Best tv shows like Our Zoo
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
“Our Zoo” follows the story of George, who being frustrated by memories of fighting in the great war and living with his extended family, wants to bring more beauty into the world. When he comes across a camel and monkey that are about to be abandoned, he embarks on a plan to set up a zoo.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 312 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, realistic, semi serious, costume drama, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Our Zoo (2014):
Similar in 90%
All Creatures Great and Small (1978)
Plot Summary:
All Creatures Great and Small is a British television series, based on the books of the British veterinary surgeon Alf Wight, who wrote under the pseudonym James Herriot. Ninety episodes were aired over two three-year runs. The first run was based directly on Herriot's books; the second was filmed with original scripts.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: touching, realistic, sentimental, humorous, semi serious, feel good, atmospheric, talky, period drama
Similar in 78%
Heimat 3: A Chronicle of Endings and Beginnings (2004)
Plot Summary:
Heimat 3 is the third cycle of Edgar Reitz's monumental Heimat series, which premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival. The third Heimat completes the trilogy and brings together particularly the settings of Heimat 1. It follows the new generation of the Simon family, in a period spanning from 1989 to 2000. Germany changed dramatically in this period, and Reitz cleverly reflects the historical events through the characters’ lives.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 649
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Germany, UK
Duration: 689 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, atmospheric, serious, realistic, epic, contemplative
Similar in 77%
The Grand (1997)
Plot Summary:
The Grand is a British television drama series first broadcast on ITV in 1997–1998. It was written by Russell T Davies and set in a hotel in Manchester in the 1920s. There are two series: eight episodes in the first series were broadcast from 4 April 1997 to 23 May 1997 and ten in the second series from 30 January 1998 to 3 April 1998. All 18 episodes were written by Russell T Davies. The cast included Susan Hampshire, Julia St. John, Tim Healy, Michael Siberry, Stephen Moyer and Mark McGann. The two series were novelised by Catrin Collier, under the pen name Katherine Hardy.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 669
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy, period drama
Similar in 82%
Britannia High (2008)
Plot Summary:
Britannia High is a British musical drama television series co-produced by Granada Television and Globe Productions for the ITV network. The series focused on the lives of a group of teenagers and their mentors at a fictional London theatre school. It aired on ITV and TV3 Ireland, premiering on 26 October 2008. The show starred Sapphire Elia, Georgina Hagen, Mitch Hewer, Rana Roy, Matthew James Thomas and Marcquelle Ward, as well as Adam Garcia as the dance mentor, Lorraine Pilkington as the music mentor and Mark Benton as the school principal and acting mentor. In addition to the main cast, the series featured cameo performances from Girls Aloud, Boyzone, Matt Willis and Gemma Bissix. Also, Aston Merrygold, lead singer of hit boyband JLS, auditioned for the role before his success in the boyband - but only made it to the final 16. George Ure who attended Mountview Academy also auditioned before his success in the Musical Wicked where he played Boq. Pixie Lott also auditioned as did Ed Sheeran and Danielle Peazer. The show featured an original soundtrack which was created by a team of pop producers and writers in the UK, led by Take That member Gary Barlow.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 535
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 630 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, captivating, semi serious, realistic
Similar in 89%
Truckers (2013)
Plot Summary:
Funny, moving and at times painful - Truckers tells stories of real life, ordinary people pushed to extremes. In each episode, one character undertakes a journey and we are along for the ride. In an age when technology would make us seem ever more connected, the series uses the truck driver, alone in his cab, as a way to explore how isolated we can become within modern society and the importance of real human connection. These are powerful, moving stories, but the tone is always joyous and each story is one of redemption.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 113
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, humorous, realistic, semi serious
Similar in 86%
Mrs Biggs (2012)
Plot Summary:
The true story of Charmian Biggs (née Powell), the rebellious product of a strict 1950s upbringing, and her whirlwind romance with Ronald Biggs leading to a descent into crime, most infamously 1963's Great Train Robbery.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 848
Genere: Crime, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: serious, emotional, stylized, touching, realistic, period drama
Similar in 90%
In the Club (2014)
Plot Summary:
In The Club follows six pregnant women and their partners as they get ready for the arrival of their babies at the local parenting class. Housewife Diane, schoolgirl Rosie, newlywed Jasmin, businesswoman Roanna, midwife Vicky and writer and teaching assistant Kim all have their own issues to deal with.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 550
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, serious, realistic
Similar in 84%
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 85%
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 84%
Life in Squares (2015)
Plot Summary:
A story of the close and often fraught relationship between sisters Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 832
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 171 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, emotional, costume drama, historical romance, stylized, period piece, period drama
Similar in 84%
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 85%
The Duchess of Duke Street (1976)
Plot Summary:
The Duchess Of Duke Street is a BBC television drama series set in London between 1900 and 1925. It was created by John Hawkesworth, the former producer of the highly successful ITV period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. It starred Gemma Jones as Louisa Leyton/Trotter, the eponymous "Duchess" who works her way up from servant to renowned cook to proprietrix of the upper-class Bentinck Hotel in Duke Street, St. James's, in London. The story is loosely based on the real-life career of Rosa Lewis, the "Duchess of Jermyn Street", who ran the Cavendish Hotel in London. When the show first aired, there were many people who still remembered her, as she lived until 1952. According to census returns, she was born in Leyton, Essex, to a watchmaker. In the series, Louisa's family name is Leyton, and her father is a clock-maker. The programme lasted for two series totalling 31 episodes, shown between 1976 and 1977. It was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series in 1980. The theme music was composed by Alexander Faris.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, sincere, realistic, stylized, semi serious, period drama
Similar in 89%
The English Game (2020)
Plot Summary:
Two 19th-century footballers on opposite sides of a class divide navigate professional and personal turmoil to change the game — and England — forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 17000
Genere: Drama, History, Sport
Country: UK
Duration: 281 min
Plot tags: period piece, inspirational, uplifting, realistic, stylized, costume drama, serious, period drama
Similar in 90%
The Great Fire (2014)
Plot Summary:
An insight into what happened on the night of 2 September 1666, the Great fire of London.
IMDB Rating: 5.9
IMDB Votes: 758
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, period piece, costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 82%
Casualty 1900s (2008)
Plot Summary:
Featuring true cases, characters and events taken from the London Hospital records, nurse's ward diaries and intimate memoirs, these gritty medical series show the lives – and forbidden romances – of pioneering doctors and nurses a hundred years ago.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 509
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: sentimental, sincere, touching, emotional, period piece, costume drama, serious, captivating, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 75%
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%
The Wingless Bird (1997)
Plot Summary:
On the eve of World War I, Agnes Conway manages both the business and the problems of her troubled family. She finds the strength to break class barriers and help her sister Jessie marry a good boy from a family of dockside toughs. Is she strong enough to break them again when Charles Farrier, a gentleman, courts her over his parents' opposition? Agnes faces an added dilemma when she finds her heart divided between Charles and his soldier brother Reginald.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 540
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: sentimental, touching, serious, realistic, period piece, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 78%
Poldark (1975)
Plot Summary:
Period drama series about the brooding rivalry between former soldier Ross Poldark and local industrialist George Warleggan, and the two women in their lives. Based on the books by Winston Graham.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, spiritual, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, saga, period drama
Similar in 82%
32 Brinkburn Street (2011)
Plot Summary:
Drama moving between the lives, loves and lies of two generations of the same family who live at 32 Brinkburn Street in 1931 and 2011.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 95
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: realistic, captivating, serious, sentimental, suspense, period drama
Similar in 81%
From There to Here (2014)
Plot Summary:
Created by Peter Bowker, From There To Here is set in the aftermath of the 1996 Arndale bombing and follows Daniel Cotton, a Manchester family man who is torn between the life he wants and the life he could have. The story spans the four years that changed Manchester and the country forever; from Footballs Coming Home in 1996, to New Labour sweeping to power in 1997, and finally to the hangover after the Millennium celebrations of 2000. Against the feel-good backdrop of Euro 96, it maps the emotional shockwaves generated by that bomb in the lives of two parallel families from different sides of the tracks.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 575
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: sincere, serious, touching, captivating, realistic
Similar in 76%
Jerusalem Brew (2003)
Plot Summary:
The series opens as widow Shimon Sadeh, a successful general contractor, is finishing the year of mourning for his deceased wife. He marries Leah, his daughter's piano teacher. Shimon's eldest son, Ephraim, has become ultra-Orthodox, identifying with his grandfather, Eliahu, who lives with the family and has close bonds and a strong influence. The middle child, Itzik, rejects both going into his father's business to be a musician; and Orthodoxy. Strong-willed, feisty Ariella is finishing high school and considering her options. Many scenes take place in the small Tunisian synagogue headed by Eliahu, and involve the power struggles among the regulars there. The gut-punching drama is largely the work of Oscar-winning director Yankul Goldwasser, who previously directed the popular series Reaching for Heaven; and young director Nir Bergman, who won the Israeli Academy Award for his first film, Broken Wings.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 22
Genere: Drama
Country: Israel
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: touching, emotional, sincere, serious, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 85%
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 81%
Edward & Mrs. Simpson (1978)
Plot Summary:
While still the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VIII meets the married American socialite, Wallis Simpson. Their relationship causes furor in the palace and in parliament, especially when King George V dies, Mrs. Simpson gets divorced, and King Edward announces his intentions to marry her.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 448
Genere: Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 350 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, period drama
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 89%
A Very British Scandal (2021)
Plot Summary:
Sex, secrets and suspicion - the true story of a duchess publicly shamed in a high society divorce that gripped the nation.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 177 min
Plot tags: psychological, captivating, disturbing, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 78%
Edward the King (1975)
Plot Summary:
Edward the Seventh is a 1975 television drama series, made by ATV in 13 episodes. Based on the biography of Edward VII by Philip Magnus, it starred Timothy West as the elder Edward VII and Simon Gipps-Kent and Charles Sturridge as Edward in his youth, Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria, Deborah Grant and Helen Ryan as Queen Alexandra, Robert Hardy as the Prince Consort, Alison Leggatt as the Duchess of Kent, and Felicity Kendal as Princess Vicky. It was directed by John Gorrie, who wrote episodes 7-10 with David Butler writing the remainder of the series. The series also featured John Gielgud as Benjamin Disraeli, Michael Hordern as William Ewart Gladstone, Harry Andrews as young Edward's tutor Colonel Bruce, Jane Lapotaire as Empress Marie of Russia, Christopher Neame as Kaiser Wilhelm II and, in one of his earliest roles, Charles Dance as Edward's eldest son Eddy, who died at the age of 28. Gielgud previously played Disraeli in the 1941 film The Prime Minister. The actresses playing Edward's mistresses include Moira Redmond as Alice Keppel and Carolyn Seymour as Daisy Greville. Francesca Annis was featured in two episodes as Lillie Langtry which led to Butler writing a full series about Mrs Langtry's life for Annis to star in, Lillie.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 539
Genere: Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, epic, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, saga, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 82%
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 82%
The Village (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Village is a BBC TV series written by Peter Moffat. The drama is set in a Derbyshire village in the 20th century. The first series of what Moffat hopes will become a 42-hour TV drama was broadcast in spring 2013 and covered the years 1914 to 1920. A second series has been confirmed for 2014 which will continue the story into the 1920s. Future series would be set in the Second World War, post-war Austerity Britain, and so on. The Village tells the story of life in a Derbyshire village through the eyes of a central character, Bert Middleton. Bert has been portrayed as a boy by Bill Jones, as a teen by Alfie Stewart, and as an old man by David Ryall. John Simm plays Bert's father John Middleton, an alcoholic Peak District farmer, and Maxine Peake plays Bert's mother, Grace. Peake is a preferred actress of the writer, who has called her "the best actress of her generation", and she has featured in two previous Moffat series, Criminal Justice and Silk. Writer Peter Moffat has spoken of wanting to create 'a British Heimat', alluding to Edgar Reitz's epic German saga Heimat, which followed one extended family in a region of Rhineland from 1919 to 1982. Unlike Downton Abbey, this version of history is a working-class history—"domestics are expected to face the walls when the master walks by".
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, rough, costume drama, dark, grim, historical drama, stylized, epic
Similar in 80%
Aristocrats (1999)
Plot Summary:
Based on a true story, Aristocrats draws back the curtain on an 18th century English family near the summit of society, revealing a tapestry of romance, prejudice, infidelity, and revolution.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, Ireland, USA
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: period piece, captivating, serious, historical drama, realistic, stylized, costume drama, romantic drama, historical romance, period drama
Similar in 90%
We Bought a Zoo (2011)
Plot Summary:
Benjamin has lost his wife and, in a bid to start his life over, purchases a large house that has a zoo – welcome news for his daughter, but his son is not happy about it. The zoo is in need of renovation and Benjamin sets about the work with the head keeper and the rest of the staff, but, the zoo soon runs into financial trouble.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 150000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Family
Country: USA
Duration: 124 min
Plot tags: feel good, inspirational, sincere, touching, romantic, sentimental, emotional, uplifting, funny, light