Best tv shows like The Onedin Line
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
The Onedin Line is a BBC television drama series which ran from 1971 to 1980. The series was created by Cyril Abraham. The series is set in Liverpool from 1860 to 1886 and deals with the rise of a shipping line, the Onedin Line, named after its owner James Onedin. Around this central theme are the lives of his family, most notably his brother and partner, shop owner Robert, and his sister Elizabeth, giving insight into the lifestyle and customs at the time, not only at sea, but also ashore. The series also illustrates some of the changes in business and shipping, such as from wooden to steel ships and from sailing ships to steam ships. It shows the role that ships played in affairs like international politics, uprisings and the slave trade.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: costume drama, retro, period piece, period drama
Best tv shows and movies like The Onedin Line (1971):
Similar in 79%
All the Rivers Run (1983)
Plot Summary:
Orphaned after a shipwreck off the Victorian coast of Australia, the beautiful and spirited Philadelphia Gordon finds both love and adventure aboard a paddle-steamer on the Murray River.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 702
Genere: Adventure, Drama, Romance
Country: Australia
Duration: 400 min
Plot tags: period drama
Similar in 77%
Tilly Trotter (1999)
Plot Summary:
In 1930s rural England, Tilly Trotter is the story of a young girl envied by women for her beauty, lusted after by men, accused of witchcraft and forced to rise above the prejudice of many people in her community.
IMDB Rating: 6.9
IMDB Votes: 506
Genere: Romance, Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 216 min
Plot tags: period drama
Similar in 88%
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 89%
Dickens of London (1976)
Plot Summary:
Dickens of London is a 1976 television miniseries from Yorkshire Television based on the life of English novelist Charles Dickens. Both Dickens and his father John were played by British actor Roy Dotrice. The series was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Marc Miller. In the United States, the series was shown in 1977. The series of 13 episodes of 60 minutes was directed by Michael Ferguson and Marc Miller, who was also the series' producer, with David Cunliffe as executive producer. Mankowitz's book, Dickens of London, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 1976, was based on the detailed research he made while writing the screenplay.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 80
Genere: Biography, Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period drama
Similar in 78%
The Tide of Life (1996)
Plot Summary:
Tide of Life follows the fortunes of young housekeeper, Emily Kennedy, as she learns about relationships with three very different men. Forced from home of her first employer, Sep McGilby after his plans to marry her come to tragic end, Emily finds work as housekeeper for farmer, Larry Birch. Another tragedy occurs, and when Nick Stuart inherits the farm owned by Birch's wife, Nick gives Emily a new future.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 440
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 180 min
Plot tags: costume drama, touching, serious, emotional, realistic, period drama
Similar in 76%
To the Ends of the Earth (2005)
Plot Summary:
From Nobel Laureate William Golding's (Lord of the Flies) epic sea-voyage trilogy comes the story of an ambitious British aristocrat, humbled by the lives of his fellow passengers, as he embarks on an ocean voyage for Australia where he is to be an official in the colonial government.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 3000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 267 min
Plot tags: sincere, epic, semi serious, captivating, road movie, period piece, realistic, nautical, costume drama, period drama
Similar in 87%
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 84%
Dickensian (2015)
Plot Summary:
Dickensian intertwines the realm of fictional characters in Charles Dickens’ novels—including Scrooge, Fagin and Miss Havisham—in half-hour episodes, as their lives intertwine in 19th century London. The Old Curiosity Shop sits next door to The Three Cripples Pub, while Fagin’s Den is hidden down a murky alley off a bustling Victorian street.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 4000
Genere: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Mystery
Country: UK
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, atmospheric, serious, captivating, stylized, historical drama, controversial, period drama
Similar in 86%
The Barchester Chronicles (1982)
Plot Summary:
When a crusade against the Church of England's practice of self-enrichment misfires, scandal taints the cosy community of Barchester when their local church becomes the object of a scathing, investigative report.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK
Duration: 385 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, period drama
Similar in 87%
Vanity Fair (2018)
Plot Summary:
An adaptation of the 1848 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray.
IMDB Rating: 7.3
IMDB Votes: 6000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: stylized, atmospheric, costume drama, period piece, historical drama, witty, period drama
Similar in 77%
The Forsyte Saga (1967)
Plot Summary:
Adaptation from John Galsworthy's novels.
IMDB Rating: 8.5
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 50 min
Plot tags: family saga, costume drama, stylized, spiritual, historical drama, touching, epic, serious, captivating, realistic
Similar in 78%
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 76%
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 85%
Mansfield Park (1983)
Plot Summary:
Drama series based on the novel by Jane Austen. Mansfield Park is the magnificient country residence of Sir Thomas Bertram and his family. It is here that their poor relation Fanny Price is brought up. Never allowed to forget her good fortune, Fanny is ignored by her cousins, with the exception of Edmund, who alone treats her with care and affection. But will she ever be able to win a valued place in the household and the heart of the man of her dreams?.
IMDB Rating: 6.7
IMDB Votes: 1000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 261 min
Plot tags: serious, realistic, witty, spiritual, costume drama, romantic drama, period drama
Similar in 87%
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 84%
Moby Dick (2011)
Plot Summary:
The sole survivor of a lost whaling ship relates the tale of his captain's self-destructive obsession to hunt the white whale, Moby Dick.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 2000
Genere: Adventure, Drama
Country: Germany
Duration: 184 min
Plot tags: exciting, realistic, psychological, serious, captivating, nautical, fairy tale, stylized, period drama
Similar in 78%
Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008)
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
Similar in 90%
Wives and Daughters (1999)
Plot Summary:
Elizabeth Gaskell's enchanting tale of romance, scandal, and intrigue in a gossipy English town comes to Masterpiece Theatre in a lavish four-part production of Wives and Daughters, adapted by celebrated screenwriter Andrew Davies.Davies, who wrote the scripts for such Masterpiece Theatre classics as A Rather English Marriage, Moll Flanders, the House of Cards trilogy, and Middlemarch, found Wives and Daughters to be perfect costume-drama material. It posed a rather interesting problem: Gaskell died just before completing the book. She was obviously aiming at a happy ending, and Davies has supplied the lost denouement with surprise and style.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 7000
Genere: Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 301 min
Plot tags: uplifting, period piece, costume drama, serious, historical drama, romantic drama, psychological, romantic, clever, spooky
Similar in 83%
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 84%
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 85%
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 76%
Belgravia (2020)
Plot Summary:
A tale of secrets and scandals set in 1840s London. When the Trenchards accept an invitation to the now legendary ball hosted by the Duchess of Richmond on the fateful evening of the Battle of Waterloo, it sets in motion a series of events that will have consequences for decades to come as secrets unravel behind the porticoed doors of London’s grandest postcode.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 8000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 60 min
Plot tags: costume drama, captivating, romantic, period piece, exciting, sincere, atmospheric, historical drama, talky, period drama
Similar in 80%
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 81%
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 86%
Daniel Deronda (2002)
Plot Summary:
Daniel Deronda is a British television serial drama adapted by Andrew Davies from the George Eliot novel of the same name. The serial was directed by Tom Hooper, produced by Louis Marks, and was first broadcast in three parts on BBC One from 23 November to 7 December 2002. The serial starred Hugh Dancy as Daniel Deronda, Romola Garai as Gwendolen Harleth, Hugh Bonneville as Henleigh Grandcourt, and Jodhi May as Mirah Lapidoth. Co-production funding came from WGBH Boston. Louis Marks originally wanted to make a film adaptation of the novel but abandoned the project after a lengthy and fruitless casting process. The drama took a further five years to make it to television screens. Filming ran for 11 weeks from May to August on locations in England, Scotland and Malta. The serial was Marks' final television production before his death in 2010.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 5000
Genere: Drama, Romance
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 210 min
Plot tags: costume drama, period piece, serious, captivating, realistic, heartbreaking, historical drama, romantic drama, historical romance, period drama
Similar in 80%
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 82%
Lillie (1978)
Plot Summary:
The story of Lillie Langtry.
IMDB Rating: 8.1
IMDB Votes: 664
Genere: Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, Romance
Country: UK
Duration: 52 min
Plot tags: costume drama, historical drama, serious, captivating, realistic, stylized, period drama
Similar in 87%
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 79%
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 81%
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