Best tv shows like Downton Abbey
Last updated March 2024
Looking for tv shows like Downton Abbey? Contribute your familiarity to guide others toward tv series and films you've viewed before that may also consume them. Help enlarge the circle of people referring videos between each other. We welcome your engagement!
Plot Summary:
A chronicle of the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the post-Edwardian era—with great events in history having an effect on their lives and on the British social hierarchy.
IMDB Rating: 8.7
IMDB Votes: 220000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 3110 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, serious, costume drama, period piece, historical drama, stylized, dramatic, erotic, romantic
Best tv shows and movies like Downton Abbey (2010):
Similar in 87%
Downton Abbey: A New Era (2022)
Plot Summary:
The residents of Downton Abbey go on a new adventure that takes them to a Spanish villa.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 29000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: sincere, family saga, period piece, captivating, disturbing, dorama, saga, crying, costume drama, silent
Similar in 89%
Grand Hotel (2011)
Plot Summary:
Grand Hotel is a Spanish drama television series directed by Carlos Sedes and starring Yon Gonzalez and Amaia Salamanca. It first aired on Antena 3 in Spain on 11 October 2011 and on Sky Arts 1 in the UK on 18 November 2012. The series, filmed at the Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander, is set in an early 20th century aristocratic hotel during the reign of King Alfonso XIII and is centered on the mysteries that involve the owner family and the hotel servants. Grand Hotel has received critical acclaim from television critics and won numerous accolades.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Crime, Drama, History, Mystery, Romance
Country: Spain
Duration: 3098 min
Plot tags: stylized, captivating, serious, realistic, historical drama, heartbreaking, detective, hispanic, period drama, telenovela
Similar in 78%
Upstairs, Downstairs (1971)
Plot Summary:
Upstairs, Downstairs is a British television drama series originally produced by London Weekend Television and revived by the BBC. It ran on ITV in 68 episodes divided into five series from 1971 to 1975. Set in a large townhouse in Edwardian, First World War and interwar Belgravia in London, the series depicts the lives of the servants "downstairs" and their masters—the family "upstairs". Great events feature prominently in the episodes but minor or gradual changes are also noted. The series stands as a document of the social and technological changes that occurred between 1903 and 1930.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, stylized, costume drama, period piece, social, historical drama, touching, period drama, vintage
Similar in 77%
Downton Abbey (2019)
Plot Summary:
The beloved Crawleys and their intrepid staff prepare for the most important moment of their lives. A royal visit from the King and Queen of England will unleash scandal, romance and intrigue that will leave the future of Downton hanging in the balance.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 62000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA, China
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: family saga, sincere, captivating, period piece, costume drama, historical drama, atmospheric, saga, visually stunning, disturbing
Similar in 80%
Parade's End (2012)
Plot Summary:
In the years before the First World War, three Britons are drawn into fraught and ultimately tragic relations: Anglican Christopher Tietjens, second son of the lord of the manor of Groby, Yorkshire, who is a disconsolate, Tory statistician in London; Catholic Sylvia Satterthwaite, his promiscuous and self-centered socialite wife who has married him only to hide the fact that their son is not really his; and freethinking Valentine Wannop, a young suffragette and daughter of a lady novelist, who is torn between her idealism and her attraction to "Chrissy". As the war works a profound change on Europe, and Chrissy is badly wounded in France, the conflict shatters and rearranges the lives of all three principals, as well as virtually everyone else in their elite circle.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Action, Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Belgium, USA
Duration: 287 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, clever, period piece, costume drama, romantic drama, retro, historical drama, stylized, period drama
Similar in 87%
A Woman of Substance (1984)
Plot Summary:
A Woman of Substance charts the life of Emma Harte, from kitchen maid at the beginning of the 20th Century, to respected business woman and Grandmother in the 1980's. From humble beginnings Emma Harte starts her business with a small shop, but over the next twenty years she expands her stores and invests in the growing textile industry in Leeds. By the time of World War 2, Emma is the head of a major retail and manufacturing empire, but she has struggled all her life to find love. After an illegitimate daughter and two marriages, she finally meets the love of her life, Paul McGill, but their affair is cut short by a tragic accident, leaving Emma with his daughter. In the 1980's Emma faces one of her biggest tests - her children's attempt to remove her as head of her company, but Emma is far from the senile old woman they think she is - she is determined to stop them at all costs. Written by Stacey Mitchell.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: costume drama, romantic drama, historical drama, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 85%
The Forsyte Saga (1967)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation from John Galsworthy's novels.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: family saga, costume drama, stylized, spiritual, historical drama, touching, epic, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 86%
Upstairs Downstairs (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1936, the show takes viewers, old and new, back to the lavish world of Belgravia, London. A new set of occupants reside at 165 Eaton Place and viewers see how external and internal influences of the tumultuous pre-war period shape and mould the lives of this wealthy family and their servants..
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, historical drama, stylized, costume drama, period piece, retro, social, serious, touching, period drama
Similar in 84%
Howards End (2017)
Plot Summary:
The social and class divisions in early 20th century England through the intersection of three families - the wealthy Wilcoxes, the gentle and idealistic Schlegels and the lower-middle class Basts.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: costume drama, psychological, sentimental, romantic, captivating, period piece, historical drama, sincere, touching, disturbing
Similar in 75%
Brideshead Revisited (1981)
Plot Summary:
In this eleven parts British television serial, Charles Ryder's involvement with members of the aristocratic Marchmain/Flyte family is followed throughout the years between the two World Wars.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 659 min
Plot tags: costume drama, spiritual, avant garde, sitcom, historical drama, psychological, tense, sincere, clever, touching
Similar in 88%
The Forsyte Saga (2002)
Plot Summary:
In 2002, the first two books and the first interlude of John Galsworthy's trilogy The Forsyte Saga were adapted by Granada Television for the ITV network. Additional funding for this production was provided by American PBS station WGBH, the 1967 BBC version having been a success on PBS in the early 1970s.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 276 min
Plot tags: period piece, family saga, realistic, costume drama, serious, saga, historical drama, touching, stylized, romantic drama
Similar in 77%
Belgravia (2020)
Plot Summary:
A tale of secrets and scandals set in 1840s London. When the Trenchards accept an invitation to the now legendary ball hosted by the Duchess of Richmond on the fateful evening of the Battle of Waterloo, it sets in motion a series of events that will have consequences for decades to come as secrets unravel behind the porticoed doors of London’s grandest postcode.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, captivating, romantic, period piece, exciting, sincere, atmospheric, historical drama, talky, period drama
Similar in 82%
Sanditon (2019)
Plot Summary:
The spirited and impulsive Charlotte Heywood moves from her rural home to Sanditon, a fishing village attempting to reinvent itself as a seaside resort.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, heartbreaking, crying, romantic drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 89%
The Buccaneers (1995)
Plot Summary:
Four American girls go to England to find husbands.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 212 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, romantic drama, historical drama, spooky, clever, realistic, stylized, semi serious, witty
Similar in 85%
Call the Midwife (2012)
Plot Summary:
Drama following the lives of a group of midwives working in the poverty-stricken East End of London during the 1950s, based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 30000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, realistic, stylized, period piece, costume drama, suspenseful, historical drama, retro, medical drama
Similar in 85%
Land Girls (2009)
Plot Summary:
The lives, loves and highs and lows of four members of the Women's Land Army working at the Hoxley Estate during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 225 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, costume drama, historical drama, psychological, atmospheric, serious, period drama
Similar in 75%
Mr Selfridge (2013)
Plot Summary:
Mr. Selfridge recounts the real life story of the flamboyant and visionary American founder of Selfridge's, London's lavish department store. Set in 1909 London, when women were reveling in a new sense of freedom and modernity, it follows Harry Gordon Selfridge ('Mile a Minute Harry'), a man with a mission to make shopping as thrilling as sex. Pioneering and reckless, with an almost manic energy, Harry created a theater of retail where any topic or trend that was new, exciting, entertaining - or just eccentric - was showcased.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: stylized, captivating, costume drama, serious, realistic, period piece, dark drama, historical drama, period drama, vintage
Similar in 83%
The Paradise (2012)
Plot Summary:
An intoxicating love story set in England's first department store in the 1870s. The Paradise revolves around the lives of the people who live and work in the store, each bound in their own way by the power of the world they live in, and the pasts that follow them there. A love story, mystery, and social comedy all in one.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, costume drama, stylized, realistic, period piece, serious, intellectual, historical drama, historical romance, period drama
Similar in 86%
Poldark (2015)
Plot Summary:
Britain is in the grip of a chilling recession... falling wages, rising prices, civil unrest - only the bankers are smiling. It's 1783 and Ross Poldark returns from the American War of Independence to his beloved Cornwall to find his world in ruins: his father dead, the family mine long since closed, his house wrecked and his sweetheart pledged to marry his cousin. But Ross finds that hope and love can be found when you are least expecting it in the wild but beautiful Cornish landscape.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, family saga, realistic, saga, costume drama, historical drama, period piece, serious, crying, period drama
Similar in 90%
Cranford (2007)
Plot Summary:
In 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.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 469 min
Plot tags: sincere, atmospheric, costume drama, clever, period piece, historical drama, sitcom, historical romance, realistic, stylized
Similar in 81%
Sense and Sensibility (2008)
Plot Summary:
This is the acclaimed 2008 BBC adaptation of the famous Jane Austen novel. While it originally aired as a 3-part miniseries, this home video release includes a single uninterrupted version of the entire film.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 174 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, historical drama, sincere, sweet, romantic drama, feel good, witty, emotional, atmospheric
Similar in 79%
North & South (2004)
Plot Summary:
North & South is a British television drama serial, produced by the BBC and originally broadcast in four episodes on BBC One in November and December 2004. It follows the story of Margaret Hale, a young woman from southern England who has to move to the North after her father decides to leave the clergy. The family struggles to adjust itself to the industrial town's customs, especially after meeting the Thorntons, a proud family of cotton mill owners who seem to despise their social inferiors. The story explores the issues of class and gender, as Margaret's sympathy for the town mill workers conflicts with her growing attraction to John Thornton. The serial is based on the 1855 Victorian novel North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. It was adapted for television by Sandy Welch and directed by Brian Percival.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 34000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 235 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, sincere, captivating, costume drama, period piece, romantic, historical drama, romantic drama, heartbreaking
Similar in 86%
Bridgerton (2020)
Plot Summary:
Wealth, lust, and betrayal set in the backdrop of Regency era England, seen through the eyes of the powerful Bridgerton family.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 161000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, sexy, captivating, light, period piece, historical drama, visually appealing, romantic drama, funny
Similar in 88%
Howards End (1992)
Plot Summary:
A saga of class relations and changing times in an Edwardian England on the brink of modernity, the film centers on liberal Margaret Schlegel, who, along with her sister Helen, becomes involved with two couples: wealthy, conservative industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth, and the downwardly mobile working-class Leonard Bast and his mistress Jackie.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Japan, USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, emotional, period piece, stylized, light, melancholic, talky, compassionate, realistic
Similar in 90%
Emma (2009)
Plot Summary:
Emma Woodhouse seems to be perfectly content, a loving father whom she cares for, friends, and a home. But Emma has a terrible habit - matchmaking. She cannot resist finding suitors for her friends, most of all Harriet Smith. Emma is desperate for Harriet to find happiness, but every suitor she finds for her friend ends up attracted to Emma herself. But is Emma so focused on Harriet's happiness that she is not considering her own happiness in love?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, witty, feel good, light, sweet, touching, humorous, historical drama, clever
Similar in 80%
Lark Rise to Candleford (2008)
Plot Summary:
Set in the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town, Candleford, the series chronicles the daily lives of farm-workers, craftsmen and gentry at the end of the 19th Century. Lark Rise to Candleford is a love letter to a vanished corner of rural England and a heart-warming drama series teeming with wit, wisdom and romance.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 53 min
Plot tags: costume drama, sincere, sentimental, period piece, realistic, historical drama, semi autobiographical, serious, stylized, period drama
Similar in 89%
The Tudors (2007)
Plot Summary:
The Tudors is a history-based drama series following the young, vibrant King Henry VIII, a competitive and lustful monarch who navigates the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 80000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: Ireland, Canada, USA, UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: stylized, captivating, serious, historical drama, soap opera, realistic, sexual, costume drama, period piece, sexy
Similar in 81%
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Plot Summary:
Jane Austen's classic novel about the prejudice that occurred between the 19th century classes and the pride which would keep lovers apart.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 91000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 327 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, stylized, atmospheric, witty, period piece, clever, scenic, historical drama, sentimental
Similar in 82%
The White Queen (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set against the backdrop of the Wars of the Roses, the series is the story of the women caught up in the protracted conflict for the throne of England.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 31000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance, War
Country: UK, France
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: historical drama, captivating, stylized, serious, costume drama, erotic, political, suspense, period piece, fairy tale
Similar in 89%
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Plot Summary:
Pride & Prejudice is a humorous story of love and life among English gentility during the Georgian era. Mr. Bennet is an English gentleman living in Hertfordshire with his overbearing wife and five daughters. If Mr. Bennet dies their house will be inherited by a distant cousin whom they have never met, so the family's future happiness and security is dependent on the daughters making good marriages.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 322000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: France, UK, USA
Duration: 129 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, sweet, dramatic, captivating, witty, touching, emotional, cute, period piece