Best tv shows like Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Adaptation of the Dickens novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 401
Genere: Drama, Crime
Country: UK
Duration: 391 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Masterpiece Theatre: Bleak House (1985):
Similar in 83%
Rumpole of the Bailey (1978)
Plot Summary:
Rumpole of the Bailey is a British television series created and written by the British writer and barrister John Mortimer. It stars Leo McKern as Horace Rumpole, an aging London barrister who defends any and all clients, and has been spun off into a series of short stories, novels, and radio programmes.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: detective, clever, serious, realistic, witty
Similar in 80%
The Blackheath Poisonings (1992)
Plot Summary:
The investigation of Paul Vandervent into the mysterious death of his father brings further discord among two feuding families tied together in business and marriage, living under the same roof.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: gothic, period drama
Similar in 77%
The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies (2014)
Plot Summary:
This drama tells the real-life story of retired schoolteacher Christopher Jefferies who was initially questioned by police as a suspect in the murder of Jo Yeates who rented a flat from him. He was vilified by the press, partly on account of his eccentric appearance and long flowing hair, even after he had been released on bail by the police. It was only when the real suspect, a neighbour of Jo Yeates, was arrested and later convicted of the murder that the destructive media attention in Jefferies subsided. He later sued several newspapers for libel and received an official apology from the police.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, tense, costume drama, biting, suspense
Similar in 87%
Conviction (2004)
Plot Summary:
The murder of a 12-year-old girl leaves her local community shell-shocked and intent on revenge. As the public clamour for justice, the team investigating the murder battle against a growing sense of vigilantism on their patch.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 175
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: psychological, sentimental, serious, suspenseful, detective, sincere, realistic
Similar in 89%
The Bill (1984)
Plot Summary:
The Bill is a police procedural television series that was broadcast on the ITV network from 16 October 1984 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, entitled Woodentop, which was broadcast in August 1983. In its final year on air, The Bill was broadcast once a week, usually on Tuesdays or Thursdays, in a one-hour format. The programme focused on the lives and work of one shift of police officers, rather than on any particular aspect of police work. At the time of the series' conclusion, The Bill was the longest-running police procedural television series in the United Kingdom, and was among the longest-running of any British television series. The series was produced by Thames Television. The series name originated from "Old Bill", a slang term for the police. This was also Geoff McQueen's original title idea for the series, before he eventually decided on "The Bill". Although highly acclaimed amongst fans and critics alike, the series attracted controversy on several occasions. An episode broadcast in 2008 was criticised for featuring fictional treatment for multiple sclerosis, and another episode in the same year resulted in litigation, submitted by MP George Galloway for defamation. The series has also faced more general criticism, concerning the levels of violence it portrays, particularly prior to 2009, when it occupied a pre-watershed slot. During its time on air, The Bill won several awards, including BAFTAs, a Writers' Guild of Great Britain award and the title of "best drama" at the Inside Soap Awards in 2009, the latter being the series' fourth consecutive win. Throughout its twenty-seven-year run, the programme was always broadcast on the main ITV network. In later years, episodes of the show were repeated on ITV3 on their week of broadcast. The series has also been repeated on other digital stations, including UKTV Gold, Alibi, Watch and UKTV G2. In March 2010, executives at ITV announced that the network did not intend to recommission The Bill, and that filming on the series would cease on 14 June 2010. The last ever episode of the series was aired on 31 August 2010.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, sincere, detective, crime drama, realistic
Similar in 90%
City of Vice (2008)
Plot Summary:
City of Vice is a British historical crime drama television series set in Georgian London and was first screened on 14 January 2008 on Channel 4. It is produced by Touchpaper Television part of the RDF Media Group. The series mixes fiction with fact following the fortunes of the famous novelist Henry Fielding and his brother John. Henry and John Fielding were magistrates of Westminster and the men who created the modern police force in Britain through the Bow Street Runners. The series was written by Clive Bradley and Peter Harness, whose scripts were nominated for a Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Series, 2008. It was directed by Justin Hardy and Dan Reed. The historical consultant was Hallie Rubenhold. The show uses authentic historical research to tell the story of the two men battling to create a police force, 75 years before Robert Peel founded the Metropolitan Police. Henry Fielding’s memoirs and contemporary sources such as the Old Bailey Sessions Papers have been used to provide historical accuracy to the series. The series uses innovative mapping sequences to follow the narrative and characters' progress, wherein John Rocque's map of 1746 is seen from above, becomes firstly 3D and ultimately merges with film sequences of the next scene to pick up the narrative tale.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 509
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: captivating, serious, detective, historical drama, tense, suspense, period piece, rough, bleak, realistic
Similar in 90%
Criminal Justice (2008)
Plot Summary:
The worst thing Ben has ever done is, tonight, he takes his Dad's black cab out without his permission. But that's not why Ben ends the evening in a police cell. What looked to be a spontaneous evening of fun with a sexy stranger, Melanie, has culminated in a dead girl and Ben covered in her blood, holding the murder weapon. All the evidence points to Ben. There are no other leads. But he didn t do it. He can t remember all the events of the night, but he s sure he didn t. Ben is about to see what the criminal justice system does to someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 584 min
Plot tags: bleak, serious, captivating, suspense, atmospheric, crime drama, rough, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 87%
The Sculptress (1996)
Plot Summary:
Olive Martin (Quirke), a heavily overweight young woman is convicted of killing and butchering her mother and sister and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, when she is assigned to write a book about her life, author Rosalind Leigh (Goodall) begins to develop a relationship with Olive and is soon convinced of her innocence. With the help of restaurant owner and former policeman Hal Hawksley (Fulford), she sets out to prove it and undo what she sees as a miscarriage of justice. However, all is not what is seems.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 381
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: detective, psychological thriller, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, contemplative
Similar in 90%
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (1982)
Plot Summary:
Young Nicholas Nickleby sets out to make his fortune in order to prevent his mother and sister from depending upon his uncle, Ralph Nicklby. But he finds his first job as master at a Yorkshire school to be cruel, and runs away with one of the students. Meanwhile, Kate is subjected to the unwanted attentions of Sir Mulberry Hawk, aided by her uncle. Nicholas and his new friend, Smike, begin their adventures and eventually set out to rescue Kate, with the usual Dickensian twists, turns and asides.
IMDB Rating: 9.1
IMDB Votes: 541
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 540 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 75%
The Crimson Petal and the White (2011)
Plot Summary:
Follow Sugar into the underbelly of Victorian London seething with vitality, sexuality, ambition and emotion.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 274 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, sexual, psychological thriller, rough, grim
Similar in 89%
Dickensian (2015)
Plot Summary:
Dickensian intertwines the realm of fictional characters in Charles Dickens’ novels—including Scrooge, Fagin and Miss Havisham—in half-hour episodes, as their lives intertwine in 19th century London. The Old Curiosity Shop sits next door to The Three Cripples Pub, while Fagin’s Den is hidden down a murky alley off a bustling Victorian street.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, atmospheric, serious, captivating, stylized, historical drama, controversial, period drama
Similar in 88%
Flambards (1979)
Plot Summary:
In the early 1900s in England, young Christina is orphaned and goes to live with her Uncle Russell, who owns the country estate of Flambards, and has two sons. Mark, the elder, is a wastrel, a roue and, like his father, loves to hunt. The younger son, William, lives to fly aeroplanes. Christina finds herself struggling with the ideas of classism as she falls in love with country life, the hunt, and one of her cousins. But after their impulsive marriage, when her husband is called away by the First World War, Christina must keep Flambards afloat by herself.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 477
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 780 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 90%
A Dance to the Music of Time (1997)
Plot Summary:
Anthony Powell's 12 volume novel sequence "A Dance to the Music of Time" has been dramatised for television.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 507
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 416 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 81%
Bleak House (2005)
Plot Summary:
A suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 510 min
Plot tags: captivating, costume drama, bleak, serious, period piece, historical drama, suspense, educational, realistic, mysterious
Similar in 86%
Vanity Fair (1967)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's novel. The first colour production from the BBC.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 67
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period piece, period drama
Similar in 76%
Injustice (2011)
Plot Summary:
On the surface William Travers is a picture of success. An accomplished criminal barrister happily living with his wife in rural Suffolk. However, Travers is still recovering from a traumatic series of events that have shaken his belief in the legal system. Reluctantly, he is drawn into a case that involves his old friend Martin Newall who faces conspiracy and murder charges while at the same time being investigated by a vicious and vengeful detective DS Mark Wenborn.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: psychological, tense, suspenseful, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, psychological thriller, dark, crime drama
Similar in 77%
The Jury (2002)
Plot Summary:
The Jury is a British television serial broadcast in 2002. The series was the first ever to be allowed to film inside the historic Old Bailey courthouse.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: psychological, serious, captivating, realistic, bleak, tense, talky
Similar in 78%
The Mystery of Edwin Drood (2012)
Plot Summary:
An exploration of Charles Dickens's unfinished work in which the mystery of the murder of Edwin Drood is examined.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, serious, captivating, psychological, historical drama, realistic, stylized, fairy tale, period drama
Similar in 77%
He Knew He Was Right (2004)
Plot Summary:
He Knew He Was Right was a 2004 BBC TV adaptation of the Anthony Trollope novel He Knew He Was Right. The mini-series portrays the failure of a marriage caused by the unreasonable jealousy of a husband exacerbated by the stubbornness of a wilful wife.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, stylized, historical drama, period piece, costume drama, romantic drama, period drama
Similar in 83%
The Mill (2013)
Plot Summary:
Powerful historical drama series, based on the lives of real people, telling the story of young 19th-century apprentices taking their lives into their own hands for the first time.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, stylized, psychological, rough, period piece, costume drama, grim, historical drama
Similar in 85%
Love in a Cold Climate (2001)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation of Nancy Mitford's novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 916
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, stylized, historical drama, costume drama, witty, period drama
Similar in 83%
Our Mutual Friend (1998)
Plot Summary:
Intertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's 1860s London.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 350 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, period drama
Similar in 78%
David Copperfield (1970)
Plot Summary:
A made for TV movie of the Charles Dickens' classic novel, turns Dickens' picaresque tale into an extended flashback, with David Copperfield Robin Phillips as a young man, brooding on a deserted beach, recalling his youth. The characters are all trotted out in choppy flashbacks as David remembers his life as a young orphan, brought to London and passed around from relatives, to guardians, to boarding school.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 585
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 118 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 80%
The Life and Adventures of Nick Nickleby (2012)
Plot Summary:
A modern interpretation of the classic Dickens novel.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 63
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, emotional, tense, realistic, modern day adaptation, period drama
Similar in 76%
Wives and Daughters (1999)
Plot Summary:
Elizabeth Gaskell's enchanting tale of romance, scandal, and intrigue in a gossipy English town comes to Masterpiece Theatre in a lavish four-part production of Wives and Daughters, adapted by celebrated screenwriter Andrew Davies.Davies, who wrote the scripts for such Masterpiece Theatre classics as A Rather English Marriage, Moll Flanders, the House of Cards trilogy, and Middlemarch, found Wives and Daughters to be perfect costume-drama material. It posed a rather interesting problem: Gaskell died just before completing the book. She was obviously aiming at a happy ending, and Davies has supplied the lost denouement with surprise and style.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 301 min
Plot tags: uplifting, period piece, costume drama, serious, historical drama, romantic drama, psychological, romantic, clever, spooky
Similar in 88%
Vanity Fair (1998)
Plot Summary:
This faithful BBC adaptation once again brings William Makepeace Thackeray's classic satirical novel to the screen. Becky Sharp (Natasha Little) is a beautiful, clever and poor girl determined to earn a higher place in society at any cost. The Napoleonic Wars provide a dramatic backdrop as Becky sets out to manipulate various characters -- from London ballrooms to the battlefields of Waterloo.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, sincere, serious, captivating, realistic, witty, stylized, period piece, period drama
Similar in 90%
Great Expectations (1999)
Plot Summary:
A young boy called Pip stumbles upon a hunted criminal who threatens him and demands food. A few years later, Pip finds that he has a benefactor. Imagining that Miss Havisham, a rich lady whose adopted daughter Estella he loves, is the benefactor, Pip believes in a grand plan at the end of which he will be married to Estella. However, when the criminal from his childhood turns up one stormy night and reveals that he, Magwitch, is his benefactor, Pip finds his dreams crumbling. Although initially repulsed by his benefactor, Pip gradually becomes loyal to him and stays with him until his death.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 168 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, sincere, captivating, period piece, costume drama, realistic, period drama, weird
Similar in 84%
Great Expectations (2011)
Plot Summary:
'Great Expectations' opens with Pip as a boy (played as an young man by newcomer Douglas Booth, 'The Pillars of the Earth') on the marshes near his home, where he encounters the desperate escapee Magwitch (Winstone). Pip is coerced into stealing a metal file to break Magwitch's chains, but the boy willingly snares a piece of meat pie to feed the famished man. So begins a classic coming-of-age story about innate kindness and learned indifference. Young Pip expects no more from life than to join his brother-in-law Joe at the blacksmith's forge. But fate intervenes when the neighboring rich eccentric Miss Havisham (Anderson) seeks Pip out as a playmate for her adopted daughter, Estella (Vanessa Kirby, 'The Hour'). This sets Pip on a course that sees him tested in many ways, not least in being thrown into a wish-fulfillment paradise for a young man, where he has the pleasures of London at his disposal and true love - and great expectations - in his future. Or so he thinks.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, historical drama, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, costume drama, period piece, gothic, stylized
Similar in 80%
The Whole Truth (2010)
Plot Summary:
As District Attorney Kathryn Peale and defense attorney Jimmy Nolan rally their teams around their arguments and prepare to go head-to-head in the the courtroom, they make frantic moves and countermoves of complex legal wrangling to tilt justice in their favor.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 716
Genere: Crime, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, psychological, atmospheric, serious, contemplative
Similar in 82%
The Take (2009)
Plot Summary:
Freddie Jackson is just out of prison. He's done his time, made the right connections and now he's ready to use them. His wife Jackie dreams of having her husband home but she's forgotten the rows and the girls Freddie can't leave alone. His younger cousin, Jimmy, dreams of making a name for himself on Freddie's coattails.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 9000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, rough, bleak, realistic, stylized, sentimental, dramatic, twist ending, anime