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Aug 23, 2022 · From Bridgerton to The Gilded Age, these period drama movies and TV series are on Netflix, Amazon Prime, BBC, Britbox, Hulu, & HBO Max and beyond.
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May 16, 2024 · From Queen Charlotte to Peaky Blinders, here are the best TV period dramas that deliver thrills, chills, and lots of romance.
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- Cady Lang
Looking for opulent costume dramas to transport you to another time and place? Check out this list of 25 films set in various historical periods, from Elizabethan England to 19th century New York, featuring stars like Cate Blanchett, Olivia Colman and Kirsten Dunst.
- Matthew Singer
- Rome, 49 BCE
- Vikings, 793 - 900 and Vikings: Valhalla, 1002 - 1066
- The Last Kingdom, 866-920
- Marco Polo, Late 1200S
- Medici: Masters of Florence, 1429–1440S
- The Borgias, 1492–1503
- The Tudors, 1526–1547
- Wolf Hall, 1529 - 1536
- Gunpowder, 1605
- Versailles, 1660s
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Take it way back to the days of Pompey, Caesar, and all the intrigues of ancient Rome with Rome. This show made waves when it aired on HBO for its crazy high production value and constant appearances by historical characters that made it feel more like an Assassin's Creedgame than a TV show, and takes place at the perfect time to start off a chrono...
Vikings tells the story of legendary Norse hero and king Ragnar Lothbrok, his illustrious sons, and the beginning of the Viking Age. Taking its inspiration from historical events, Vikings sees Ragnar (Travel Himmel) fight, raid, and plunder to gain power, and then have to battle to keep it. An accomplished warrior and creative strategist with a uni...
If you’re still grumbling to yourself about the final season of Game of Thrones and need a new medieval series to cleanse your palate, The Last Kingdom will certainly do the trick. Adapted from Bernard Cornwell’s historical fiction novels The Saxon Series, The Last Kingdomconcerns itself in the tumultuous period of Britain’s past when the Vikings a...
Most people know Marco Polo from screaming his name in a pool every summer, but the actual guy was pretty cool too. Marco Polo is a Netflix original that dramatizes the 13th century Italian explorer's time serving as a liaison to Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis and the first Mongol ruler to conquer all of China. It's a lot more diverse than most p...
For anyone wondering what Richard Madden got up to between dying on Game of Thronesand being cast in a Marvel movie, it was Medici: Masters of Florence. This show's a little all over the place, not least because Dustin Hoffman plays Lorenzo de Medici with a heavy Brooklyn accent but hey, there's plagues and banks and a lot of great CGI shots of Ren...
Pope Alexander XI is a polarizing figure in Vatican history, with some saying he was the most immoral, lecherous man to ever sit the throne of Saint Peter. The Borgias tells the story of Pope Alexander's rise and rule from his perspective as well of that of his scheming bastard children. It's a very loose interpretation of events, with potentially ...
Divorced, beheaded, died...and so on. That's it. That's the show. Without the wild success of The Tudors in 2007, the current wave of sexified royal history TV shows may never have happened. For that we thank The Tudors, and also for being one of Henry Cavill's first high-profile roles (as the Duke of Suffolk) and giving every casting director on t...
Mark Rylance is an outright wonder in this meaty historical series that follows Sir Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power during the reign of Henry VIII. Despite his humble origins, Cromwell ascended to the right hand of the king by facilitating the ruler’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn — a feat his predecessor, ...
Kit Harington's other HBO series is Gunpowder, a miniseries that follows the legendary events of Guy Fawkes and the gunpowder plot to blow up the British houses of parliament. Harington plays Fawkes, whose political and social motivation form the backdrop of his character. Even though pretty much everyone knows how this one ends — there is a litera...
Some period dramas tell the story of a particular event in history; Versailles tells the story of a place. In the mid-1600s, King Louis VIV had an idea to expand the French royal family's hunting lodge into a palace the likes of which the world had never seen before. His vision, along with the dramatic foibles of his court, form the plot of Versail...
A list of historical TV shows covering centuries of history, from ancient Rome to modern Italy. Find out how to watch shows like Vikings, The Last Kingdom, Marco Polo, and more on various streaming services.
- Bridgerton. Historical era: early 1800s, Regency London. Starring: Phoebe Dynevor, Regé-Jean Page, Nicola Coughlan, Jonathan Bailey, Claudia Jessie, Adjoa Andoh, Golda Rosheuvel.
- The Crown. Historical era: Queen Elizabeth II's reign, 1952-1990 (so far) Starring: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Matt Smith, Tobias Menzies, Vanessa Kirby, Helena Bonham Carter, Josh O'Connor, Emma Corrin.
- Downton Abbey. Historical era: 1912-1926. Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern, Laura Carmichael, Michelle Dockery, Joanne Froggatt, Penelope Wilton, Dan Stevens, Maggie Smith.
- The Queen's Gambit. Historical era: 1960s America. Starring: Anna Taylor-Joy, Bill Camp, Chloe Pirrie, Marcin Dorocinski, Marielle Heller, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Moses Ingram, Harry Melling.
Discover the lavish, dramatic, and addictive period dramas from PBS, including Victoria, Sanditon, Poldark, Downton Abbey, and more. Watch with PBS Passport, an added member benefit, and enjoy the sweeping romance, the epic declarations of love, and the glamorous costumes.
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Feb 22, 2024 · The best period dramas whisk viewers away to times and places that feel a world apart from the humdrum blandness of modern life. Here are our 25 favorites, from “The Leopard” to “Little ...
