Best BBC shows: All the best dramas on BBC iPlayer
From tense crime thrillers to lavish literary adaptations, BBC iPlayer is home to some of the best dramas on British television. With fresh releases landing all the time alongside much-loved favourites, choosing what to watch first can be tricky, so we’ve picked out the very best to get you started.
With its latest series just having kicked off, it’s a good time to tune into Shetland. This crime drama combines gripping mysteries, striking island scenery and a close-knit community, while Ashley Jensen and Alison O’Donnell bring warmth and wit as detectives Ruth Calder and "Tosh" McIntosh.
If you've not yet sampled Liverpool-set crime drama This City Is Ours starring Sean Bean and James Nelson-Joyce, then you're in for a treat. When a crime boss plans to retire, a dangerous power struggle erupts within his organisation, setting up a dramatic story that continues into season two...
Jimmy McGovern’s prison anthology drama Time recently returned for a third run – now set in a young offender institution – starring Siobhan Finneran and David Tennant. It’s heartbreaking, nailbiting and should win a slew of awards. Earlier series feature Sean Bean, Stephen Graham, Jodie Whittaker and Bella Ramsey, so the stellar acting is just one reason to tune in.
Trevor Eve dies almost immediately in I, Jack Wright, a mystery drama by Unforgotten creator Chris Lang about a spiky millionaire’s controversial will. A starry cast including Nikki Amuka-Bird, Daniel Rigby and John Simm play the family fighting over his fortune.
When it comes to depicting the thrill of fame and its accompanying anxieties, few dramas do it better than high-quality Australian export The Newsreader. It has remained frustratingly under the radar over the course of its three-series run, but do seek it out, for while its setting in Australian commercial newsrooms of the 1980s may seem far removed from the lived experience of many, all human frailties are here.
There's also Sally Wainwright’s empowering drama Riot Women, Jack Thorne's adaptation of Lord of the Flies, or The Narrow Road to the Deep North starring Jacob Elordi. Then there are offbeat comedy dramas like Tall Tales & Murder, Ludwig, The Outlaws and This Is Going to Hurt, while those wanting something more hard-hitting can turn to The Responder or a range of true-story adaptations like The Sixth Commandment and Four Lives.
Meanwhile, Game of Thrones’s Staz Nair is the eponymous rule-bending detective in gritty drama Virdee set in Bradford. However, his job of upholding of the law is complicated by a tricky family situation... Plus Philip Pullman’s fantasy saga His Dark Materials gets the full three-ring circus in a richly decked-out adaptation that hums with fine performances.
With so much to binge-watch, it can overwhelming to have such a wide range of choice. So we've put together a list of the best available drama series right now, which should mean you can find something to suit you without all that endless scrolling.
Read on, enjoy - and tune in.
Showing 1 to 24 of 109 results
Murder-mystery following detectives confronted by a series of puzzling crimes, originally adapted from the book Red Bones by crime writer Ann Cleeves.
Drama series, starring Aidan Gillen. A patient wakes from a coma at a Dublin nursing home and reveals he's a gangster with a hoard of buried Celtic treasure. This presents a once in a lifetime opportunity for unconventional nurse Bridget and ex con Paul
Australian-born DI Mackenzie Clarke returns from London to her home town of Dolphin Cove to re-join its local police team. Death in Paradise spin-off, starring Anna Samson
Liverpool-set crime drama, about a gang member who is tempted to seek a new life when he falls in love just as his criminal mentor contemplates retirement
Jimmy McGovern drama anthology exploring life in the British prison system, starring Sean Bean, Stephen Graham, Jodie Whittaker, Bella Ramsey, David Tennant and Siobhan Finneran across three series.
English teacher Claire's life is changed when she starts to hear a low constant humming sound that no one else around her can hear. Despite speaking to multiple doctors, no obvious source or medical cause can be found but when she discovers one of her students can also hear the hum, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Drama, starring Rebecca Hall
Drama about modern-day Manchester detective Sam Tyler (John Simm), who is knocked unconscious in a car accident and wakes up in 1973, unsure whether he's asleep, dead or in a coma.
Zoe and her family arrive on a remote Greek island, where her husband Dan's dark secret threatens to ruin everything. Drama, starring Jessica Raine.
At the outbreak of the First World War, a gravely wounded soldier is recruited into a top-secret military programme. French sci-fi drama, starring Louis Peres
Jonathan Harden, Sian Brooke and Katherine Devlin star in a procedural drama following three new recruits to Belfast's police force.
Romantic crime drama about the only daughter of a notorious criminal family searching for love. Starring Emma Laird and Loyle Carner
Adaptation of William Golding's novel about a group of schoolboys stranded on a deserted island, whose attempts to build their own civilisation descend into tragedy
An inspirational teacher is courted by a student, triggering a complex criminal case. A sinister real-life story starring Timothy Spall and Anne Reid.
Drama following five graduates who join the world's most pre-eminent financial institution in the aftermath of the 2008 collapse. Starring Harry Lawtey
Trevor Eve leads this murder mystery drama about a spiky millionaire’s controversial will. A starry cast play the family fighting over his fortune.
Crime drama inspired by the true story of the 1983 Brink's-Mat gold robbery, following both the police investigation and criminals involved. Starring Hugh Bonneville
Editor Susan Ryeland is hired to work on a continuation novel of the Atticus Pünd series, written by a troubled young author. Murder mystery sequel to Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders, starring Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan
Hard-hitting drama about the early days of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles during the 1980s, beginning with with educated youngster Franklin Saint seeking a way to get on in life.
Drama starring Josh Finan as a teacher leading a philosophy class in a prison, a job that forces him to question his own past
Drama starring Paapa Essiedu and Siobhán Cullen as a couple dealing with the aftermath of losing a pregnancy
Drama about a fictional Dublin crime family embroiled in gangland war, starring Charlie Cox, Aidan Gillen, Clare Dunne and Emmett J Scanlan.
Crime drama following a detective investigating a death on a nuclear submarine - while the vessel remains on active duty. Starring Suranne Jones and Rose Leslie.
Crime thriller with James Norton and Juliet Rylance. Inspired by Misha Glenny's bestseller, it sees the English-raised son of a Russian mafia boss try to escape the ties of organised crime.
Jo Martin, Samantha Bond and Cara Horgan star as a trio of amateur sleuths living in the picturesque Buckinghamshire town on the Thames in a whodunnit from Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood.
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