Period drama is a genre where the setting does most of the initial work — the costuming, the physical world, the social constraints — but the best examples use that backdrop to get at something that a contemporary drama could not. The rules of the world are different, which means the characters reveal themselves differently. What they want, what they will sacrifice for it, and what they tell themselves about the gap between the two.

All six shows below are confirmed on Netflix UK as of the MovieRec provider snapshot, updated 2026-03-04. They span several centuries and tones, from intimate coming-of-age to large-scale historical violence. The full live catalogue is on the Netflix UK hub on MovieRec.

Quick Picks

• Peaky Blinders — Post-WWI Birmingham gang drama. The most carefully made show on this list.
• Bridgerton — Regency romance with a modern sensibility. Better production values than the genre usually gets.
• Vikings — Brutal, well-researched Norse saga. Long-running but rarely loses momentum in its strongest seasons.

1. Peaky Blinders

Start here for the strongest combination of craft and sustained intensity.

Set in post-WWI Birmingham, Peaky Blinders is built on Cillian Murphy's performance as Thomas Shelby — a Romani gang leader who uses his wartime damage as both tool and disguise. The show is stylish by design, but Steven Knight's writing earns that style rather than hiding behind it. The first two series are the tightest in focus; later series expand the scope further than the story sometimes needs, but the character work remains strong throughout.

The soundtrack is a deliberate anachronism and it works. This show has a specific texture that is hard to find elsewhere.

2. Bridgerton

The choice for Regency romance done with serious production investment.

Shonda Rhimes's adaptation of the Julia Quinn novels places its Regency-era London in a deliberately revisionist world — racially integrated, lushly styled, closer to fantasy than history. That decision frees the show to focus entirely on social manoeuvring, romantic tension, and the specific cruelty of a marriage market framed as aspiration. It is not attempting historical accuracy; it is using a period aesthetic to tell stories about desire, status, and constraint.

The first season is the most focused. Subsequent seasons shift protagonist and tone, which gives the show unusual structural variety.

3. Vikings

Best for viewers who want scale, violence, and a surprisingly long payoff.

Vikings follows Ragnar Lothbrok from farmer to legendary Norse raider and king — and then, in the later seasons, follows his sons as the story expands across Britain and France. The production anchors the show better than most historical dramas; the violence is physical rather than stylised, and the religious conflict between Norse paganism and Christian expansion is handled with genuine interest rather than as set dressing.

The run is long enough to require commitment, but the investment tends to pay off through the first four seasons.

4. The Last Kingdom

The pick for viewers who want Arthurian-era England with less fantasy and more politics.

Based on Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories, The Last Kingdom follows Uhtred of Bebbanburg — a Saxon lord raised by Danes — across the Viking invasion of England and Alfred the Great's attempts to hold back the tide. The divided loyalties are the engine of the drama, and the show makes the political manoeuvring feel genuinely consequential rather than background noise.

Five seasons, clean narrative shape, good momentum through the run. A solid alternative if you want something adjacent to Vikings with a different national perspective.

5. Anne with an E

Best for something quieter and emotionally precise.

A Canadian-produced retelling of Anne of Green Gables set in 1870s Prince Edward Island, Anne with an E leans harder into the social injustices of its period than earlier adaptations — poverty, indigenous rights, the treatment of unconventional children — without losing the warmth of the source material. The performances are strong and the writing gives Anne more agency than the original Victorian framework allowed.

Three seasons. Best for viewers who want period drama that is thoughtful rather than brutal.

6. 1923

The pick for American frontier period drama with a strong ensemble.

A prequel story within the Yellowstone universe, 1923 follows the Dutton family through the early 20th century Montana ranges — drought, economic collapse, and the conflict over land and survival. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren anchor the ensemble with the kind of weight the material needs. It does not require knowledge of Yellowstone to work.

The ranching-era Western is a less-explored period than the 1880s variants, and 1923 uses that setting with more specificity than most shows in the genre.

More to Explore

Period drama and crime drama overlap more than the genre labels suggest — particularly if you have worked through Peaky Blinders and want something in a similar register. The best crime drama series on Netflix UK covers the shows that connect most directly to the criminal-politics end of this list.

For the full current Netflix UK catalogue, the Netflix UK hub on MovieRec has confirmed availability.