Best tv shows like Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Forced by poverty to seek support, the innocent Tess Durbeyfield seeks the help of the D'Urbervilles.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: sincere, costume drama, clever, period piece, realistic, historical drama, historical romance, talky, fairy tale, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008):
Similar in 90%
The Pallisers (1974)
Plot Summary:
This sprawling BBC saga follows an aristocratic family through three generations of power, wealth, intrigue, and scandal in Victorian England. Based on Anthony Trollope’s “political” novels.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 527
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 1335 min
Plot tags: spiritual, costume drama, historical drama, soap opera, period drama
Similar in 84%
Middlemarch (1994)
Plot Summary:
A BBC dramatization of George Eliot's classic novel about the lives and loves of a group of people living on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution in a small town named Middlemarch. These include young Doctor Lydgate, who arrives at Middlemarch hospital full of idealism and determined to do good works; Dorothea Brooke, who becomes attracted to the scholarly Edward Casaubon and then finds herself trapped in an ill-fated marriage; and Will Ladislaw, a young lad who awakens Dorothea's repressed passion and thereby changes the course of her life.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 375 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, historical drama, romantic drama, clever, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, stylized
Similar in 90%
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 88%
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 89%
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 86%
The Glass Virgin (1995)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1870s England, the story tells of Annabella Lagrange and the terrible secret her wealthy parents have kept from her. When she finally learns the truth, she runs away and eventually finds solace in the company of her family's former groom, a young Irishman with the very Spanish name of Manuel Mendoza. Together they travel the Northumbria countryside from job to job in his horse and caravan, Annabella trapped in limbo between her upper class upbringing which has rejected her, and the working class who are sometimes suspicious of her, only Manuel understanding her situation.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 756
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: costume drama, romantic drama, serious, realistic, sexual, sexy, period drama
Similar in 75%
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 90%
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (1998)
Plot Summary:
Thomas Hardy's classic epic remains one of the most popular novels, this TV adaptation vividly depicts the powerful tale of a peasant girl whose life is torn apart by the love and jealousy of two men. Justine Waddell stars as the hapless Child of Nature who is tossed around by the dark forces of fate. Jason Flemyng is the dark and sinister Alec D'Urberville whose relentless pursuit of Tess triggers the heroine's downfall. Oliver Milburn plays the handsome young Angel Clare, the caring rebel who falls deeply in love with Tess.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: period piece, romantic, costume drama, historical drama, atmospheric, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 86%
Lady Chatterley's Lover (2015)
Plot Summary:
An early-20th-century tale of love across class boundaries which tells the legendary and romantic story of Lady Chatterley’s affair with her gamekeeper. Jed Mercurio’s adaptation of DH Lawrence’s classic.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, erotic, costume drama, sentimental, captivating, disturbing, period piece, romantic drama, historical drama
Similar in 78%
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996)
Plot Summary:
Based on a little known 1848 novel by Anne Bronte, Tara Fitzgerald stars as an enigmatic young woman who moves to 19th Century Yorkshire with a young son. Distancing herself from everyone in the village and their prying questions, she remains totally aloof until a charming neighbor farmer gets her to reveal her past through his persistence. Only then does she reveal she is hiding away from a womanizing, belittling husband.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 159 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, historical drama, gothic, serious, realistic, period drama
Similar in 88%
Pride and Prejudice (1980)
Plot Summary:
Mrs. Bennet is determined to find husbands for her five daughters. The arrival of a new wealthy neighbor seems like the answer to her predicament. But while eldest daughter Jane catches Mr. Bingley's eye, middle child Mary has her nose stuck in a book, and youngest girls, Kitty and Lydia, chase after officers in uniform; Elizabeth, the willful, intelligent, and opinionated second daughter, is snubbed by haughty gentleman Mr. Darcy... In this class-minded society, can love triumph over pride and prejudice?.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Country: UK, Australia
Duration: 265 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, clever, touching, humorous, realistic, witty, talky, stylized, semi serious
Similar in 81%
The Way We Live Now (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Way We Live Now is a 2001 four-part television adaptation of the Anthony Trollope novel The Way We Live Now. The serial was first broadcast on the BBC and was directed by David Yates, written by Andrew Davies and produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark. David Suchet starred as Auguste Melmotte, with Shirley Henderson as his daughter Marie, Matthew Macfadyen as Sir Felix Carbury, Cillian Murphy as Paul Montague and Miranda Otto as Mrs Hurtle.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 300 min
Plot tags: period piece, serious, costume drama, realistic, captivating, historical drama, witty, biting, romantic drama, suspense
Similar in 86%
Jane Eyre (1983)
Plot Summary:
After living a miserable life with her aunt, orphaned Jane Eyre is sent to Lowood, a residential school for children of limited means. Jane takes the advice of her friend and over many years takes her studies seriously, eventually advertising for a position as a governess. She obtains a position in the home of Edward Rochester, where his ward, Adele, has recently come to live. She soon realizes that there is something odd in the house and she regularly sees shadowy figures in windows or hears voices. No one will admit to their being anyone else in the house, however. As she and her new employers develop a deep affection for one another, the secret of the Rochester household threatens to keep them apart.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 239 min
Plot tags: gothic, costume drama, sentimental, serious, period piece, historical drama, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 82%
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 77%
Little Dorrit (2008)
Plot Summary:
The series tells the story of Amy Dorrit, who spends her days earning money for the family and looking after her proud father, who is a long term inmate of Marshalsea debtors' prison in London. Amy and her family's world is transformed when her boss's son, Arthur Clennam, returns from overseas to solve his family's mysterious legacy and discovers that their lives are interlinked.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 10000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 420 min
Plot tags: captivating, costume drama, sincere, period piece, historical drama, heartbreaking, romantic drama, historical romance, atmospheric, serious
Similar in 88%
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 81%
Tess (1979)
Plot Summary:
This multiple-Oscar-winning film by Roman Polanski is an exquisite, richly layered adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. A strong-willed peasant girl (Nastassja Kinski, in a gorgeous breakthrough) is sent by her father to the estate of some local aristocrats to capitalize on a rumor that their families are from the same line. This fateful visit commences an epic narrative of sex, class, betrayal, and revenge, which Polanski unfolds with deliberation and finesse. With its earthy visual textures, achieved by two world-class cinematographers—Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret) and Ghislain Cloquet (Au hasard Balthazar)—Tess is a work of great pastoral beauty as well as vivid storytelling.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, France
Duration: 186 min
Plot tags: period piece, scenic, costume drama, visually appealing, atmospheric, art house, epic, philosophical, psychedelic, cynical
Similar in 90%
Downton Abbey (2010)
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
Similar in 89%
Anne with an E (2017)
Plot Summary:
A coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and for her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890’s, who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an elderly woman and her aging brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 63000
Genere: Drama, Family
Country: Canada
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: compassionate, sincere, touching, realistic, emotional, costume drama, period piece, sad, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 86%
Outlander (2014)
Plot Summary:
The story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate affair is ignited that tears Claire's heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
IMDB Rating: 8.4
IMDB Votes: 175000
Genere: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Country: USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: stylized, serious, exciting, captivating, sentimental, historical drama, costume drama, period piece, tension, erotic
Similar in 87%
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 89%
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 82%
Northanger Abbey (2007)
Plot Summary:
A young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 16000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA, Ireland
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, feel good, realistic, period piece, gothic, psychological, humorous, historical drama, heartbreaking
Similar in 77%
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 90%
Mansfield Park (2007)
Plot Summary:
In Mansfield Park, poverty-stricken Fanny Price is sent away to live with her wealthy uncle and aunt at Mansfield Park. As she struggles to adapt to her new lifestyle she begins to attract the attentions of suitors, learning about the sexual politics of high society along the way.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 88 min
Plot tags: period piece, costume drama, realistic, witty, stylized, romantic, historical drama, touching, gloomy, semi serious
Similar in 85%
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 87%
Jane Eyre (2011)
Plot Summary:
After a bleak childhood, Jane Eyre goes out into the world to become a governess. As she lives happily in her new position at Thornfield Hall, she meet the dark, cold, and abrupt master of the house, Mr. Rochester. Jane and her employer grow close in friendship and she soon finds herself falling in love with him. Happiness seems to have found Jane at last, but could Mr. Rochester's terrible secret be about to destroy it forever?.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: romantic, touching, gothic, atmospheric, captivating, costume drama, period piece, visually appealing, sexy, emotional
Similar in 88%
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 84%
Jane Eyre (2006)
Plot Summary:
In this version of Charlotte Brontë's novel, Jane Eyre (Georgie Henley), a poor relation in the household of her aunt, Mrs. Reed (Tara FitzGerald) is despatched into the care of the callous Mr Brocklehurst at his school at Lowood. As a young woman (Ruth Wilson), Jane is hired by the housekeeper of Thornfield Hall, Mrs. Fairfax, to be a governess for young Adele (Cosima Littlewood), ward of the mysteriously absent Mr. Rochester (Toby Stephens). His arrival triggers one of the most famous love stories in the English Language.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 22000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 230 min
Plot tags: romantic, costume drama, gothic, atmospheric, touching, gloomy, serious, period piece, sexy, talky
Similar in 88%
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
Plot Summary:
Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. Two daughters are the titular opposites.
IMDB Rating: 7.7
IMDB Votes: 123000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 136 min
Plot tags: romantic, feel good, sincere, dramatic, sentimental, costume drama, period piece, emotional, touching, atmospheric