerbocker Hospital and the groundbreaking surgeons, nurses and staff who work there, pushing the bounds of medicine in a time of astonishingly high mortality rates and zero antibiotics. John Thackery is a brilliant surgeon pioneering new methods in the field, despite his secret addiction to cocaine. He leads a team of doctors including his protégé Dr. Everett Gallinger; the young Dr. Bertie Chickering Jr. and Dr. Algernon Edwards, a promising surgeon who's been recently thrust upon him. The lively cast of characters at the hospital also includes Cornelia Robertson, the daughter of its benefactor, Captain August Robertson; surly ambulance driver Tom Cleary; Lucy Elkins; a fresh-faced nurse from the country; the crooked hospital administrator Herman Barrow; and Sister Harriet, a nun who isn't afraid to speak her mind
Duration: 58 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Plot tags: medicine, life is a bitch, addiction, hospital, doctor, workplace situations, surgeon, doctors and patients, nun, medical, realism, society, drug, power relations, surgery, gory, violent, nurse, escapades, gilded age, world war one, supernatural, ancient, villain, darkness
Happy Valley (2014)
Plot Summary:
Happy Valley is a dark, funny, multi-layered thriller revolving around the personal and professional life of Catherine, a dedicated, experienced, hard-working copper. She is also a bereaved mother who looks after her orphaned grandchild
Duration: 58 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Plot tags: policewoman, police, police investigation, investigator, kidnapping, police protagonist, investigation, british police, whodunit, law enforcement, criminal, drug dealer, police station, loss of daughter, revenge, crime investigation, drug lord, ransom, rapist, sister sister relationship, unsolved crime, sergeant, rape, police officer, police procedural
Kingdom (2014)
Plot Summary:
A raw family drama set against the world of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) in Venice, California. Alvey Kulina owns Navy St. MMA with the help of his girlfriend Lisa Prince. He is willing to go through extraordinary means to make sure his fighters are taken care of, but all of this responsibility comes at a steep price. He has complicated relationships with both of his sons, Jay and Nate, who are both struggling with their own identities and places within Alvey’s life and gym
Duration: 43 min
IMDB Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB Votes: 19000
Genere: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Plot tags: athlete's life, mixed martial arts, ex convict, brother brother relationship, martial arts, gym, drug addiction, father son relationship, competition, sibling relationship, family problems, training, drug abuse, gay, parents and children, rivalry, ambition, contests and competitions, brutality, friends, estrangement, blind ambition, lgbt, villain, lgbtq
Babylon 5 (1993)
Plot Summary:
Babylon 5 is a five-mile long space station located in neutral space. Built by the Earth Alliance in the 2250s, it's goal is to maintain peace among the various alien races by providing a sanctuary where grievances and negotiations can be worked out among duly appointed ambassadors. A council made up of representatives from the five major space-faring civilizations - the Earth Alliance, Minbari Federation, Centauri Republic, Narn Regime, and Vorlon Empire - work with the League of Non-Aligned Worlds to keep interstellar relations under control. Aside from its diplomatic function, Babylon 5 also serves as a military post for Earth and a port of call for travelers, traders, businessmen, criminals, and Rangers
Duration: 45 min
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Plot tags: space opera, outer space, space travel, space station, time travel, benign alien, good versus evil, danger, alien, space and aliens, space, culture clash, friendship, conflict, philosophy, spacecraft, human existence, moral ambiguity, alien technology, spaceship, space wars, commander, spy, space adventure, twists and turns
The Handmaid's Tale (2017)
Plot Summary:
Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship. A TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel
Duration: 60 min
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
IMDB Votes: 253000
Genere: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Plot tags: rape, sexism, surrogate mother, infertility, protest, dystopia, totalitarianism, slavery, tyranny, religion, belief, women's rights, violence, kidnapping, violence against women, torture, society, distopia, soldier, misogyny, coup d'etat, lesbian, alternate reality, alternate world, feminist
Top Boy (2011)
Plot Summary:
A thrilling and raw crime drama following a gang of drug dealers in Hackney, London - an honest and gripping rendition of inner-city drug and gang culture
Duration: 60 min
IMDB Rating: 8.4/10
IMDB Votes: 37000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Plot tags: urban ghetto life, gang, teenage life, ambitious, life is a bitch, ambition, drug dealing, youth, poverty, rivalry, society, social problems, gang war, struggle, right hand man, partners in crime, financial problem, black, drug dealer, urban, violence, mafia, drug lord, african american, corruption
24: The Movie (2014)
Plot Summary:
Jack Bauer comes out of hiding in London to head off a massive terrorist attack while being hunted down by American forces dispatched by President James Heller
Duration: 46 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 46000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Plot tags: hacker, terrorism, terrorist, cia, president, treason, shooting, international relations, save the day, characters in danger, life risking, killings, on the run, interrogation, government facility, espionage, die hard, programmer, fugitives, counter terrorism, submarine, spy, supernatural, criminal, star wars
Bleak House (2005)
Plot Summary:
A suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system
Duration: 510 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Plot tags: estate, aristocracy, charles dickens, intrigue, orphan, secret, investigation, uncover truth, social differences, injustice, society, haunted by the past, lawyer, legal, christmas, abbey, inheritance, relationships, high society, male female relationship, social problems, fight for justice, social injustice, social relations, social issues
Rectify (2013)
Plot Summary:
After 19 years on Death Row for the rape and murder of his teenage girlfriend, Daniel Holden is going home. His conviction has been vacated due to new DNA evidence. Now he has to return to a world he no longer knows and his reentry into the outside world may be as unforgiving as prison. Daniel is haunted by the past, dogged by the present, and uncertain of the future. As he struggles to adapt to his new life, his homecoming reignites the fears of a small town and threatens to shatter his family’s fragile peace. Daniel’s alleged crime divided a community. Will his freedom tear it in half?
Duration: 60 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 27000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Plot tags: ex convict, wrongful conviction, lawyer, starting over, rape, freedom, direction and purpose, innocence, haunted by the past, homecoming, death row, misfit, life is a bitch, society, redemption, social relations, small town, evidence, disgraced, family relations, miscarriage of justice, apocalypse, maniac, distopia, investigation
This Is England '88 (2011)
Plot Summary:
Set during Christmas 1988, Lol is haunted by the devastating events that took place two and a half years before. She and Woody both find themselves struggling to cope with their lives without each other after he leaves the gang. Lol is carrying the burden of her guilt, whilst Woody is trying to build a domestic life with a new girlfriend and a potential promotion at work. Shaun has started drama college and, although still in a relationship with Smell, he has grown close to a girl performing in his Christmas play
Duration: 70 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Plot tags: christmas, friendship, gang, coping, love and romance, life is a bitch, holiday, misfit, christianity, society, realism, shipwreck, rock music, subculture, pop culture, rite of passage, hooligan, kitchen sink realism, british history, young adult, party, friends, girlfriend, profanity, social problems
Spooks (2002)
Plot Summary:
Tense drama series about the different challenges faced by the British Security Service as they work against the clock to safeguard the nation. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid
Duration: 60 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Action, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Plot tags: intelligence agency, spy, cia, terrorism, police, espionage, squad, code breaking, twists and turns, undercover, race against time, profanity, heroes, double agent, trap, society, danger, rookie, nuclear threat, treason, machismo, mole, renegade, government agency, state affairs
Life (2007)
Plot Summary:
Complex, offbeat Detective Charlie Crews returns to the force after serving time in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Crews’ new lease on life has provided him with a Zen-like outlook, peace of mind and no need for vengeance, an attitude which can be challenging to maintain when someone he cares about is threatened — or when he is investigating the mystery surrounding the murder he was falsely accused of
Duration: 45 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: USA
Plot tags: ex convict, investigation, police detective, frame up, partners against crime, who done it, police investigation, murder, homicide detective, uncover truth, suspicion, law enforcement, police, lapd, workplace, teamwork, false accusation, evidence, peril, dishonesty, cop, hotshot, partner, murder mystery, nypd
Farscape (1999)
Plot Summary:
A freak accident during an experimental space mission catapults Astronaut John Crichton across a thousand galaxies to an alien battlefield
Duration: 50 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 40000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: Australia, USA
Plot tags: space travel, spacecraft, outer space, space adventure, space wars, alien, space, astronaut, female warrior, escapades, space opera, heroes, spaceship, obsessive quest, alternate reality, renegade, unlikely relationship, fugitives, evil alien, female alien, strong female character, intergalactic, alien invasion, military, dystopia
Snowfall (2017)
Plot Summary:
Los Angeles. 1983. A storm is coming and it's name is crack. Set against the infancy of the crack cocaine epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it, the story follows numerous characters on a violent collision course
Duration: 44 min
IMDB Rating: 8.3/10
IMDB Votes: 26000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Plot tags: drug dealer, dea, african american, ghetto, illegal drugs, drug, urban, u.s. government, drug crime, black, latinx lead, gangster, spy, cia, obsession, criminal, addiction, mossad, black cast, couples, coming of age, drug abuse, urban decay, cocaine, accomplice