36 great British period drama box sets on BBC iPlayer for winter 2023-2024
The night are drawing in and autumn is here, so it’s time to snuggle up with a British period drama series and a mug of tea!
If you’re searching for your next show to binge-watch, there’s a wonderful selection on BBC iPlayer right now.
UK viewers who have a TV licence can watch the BBC’s streaming service on a wide range of devices, including tablets, mobile phones, computers and smart televisions – all with no adverts!
In addition to featuring recently aired shows for catch-up, BBC iPlayer also showcases a huge array of classic series from the corporation’s archive, like Bleak House, Pride & Prejudice, and not one but two versions of Great Expectations.
Recently added treats include every episode of Poldark, and three Agatha Christie mini-series, The ABC Murders, And Then There Were None, and Ordeal by Innocence.
You can also rewatch all of Wolf Hall ahead of the long-awaited second season, coming in 2024!
Highlights from the past year include Interview with the Vampire, 1950s Aussie drama Ten Pound Poms, the second season of epic WW2 series World on Fire, and heist drama The Gold.
(While BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK, many of these TV shows can also be found internationally on BritBox.)
For all the latest updates on British period dramas, don’t forget you can like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, sign up for our newsletter, or subscribe to our YouTube channel!
We’ve put together this list of suggestions for British period drama fans to check out on BBC iPlayer in the autumn of 2023:
The ABC Murders (3 episodes)
John Malkovich takes over the role of Hercule Poirot as we join an older and greyer incarnation of the iconic detective in 1933. When Poirot receives anonymous letters threatening murder, he must take matters into his own hands in this 2018 mini-series.
Available for over a year.
And Then There Were None (3 episodes)
Ten strangers find themselves cut off from civilisation on an isolated rock off the Devon coast in this all-star murder mystery from 2015 based on Agatha Christie’s novel.
Available for over a year.
A Very English Scandal (3 episodes)
Based on the true story and written by Russell T Davies (Doctor Who, The Grand), this darkly comic three-part mini-series tells the true story of an illegal love affair that threatened the life of one man and the entire British establishment in 1960s England.
Available for over a year.
Bleak House (15 episodes)
Andrew Davies (Pride & Prejudice) wrote the BBC’s 2005 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, starring Denis Lawson (New Tricks), Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland), Carey Mulligan (Suffragette), and Gillian Anderson (The Crown).
Available for over a year.
Call the Midwife (105 episodes)
Based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the BBC’s hit period drama series follows a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the 1950s and 1960s.
Available for over a year.
Dickensian (20 episodes)
BBC One’s 2015 series brings characters from various Charles Dickens novels together in one Victorian London neighbourhood, as Inspector Bucket investigates the murder of Ebenezer Scrooge’s partner Jacob Marley.
Available for over a year.
The English (6 episodes)
Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria) leads the cast of Hugo Blick’s high-octane epic western as an aristocratic Englishwoman in late 19th century America.
Available for over a year.
The Gallows Pole (3 episodes)
Downton Abbey actress Sophie O’Shera is amongst the cast of director Shane Meadows’s gripping tale of a revolutionary criminal enterprise in 1760s Yorkshire.
Available for over 5 months.
Gentleman Jack (16 episodes)
Based on the diaries of remarkable Regency landowner Anne Lister, this drama is set in Halifax, 1832. Rejected by aristocratic Vere Hobart, Anne Lister returns to her shabby ancestral home, Shibden Hall, determined to restore its fortunes and find herself a wife.
Available for over a year.
The Gold (6 episodes)
Starring Hugh Bonneville (Downton Abbey), Charlotte Spencer (Sanditon), and Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia!), this new six-part mini-series dramatises the true story of ‘the crime of the century’ and the decades-long chain of events that followed the Brink’s-Mat robbery in 1983.
Available for over a year.
Great Expectations (6 episodes)
Olivia Colman (The Crown) plays the iconic Miss Havisham in Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knights’ new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel.
Available for 6 months.
Great Expectations (3 episodes)
Dickens fans can also watch the BBC’s 2011 adaptation of Great Expectations too, with a cast featuring Gillian Anderson, Douglas Booth, Ray Winstone, and Poirot star David Suchet.
Available for over a year.
The Hollow Crown (7 episodes)
Ben Whishaw, Patrick Stewart, Jeremy Irons, Tom Hiddleston, Benedict Cumberbatch, Hugh Bonneville, Judi Dench and more star in the BBC’s acclaimed 2012 adaptations of Shakespeare’s history plays.
Available for 10 months.
I, Claudius (12 episodes)
Derek Jacobi, Sian Phillips and Brian Blessed bring ancient Rome’s power, corruption and lies to life in the BBC’s classic 1976 drama series.
Available for 8 months.
Interview with the Vampire (7 episodes)
Based on Anne Rice’s best-selling novel, this 2023 series stars Jacob Anderson (Game of Thrones), Sam Reid (Prime Suspect 1973), Bailey Bass (Avatar: Way of Water), and Assad Zaman (Hotel Portofino).
Available for over a year.
Les Misérables (6 episodes)
Dominic West, David Oyelowo and Lily Collins lead the cast of this epic 2018 adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel set in war-torn France.
Available for 11 months.
Little Dorrit (15 episodes)
Claire Foy (The Crown) and Matthew Macfadyen (Pride & Prejudice) star in 2008’s fifteen-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’ powerful story of love, honour, debt and hope in 1820s London.
Available for over a year.
Magpie Murders (6 episodes)
The Crown star Lesley Manville plays a determined sleuth in Anthony Horowitz’s mind-bending murder mystery drama.
Available for over a year.
Marie Antoinette (8 episodes)
From the writer of The Favourite and the makers of Versailles, Marie Antoinette follows the tumultuous early years of the Austrian princess as she rises to become queen of a repressive French royal court.
Available for over a year.
Middlemarch (6 episodes)
Rufus Sewell plays Will Ladislaw in the BBC’s classic 1994 adaptation of George Eliot’s epic novel, exploring rural life, social change and the messy, complex world of relationships and marriage.
Available for over a year.
The Musketeers (30 episodes)
A thrilling world of action, adventure and romance inspired by Dumas’ legendary characters, starring Tom Burke (Strike), Santiago Cabrera (Merlin), and Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who).
Available for over a year.
The North Water (5 episodes)
The BBC’s five-part adaptation of Ian McGuire’s critically acclaimed 2016 novel is set in the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s.
Available for 8 months.
Oliver Twist (5 episodes)
Timothy Spall and Tom Hardy star in 2007’s BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s much-loved tale of a young orphan boy.
Available for over a year.
Ordeal by Innocence (3 episodes)
Bill Nighy (Love Actually), Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey) and Eleanor Tomlinson (Poldark) star in this 2018 adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic murder mystery.
Available for over a year.
Peaky Blinders (36 episodes)
Stylish, epic gangster saga. Fierce, damaged crime boss Tommy Shelby stalks the lawless streets of 1920s Birmingham, carving out an empire for himself and his family.
Available for over a year.
Poldark (40 episodes)
Aidan Turner stars in the BBC’s romantic drama set in 18th century Cornwall, based on the novels by Winston Graham.
Available for over a year.
Pride and Prejudice (6 episodes)
Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle lead the cast of the BBC’s iconic 1995 version of Jane Austen’s classic Regency romance.
Available for over a year.
SAS Rogue Heroes (6 episodes)
Set during darkest days of the Second World War, SAS Rogue Heroes is inspired by the origins of the world’s greatest Special Forces unit, the SAS.
Available for over a year.
Sense and Sensibility (3 episodes)
Hattie Morahan, Charity Wakefield, Dan Stevens, David Morrissey and Dominic Cooper star in the BBC’s three-part 2008 adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel, portraying the life and loves of the Dashwood sisters.
Available for over a year.
Taboo (8 episodes)
Dark, mesmerising drama with Tom Hardy, playing James Keziah Delaney who returns to London from Africa in 1814 and is encircled by conspiracy, murder and betrayal.
Available for over a year.
Ten Pound Poms (6 episodes)
BBC One’s new six-part drama follows a group of Brits as they depart post-war Britain in 1956 for a life-altering adventure on the other side of the world.
Available for 5 months.
Vienna Blood (9 episodes)
Set in 1900s Austria, this period crime drama is adapted from the best-selling Liebermann novels by Frank Tallis by Sherlock writer Steve Thompson.
Available for over a year.
Versailles (30 episodes)
Flamboyant nobles, beautiful courtesans and scheming servants. The brutal, glorious reign of France’s Sun King – an intoxicating world of secrets, betrayals, love and war.
Available for over a year.
War and Peace (6 episodes)
Lily James (Downton Abbey) and James Norton (Grantchester) star this six-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s timeless novel as three young people experience life, love and loss against the epic backdrop of Russia’s wars with Napoleon.
Available for over a year.
Wolf Hall (6 episodes)
Historical drama chronicling the rise of Thomas Cromwell, the son of a humble blacksmith who became King Henry VIII’s chief minister, as he navigated the corridors of power in the Tudor court.
Available for over a year.
World on Fire (13 episodes)
Telling the story of ordinary people from all sides of the global conflict of the Second World War, this epic drama series features Oscar-winner Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets), Sharpe star Sean Bean, Lesley Manville (Magpie Murders), Jonah Hauer-King (Little Women), and Julia Brown (The Last Kingdom).
Available for over a year.
Take a look at more new streaming recommendations here!