20 period pieces that are the best in TV history

Downton Abbey is the period piece that ends all period pieces. For years, that series was appointment television for millions. It even garnered its own movie. That is some serious entertainment power. 

Outlander has a large audience for many reasons, chief among them that the series covers a variety of times in history. Unless you simply can’t get into the story, there’s no reason why Outlander wouldn’t appeal. 

One of the buzziest period pieces in modern TV history, Bridgerton isn’t particularly historically accurate, but its costumes, sets, and completely spellbinding storylines make up for any inconsistencies. 

The Crown was a massive hit, and for good reason. Its stunning depiction of the Windsors since the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (or at least what the creators imagined their life behind the scenes was like) was so well done that even members of the Royal Family watched it. 

Some viewers have to watch this series with subtitles, but there’s no denying how brilliantly done Peaky Blinders is. The Cillian Murphy-led BBC original is one of the actor’s best projects to date, and it’s one of the best period pieces in all of TV history. 

Many period piece miniseries have come and gone throughout television history, but few have been as good as The Queen’s Gambit. The story was fantastic, the acting was phenomenal, and the costumes were incredible. Everything about this novel adaptation was done well. 

There is no period piece in television history as endearing as Call the Midwife. Though full of plenty of sorrow, the main characters are earnest, and audiences want to root for them. The series will break your heart and sew it back together in one episode. 

Can you talk about period pieces without mentioning Mad Men? This series won tons of Emmys for a reason. It was completely enthralling and dramatic without being too much. The acting was good. The costumes were great. People will never stop rewatching this series. 

As good as Bridgerton is, The Gilded Age is better. This historical piece has everything a viewer wants out of a drama. It’s just set in its titular era. And there are few things as interesting to see on screen as an imagination of what New York City looked like at that time. 

No channel does it quite like HBO. Before the network created The Gilded Age, it was the home of Deadwood, a period piece set in the eponymous South Dakota town during a time of crime and corruption. The award-winning series lasted for three seasons. 

Period pieces can be funny. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel proved that to be true time and time again. Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, and Tony Shalhoub delivered great performance after great performance season after season. 

Many of the best historical dramas were adapted from books. Such was the case of Poldark, a television show that was first a book series of the same name. The series had enough violence and drama to last a century. 

Speaking of violence and drama, audiences loved Vikings. The period pieces dove into a world full of lore and intrigue that isn’t very relevant to today’s culture, but the series was so good that it made Vikings relevant again. 

Another fantastic historical miniseries, Chernobyl, had critics and audience members obsessed in 2019. The phenomenon went on to win a slew of awards, including multiple Primetime and Creative Emmys and a Grammy Award. 

Few television executives can produce shows like Ryan Murphy. His anthology series American Crime Story, particularly the first season, “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” is riveting TV. While not every detail is absolutely accurate, the series nailed the infamous saga in so many ways. 

Yes, Happy Days is technically a period piece. The iconic sitcom aired in the ‘70s and ‘80s, but it took place in the ‘50s and ‘60s. Not only was Happy Days great and popular, but it also launched the careers of some of the most influential people in the entertainment history of the past 40 years.  

That ‘70s Show is a period piece, too, and a good one at that. This sitcom showed that life may have been different in the ‘70s, but people weren’t. It’s also one of the few period pieces that spawned a spin-off period, That ‘90s Show. 

As evidenced, comedies can be period pieces, too. They aren’t typically thought of within the genre, but they exist. And ones like MASH prove that they’re worth watching. This series finale is still the most-watched series finale in all of television history. 

The same year The Crown premiered, viewers got another fictionalized peek into the lives of the British royals in Victoria. The series followed Queen Victoria in the early days of her reign, and it was praised by critics for its great performances.

A great way to create a stunning period piece is by adapting a book written in another period with a then-modern setting. The creators of Sanditon did so with the last book Jane Austen ever wrote, and the show was met warmly.