The first season of the Netflix premiered period drama Bridgerton has ended, but fans still need to be over the tremendous dramatic arcs and visuals it served.
Meantime the second season drops; why not watch some similar overarching dramatic series?
So, grab some popcorn, get cozy, and keep your wishlist ready to be bombarded with shows like Bridgerton exciting enough to binge.
Tv Shows like Bridgerton.Â
Poldark(2015-2019)
Creator- Debbie Horsfield
Genre- Romance drama
📺 Where to watch- Disney+, Netflix
PBS’s Poldark is a show with a moderate flare of romance.
If you’re a British accent enthusiast, you have found the best show to enjoy the same.
With Sunset scenes repeated many times, this series includes shirt-offs so often to try their best to make you fall hard for the lead.
This series has been an adaptation of Winston Graham’s novels. The plotline is themed around a quest for love.
It is a 2015-2019 aired TV series centering on Ross Poldark, who is an American war return soldier finding love in the most unexpected circumstances.
Harlots(2017-2019)
Creator- Moire Buffini & Alison Newman
Genre- Drama
📺 Where to watch- Hulu
Created by Moira Buffini, Harlot is a story featuring the miseries of a brothel owner Margaret Wells in raising her daughters.
The stress point shows women in a different light.
Set in 1763, England; it is a fiction of rivalry between Quigley and Welles, linked with distressed love and hate ties.
In the subplot, the blacks are being traded into slavery in America.
The themes it showcases are betrayal, bribery, coercion, corruption, politics, sex, revenge, alliances, and others.
Reign(2013-2017)
Creator- Laurie McCarthy & Stephanie Sengupta
Genre- Drama
📺 Where to watch- Rhe Cw, Apple TV, Vudu, and Prime
Reign is a 2013 four-seasoned drama featuring Adelaide Kane, Toby Regbo, Torrance Coombs, Caitlin Stasey, and others.
This attempt by this show to address gruesome issues related to women is applaudable.
This CW’s hit period drama is a fictional tale of Mary Queen of Scots and her intense struggle as a female ruler that seems natural and tugs the heart of viewers.
The costumes, set, makeup, and everything are of the current era & have a Victorian touch.
This show gives hope that duty can be eventually aligned with love, and there is enough room for both of them.
Scandal(2012-2018)
Creator- Shonda Rhimes
Genre- Thriller drama
📺 Where to watch- Hulu
Scandal is a crime genre Tv series featuring themes like romance, suspense, politics, crime, thriller, and others.
The scandalous chemistry between Olivia and the president is great on its part, and the verbal mannerism of every character makes the show an ultra-fast-paced one.
It is an intense story with soap elements intertwined with political intrigue that can’t be foreseen.
The Great(2020)
Creator- Tony McNamara
Genre- Dark Historical comedy
📺 Where to watch- Hulu
The narrative is of the rise of Russia’s Catherine the Great and Peter Third and how the twist of being the one and only empress and eventually the sole person in authority in Russia takes a room in Catherine’s head and makes things change for the worse.
Catherine is a disillusioned wife who wants to take over the Crown and create Russia as she envisioned it.
It is a highly absurd yet original show.
It has a fantastic cast of Elle Fanning portraying Catherine and Nicholas Hoult being Peter III of Russia and others.
It is a lavish romantic history based-story with a choke-full of romance, schemes, luscious costumes, dazzling palace spicy comedy, and intrigues.
The whimsical telling includes mocking The Tudors and many other things.
The Tudors(2007-2010)
Creator- Michael Hirst
Genre- Historical drama
📺 Where to watch- Showtime
Set in 16th-century England, this show covers the story of the six marriages of Henry VIII with consistent themes of religion, politics, and economy.
It delivers a fictionalized good glance at each aspect of Henry’s last 27 years of reign.
The series has 38 episodes and four seasons in total.
This television series from 2007 is based on historical facts meeting the fictional interpretation of historical figures.
It is a well-acted Renaissance soap opera.
It showcases themes like political maneuvering, backstabbing, violence, and sex.
The Spanish Princess(2019)
Creators– Emma Frost & Matthew Graham
Genre- Historical Romance
📺 Where to watch- Hulu
Based on the life and risings of Catherine of Aragon, this four-seasoned show is a classic period drama genre watch.
It stars Laura Carmichael, Aaron Cobham, and Charlotte Hope.
It is a high-production value 16th-century set period drama.
It is another politically correct version of the historic chronicle.
The series has a good spirit of the literature of Philippa Gregory.
Henry 8th’s delusional obsession with sons he would never have while giving birth to the one actual woman who would turn into England’s greatest ruler is both heart-wrenching and ironic.
Gossip Girl( 2007-2012)
Creator- Stephanie Savage & Josh Schwartz
Genre- Adolsense drama
📺 Where to watch- HBO max, Vudu, Apple TV & Prime
Not a period drama, but entertaining enough to make room in the list.
Gossip Girl is a modern version of Bridgerton with all its drama, deceits, scandals, and love triangles.
This six-season series centers around two best friends in high school and all the drama on board in between.
Aired between 2007-2012, this is the story of a bunch of privileged teens set in New York.
This American teen drama series has a total of six seasons.
The series’ content focuses on the famous fashion lines of NY, various types of Grand Events, Manhattan’s Elites’ lifestyles & differences between lifestyles in Brooklyn and the Upper East Side.
Gossip Girl is their website which features the inner gossip of the high school teens, and the faces behind it are the main thrilling point of the show.
This Netflix series primarily focuses on Blair and Serena’s friendship.
Sanditon(2019)
Creator- Andrew Davies
Genre- Historical romantic drama
📺 Where to watch- Disney+
This show is like one of the closest relatives of Bridgerton.
The premise of Sanditon circumferences the story of an impulsive and spirited woman Charlotte Haywood, whose life is full of upheavals in Sanditon after shifting from her rural abode.
This is a faithful to-the-source adaptation of Jane Austin’s novel of the same name.
This two-seasoned 2019 historical drama features characters that are twisted into a travesty.
From the poor’s gentleman’s daughter heroine and the arrogant rich love interest, all the tropes are there.
Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
Creator- Jullian Fellowes
Genre- Romance drama
📺 Where to watch- Hulu
One of the good reasons to watch it is that Maggie Smith is one of the crucial characters in this series.
The tale is of a scandalous aristocratic family with plenty of skeletons in the closets.
It is a British period drama show from 2010 where every character plays cards close to their chest.
The period it showcases is beautifully recreated with mannerisms, colloquialisms, and etiquette features.
The costumes are also exquisite.
This PBS masterpiece put a simultaneous serene & chaotic sketch of the aristocratic British society across the screen.
Not only the historical infrastructure, accessories, and vintage cars, but the language is also to the point with the setting.
This six-seasoned drama features Michelle Dockery, Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Maggie Smith, Elizabeth McGovern, and Joanne Froggatt.
Outlander(2014)
Creator- Ronald D. Moore
Genre- Romance Fantasy
📺 Where to watch- Prime, Netflix, and Starz
The 20th and 18th century Scotland settings are contrastingly portrayed in this series.
This show is based on the fictional novels of Diana Gabaldon and is stretched into a five-seasoned drama.
The series’s back-and-forth timeline of the formative years 1945 and 1743 is unique, and its beautiful romantic sequences are the cherry on top.
Outlander was released in 2014 and sometimes feels distressingly realistic. It is a mystical creation featuring soulful storytelling.
This drama series stars Sam Heughan, Caitriona Balfe, Richard Rankin, Sophie Skelton, Tobias Menzies, and Lauren Lyle.
Dickinson(2014)
Creator- Ronald D.Moore
Genre- Biographical historical drama
📺 Where to watch- Apple Tv+
The show tells the actual story of the famous English poet Emily Dickinson.
This series is high on both funny and witty accounts. The life journey of Emily, not much known to the literature’s non-enthusiasts, is shown by considering the broader horizons of storytelling.
It is a three-season show featuring Hailee Steinflied as Emily, Adrain Blake Encose as Austin Dickinson, Ella Hunt as Susan Gilbert, and others.
This historical drama features some lesbian romance sequences as well.
This show is the perfect mix of contemporary and biographical keys with an enchanting light-hearted comedy aligned throughout.
This series cleverly discusses 19th-century issues such as slavery, racism, and women’s independence.
The series is set in New England, precariously tottering on the brink of the civil war.
The Crown(2016)
Creator- Peter Morgan
Genre- Biographical drama
📺 Where to watch- Netflix
The Crown is a real-life account of Elizabeth Second, shown as a drama with the royal family at the center of the scrutiny.
It is quite a great show being accurate and detailed on the historical front.
It chronicles the life of Elizabeth II and the royal family from the 1940s to modern times. This gives an inner insight into the romantic and political rivalries of the family.
Actress Claire Foy is quite impressive as Elizabeth.
Also, the supporting cast of the show is equally impressive.
This Biographical-drama stars Olivia Colman, Imelda, and Claire Foy.
Versailles(2015)
Created- Simon Mirren & David Wilsencroft
Genre- Period Political drama
📺 Where to watch- Netflix
The number fifteen in the list is the show Versailles where the tale is of the mighty king of France, Louis the Fourteenth, and his attempt to build the world’s most splendid palace in Versailles and the political complexities in between.
This 2015 historical drama is set in 17-18th century French. This show is for lovers of prompt royal-ness appreciators.
The side politics and drama were well-written, and the depth of the characters is perfect.
The score is lavish and fitting for a show belonging to royal matters.
This three-season period piece features George Blagden, Alexander Vlahos, and Tygh Runyan.
The show is a significant budgeted creation developed and co-produced by ‘Canal Plus’ original creation division.
The costumes and sets are a feast for the eyes.
The White Queen(2013)
Creator- James Kent, Jamie Payne, and, Colin Teague
Genre- Historical fiction
📺 Where to watch– Hulu
This is a BBC one’s British historical drama based on Philippa Gregory’s historical novel ‘The Cousins War.’
Premiered in 2013, The White Queen has been nominated for three Golden Globe Awards and Four Primetime Emmy Awards.
This British fictional drama series is a beautiful creation of only one season.
It stars Max Irons as King Edward 4th, Rebecca Ferguson, Amanda Hale, Faye Marsay, and David Oakes.
It is entertaining, although it is rife with historical inaccuracies.
It is a compelling period drama surrounding the subject of War of Roses.
It starts in 1464 when the nation has been at war for nine years fighting over the rightful candidate for king of England, as the two sides of the family, the House of York and The House of Lancaster, are in a violent conflict over the throne.