The Best Historical TV Shows That Actually Get It Right

History isn’t dead—it’s binge-worthy. And the best historical dramas remind us that power has always been fragile, ambition is blinding, and human folly is the same across continents and oceans.

From feudal Japan’s shifting allegiances to Soviet secrets cracking under radiation, from royal marriages staged like chess moves to gangsters building empires from the rubble of war—these shows capture the mess, the majesty, and the madness of the past.

Best Historical TV Shows

So here’s the canon – all the best historical TV drama series.

Shōgun

FX’s Shōgun is proof that historical drama can still feel like a revelation. Set in 17th-century Japan, it tells the story of Lord Yoshii Toranaga’s ruthless climb to power after a marooned European ship throws his world off balance. It’s prestige TV that feels like a samurai blade: sharp, deliberate, and devastating when it strikes.

Chernobyl

This one doesn’t need any selling. Chernobyl is five episodes of suffocating dread, retelling the 1986 nuclear disaster with such precision it leaves you rattled. The show’s genius lies in how it strips away the Soviet myth and stares straight at the cost of lies—dead workers, poisoned towns, and scientists screaming into the void. It’s less about the explosion itself and more about the rot it revealed in an empire. Grim, yes. Essential, absolutely.

The Crown

Say what you want about monarchy fatigue—The Crown remains one of the most meticulously crafted dramas of the past decade. Six seasons, three queens, and a parade of scandals that remind you Buckingham Palace is basically the world’s most expensive soap opera. From Elizabeth’s icy restraint to Diana’s heartbreak to Charles’ flailing ambition, the show captures the human cost of living inside an institution that refuses to modernise. The wigs may change, but the drama never dips.

Vikings

This isn’t your polite, BBC docu-drama version of the Norsemen. Vikings is mud, blood, and the roar of longships hitting English shores. Following Ragnar Lothbrok and his descendants, it doesn’t shy away from the brutality of raiding, the strangeness of Norse rituals, or the treachery that made survival a coin toss. Yes, it plays fast and loose with the sagas, but who cares? It’s swaggering, violent entertainment that made the Dark Ages look cool again.

The Empress

Netflix’s The Empress gives us a European royal tale that’s equal parts fairytale and tragedy. Elisabeth “Sisi” of Bavaria crashes into the Austrian court with fire and a refusal to bow to stiff tradition. Think of her as the 19th-century precursor to Diana—loved by the public, despised by courtiers, and ultimately undone by the loneliness of palace life. It’s lush, romantic, and quietly devastating in a way that lingers.

House of Guinness

Yes, it’s about beer—but not just beer. House of Guinness, set to arrive on September 25, 2025, dives into the empire built on a stout that conquered the world, mixing industrial ambition with family drama and Irish history. Think Succession meets Downton Abbey: four heirs, one empire in the shadow of their patriarch’s death. Created by Peaky Blinders mastermind Steven Knight, it’s already brewing buzz—no awards yet, but it’s shaping up to be another prestige player.

Marco Polo

For two seasons, Netflix threw big money at Marco Polo, and it shows. The series drags you into 13th-century Mongolia, where Kublai Khan rules with brutality and genius. Through Marco’s eyes, you see a world of silks, swords, and shifting alliances. It didn’t last long—critics were lukewarm—but there’s a case to be made for it as a flawed gem: sprawling, ambitious, and sometimes spectacular.

The Tudors

Sex, power, and religion—The Tudors had all three in spades. Jonathan Rhys Meyers plays Henry VIII less like a bloated monarch and more like a rock star with a sword, tearing through wives, cardinals, and papal authority with wild-eyed zeal. The show isn’t historically perfect (the abs are suspiciously modern), but it distils one of history’s most infamous reigns into pure, binge-worthy drama.

TURN: Washington’s Spies

If you’ve ever thought the American Revolution was just powdered wigs and speeches, TURN will fix that. It follows the Culper Ring, a scrappy group of spies whose back-channel intel flipped the war’s direction. What makes it addictive is how it captures the paranoia of espionage—the double-crossing, the secrecy, the blurred loyalties—set against the birth of a nation. It’s history’s shadow game, brought into the light.

Rome (2005)

Before Game of Thrones, HBO gave us Rome. And honestly, it still holds up. Gritty, political, and unflinchingly raw, it follows two legionaries, Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, who stumble into the corridors of power as the Republic crumbles. Think of it as history’s version of a buddy drama, only with more assassinations, orgies, and backstabbing senators. Short-lived, but legendary.

Peaky Blinders

Technically, it’s part-fiction, part-history—but that’s the best part. Peaky Blinders turns post–WWI Birmingham into a razor-sharp legend, with Cillian Murphy’s Tommy Shelby running the show like a cigarette-smoking, whiskey-drinking warlord. The politics are real—fascists, communists, trade unions—but the Shelby clan is where the show’s pulse lies. It’s moody, violent and stylish. And yes, there’s a film on the way, so you might as well rewatch all of it now.