Best tv shows like Saints & Strangers
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Saints & Strangers is a story that goes beyond the familiar historical account of Thanksgiving and the founding of Plymouth Plantation, revealing the trials and tribulations of the settlers at Plymouth: 102 men, women and children who sailed on a chartered ship for a place they had never seen. Of this group, half are those we think of as pilgrims, or saints, religious separatists who abandoned their prior lives for a single cause: religious freedom. The other half, the merchant adventurers–referred to as strangers–had less spiritual and more material, real-world objectives. This clash of values created complex inner-struggles for the group as they sought to establish a new colony, compounded by a complicated relationship with the local Native American tribes. The conflicting allegiances among these groups, culminated in trials of assimilation, faith, and compromise that continue to define our nation to this day.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 192 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, educational, historical drama, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Saints & Strangers (2015):
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Salem Witch Trials (2002)
Plot Summary:
The film recounts the sobering tale of how 19 innocent lives were taken in a community experiencing paranoid hysteria regarding the suspected - but unproved - presence of the occult in the small New England town.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 941
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 189 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, disturbing, suspense, detective, historical drama, thought provoking, fairy tale
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Of Kings and Prophets (2016)
Plot Summary:
An epic biblical saga of faith, ambition and betrayal as told through the eyes of the battle-weary King Saul, the resentful prophet Samuel and the resourceful young shepherd David—all on a collision course with destiny that will change the world. One thousand years before Christ, the first king of the Israelites, Saul, struggles to unify the 12 Israelite tribes and defend his fledgling nation against savage enemy attacks. The prophet Samuel relays a message from God to King Saul that he must destroy one of Israel's ancient enemies. But when Saul defies that message, Samuel prophesies that the Lord will tear the kingdom of Israel from him and choose another in his place. In time, Saul comes to realize that his greatest threat will not come from his enemies, but from the shepherd, David.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: biblical, rough, suspenseful, disturbing, erotic, sensual
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The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1969)
Plot Summary:
The Spanish explorer Pizarro captures the Inca god-chief Atahualpa and promises to free him upon the delivery of a hoard of gold. But Pizarro finds himself torn between his desire for conquest and his sense of honor after friendship and respect develops between captive and captor.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 788
Genere: Adventure, Drama, History, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 121 min
Plot tags: independent film, tense, serious, realistic, epic, historical drama, baroque, period drama, cult film
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El Dorado (1988)
Plot Summary:
The story of an expedition down the Orinoco and Amazon rivers in 1560 by Spanish soldiers searching for the fabled city of gold, El Dorado.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 648
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain, France, Italy
Duration: 149 min
Plot tags: tense, rough, bleak, epic, serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing
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Hernán (2019)
Plot Summary:
The Spanish "Conquistador" Hernán Cortés arrives in the shores of what today is México and faces both local demons and those who've sailed with him.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: Mexico, Spain
Duration:
Plot tags: heroic, atmospheric, captivating, realistic, stylized, historical drama
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Gunpowder (2017)
Plot Summary:
England, 1603. Elizabeth I is dead and King James of Scotland has taken the throne. With the country at war with catholic Spain, English catholics are persecuted and priests caught saying mass are punished with death. Several attempts have already been made on the new king’s life. All so far have failed. But deep in the heart of the Warwickshire countryside a new plot is brewing. A plot that will become legend, and leave a mark on the country that will still be felt over 400 years later.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: factual, costume drama, historical drama, captivating, suspense, suspenseful, saga, period piece, period drama
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Jamestown (2017)
Plot Summary:
The early 17th Century story of three courageous, dynamic women who leave their dark pasts behind in England, and make the journey of a lifetime across the ocean for a new life in America.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, suspense, realistic, costume drama, disturbing, historical drama, period piece, captivating, melancholic, period drama
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Barkskins (2020)
Plot Summary:
A disparate group of outcasts and dreamers battle to escape their pasts while navigating the brutal frontier hardships, competing interests, and tangled loyalties at the crossroads of civilization: the New World. Based on the novel by Pulitzer-winner Annie Proulx.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: bleak, tense, suspenseful, exciting, suspense, visually appealing, costume drama, historical drama, factual, period drama
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Maximilian (2017)
Plot Summary:
In 1477 Charles the Bold dies, his only child is a girl which cannot rule without a husband. Meanwhile in Austria, Emperor Frederick III and his antagonist Louis XI France battle over said marriage prospects, battles ensue, tragedy falls.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Austria, Germany, Hungary
Duration: 275 min
Plot tags: sentimental, serious, captivating, realistic, erotic, period piece, historical drama
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The Arrow (1997)
Plot Summary:
This series tells the story of the world's fastest fighter plane ever built, in 1950's Canada, and how the project was dropped due to political pressure from the United States.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 865
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Canada
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, realistic, disturbing
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The Path to 9/11 (2006)
Plot Summary:
The Path to 9/11 was a two-part miniseries that aired in the United States on ABC television from September 10 – 11, 2006, and also in other countries. The film dramatizes the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in New York City and the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: serious, suspenseful, atmospheric, bleak, realistic
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Elizabeth I (2017)
Plot Summary:
Elizabeth I may be remembered as the greatest monarch to rule England, but during her lifetime she was beset by enemies and hers was a life of constant battling.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 258
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: disturbing, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, educational, historical drama
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Mata Hari (2016)
Plot Summary:
A sex icon becomes a spy during one of the most important wars of the 20th century.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 495
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Russia, Portugal, Ukraine
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, captivating, emotional, disturbing, costume drama, beautiful
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New Worlds (2014)
Plot Summary:
The 1680s bring a new king, Restoration and more tyranny. In Massachusetts, a robber's son falls for an anti-monarchist. In England, young lady falls for an outlaw.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: captivating, emotional, realistic, tense, psychological, costume drama, historical drama, serious, stylized, period drama
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Conquistadores: Adventum (2017)
Plot Summary:
Narrates faithfully the first 30 years of America's discovery and conquer, from Colon's departure from Spain in 1492 until Juan Sebastián Elcano completed the first travel around the world in 1522.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 469
Genere: Drama, History
Country: Spain
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: factual, serious, suspenseful, disturbing, historical drama, humorous, fun
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The Adams Chronicles (1976)
Plot Summary:
Family Chronicles Drama, American.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 210
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: political, costume drama, epic, period drama
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Marco Polo (1982)
Plot Summary:
The life and experiences of the 13th-century explorer, who sought to connect the civilizations of China and Europe through trade.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, War
Country: Italy, USA, Japan, China
Duration: 504 min
Plot tags: exciting, epic, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized
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1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992)
Plot Summary:
1492: Conquest of Paradise depicts Christopher Columbus’ discovery of The New World and his effect on the indigenous people.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK, France, Spain
Duration: 154 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, factual, inspirational, period piece, exciting, atmospheric, dramatic, brutal, anamorphic
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Christopher Columbus (1985)
Plot Summary:
The epic mini-series tells the story of the legendary Italian-born explorer Diego de Geona Taino, later known as Christopher Columbus, from his birth in c.1450 Genoa, Italy, to his young adult years as an expert sailor and navigator who, with money funded from the monarchy of Spain, sailed to the unknown West to find Asia in 1492, and instead found a 'New World' of the modern day West Indies to South America, and then follows his later years in his 50's as a tired, ailing man whose dreams of exploration and discovery to which he passed onto his son, and other followers, just before his death in 1506.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 695
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History
Country: Italy, France, West Germany, USA
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, factual, suspenseful, disturbing, historical drama, nautical
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Show Me a Hero (2015)
Plot Summary:
Mayor Nick Wasicsko took office in 1987 during Yonkers' worst crisis when federal courts ordered public housing built in the white, middle class side of town, dividing the city in a bitter battle fueled by fear, racism, murder and politics.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 12000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 358 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, rough, thought provoking, captivating, political, realistic, social, saga, clever
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Plot Summary:
The story of Romulus and his twin brother Remus, in eighth century B.C. as seen through the eyes of three people marked by death, loneliness and violence.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, History
Country: Italy, UK
Duration:
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, captivating, heroic, realistic
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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
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Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire (2006)
Plot Summary:
Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire is a 2006 BBC One docudrama series, with each episode looking at a different key turning point in the history of the Roman Empire.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Documentary, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: captivating, epic, realistic, serious, historical drama, educational, mythical, period drama
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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.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 52000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 58 min
Plot tags: serious, psychological, bleak, atmospheric, medical drama, rough, costume drama, historical drama, philosophical, gothic
Similar in 82%
TURN: Washington's Spies (2014)
Plot Summary:
The story of New York farmer, Abe Woodhull, who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America’s fight for independence.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 23000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: period piece, serious, captivating, suspenseful, realistic, historical drama, tension, tense, political, costume drama
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Sons of Liberty (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of very different men fighting in the American Colonies for freedom, and how they will shape the future for the United States of America.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 270 min
Plot tags: captivating, historical drama, exciting, serious, realistic, tense, suspenseful, political, period drama
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Reign (2013)
Plot Summary:
Mary, Queen of Scots, faces political and sexual intrigue in the treacherous world of the French court.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 53000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: sexy, stylized, serious, historical drama, costume drama, tense, suspenseful, realistic, period piece, erotic
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Wolf Hall (2015)
Plot Summary:
England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impass steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 13000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: UK
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: historical drama, serious, captivating, period piece, costume drama, stylized, suspense, factual, political, educational
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John Adams (2008)
Plot Summary:
The life of one of the USA's Founding Fathers, its second President, and his role in the nation's first 50 years.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 36000
Genere: Biography, Drama, History
Country: USA
Duration: 71 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, political, period piece, sentimental, sincere, serious, realistic, costume drama, epic, historical drama
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Longitude (2000)
Plot Summary:
Parallel stories: 18th century Harrison builds the marine chronometer for safe navigation at sea; 20th century Gould is obsessed with restoring it.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 200 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, exciting, sincere, captivating, suspenseful, historical drama, saga, independent film, period drama