Best tv shows like The Final Cut
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
Approaching his 65th birthday, Prime Minister Frances Urquhart begins to see the end of his career. Not that he has the intention of resigning anytime soon. He does however hope to establish a legacy, one for the history books and one to provide his pension. Urquhart, the master manipulator, may be losing his touch however. His Foreign Secretary, Tom Makepeace, not only resigns but crosses the floor to sit in the opposition benches in order to attack the government. As his grip on power begins to wane, Urquhart goes to ever greater lengths to retain his authority.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 206 min
Plot tags: political thriller, political, clever, serious, realistic, witty, cynical, biting, suspense
Best tv shows and movies like The Final Cut (1995):
Similar in 85%
The Ice Cream Girls (2013)
Plot Summary:
The Ice Creams is based on the bestselling book by Dorothy Koomson about two girls who, one brief summer, find themselves involved with an abusive, controlling man. The situation spirals out of control and they are trial for his murder; ultimately Poppy gets sent to prison. Flash forward 17 years; Serena is married with a daughter in a seemingly comfortable life, returns to Brighton to take care of her dying mother. Poppy has been released and she wants answers. She claims not to have killed Marcus, but if she didn't and Serena didn't....then who did?.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 699
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: tense, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 87%
1992 (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in Rome, Milan and different Italian cities, the TV series offers a thrilling story following six people whose lives are intertwined with the rapidly changing political landscape in the early 1990s, during which Italy was gripped by the Clean Hands investigation into political corruption. Subsequently, this led to the termination of the First Republican Party as well as the termination of several other Italian parties. This controversial period in Italy resulted in the suicide of various political figures.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: Italy
Duration:
Plot tags: realistic, serious, atmospheric, psychological, erotic, political, sensual, tense, thought provoking
Similar in 86%
Boys from the Blackstuff (1982)
Plot Summary:
Alan Bleasdale's hugely acclaimed mini-series echoes the misery and despair of long-term unemployment. Set in Liverpool, these profoundly moving human dramas follow in turn the attempts of five working-class heroes to survive.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: sincere, touching, bleak, serious, emotional, realistic, gloomy
Similar in 82%
Clouds of Witness (1972)
Plot Summary:
Lord Peter's brother, the Duke of Denver is accused of murdering their sister Mary's fiancé. It's up to Lord Peter and his faithful man Bunter to untangle all the clues and the contradicting testimony of a cloud of witnesses to save Denver.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 364
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration:
Plot tags: talky, detective, mind bending, clever, serious, realistic, suspenseful, witty, stylized
Similar in 85%
The Mayor of Casterbridge (1978)
Plot Summary:
In a drunken and disheartened state, Michael Henchard sells his wife at a fair. When he becomes sober again he realises what he has done, and though unable to find his wife and child, changes his ways. He becomes the Mayor of the town. Nearly twenty years later his past comes back to haunt him.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 339
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 350 min
Plot tags: spiritual, tense, atmospheric, clever, serious, emotional, realistic, talky, period drama
Similar in 75%
Martin Chuzzlewit (1994)
Plot Summary:
Martin Chuzzlewit is an old man with a large fortune and an even larger set of family and friends. A portrait of greed and selfishness, this magnificent adaptation of Dickens' comic masterpiece features an all-star cast.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 938
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 385 min
Plot tags: costume drama, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 89%
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 87%
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 88%
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 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%
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 86%
The Feast of the Goat (2005)
Plot Summary:
Urania Cabral returns to Santo Domingo, after several years, and remembers her and her family's relationship to Rafael Trujillo, the Dominican dictator, as well as the events surrounding his assassination.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 881
Genere: Drama
Country: Dominican Republic, Spain, UK
Duration: 132 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, rough, epic, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, social
Similar in 78%
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 89%
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 88%
To Serve Them All My Days (1980)
Plot Summary:
David Powlett-Jones has just returned to England from the trenches of WWI. He was injured and shell-shocked and, after a spell in hospital he gets a job teaching in a boys boarding school in S.W. England. He is not at all sure he can do the job, but the avuncular headmaster has faith in him. David, although well educated, is just a humble lad from the Welsh valleys at heart and has to fit himself and his ideas into the heart of the English establishment.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 661
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 673 min
Plot tags: historical drama, clever, touching, serious, realistic, talky, period drama
Similar in 76%
The Hour (2011)
Plot Summary:
A behind-the-scenes drama and espionage thriller in Cold War-era England that centers on a journalist, a producer, and an anchorman for an investigative news programme.
IMDB Rating: 8.0
IMDB Votes: 11000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: atmospheric, serious, realistic, stylized, historical drama, tense, political thriller, period drama
Similar in 84%
Red Dust (2004)
Plot Summary:
Sarah Barcant, a lawyer in New York City who grew up in South Africa, returns to her childhood dwelling place to intercede for Alex Mpondo, a Black South African politician who was tortured during apartheid.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, South Africa
Duration: 110 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, captivating, sincere, political, cult classic
Similar in 76%
Tanner '88 (1988)
Plot Summary:
In 1988, renegade filmmaker Robert Altman and Pulitzer Prize–winning Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau created a presidential candidate, ran him alongside the other hopefuls during the primary season, and presented their media campaign as a cross between a soap opera and TV news. The result was the groundbreaking Tanner ’88, a piercing satire of media-age American politics, in which actors Michael Murphy (as contender Jack Tanner) and Cynthia Nixon (as his daughter) rub elbows on the campaign trail with real-life political players Jesse Jackson, Gary Hart, Bob Dole, Ralph Nader, Kitty Dukakis, and Gloria Steinem, among many others. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the complete eleven-episode television series—more relevant today than ever.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 936
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 353 min
Plot tags: mockumentary, political, clever, humorous, realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, biting, suspense
Similar in 76%
AFR (2007)
Plot Summary:
Danmarks statsminister Anders Fogh Rasmussen er blevet myrdet. Den hovedmistænkte er statsministerens homoseksuelle elsker Emil. I tiden efter mordet møder vi en lang række af verdens politikere og magtfulde mennesker, fra Kofi Annan til Pia Kjærsgaard. De forholder sig til mordet og ikke mindst til mennesket Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 473
Genere: Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 83 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, cynical, thought provoking, mockumentary, realistic, disturbing, contemplative, biting, suspense
Similar in 75%
The Big Brass Ring (1999)
Plot Summary:
Blake Pellarin is on the campaign trail to become president of the United States. While making a stop in St. Louis, a chance encounter brings his past back to haunt him.
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 831
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: independent film, psychological, serious, realistic
Similar in 86%
K Street (2003)
Plot Summary:
K Street is a 2003 HBO television series about lobbyists and politicians in Washington, D.C. It was named for a street that is home to many lobbying and legal firms.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 317
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 30 min
Plot tags: political, clever, serious, realistic, cynical, satirical, witty, talky, biting, black comedy
Similar in 77%
House of Cards (1990)
Plot Summary:
Francis Urquhart is the chief whip of the Conservative party. When Margaret Thatcher resigns as leader, he remains neutral and after a general election where the conservatives are returned with a reduced majority, he fully expects the new Prime Minister, Henry Collingridge, to give him his just reward: a senior Cabinet post. When he's informed that he is to stay in his current position, he devises a plot to unseat Collingridge and ensure his own election as party leader which would make his Prime Minister.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 15000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 226 min
Plot tags: tense, witty, political, realistic, clever, serious, political thriller, biting, educational, intelligent
Similar in 84%
The Politician's Husband (2013)
Plot Summary:
Aiden Hoynes is a senior cabinet minister who has always put his career before family, with the support of Freya, his devoted wife and mother to their two young children. But when Freya's own political career takes off and threatens to overshadow his, Aiden's life is thrown into chaos. As his political career comes to a standstill, and with his marriage turned upset down, Aiden takes increasing risks in his quest for power.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, tense, serious, political, psychological, clever, talky
Similar in 90%
Knife Fight (2012)
Plot Summary:
A political strategist juggling three clients questions whether or not to take the high road as the ugly side of his work begins to haunt him.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: realistic, witty, cynical, semi serious, talky, independent film, biting, suspense
Similar in 79%
To Play the King (1993)
Plot Summary:
Francis Urquhart, unscrupulous but cunning Conservative politician, managed to become the British prime minister and crush all significant opposition. But his survival on the top is threatened by a liberal monarch and some skeletons in the closet.
IMDB Rating: 8.3
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 218 min
Plot tags: political, political thriller, tense, clever, serious, captivating, realistic, suspenseful, witty, cynical
Similar in 90%
Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (2008)
Plot Summary:
A light hearted look at future Prime Minister Margaret Thatchers rise from research chemist in 1949 to becoming MP for Finchley in 1959 encompassing her early relationship and marriage to Oil Millionaire Denis Thatcher.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 447
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 84 min
Plot tags: sincere, captivating, emotional, realistic, political, thought provoking, serious
Similar in 85%
Secret State (2012)
Plot Summary:
A four-part conspiracy theory drama inspired by Chris Mullen's novel "A Very British Coup". When a devastating industrial accident results in deaths and raises safety questions about the US petrochemical company involved, PM Tom Dawkins becomes aware of an establishment cover up.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: serious, tense, clever, realistic, political, political thriller, political drama
Similar in 82%
Power (1986)
Plot Summary:
Pete St. John is a powerful and successful political consultant, with clients spread around the country. When his long-time friend and client Ohio senator Sam Hastings decides to quit politics, he is rapidly drafted to help with the campaign of the man destined to succeed him, unknown and mysterious businessman Jerome Cade.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, clever, cynical, political, retro, talky
Similar in 85%
House of Cards (2013)
Plot Summary:
Set in present day Washington, D.C., House of Cards is the story of Frank Underwood, a ruthless and cunning politician, and his wife Claire who will stop at nothing to conquer everything. This wicked political drama penetrates the shadowy world of greed, sex and corruption in modern D.C. House of Cards is an adaptation of a previous BBC miniseries of the same name, which is based on the novel by Michael Dobbs.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 524000
Genere: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 3804 min
Plot tags: political, serious, clever, captivating, tense, talky, postmodern, cynical, intellectual, exciting
Similar in 79%
The Deal (2003)
Plot Summary:
It is approaching an election in the UK when the leader of the Labour party, John Smith, suffers another in a line of heart attacks and dies. With the leadership campaign about to start the clear choice appears to be Gordon Brown, a stanch Scotsman. However Tony Blair is also beginning to appear more likely as he will appeal to Southern voters who would be turned off by Brown. Blair rings Brown to arrange a meeting to discuss which will go for the job. The film flashbacks to the start of their relationship, sharing an office in Westminster on their first seats.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Biography, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: political, clever, serious, realistic, sincere, thought provoking, talky, political drama