The one streaming service every historical drama fan should have
The one streaming service every historical drama fan should have
No one does romance, scandal, and history like PBS Masterpiece.
There’s something about a great historical drama that just pulls me in. The best ones make the past feel alive — full of love, power struggles, and people you can’t stop thinking about. And when it comes to finding that kind of storytelling in one place, no streamer does it better than PBS Masterpiece. From the windswept cliffs of “Poldark” to the tangled loyalties in “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light,” this platform consistently delivers character-driven dramas that feel epic without losing their emotional core. If historical TV is your thing, here’s why PBS Masterpiece is the best streamer for you.
What historical dramas can you watch on PBS Masterpiece?
If you’re into period dramas with a mystery twist, PBS Masterpiece has you covered. “Miss Scarlet and the Duke” is a fun, fast-paced series set in Victorian London, following a headstrong female detective who’s constantly one step ahead of the men around her (and sometimes in trouble because of it). “Grantchester” brings a different kind of tension, pairing a crime-solving vicar with a weary detective in postwar England — it’s cozy and brooding all at once.
And then there’s “Mr Bates vs The Post Office,” which swaps corsets for courtrooms in one of the UK’s biggest real-life scandals. It’s not just gripping TV, but a reminder that historical drama doesn’t have to mean distant history.
On the softer side, PBS Masterpiece also delivers when you just want heartfelt stories and sweeping scenery. “All Creatures Great and Small” is all rolling hills, warmhearted characters, and quiet emotional payoffs — basically a cup of tea in show form. If you want prestige drama with some serious bite, “Wolf Hall” is essential viewing: dense, political, and completely riveting, with Mark Rylance anchoring it all.
And new this year is “Miss Austen,” which reimagines Jane Austen’s legacy through the eyes of her sister. It’s intimate, literary, and already shaping up to be one of the standout dramas of 2025.
PBS Masterpiece doesn’t just do corsets and castles — it also delivers period dramas that push the genre into fresh territory. “Sanditon” takes Jane Austen’s unfinished final novel and runs with it, creating a seaside world full of ambition, scandal, and romantic chaos. It’s bold, steamy, and unafraid to break with tradition.
“Beecham House” takes things even farther, setting its story in 18th-century India. Think palatial intrigue, British imperialism, and secret identities — all in a visually stunning package. And then there’s “Indian Summers,” which digs deep into the final years of British colonial rule in the 1930s. It’s moody, political, and filled with the kind of slow-burn drama that sticks with you.
If you’re looking for something with staying power, PBS Masterpiece has that too. “Victoria” gives us the young queen’s early reign, balancing royal duties with a messy marriage and political unrest. It’s a historical drama with real emotional weight. “Endeavour” brings the mystery crowd in, acting as a prequel to “Inspector Morse” while painting a vivid portrait of 1960s England. Smart, stylish, and constantly evolving, it’s a standout in the detective genre.
And if you just want something warm and moving, “Call the Midwife” has become a quiet juggernaut. Set in postwar London, it’s about nurses and nuns delivering babies, sure — but it’s also about resilience, community, and the changing world. It’s one of the most quietly revolutionary shows on TV.
-
Churchill's Secret
February 29, 2016British Prime Minister Winston Churchill suffers from a stroke in the summer of 1953 that’s kept a secret from the rest of the world.
-
Poldark
March 8, 2015Britain 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.
-
Wolf Hall
January 21, 2015England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?
-
Miss Scarlet
March 31, 2020When Eliza Scarlet’s father dies, he leaves her penniless, but she resolves to continue his detective agency. To operate in a male-dominated world, though, she needs a partner… step forward a detective known as the Duke. Eliza and The Duke strike up a mismatched, fiery relationship as they team up to solve crime in the murkiest depths of 1880’s London.
-
Grantchester
October 6, 2014In 1953 at the hamlet of Grantchester, Sidney Chambers—a charismatic, charming clergyman—turns investigative vicar when one of his parishioners dies in suspicious circumstances.
-
Mr Bates vs The Post Office
January 1, 2024The story of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history, where hundreds of innocent sub-postmasters and postmistresses were wrongly accused of theft, fraud and false accounting due to a defective IT system.
-
All Creatures Great & Small
September 1, 2020The heartwarming and humorous adventures of a young country vet in the Yorkshire Dales in the 1930s. A remake of the 1978 series.
-
Miss Austen
February 2, 2025Miss Austen takes a literary mystery – Cassandra Austen notoriously burning her famous sister Jane’s letters – and reimagines it as a fascinating, witty and heart-breaking story of sisterly love, while creating in Cassandra a character as captivating as any Austen heroine.
-
Sanditon
August 25, 2019The spirited and impulsive Charlotte Heywood moves from her rural home to Sanditon, a fishing village attempting to reinvent itself as a seaside resort.
-
Indian Summers
February 15, 2015Epic drama set in the summer of 1932 where India dreams of independence, but the British are clinging to power.
Set against the sweeping grandeur of the Himalayas and tea plantations of Northern India, the drama tells the rich and explosive story of the decline of the British Empire and the birth of modern India, from both sides of the experience. At the heart of the story lie the implications and ramifications of the tangled web of passions, rivalries and clashes that define the lives of those brought together in this summer which will change everything.
-
Victoria
August 28, 2016The story of Queen Victoria, who came to the throne at a time of great economic turbulence and resurgent republicanism – and died 64 years later the head of the largest empire the world had ever seen, having revitalised the throne’s public image and become “grandmother of Europe”.
-
Endeavour
April 14, 2013The early days of a young Endeavour Morse, whose experiences as a detective constable with the Oxford City Police will ultimately shape his future.
What other streamers have historical drama TV shows?
While I think PBS Masterpiece takes the (royal) cake, Netflix has also made a serious name for itself in the historical drama game thanks to two of its biggest hits: “Bridgerton” and “The Crown.” “Bridgerton” flipped the traditional period drama on its head with its diverse casting, steamy romance, and modern pop music wrapped in Regency gowns — it’s glossy, addictive, and massively popular for a reason.
On the other end of the spectrum, “The Crown” is pure prestige TV, diving deep into the reign of Queen Elizabeth II with sharp writing, stunning performances, and meticulous attention to historical detail. Between these two, Netflix covers both the escapist and the serious sides of historical drama — and does it better than most.
Then, there’s Prime Video which offers historical dramas that feel both grand and personal. “Downton Abbey” is the crown jewel — a sweeping upstairs-downstairs saga packed with romance, class tension, and early 20th-century drama. But the platform also goes deeper, spotlighting underrepresented stories with series like “The Underground Railroad,” a haunting, surreal adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s novel that imagines the escape from slavery as a literal subterranean train system.
And “The Book of Negroes” brings 18th-century Black history to the forefront, following one woman’s incredible journey from West Africa to the Americas and back. These shows offer vastly different tones and settings, but all three remind you why Prime Video deserves a spot in the historical drama conversation.
-
Bridgerton
December 25, 2020Wealth, lust, and betrayal set in the backdrop of Regency era England, seen through the eyes of the powerful Bridgerton family.
-
The Crown
November 4, 2016The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain’s post-war destiny.
The Crown tells the inside story of two of the most famous addresses in the world – Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street – and the intrigues, love lives and machinations behind the great events that shaped the second half of the 20th century. Two houses, two courts, one Crown.
-
Downton Abbey
September 26, 2010A 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.
-
The Underground Railroad
May 13, 2021Follow young Cora’s journey as she makes a desperate bid for freedom in the antebellum South. After escaping her Georgia plantation for the rumored Underground Railroad, Cora discovers no mere metaphor, but an actual railroad full of engineers and conductors, and a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil.
-
The Book of Negroes
January 7, 2015Kidnapped in Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate a revolution in New York, isolation in Nova Scotia and treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone, in an attempt to secure her freedom in the 19th century.
