Best British history series
Get ready to binge. We've found a collection of must-watch history shows from United Kingdom, now streaming on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Prime Video, and other top services!
A Gentleman in Moscow (2024)
A Gentleman in Moscow (2024)
Count Alexander Rostov finds himself going from riches to rags following the Russian revolution. A Soviet tribunal banishes him to the attic room of an opulent hotel, where, oblivious to the world outside, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love.
Mary & George (2024)
Mary & George (2024)
In 17th century England, Mary Villiers molds her beautiful son, George, to seduce King James I, intending to gain riches and influence through outrageous schemes.
Once Upon a Time in Iraq (2020)
Once Upon a Time in Iraq (2020)
With unique personal archive from civilians and soldiers from both sides of the conflict, this series takes viewers closer to the realities of war and life under Isis than they have ever been before.
Expedition with Steve Backshall (2019)
Expedition with Steve Backshall (2019)
The naturalist visits uncharted territory in pursuit of new discoveries. Steve Backshall takes on physical challenges, encounters extraordinary wildlife and meets remarkable people.
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (2018)
Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (2018)
As told through clips from 183 female directors, this epic history of the cinema focuses on women’s integral role in the development of film art. Using almost a thousand film extracts from thirteen decades and five continents, Mark Cousins asks how films are made, shot and edited; how stories are shaped and how movies depict life, love, politics, humour and death, all through the compelling lens of some of the world’s greatest filmmakers – all of them women.
Australia with Simon Reeve (2013)
Australia with Simon Reeve (2013)
Simon Reeve sets off on an extraordinary adventure across Australia. This mad adventure, involving specially adapted off-road vehicles and a chopper, is part of an ongoing effort to stop the damaging spread of up to a million feral camels across the country.
Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle (2023)
Killing Sherlock: Lucy Worsley on the Case of Conan Doyle (2023)
This is the story of a power struggle between two men - one fictional, and one real. In one corner is the master of crime – the greatest detective who never lived, Sherlock Holmes. In the other is writer, physician and spiritualist leader Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Lucy Worsley explores the extraordinary love-hate relationship between author and creation.
Joanna Lumley's Great Cities of the World (2022)
Joanna Lumley's Great Cities of the World (2022)
The nation’s favourite travel companion, Dame Joanna Lumley, is on an adventure to three of the world’s greatest cities, Berlin, Paris and Rome, for this brand-new ITV documentary series.
Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher (2016)
Immortal Egypt with Joann Fletcher (2016)
It spans over 5,000 years of history that have shaped the world. It is full of spectacular sites and epic stories and an evolving society of inventors, heroes, heroines, villains, artisans and pioneers. Professor Joann Fletcher reveals the highs and lows of the most beguiling civilisation in humanity’s rich history in this four-part series made for BBC2.
Murder In The Skies: Who Downed Mh17? (2025)
Murder In The Skies: Who Downed Mh17? (2025)
July 2014. When Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 crashes in Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board, the circumstances are shrouded in mystery. With a regional war beginning to rage around the crash site, disinformation is everywhere. Western governments are left scrabbling for detail while one civilian is leading the hunt for answers – Dad of two and amateur blogger Eliot Higgins. And with an unlikely team of online detectives by his side, he’s ready to fight all the way to the truth.
Lucan (2024)
Lucan (2024)
A murder that obsessed the nation, and a disappearance that's mystified police for 50 years. Is the son of victim Sandra Rivett about to solve the case of the fugitive aristocrat?
Empire (2012)
Empire (2012)
Empire is a major five-part series presented by Jeremy Paxman. It tells the story of the British Empire in a new way, tracing not only the rise and fall of the empire but also the complex effects of the empire on the modern world – political, technological and social – and on Britain.
The Tube: Going Underground (2016)
The Tube: Going Underground (2016)
Carrying nearly five million passengers per day, the London Tube is one of the world's oldest and busiest metro systems in the world. Today the Tube is undergoing a complete overhaul that is long overdue. Take a behind the scenes look into the daily lives of drivers, emergency personnel, operations managers, and many others among the near twenty thousand employees of this massive rail system, as they navigate the evolution of the London Tube.
Hiroshima (2005)
Hiroshima (2005)
It was the defining moment of the 20th Century – the scientific, technological, military, and political gamble of the world’s first atomic attack. This drama-documentary attempts to do what no other film has done before – to show what it is like to live through a nuclear explosion, millisecond by millisecond.Set in the three weeks from the first test explosion in New Mexico to the eventual dropping of the bomb, the action takes viewers into the room where the crucial political decisions are made; on board the Enola Gay on her fateful voyage; inside the bomb as it explodes; and on the streets of Hiroshima when disaster strikes. Parallel storylines interweave, unfolding the action from both US and Japanese perspectives, and revealing the tensions and conflicts in the actions and minds of people who were making history. Special effects recreate the reality of the mission – even going inside the workings of the bomb – and archive film replays the horrific aftermath.
Bettany Hughes' Treasures of the World (2021)
Armada: 12 Days to Save England (2015)
Armada: 12 Days to Save England (2015)
Three-part documentary about the sinking of the Spanish Armada, featuring dramatic reconstructions and information gleaned from recently recovered documents. Dan Snow takes to the sea to tell the story of how England came within a whisker of disaster in summer 1588.
Martin Clunes: Islands of America (2019)
Martin Clunes: Islands of America (2019)
From space, the US appears to be an immense single land mass hemmed between the planet's two greatest oceans. Look a little closer, however, and you notice something else. All around its coastline floats a gauntlet of countless islands.
Secrets of the Space Shuttle (2018)
Secrets of the Space Shuttle (2018)
The story of NASA's Space Shuttle program, from its very first test flight to its final mission.
Heroes and Villains (2007)
Heroes and Villains (2007)
Heroes and Villains was a 2007-2008 BBC Television docudrama series looking at key moments in the lives and reputations of some of the greatest warriors of history. Each hour long episode featured a different historical figure, including Napoleon I of France, Attila the Hun, Spartacus, Hernán Cortés, Richard I of England, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The statements at the beginning of each episode read: "This film depicts real events and real characters. It is based on the accounts of writers of the time. It has been written with the advice of modern historians." In the United States the show is aired on The Military Channel and was called "Warriors".
Treasures of Ancient Rome (2012)
Treasures of Ancient Rome (2012)
Treasures of Ancient Rome is a 2012 three-part documentary written and presented by Alastair Sooke. The series was produced by the BBC, and originally aired in September 2012 on BBC Four. In the documentary Sooke sets out to "debunk the myth that Romans didn't do art and were unoriginal". This is based on the view that Romans heavily incorporated Greek style in their art, and hence produced nothing new or original. Sooke has received some criticism from the media owing to the fact that there is no consensus among academics on this topic, and hence no 'myth' exists in the first place.
Salvage Hunters Best Buys (2016)
Salvage Hunters Best Buys (2016)
Architectural salvage expert Drew Pritchard looks back at the most eccentric characters, the hardest hagglers and the most extraordinary places he's hunted for antique treasure. Drew gives us the inside track on his wheeling and dealing, the stories behind his picks, as well as top tips about salvaging and how to get the best deals.
The Crusaders (2020)
The Crusaders (2020)
Documentary about the three different orders of Crusader knights from 1000 AD to 1500 AD
Bradley Walsh: Egypt's Cosmic Code (2025)
Bradley Walsh: Egypt's Cosmic Code (2025)
Egypt's Cosmic Code charts Bradley Walsh's first trip to Egypt in search of answers to some of Ancient History's biggest mysteries - who built the pyramids, why and how? Could Ancient Egyptians have supernatural abilities, and is the Great Sphinx much older than we think? This three-part series sees Bradley fulfil a lifetime’s ambition to visit the monuments of Ancient Egypt and try to understand how it could have been possible to produce such 'wonders of the ancient world' 4,500 years ago. Apprenticed to Rolls Royce long before he embarked on his stellar TV career, Bradley has had an enduring fascination with ancient engineering and with the idea that the construction feats of our ancient forebears could only have been possible with the participation of some 'other worldly' or extraterrestrial influence.
Mothers, Murderers and Mistresses: Empresses of Ancient Rome (2013)
The Derbyshire Auction House (2024)
The Derbyshire Auction House (2024)
Following one of the few women in Britain to helm an auction house, Irita Marriott. The series follows her as she builds her business in south Derbyshire, helping vendors make money from unwanted items.
Men of Rock (2010)
Men of Rock (2010)
Geologist Iain Stewart retraces the steps of a band of maverick pioneers who made ground-breaking discoveries in the landscape of Scotland about how our planet works.
War of the Century (1999)
War of the Century (1999)
The War of the Century: When Hitler Fought Stalin, is a BBC documentary film series that examines Adolf Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and the no-holds-barred war on both sides. It not only examines the war but also the terror inside the Soviet Union at the time due to the paranoia of Joseph Stalin - the revenge atrocities, the Great Purge of army officers, the near-lunacy orders, and the paranoia of being upstaged by others, especially Marshal Zhukov. The historical adviser is Ian Kershaw.