Best tv shows like The Halcyon
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The story of a bustling and glamorous five star hotel at the centre of London society and a world at war.
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, realistic, disturbing, psychological, thought provoking, captivating, anime, historical drama, period drama, interesting
Best tv shows and movies like The Halcyon (2017):
Similar in 77%
Close to the Enemy (2016)
Plot Summary:
Set in a bomb damaged London hotel during the aftermath of World War II, Close to the Enemy is a thriller that follows British intelligence officer Captain Callum Ferguson. His last task for the Army is to ensure that Dieter, a captured German scientist develops cutting edge jet engine technology for the British. Such expertise is becoming vital to Britain as they try to maintain any kind of superiority in the emerging Cold War. Callum employs unorthodox methods in his attempt to convince Dieter to work for the British, eventually developing a friendship with him. A friendship which becomes threatened as those around him believe that the Dieter may have stood by as innocents in labour camps perished under the rule of the Nazi party.
IMDB Rating: 6.0
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 59 min
Plot tags: exciting, tense, captivating, suspense
Similar in 79%
Coming Home (1998)
Plot Summary:
Drama about the Dunar and Carey-Lewis families, before during and after WW2.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 806
Genere: Drama, Romance, War
Country: UK, Germany
Duration: 199 min
Plot tags: independent film, serious, captivating, realistic, contemplative, hot, period drama
Similar in 83%
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 79%
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%
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%
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 85%
The Outcast (2015)
Plot Summary:
Set in post-war Britain, ten year-old Lewis Aldridge is grief-stricken as he struggles to cope with the death of his beloved mother. Left under the care of his emotionally distant father Gilbert, whom he barely knows and who quickly remarries, Lewis is forced to bury his feelings.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 179 min
Plot tags: touching, captivating, atmospheric, psychological, serious, realistic, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 83%
Seaside Hotel (2013)
Plot Summary:
Film starring Bodil Jørgensen, Rosalinde Mynster and Merete Mærkedahl about the people at a beachfront hotel.
IMDB Rating: 7.9
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Comedy, Drama
Country: Denmark
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: psychological, humorous, captivating, disturbing, period drama, alternative comedy
Similar in 77%
Upstairs Downstairs (2010)
Plot Summary:
Set in 1936, the show takes viewers, old and new, back to the lavish world of Belgravia, London. A new set of occupants reside at 165 Eaton Place and viewers see how external and internal influences of the tumultuous pre-war period shape and mould the lives of this wealthy family and their servants..
IMDB Rating: 7.4
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: realistic, historical drama, stylized, costume drama, period piece, retro, social, serious, touching, period drama
Similar in 83%
Doctor Thorne (2016)
Plot Summary:
The story of the penniless Mary Thorne, who grows up with her rich aunt/cousins at Greshamsbury Park estate.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 48 min
Plot tags: costume drama, captivating, cynical, historical drama, sentimental, thought provoking, touching, period piece, period drama
Similar in 79%
Small Island (2009)
Plot Summary:
In 1939 Hortense, illegitimate but intelligent and ambitious, is brought up on Jamaica with the family of charismatic, free-thinking Michael, who joins the Air Force when war breaks out and goes to England. After the war, Hortense, now a qualified teacher, makes a marriage of convenience to Gilbert Joseph, paying for his passage to England on condition he sends for her.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: touching, serious, captivating, realistic, family saga, saga, period drama
Similar in 80%
Yanks (1979)
Plot Summary:
During WWII, the United States set up army bases in Great Britain as part of the war effort. Against their proper sensibilities, many of the Brits don't much like the brash Yanks, especially when it comes to the G.I.s making advances on the lonely British girls. One relationship that develops is between married John, an Army Captain, and the aristocratic Helen, whose naval husband is away at war. Helen loves her husband, but Helen and John are looking for some comfort during the difficult times.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, USA, West Germany
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: serious, touching, emotional, realistic, historical drama
Similar in 86%
The Cazalets (2001)
Plot Summary:
The Cazalets is a 2001 six-episode television drama series (5 episodes when broadcast in the US) about the life of a large privileged family in the years 1937 to 1942.[1] Most of the action takes place in London, and at the family's large estate in Sussex. The drama was based on the novels of Elizabeth Jane Howard.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 417
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 360 min
Plot tags: captivating, historical drama
Similar in 83%
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 81%
Colditz (2005)
Plot Summary:
Three prisoners, Jack Rose, Tom Willis and Nick McGrade, embark on an heroic plan to escape from a World War Two POW camp. As Rose And Willis are recaptured by the Germans, McGrade manages to traverse their clutches and travels to London to inform Rose's girlfriend of his capture. So begins a complex love story.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 240 min
Plot tags: realistic, serious, touching, exciting, tense, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 81%
Fortunes of War (1987)
Plot Summary:
Fortunes of War is a 1987 BBC television adaptation of Olivia Manning's cycle of novels Fortunes of War. It stars Kenneth Branagh as Guy Pringle, lecturer in English Literature in Bucharest during the early part of the Second World War, and Emma Thompson as his wife Harriet. Other cast members included Ronald Pickup, Robert Stephens, Alan Bennett, Philip Madoc and Rupert Graves. The series stays relatively faithful to the original novels, with no notable departures from their plot.
IMDB Rating: 7.8
IMDB Votes: 863
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 407 min
Plot tags: tense, clever, serious, captivating, emotional, realistic, contemplative, gloomy, period drama
Similar in 80%
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 76%
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 87%
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 85%
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 83%
Home Fires (2015)
Plot Summary:
The story of a group of inspirational women in a rural Cheshire community with the shadow of World War II casting a dark cloud over their lives. As the conflict takes hold and separates the women from their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers, the characters find themselves under increasing and extraordinary pressures in a rapidly fragmenting world. By banding together as the Great Paxford Women’s Institute, they help maintain the nation’s fabric in its darkest hour, and discover inner resources that will change their lives forever.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 45 min
Plot tags: captivating, realistic, serious, psychological, historical drama, touching, period piece, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 75%
The Passing Bells (2014)
Plot Summary:
At the outbreak of war, two teenage boys defy their parents to sign up.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK, Poland
Duration:
Plot tags: historical drama, epic, realistic, serious, captivating, psychological, costume drama, emotional, gloomy
Similar in 83%
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 79%
Foyle's War (2002)
Plot Summary:
As WW2 rages around the world, DCS Foyle fights his own war on the home-front as he investigates crimes on the south coast of England. Foyle's War opens in southern England in the year 1940. Later series sees the retired detective working as an MI5 agent operating in the aftermath of the war.
IMDB Rating: 8.6
IMDB Votes: 18000
Genere: Crime, Drama, Mystery, War
Country: UK
Duration: 90 min
Plot tags: clever, serious, captivating, detective, suspenseful, realistic, crime drama, atmospheric, dark, period piece
Similar in 77%
The Hollow Crown (2012)
Plot Summary:
The Hollow Crown is a series of British television films featuring William Shakespeare's History Plays. The first Season is an adaptation of Shakespeare's second historical tetralogy, the Henriad: Richard II, Henry IV, Part I and Henry IV, Part II (treated as one film in two parts in the series) and Henry V. The Second Season is subtitled "The Wars of the Roses" as a reference to its scope. It is based on Shakespeare's first tetralogy: Henry VI: Part I, Henry VI: Part II, Henry VI: Part III (treated as two films in the series) and Richard III.
IMDB Rating: 8.2
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama, History, War
Country: UK
Duration: 150 min
Plot tags: serious, captivating, historical drama, epic, stylized, harsh, costume drama, funny, political, anthology
Similar in 88%
The House of Eliott (1991)
Plot Summary:
The House of Eliott is a British television series produced and broadcast by the BBC in three series between 1991 and 1994. The series starred Stella Gonet and Louise Lombard as two sisters in 1920s London who establish a dressmaking business and eventually their own haute couture fashion house. It was created by Jean Marsh and Eileen Atkins, who had previously devised Upstairs, Downstairs. The series was written by several writers including Jill Hyem, Peter Buckman, Deborah Cook and Ginnie Hole.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, costume drama, sincere, captivating, historical drama, period piece, period drama
Similar in 75%
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 88%
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 87%
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 83%
Piece of Cake (1988)
Plot Summary:
The lives and loves of the men of RAF Hornet Squadron who are transferred to France at the outbreak of World Wat II in September 1939. For the most part the men are competent fliers but there is little action in the first several months. The men wile away their time with some engaging in dangerous stunts while others woo some of the local lasses. The phony war comes to an end in April 1940 and the Battle of Britain begins. By September that year, few of them are left and despite their success, few see themselves as heroes. (6 episodes).
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 774
Genere: Drama, War
Country: UK
Duration: 312 min
Plot tags: costume drama, exciting, serious, captivating, realistic, period drama