Best tv shows like Tenko
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Based on real-life experiences, Tenko remains one of the most fondly remembered and acclaimed BBC dramas of the early 1980s. It follows a group of women, formerly comfortably well-off ex-pats living in Singapore, as they are captured by the Japanese during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 813
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Tenko (1981):
Similar in 83%
Changi (2001)
Plot Summary:
Changi is a six-part Australian television miniseries broadcast by ABC TV in 2001. It originally aired from 14 October 2001 to 18 November 2001.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 413
Genere: Drama, Music, Romance, War
Country: Australia
Duration:
Plot tags: psychological, tense, serious, realistic, contemplative
Similar in 78%
Little Alexander (1981)
Plot Summary:
May of 1945. Soviet soldiers conducting an operation to rescue the children in a small town in the territory of Germany.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 114
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Soviet Union, East Germany
Duration: 98 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 78%
Jenny's War (1985)
Plot Summary:
This fact-based story follows a woman who launches a rescue of her Royal Air Force pilot son, who was shot down over Germany in 1941. Getting no help from the underground, she sets up her own rescue mission.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 163
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 198 min
Plot tags:
Similar in 76%
The Cinder Path (1994)
Plot Summary:
Tale of a farmer's son who gets involved with two sisters, then goes to fight in the trenches in WW1.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 481
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK
Duration: 145 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, realistic, period piece, period drama
Similar in 79%
A Bullet for Rommel (1969)
Plot Summary:
During World War II, a tough officer organizes a commando raid into Germany.
IMDB Rating: 5.1
IMDB Votes: 104
Genere: War, Drama
Country: Spain, Italy
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: macaroni combat
Similar in 83%
Return from the River Kwai (1989)
Plot Summary:
A group of war prisoners has spilt blood, sweat and tears to construct a bridge over the river Kwai in Thailand. Just when the bridge is ready, an American bomber arrives and destroys it. Camp commander Tanaka wants to set an example and orders that some of the prisoners must be executed. Just in time major Harada arrives with orders that the healthiest prisoners must be transported to Japan by train and boat. A treacherous journey since the allied forces keep a close eye on railroads and practically own the seas.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min
Plot tags: independent film
Similar in 89%
12 O'Clock High (1964)
Plot Summary:
This series chronicles the adventures--in the air and on the ground--of the men of the 918th Bombardment Group of the U.S. Eighth Air Force. First commanded by irascible General Frank Savage--and later by Colonel Joe Gallagher, the son of a Pentagon General--the Group is stationed in England, and flies long-range bombing missions into German-held Europe.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: vintage
Similar in 90%
Deadline Gallipoli (2015)
Plot Summary:
Three journalists, Charles Bean, Ellis Ashmead Bartlett and Phillip Schuler, arrive at Gallipoli with the invading British and Allied troops in 1915. They will report the war but are prevented from getting out the true story of an unfolding disaster. From encampment in Cairo to Anzac Cove to the evacuation, this is the story of journalists who will not accept that truth be the first casualty. This is the story of the men who will not shut up. The actions of these men will help change the course of the campaign, ensure that a strategic disaster becomes a legend of human heroism, and leave an impregnable mark on each of their lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 854
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 197 min
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, realistic, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 80%
The Monocled Mutineer (1986)
Plot Summary:
The Monocled Mutineer is a British television series made by the BBC in 1986, and shown on BBC1, the first episode being transmitted on 31 August 1986, intended to head BBC1's autumn season of drama. Viewed by about ten million people, the series caused some controversy at the time, as it drove right-wing newspapers to use it as an example of what they saw as a "left-wing" bias of the BBC. The four-part serial, written by Alan Bleasdale and directed by Jim O'Brien, was an adaptation of the 1978 book of the same name by William Allison and John Fairley. A dramatisation of the life of Percy Toplis, deserter from the British Army during the First World War, it starred Paul McGann in the title role and was Bleasdale's first historical drama, and his first adaptation of someone else's work for television. The series was produced and broadcast in a period of great controversy for the BBC. During 1985 and 1986 the Peacock Committee was deciding the future of the BBC, which caused renewed pressure on it to take advertising, while at the same time the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Norman Tebbit, was monitoring the BBC for evidence of left-wing bias. During the same period there was also much criticism of the BBC's programming; a legal action was brought against the BBC over the Panorama programme Maggie's Militant Tendency, which also caused 100 Conservative MPs to sign a motion calling for the resignation of Director General Alasdair Milne and "the restoration of proper standards at the BBC".
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 384
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 310 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period drama
Similar in 86%
Prisoners of the Sun (1990)
Plot Summary:
On an obscure Pacific Island just north of Australia, the Japanese Empire has operated a prisoner of war camp for Australian soldiers. At the close of World War II, the liberated POWs tell a gruesome tale of mass executions of over eight hundred persons as well as torture style killings of downed Australian airmen. In an attempt to bring those responsible to justice, the Australian Army establishes a War Crimes Tribunal to pass judgement on the Japanese men and officers who ran the Ambon camp. In an added twist, a high ranking Japanese admiral is implicated, and politics become involoved with justice as American authorities in Japan lobby for the Admiral's release. Written by Anthony Hughes.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 944
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Australia, UK
Duration: 108 min
Plot tags: cult classic, tense, bleak, serious, realistic, suspenseful, independent film
Similar in 87%
A Town Like Alice (1981)
Plot Summary:
Set against the brutal chaos of World War II, a love story begins that will take two lovers through a living nightmare of captivity, across three continents and two decades. From the steamy jungles of Malaya to the dusty and desolate outback of Australia Based on Nevil Shute' international bestselling novel A TOWN LIKE ALICE follows the lives of Jean Paget and Joe Harman. Meeting in Malaya--she an attractive young English captive and he a cheerful Australian POW tortured for a simple act of kindness. Separated first by their captors then by the distance of passing years, the two are finally reunited in the rugged outback of Australia-to face a challenge every bit as demanding as their wartime trials.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 301 min
Plot tags: vintage, period drama
Similar in 81%
King Rat (1965)
Plot Summary:
When Singapore surrendered to the Japanese in 1942 the Allied POWs, mostly British but including a few Americans, were incarcerated in Changi prison. This was a POW detention center like no other. There were no walls or barbed-wire fences for the simple reason that there was no place for the prisoners to escape to. Included among the prisoners is the American Cpl. King, a wheeler dealer who has managed to established a pretty good life for himself in the camp. While most of the prisoners are near starvation and have uniforms that are in tatters, King eats well and and has crisp clean clothes to wear every day. His nemesis is Lt. Robin Grey, the camp Provost who attempts to keep good order and discipline. He knows that King is breaking camp rules by bartering with the Japanese but can't quite get the evidence he needs to stop him. King soon forms a friendship with Lt. Peter Marlowe an upper class British officer who is fascinated with King's élan and no rules approach to life.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 134 min
Plot tags: black and white, bleak, realistic, sad, rough, serious, suspenseful, independent film, freeze frame, feel good
Similar in 80%
Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus (2010)
Plot Summary:
Epic film about WWII, a sequel to Utomlyonnye solntsem (1994). Evil Stalin is terrorizing people of Russia while the Nazis are advancing. Russian officer Kotov, who miraculously survived the death sentence in Stalin's Purge, is now fighting in the front-lines. His daughter, Nadia, who survived a rape attempt by Nazi soldiers, is now a nurse risking her own life to save others. In the war-torn nation even former enemies are fighting together to defend their land. People stand up united for the sake of victory. Written by Steve Shelokhonov.
IMDB Rating: 4.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Russia
Duration: 181 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, stylized, serious, emotional, realistic, touching, epic, gloomy
Similar in 86%
My Mother and Other Strangers (2016)
Plot Summary:
Drama series set in 1943 following the Coyne family and their neighbours as they struggle to maintain a normal life after a US Army Air Force base is set up in the middle of their rural parish.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: romantic, captivating, historical drama, entertaining
Similar in 85%
Batallions Ask for Fire (1985)
Plot Summary:
A story of a several days of intense fighting on the Eastern Front during one of the Soviet offensives in WWII.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 309
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 285 min
Plot tags: suspenseful, rough, suspense, disturbing
Similar in 80%
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 85%
The Boat (1985)
Plot Summary:
Life aboard a German U-Boat during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 8.8
IMDB Votes: 33000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: West Germany, France, UK, Italy
Duration: 293 min
Plot tags: bleak, gloomy, cult classic, tense, rough, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, epic
Similar in 83%
Japan's Longest Day (1967)
Plot Summary:
Following the detonation of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese military and the government clash over the demand from the Allies for unconditional surrender. Minister of the Army Anami leads the military officers who propose to fight on, even to the death of every Japanese citizen. Emperor Hirohito, however, joins with his ministers in asking the unthinkable, the peaceful surrender of Japan. When the military plots a coup to overthrow the Emperor's civilian government, Anami must face the choice between his desires and loyalty to his Emperor.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 989
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Japan
Duration: 157 min
Plot tags: political
Similar in 81%
Island at War (2004)
Plot Summary:
Island at War is a British television series that tells the story of the German Occupation of the Channel Islands. It primarily focuses on three local families: the upper class Dorrs, the middle class Mahys and the working class Jonases, and four German officers. The fictional island of St. Gregory serves as a stand-in for the real-life islands Jersey and Guernsey, and the story is compiled from the events on both islands. Produced by Granada Television in Manchester, Island at War had an estimated budget of £9,000,000 and was filmed on location in the Isle of Man from August 2003 to October 2003. When the series was shown in the UK, it appeared in six 70-minute episodes.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 540 min
Plot tags: tense, atmospheric, captivating, suspenseful, historical drama, bleak, serious, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 87%
Secret Army (1977)
Plot Summary:
World War II drama about covert organisation Lifeline helping allied airmen escape after being shot down in occupied Europe, working with the Resistance and hiding from the Gestapo.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period drama
Similar in 76%
All the Light We Cannot See (2023)
Plot Summary:
The story of Marie-Laure, a blind teenager, and Werner, a German soldier, whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: USA
Duration: 228 min
Plot tags: light, period drama
Similar in 85%
Bomb Girls (2012)
Plot Summary:
Focusing on a group of women working in a munitions plant during World War II, this ensemble drama depicts the dangers and new experiences they face.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, serious, stylized, historical drama, tense, period piece, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 84%
X Company (2015)
Plot Summary:
An emotionally-driven character drama, set in the thrilling and dangerous world of WWII espionage and covert operations. It follows the stories of five highly skilled young recruits - Canadian, American and British - torn from their ordinary lives to train as agents in an ultra-secret facility on the shores of Lake Ontario. These agents parachute behind enemy lines, where they're fair game for torture and execution. From elegant hotels to hellholes in the field, it's one risky operation after another, masterminded by the brains of Camp X.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 44 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, suspenseful, exciting, captivating, tense, suspense, dark, educational, historical drama
Similar in 76%
The Crimson Field (2014)
Plot Summary:
In a tented field hospital on the coast of France, a team of doctors, nurses and women volunteers work together to heal the bodies and souls of men wounded in the trenches.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: serious, period piece, emotional, realistic, melancholic, suspenseful, costume drama, historical drama, exciting, tense
Similar in 85%
Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983)
Plot Summary:
In 1942, British soldier Jack Celliers comes to a japanese prison camp. The camp is run by Yonoi, who has a firm belief in discipline, honour and glory. In his view, the allied prisoners are cowards when they chose to surrender instead of commiting suicide. One of the prisoners, interpreter John Lawrence, tries to explain the japanese way of thinking, but is considered a traitor.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 20000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, New Zealand, Japan
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: disturbing, psychological, bleak, realistic, sad, experimental, avant garde, art film, serious, crying
Similar in 80%
War and Remembrance (1988)
Plot Summary:
War and Remembrance is an American miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Herman Wouk. It is the sequel to highly successful The Winds of War.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: USA
Duration: 1620 min
Plot tags: historical drama, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, saga, epic, vintage
Similar in 87%
Paradise Road (1997)
Plot Summary:
Paradise Road is a 1997 film which tells the story of a group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women who are imprisoned in Sumatra during World War II. It was directed by Bruce Beresford and stars Glenn Close as beatific Adrienne Pargiter, Frances McDormand as the brash Dr. Verstak, Pauline Collins as missionary Margaret Drummond (based on missionary Margaret Dryburgh), Julianna Margulies as American socialite Topsy Merritt, Jennifer Ehle as British doyenne and model Rosemary Leighton Jones, Cate Blanchett as Australian nurse Susan McCarthy and Elizabeth Spriggs as dowager Imogene Roberts. Basing his picture on real events, Bruce Beresford tells the story of a vocal orchestra created by the women in a Japanese P.O.W. camp, a classic survivors' tale extolling women's ability to survive hardship and atrocity through perseverance, solidarity and creativity.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: Australia, USA
Duration: 122 min
Plot tags: touching, harsh, serious, uplifting, emotional, realistic, costume drama, intense, gloomy, sentimental
Similar in 89%
Above and Beyond (2006)
Plot Summary:
True Story about the Atlantic Ferry Operation during World War II.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 227
Genere: Drama, War
Country: Canada
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, emotional, realistic
Similar in 77%
World on Fire (2019)
Plot Summary:
The story of World War II told through the intertwining fates of ordinary people from all sides of this global conflict as they grapple with the effect of the war on their everyday lives.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 57 min
Plot tags: psychological, thought provoking, captivating, suspense, disturbing, retro, period piece, costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 89%
Band of Brothers (2001)
Plot Summary:
Drawn from interviews with survivors of Easy Company, as well as their journals and letters, Band of Brothers chronicles the experiences of these men from paratrooper training in Georgia through the end of the war. As an elite rifle company parachuting into Normandy early on D-Day morning, participants in the Battle of the Bulge, and witness to the horrors of war, the men of Easy knew extraordinary bravery and extraordinary fear - and became the stuff of legend. Based on Stephen E. Ambrose's acclaimed book of the same name.
IMDB Rating: 9.4
IMDB Votes: 508000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 594 min
Plot tags: epic, heroic, captivating, tense, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, historical drama, exciting