The Witchfinder (comedy series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Written by brothers Neil and Rob Gibbons (This Time With Alan Partridge), The Witchfinder<\/em> is a sitcom set in the England of 1647. It\u2019s a time of civil war, plague and, in the form of the era\u2019s infamous witch-hunts, misogyny. Still a chap\u2019s got to make a living and so it is that the down-at-heel witchfinder of the show\u2019s title, Gideon Bannister (Tim Key), arrives in the East Anglican village where unmarried Thomasine Gooch (Daisy May Cooper) has upset her neighbours and been accused of being a witch. With Gooch under Bannister\u2019s charge, the duo set out across the unquiet countryside. Absurd misadventures ensue. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more | Witchfinding: what drove the hunters\u2019 cruel crusade and what methods did they use?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
A Very British Scandal (drama series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
It was a divorce that scandalised and fascinated the country in equal measure. In 1963, the marriage between Ian Campbell, the 12th duke of Argyll, and glamorous socialite Margaret Sweeny, fell apart amidst lurid stories of infidelity on Margaret\u2019s part, stories supported by Campbell finding sexually explicit photographs of his wife. It\u2019s a divorce revisited here in a modern take on the story that shows Margaret (Claire Foy) as a heroic figure who, in the words of screenwriter Sarah Phelps, \u201cset fire to the expectation of her class, gender and her sex rather than go quietly\u201d when she found herself engulfed by scandal. Paul Bettany stars as Campbell. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Read more | The Argyll divorce: the society scandal that rocked 1960s Britain<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Wolf Hall (drama series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
One of the finest historical dramas of recent years, the Wolf Hall<\/em> (first broadcast in 2015) bears repeated revisiting. At its centre is an extraordinary performance from Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell<\/a>, a lowborn man who, via the patronage of Thomas Wolsey<\/a> (Jonathan Pryce), rises to become chief minister \u2013 although perhaps chief fixer might be a better description of his role \u2013 to an increasingly unpredictable and dangerous Henry VIII<\/a> (Damian Lewis). Based on the first two novels in Hilary Mantel\u2019s trilogy (Wolf Hall<\/em> and Bring Up The Bodies<\/em>), the series also charts the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn<\/a> (Claire Foy). Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a> in the UK and Hoopla in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Real Peaky Blinders (two-part documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
An anti-hero for the ages, the fictional Tommy Shelby is a dangerously charming figure. However, as this two-part series explores, the real-life gangsters who once terrorised Britain\u2019s inner-city communities weren\u2019t nearly such good company. With a focus on the slums of Birmingham, The Real Peaky Blinders<\/em> reaches back to the latter part of the 19th century as it uncovers how gangs emerged at a time of sectarian violence. Those offering their thoughts here include historian Professor Carl Chinn, whose work has done so much to promote understanding of historical gangland culture, and Steven Knight, creator of the Peaky Blinders<\/em><\/a> TV series. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Digging For Britain (documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
First aired in 2010, Digging For Britain<\/em> rests on a straightforward premise, the idea that, for all the foul weather, mud and long hours of patient work involved, archaeology is inherently fascinating. It helps too of course that every year the series focuses in on those excavations that have radically changed our understanding of the past and\/or made the most jaw-dropping discoveries \u2013 such as when archaeologists, working at a Buckinghamshire site through which the HS2 High Speed Rail link between London and Birmingham will one day run, dug at the ruin of a Norman church and uncovered spectacular Roman artefacts. Presented by Alice Roberts. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a> in the UK and Hoopla in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Empire Of The Tsars: Romanov Russia With Lucy Worsley (documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
If the past helps us to understand the present, it would currently seem wise to focus on Russia\u2019s often troubled history. Empire Of The Tsars<\/em>, first broadcast in 2016, may help here. It finds Lucy Worsley tracing the story of the Romanovs over 300 years. The series begins in 1613 when Mikhail Romanov, despite being aged just 16, was offered the crown of Russia. Peter the Great, Catherine the Great<\/a> and the repelling of Napoleon all feature in a series that concludes by looking at how the Romanovs\u2019 grip on power unravelled in the years leading up to 1918, when the Bolsheviks assassinated Nicholas II and his family. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a> in the UK and Curiosity Stream in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u00a0Rise Of The Nazis (documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
How did Adolf Hitler<\/a> and his fanatical followers first seize and retain power in Germany? It\u2019s a subject covered in depth in Rise Of The Nazis<\/em>, which combines the insights of experts with dramatic recreations of key moments in history. The first three episodes, collectively entitled \u2018Origins\u2019, deal with the years between the two World Wars, and charts how the Nazis outmanoeuvred a political elite that despised them. The second tranche of episodes, \u2018Dictators At War\u2019, in truth deals less with the ascent of the Nazis than with the way the invasion of the USSR acted as a prelude to Germany\u2019s defeat in the Second World War. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a> in the UK and PBS in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Andy Warhol\u2019s America (documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
The life of Andy Warhol (1928\u201387) can be used as a prism through which to view the 20th-century history of the USA. So runs the premise of this series, which looks at Warhol in three distinct time periods. The first episode covers the artist\u2019s working-class childhood in Pittsburgh, and how he made his name by both critiquing and celebrating American culture. The second episode looks at the 1960s, years when Warhol\u2019s Factory was central to the story of American popular culture. The final programme shows Warhol as a man obsessed with money and security, something perhaps partly explained by his surviving an assassination attempt in 1968. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Call the Midwife\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Call the Midwife<\/em> is one of the BBC\u2019s flagship period dramas. Inspired by the memoirs of real-life midwife Jennifer Worth, the programme follows the lives of staff at an East London nursing convent during the late 1950s and, latterly, through the 1960s. Boasting a cast that includes Jenny Agutter, Helen George and Stephen McGann, the award-winning show paints a realistic picture of maternity care during Britain\u2019s postwar baby boom, while also tackling gritty issues such as poverty, racism, domestic violence and abortion. All seasons now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Small Axe (anthology series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Too often the Black British experience is treated as a kind of parallel history. One of the many triumphs of director Steve McQueen\u2019s mesmerising anthology series is to remind us how the stories of Black Britons are intrinsic to wider British history. The first film in the sequence, Mangrove, which details an infamous trial that followed police harassment of a restaurant used by activists, rightly attracted rave reviews. Elsewhere, there\u2019s considerable star power on view, including John Boyega (Star Wars<\/em>) taking the lead in Red, White And Blue as Leroy Logan, a copper who bravely fought institutional racism in the Met from within. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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Peaky Blinders (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The epic BBC gangster drama set in 1920s Birmingham has gone from cult viewing to worldwide hit. Inspired by\u00a0the real-life Peaky Blinders<\/a> \u2013 a criminal urban youth gang that operated in the city in the late 19th-century \u2013 the series follows the rise of gangster boss Tommy Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy). The fifth and final season takes the Shelbys\u2019 story into the years after 1929, when the world is thrown into turmoil by the Great Depression. But that may not be quite the end. According to the show\u2019s creator, Steven Knight, a big-screen movie may be in the works. The show offered the late Helen McCrory OBE, who played the matriarch of the Peaky Blinders, Aunt Polly, one of her defining roles. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A House Through Time<\/strong><\/p>\n
Almost all of live in homes that come to us second-hand. One result of this is that spaces we associate with privacy and intimacy are also spaces where we\u2019re often aware of those who were here before us \u2013 and that makes many of us curious about the life stories of these former residents. A House Through Time<\/em> plays off this curiosity by focusing on just one home per series. The latest episodes find presenter David Olusoga in Headingley, a leafy suburb of Leeds that was swallowed up during the Industrial Revolution, an era when the city, a centre for textiles production, expanded rapidly. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Thatcher: A Very British Revolution<\/strong><\/p>\n
Between 1979 and 1990, the Conservative governments led by Margaret Thatcher transformed Britain. But how did a grocer\u2019s daughter, a political outsider best known as the \u201cmilk snatcher\u201d after serving in the government of Edward Heath, ascend to become prime minister? And why was she ousted from power in 1990? It\u2019s a story told here over five episodes in a series featuring interviews with many of those who were in the Iron Lady\u2019s inner circle. Along the way, the series explores such subjects as how Thatcher faced down critics in her own cabinet, the decision to go to war over the Falkland Islands and the miners\u2019 strike. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Art Of Persia<\/h3>\n
Since the Islamic revolution in 1979, the authorities in Iran have rarely allowed western documentary teams to film in the country. One result has been that few of us are as familiar with Iran\u2019s deeper culture and history as we might be. Here\u2019s a series that does much to redress this as broadcaster and journalist Samira Ahmed travels in the country and gains rare access to historical sites. Along the way, she details how the Persian Empire was born, explores how the country\u2019s distinct culture survived Arab conquest, and learns how a golden age of Persian poetry and art emerged during the Safavid dynasty era. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
My Family, The Holocaust And Me<\/strong><\/p>\n
When Robert Rinder appeared on Who Do You Think You Are?<\/em>, the Holocaust<\/a> was an almost constant presence as the barrister and TV presenter traced the stories both of relatives who survived and those who were murdered. The episode provoked an extraordinary response from viewers. It also led to this two-part documentary being commissioned. It finds Rinder continuing his research into his own often tragic family history. In addition, it follows the personal journeys of Britons who, to quote psychologist Bernie Graham, were born into \u201ca state of bereavement\u201d because of the way the Holocaust cast a shadow over their lives. Now streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Mrs. America (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Author and activist Phyllis Schlafly (1924\u20132016) was a conservative who doggedly fought the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution in the 1970s, legislation that would have offered women protection from discrimination. The contradictions of such an intelligent, formidable and self-starting campaigner, a woman who herself often had to battle sexism, pitting herself against the leading lights of American feminism are explored in a series that stars Cate Blanchett as Schlafly. Those on the other side of the argument include writer and feminist leader Gloria Steinem, played with a waspish intensity by Rose Byrne. Streaming now on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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Black Power: A British Story Of Resistance (documentary)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
A companion piece to the dramas in Steve McQueen\u2019s Small Axe season, and in particular Mangrove, this documentary tells the story of Britain\u2019s Black Power movement in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its leaders included the likes of writer Darcus Howe, scientist Altheia Jones-LeCointe and the activist Olive Morris, figures who emerge vividly from the past. Directed by <\/span>George Amponsah<\/span>, this is a documentary rich in archive material that deserves to be more widely seen and which has much to say not just about how we got to now, but about how racism endures in contemporary Britain. Streaming now on BBC iPlayer<\/a>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Black and British: A Forgotten History (documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
First shown in 2016, David Olusoga\u2019s series charts the relationship between Britain and those whose origins lie in Africa. This is a story that goes back further in time than many may imagine. African-Roman legionaries, we learn in the first of four episodes, once guarded Hadrian\u2019s Wall. In other episodes, Olusoga tells the stories of some of the black sailors who fought at Trafalgar, explores Victorian attitudes towards slavery and, closer to our own time, charts the experiences of those who arrived as part of the Windrush generation. Olusoga\u2019s Britain\u2019s Forgotten Slave Owners<\/em> is also available to stream via iPlayer. Streaming now via BBC iPlayer <\/a> and via BritBox in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Best history TV\/documentaries\/movies streaming on other British TV services<\/h3>\n
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Deutschland 89 (series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The German-American Cold War spy drama reaches its third and final series, set in the year the Berlin Wall fell. Not every East German, we\u2019re reminded, welcomed this momentous moment. For many of those working for the Stasi, there was a sudden imperative to cover their tracks and even hide horrors. Jonas Nay heads the cast <\/span>as Martin Rauch, a<\/span>n ex-intelligence officer who is forced to return to his former employment as a double agent. Expect an atmospheric evocation of the past. Newbies may be better off working their way through <\/span>Deutschland 8<\/span>3 and Deutschland 86 first. Now streaming on All 4, and available on Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Jungle Mystery: Lost Kingdoms <\/span>Of Th<\/span>e Amazon<\/span> (series<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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For many years, received wisdom, at least outside South America, suggested the Amazon rainforest had long been, in human terms, sparsely inhabited. This was despite an account by the Spanish Dominican <\/span>missionary Gaspar de Carvajal<\/span> (c<\/span>1500\u20131584)<\/span>, who travelled the Amazon and wrote of seeing large cities and other evidence of an advanced civilisation on the great river\u2019s banks. Sadly, as <\/span>palaeoarchaeologist <\/span>and explorer <\/span>Ella Al-Shamahi <\/span>explores in this excellent series, diseases imported from Europe decimated the local population. Over three episodes, cameras follow <\/span>Al-Shamahi<\/span> as she travels in South America in search of evidence to tell us how these forgotten peoples lived. Now streaming on All 4<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s A Sin (series<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s 1981, and Ritchie, Roscoe and Colin begin new lives in London. Each, in their way, is searching for freedom in the capital at a time when, as gay men, they face overt prejudice But a mysterious new illness is causing unexplained deaths. The Aids epidemic has begun. Following the interweaving stories of the boys and their friends over the next decade, Russell T Davies\u2019 acclaimed drama It\u2019s A Sin<\/em><\/a>, which landed during lockdown to become All4\u2019s most binged show ever, is funny and touching without ever trivialising the tragedy we see inexorably unfolding. Olly Alexander leads a superb ensemble<\/span> cas<\/span>t. Now streaming on All 4<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
The Great British Dig: History In Your Garden (documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
When it comes to excavating certain areas of the United Kingdom, community archaeology is really the only way forward. That\u2019s because so many historically important sites in the country have either been continuously occupied, or built upon after earlier structures have fallen into disrepair. Still, as the success of The Great British Dig<\/em> proves, many people are happy for their gardens or community spaces to be dug over in the name of curiosity and historical research. It probably helps too to have presenter Hugh Dennis of Outnumbered<\/em> fame on hand, a man whose good humour consistently shines through, when embarking on such projects. Now streaming on All4<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Architecture the Railways Built (documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Tim Dunn likes railways a lot<\/em>, an enthusiasm he conveys so vividly that in itself it greatly explains why this series has become cult viewing. More seriously, Dunn, who is especially good on the Victorian era, is adept at explaining how the railways have transformed our lives down the years. It\u2019s a subject he approaches through the buildings associated with trains \u2013 not just stations but viaducts, signal boxes, tunnels, pedestrian walkways, workshops and railway hotels.Streaming now via <\/strong>UKTV Play<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Britain\u2019s Most Historic Towns (documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
In a series based on an elegantly simple idea, Alice Roberts explores Britain\u2019s history by focusing on a town or city that encapsulates a particular era. When it comes to Roman times, for example, she heads for Chester while York is her destination when Roberts wants to tell the story of Viking Britain. There\u2019s a certain amount of dressing up and larking around involved, but the series is nonetheless revealing as, for example, she explores how Oxford lay at the heart of a battle for control of England played out between an autocratic monarch and parliament during the Civil War. Streaming via All4 in the UK and via Pluto in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Guy Martin\u2019s D-Day Landing (documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Even when he\u2019s telling us he\u2019s having fun, Guy Martin often looks vaguely worried. As well he might considering his documentaries inevitably involve an element of personal risk. This documentary, made to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day<\/a>, is a case in point. It follows the mechanic as he helps to restore a Dakota transport plane, an aircraft once used to ferry paratroopers into Normandy, soldiers who landed at night ahead of the seaborne invasion. Martin also meets some of those who did this and trains with the Red Devils as he himself prepares to leap from the sky into France. Streaming now via All4 in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n
D-Day on screen: 5 TV and film depictions of the Second World War operation<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>
The Six Wives Of Henry VIII (documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. The story of Henry VIII\u2019s multiple marriages<\/a> is, at least in outline, familiar to many of us. Yet how much do we really know about, for example, the Tudor monarch\u2019s reasons for selecting those he wed? In a series first broadcast back in 2001, David Starkey, then a comparative newcomer to television, explores Henry\u2019s reign through the prism of these marriages. In the process, he offers a rich and detailed portrait of life in Henry\u2019s court and, in showing events from the women\u2019s perspectives, brings Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn and those who followed them vividly to life. Streaming via All4 in the UK, and BritBox in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Time Team (documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
There are shows that it\u2019s easy to take for granted, especially when they play out over multiple seasons. Time Team<\/em> is a case in point, an archaeology series that first transmitted back in 1994 and eventually ran for 20 years. Some 96 of these episodes are currently available to stream for free via the All4 website in the UK, in addition to various specials. Once you\u2019ve got over the shock of how young Tony Robinson looks, the programme has dated well, principally because it\u2019s fascinating to see professional bonediggers at work. It\u2019s also instructive to see how the field of archaeology has developed through these years. Streaming via All4 in the UK and Amazon in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Downfall (film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to forget how shocking the very idea of this drama based on Hitler\u2019s final days<\/a> seemed back in 2004. This was the first German screen portrayal of the F\u00fchrer for 50 years. That it\u2019s come to be seen as a hugely important drama is in great part down to the late Bruno Ganz, who plays Hitler as a man sick with Parkinson\u2019s disease, raging at what\u2019s happening and yet utterly unable to take responsibility for what\u2019s become of his country. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, the film is also horribly claustrophobic as we follow events playing out in a Berlin soon to fall to the Red Army. Now streaming on Hoopla in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Best history shows and series to watch on Netflix<\/h3>\n
Bridgerton\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Streamed by 82 million households worldwide, Bridgerton<\/em><\/a> has found an audience far exceeding the numbers usually drawn to bonnets-and-breeches fiction. In part, that\u2019s because its portrait of high society during the Regency era is unapologetically escapist \u2013 and frequently steamy. But the casting has been key to its success too, in that here is an alternate-history period drama that shows London as racially integrated. The second season focuses on the eldest Bridgerton, Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), who decides it\u2019s time he married. Cue complications when the efforts of Kate Sharma (Simone Ashley) to stop Anthony courting her sister, Edwina (Charithra Chandran), put Kate in close proximity to a man she regards as a rake. Now streaming on Netflix \u2013 Season 2 arrives on 25 March<\/strong><\/p>\n
Bridgerton: everything you need to know<\/a><\/h4>\n
Step into the ballrooms of Regency England, and catch up on the real history that underpins seasons 1 and 2 of\u00a0Bridgerton, <\/em>from the real royals to the palaces and promenades | Read more<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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Against The Ice (drama<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
In 1909, Danish explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) set out on an expedition across Greenland. His aim was to prove that Greenland was not, as some maintained, two islands separated by a body of water known as the Peary Channel. This in turn would help to counter an American claim to the north-east of the territory. It would prove to be a brutal journey, one that culminated in Mikkelsen being forced to spend a long winter in the wilds of the north. This atmospheric drama charts Mikkelsen\u2019s adventures and his friendship with his companion on the ice, rookie mariner Iver Iversen (Joe Cole). Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Vikings: Valhalla (drama series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Set a century after the conclusion of Vikings<\/em>, this similarly visceral swords-and-seafaring sequel follows a new collection of mariner-warrior Norsemen and Norsewomen. Chief among them is Leif Erikson<\/a> (Sam Corlett), a figure from the Icelandic sagas who is reputed to have been the first European to set foot on continental North America<\/a>, where he established the settlement of Vinland, hundreds of years before Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic. His headstrong sister,\u00a0 Freyd\u00eds Eir\u00edksd\u00f3ttir<\/a> (Frida Gustavsson), and an ambitious prince, Harald Sigurdsson (aka Harald Hardrada<\/a>, Leo Suter), also feature strongly. Set in the early 11th century, the first series begins with tensions high in England, a prelude to violence<\/a>. Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (feature-length documentary<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be put off by the deliberately provocative title. Nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category, Crip Camp<\/em> traces the disability rights movement of the 1970s and 1980s to Camp Jened. This was a summer camp for disabled people in the Catskill Mountains, New York State. From the late 1960s, it was also a place where hippy-tinged, countercultural values held sway, and many found a sense of freedom and belonging \u2013 and the confidence to become campaigners. They included filmmaker James LeBrecht, born with spina bifida, whose memories inspired Crip Camp when he told his co-director, Nicole Newnham, about Jened. Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Barbarians (series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
The battle of the\u00a0Teutoburg Forest<\/a> of 9AD represented one of the Roman empire<\/a>\u2019s most humbling defeats. But what happened in the lead-up to a day when Germanic forces, led by Arminius, who had trained as a Roman soldier, ambushed and slaughtered three Roman legions and their auxiliaries? This German drama, which can be viewed with subtitles or dubbed into English, traces the story of how Germanic resistance to Rome coalesced. A series for fans of The Last Kingdom and Vikings in that, for all it\u2019s frequently violent, Barbarians tells its story with energy and even a little wit. Now<\/strong> streaming on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Queen\u2019s Gambit (series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Yes, the idea of a hit drama about a chess prodigy orphan with addiction issues does seem unlikely. However, it\u2019s probably worth noting that not only is Queen\u2019s Gambit based on a 1983 novel by Walter Tevis (The Hustler<\/em>, The Color Of Money<\/em>, The Man Who Fell To Earth<\/em>) but this TV adaptation never outstays its welcome, telling its story over seven tightly scripted episodes. Anya Taylor-Joy stars as Beth Harmon, who first starts to pop pills as a child in the 1950s, a time when children in orphanages were routinely given tranquillisers, but who is determined to make the most of her talents.\u00a0Streaming now on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Liberator (series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Filmed in Trioscope, a technique that fuses live-action with animation, the visual style of Second World War drama The Liberator<\/em> gives it a distinctive look and feel. But get beyond the (possibly off-putting) novelty of its visuals and this is a drama that\u2019s well worth a look. At the centre of its story lies the real-life figure of infantry officer Felix \u2018Shotgun\u2019 Sparks (Bradley James). Rising to take charge of the 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, he was a man who fought in such famously brutal bloody encounters as the battle of Anzio and the battle of the Bulge.\u00a0Streaming now on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n
Babylon Berlin\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
With a budget of \u20ac40 million, which reportedly ballooned to \u20ac55 million with reshoots,\u00a0Babylon Berlin<\/em> is said to be the most expensive TV series ever made in Germany. If that\u2019s true, the money certainly wasn\u2019t wasted because it\u2019s an extraordinary drama that vividly brings to life the nervy, paranoid interwar world of the Weimar Republic era. Strong performances abound, especially from Volker Bruch as Inspector Gereon Rath, copper and First World War combat veteran who struggles with PTSD. As for the plotting, it\u2019s knotty \u2013 do pay close attention. A fourth series, set in the winter of 1930 and 1931. has been filmed and is due to transmit in 2022.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Kingdom\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
As a supernatural thriller based on a web-comic series \u2013 and with a plot based around the idea of a mysterious plague \u2013 you would hesitate to call\u00a0Kingdom<\/em>\u00a0a historical drama\u00a0per se.<\/em> Nevertheless, it\u2019s fascinating for the way it explores Korea\u2019s story in the late 16th century, when the Japanese invaded the peninsula. Expect gore, as its 18-certificate suggests. A feature-length episode, Kingdom: Ashin Of The North, is also available to stream.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Last Kingdom\u00a0(series)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
While it\u2019s doubtful whether any TV series could encompass the knottiness and epic sweep of Bernard Cornwell\u2019s\u00a0Saxon Stories<\/em>\u00a0novels, The Last Kingdom<\/em><\/a> comes mighty close as it plays out over five series. At the centre of the action is Uhtred\u00a0of Bebbanburg<\/a>, aka Uhtred Ragnarsson, an Anglo-Saxon<\/a> raised as a Dane, and a warrior present at key battles during an era when England was coalescing into a single nation. While production of the series has now wrapped, Netflix has commissioned a movie set in the same fictional timeline, Seven Kings Must Die<\/em>, which star Alexander Dreymon says will be \u201can epic end to a wonderful journey\u201d. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Last Kingdom: everything you need to know<\/a><\/h4>\n
Find out how and where to watch season 5 of The Last Kingdom<\/em>, catch-up on seasons 1\u20134, and explore the real history that underpins the fictional adventures of Uhtred, son of Uhtred | Read more<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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$\""Programme\"$ <\/div><\/div> <\/div> <\/section>
Hollywood\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Created by Ryan Murphy (Glee<\/em>,\u00a0Pose<\/em>),\u00a0Hollywood<\/em>\u00a0looks back at Tinseltown\u2019s golden age in the wake of the Second World War. Its focus is largely on those struggling to make it in an unforgiving town and there\u2019s much here about just how far people will go to find success. In the case of Jack Castello (David Corenswet), for example, this means working as a male escort as he searches around for a break as an actor. A drama that mixes in real-life characters, and often shows them in a less than flattering light, but is perhaps in the end nevertheless too glossy for its own good. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Mindhunter (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
A dark historical crime series directed in part by David Fincher, this Netflix original is a tense 10-episode dramatisation of the FBI\u2019s forays into criminal profiling in the late 1970s. Much of the show is based on a true crime book by John E Douglas who, during the 1970s and 80s, gained a reputation as a serial killer \u2018whisperer\u2019. A former hostage negotiator, Douglas worked with notorious criminals including Charles Manson, Ted Bundy and Edmund Kemper, and the slow-burning show explores how steps were first taken to interview perpetrators of hideous crimes in order to gain knowledge about criminal psychology.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Outlander\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Based on the novels of\u00a0Diana Gabaldon\u00a0and developed for television by Ronald D Moore (Battlestar Galactica<\/em>),\u00a0Outlander<\/em><\/a>\u00a0is both historical drama and time-travel fantasy romance. At its centre lies Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a former Second World War nurse who finds herself transported from 1946 to the Scotland of 1743, where she meets a handsome Highland warrior, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and finds herself caught up in the\u00a0Jacobite risings<\/a>. The BBC\u2019s\u00a0 Poldark<\/em><\/a>, a series that perhaps takes a less fantastical approach to the actual history, is an apposite comparison; they are both\u00a0perfect for escapist binge-viewing.\u00a0Season five (2020) dealt with the Regulator movement<\/a>, while season six recently launched. Now streaming on Netflix in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Read more | Outlander: the real history that inspired the time-slip drama<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
Patria\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The years between 1854 and 1867, argues\u00a0Paco Ignacio Taibo II, are crucial to understanding contemporary Mexico. As the award-winning writer notes in a feature-length documentary, these were years when the \u201ccountry rattled\u201d. Events certainly proceeded at a breakneck pace as, following the exile of\u00a0Antonio L\u00f3pez de Santa Anna, who served as president a dozen times and previously dominated politics, the country entered an era of coups, counter-revolutions and foreign intervention. It\u2019s a history with which many outside the country will be unfamiliar, and one told by Taibo with plenty of visits to historic sites, pace and no little wit.\u00a0Streaming now on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n
Peaky Blinders\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The epic BBC gangster drama set in 1920s Birmingham has gone from cult viewing to worldwide hit. Inspired by the real-life Peaky Blinders<\/a> \u2013 a criminal urban youth gang that operated in the city in the late 19th-century \u2013 the series follows the rise of gangster boss Tommy Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy). The fifth and final season takes the Shelbys\u2019 story into the years after 1929, when the world is thrown into turmoil by the Great Depression<\/a>. But that may not be quite the end. According to the show\u2019s creator, Steven Knight, a big-screen movie may be in the works. The show offered the late Helen McCrory OBE, who played the matriarch of the Peaky Blinders, Aunt Polly, one of her defining roles. Now streaming on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n
Poldark (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Set in 18th-century Cornwall, this BBC adaptation of Winston Graham\u2019s novels follows the trials and tribulations of a young Ross Poldark. Upon returning from the American War of Independence<\/a>, Poldark is devastated to learn that his father is dead; his sweetheart is engaged to his cousin and his copper and tin mine is failing.<\/p>\n
The \u2018Poldark effect\u2019 and 7 other shows that have tourists flocking to Britain<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
The hugely popular BBC One drama starring Aidan Turner (as Poldark) and Eleanor Tomlinson (as Demelza) draws inspiration from Winston Graham\u2019s 12 novels, which were written between 1945 and 2002. The show\u2019s\u00a0 historical adviser Hannah Greig told\u00a0HistoryExtra<\/em>:\u00a0<\/a>\u201cAlthough\u00a0Poldark\u2019s<\/em> characters are fictional, Winston Graham drew inspiration for his stories from wide-ranging historical research and these new characters capture yet more facets of everyday 18th-century life and the place of ordinary people whose experiences might otherwise be lost to history.\u201d Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and Amazon Prime in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Ripper Street\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Ripper Street is one of those series that, after recurring problems with its financing, and being cancelled at different points by the BBC and Amazon, seemed to end with more of a whisper than a bang. Shame, because over five series and 37 episodes (2012\u201316), it was consistently excellent, a Gothic Victorian crime drama that on occasion sends proper shivers down the spine. Set in Whitechapel shortly after the last of the Jack the Ripper<\/a> murders, the cast included Matthew Macfadyen as haunted copper Edmund Reid, Jerome Flynn as taciturn police enforcer Bennet Drake and MyAnna Buring as brothel madam \u2018Long\u2019\u00a0Susan Hart.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix in the US and Amazon Prime in the UK and Hoopla in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
Medici: The Magnificent\u00a0(series)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Playing out over three series (the first called Masters of Florence), this Italian-British drama focused on the Medici<\/a> banking dynasty returns. The third and final series concluded the story of Lorenzo the Magnificent<\/a> (Daniel Sherman), de facto leader of the Republic of Florence at the height of the Renaissance, a man who was a patron to the likes of Botticelli and Michelangelo<\/a>. Not that Lorenzo\u2019s life was all messing around with an appreciation of paint and perspective. The final episodes found him dealing with the aftermath of the\u00a0Pazzi conspiracy, aimed at displacing the Medici family, and setting out on a potentially perilous diplomatic mission.\u00a0 Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Crown\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
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No list of popular historical TV series on Netflix would be complete without a mention of its ever-popular show\u00a0The Crown<\/a>.<\/i>\u00a0The sumptuous royal drama has explored the intricacies of the Windsors<\/span> over <\/span>four series so far, providing an engrossing portrait of the Windsors and covering events including the Suez crisis,\u00a0<\/span>the Aberfan disaster<\/a><\/span><\/span>, and the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer. The story follows the life of\u00a0<\/span>Queen Elizabeth II<\/a><\/span><\/span>\u00a0and her family over several decades, charting\u00a0the personal and political challenges facing the Queen<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s reign as well as\u00a0<\/span>the intricate family dramas going on behind the scenes<\/a><\/span><\/span>. There have been cast changes along the as the royal family <\/span>\u2018<\/span>ages up<\/span>\u2019<\/span>. A must-watch for royal enthusiasts and those who enjoy British history.\u00a0The fifth and final season of The Crown<\/em> looks likely to transmit in November2022. Now streaming on Netflix in the US and UK<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Now streaming on Netflix in the US and UK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read more about\u00a0The Crown<\/em>\u00a0and the royal family<\/strong><\/p>\n
Netflix\u2019s\u00a0The Crown<\/em>: the real history behind the series<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
A brief guide to the British royal family, by\u00a0The Crown\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0historian Robert Lacey<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip: 8 milestones in their marriage<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
<\/p><\/div> <\/section>
Cursed (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Arthurian myth<\/a>, it seems, is endlessly open to reinvention. This latest take on the genre stars\u00a0Katherine Langford\u00a0as\u00a0Nimue, a young heroine with mysterious gifts whose life trajectory (mild spoiler alert) may have something to do with destiny and becoming the Lady of the Lake. Meantime, the series follows Nimue, in the company of a young mercenary called Arthur, on a quest to locate Merlin and deliver a sword. Co-created byFrank\u00a0Miller (Sin City<\/em>) and writer\/producer Tom Wheeler (Puss In Boots<\/em>), the 10-part series promises to explore themes such as religious terror and the destruction of the natural world.\u00a0Streaming now on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n
Self-made\u00a0(mini-series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
Inspired by\u00a0the real story of Madam C J Walker<\/a>,\u00a0Self Made\u00a0<\/em>charts the life of the first \u2018self made\u2019 female millionaire in the US. It is a true rags-to-riches tale: Walker, born Sarah Breedlove, rose from poverty to create a vastly successful haircare business at a time when jobs for women (and specifically black women) were somewhat limited. As this series reveals, Walker wasn\u2019t just an astute business woman, she was also a passionate activist and philanthropist \u2013 but faced a number of challenges on her way to the top.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\n
Read our interview with Madam CJ Walker\u2019s great-great-great granddaughter<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
When They See Us\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
In April 1989, a white female jogger, later identified as Trisha Meili, was found in critical condition in Manhattan\u2019s Central Park. She was so badly injured following her assault and rape that she remained in a coma for 12 days. Five young black defendants found themselves falsely accused of the crime and would each spend years in jail. A righteously angry, powerful drama that highlights the institutional racism that led to their convictions, and which also explores the difficulties of beginning anew.\u00a0Streaming now on Netflix, along with\u00a0Oprah Winfrey Presents: When They See Us Now<\/em>, featuring an interview with the wrongly convicted men<\/strong><\/p>\n
The English Game (mini-series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes has been busy of late. Not only is his ITV drama\u00a0Belgravia<\/em>\u00a0arriving on our screens imminently, but there\u2019s also this new six-part mini-series, which focuses on\u00a0football<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 soccer if you must \u2013 in the 1870s. Class conflict is a recurring theme, with Edward Holcroft (Wolf Hall<\/em><\/a>) playing Lord Kinnaird, who played in nine FA Cup finals between 1873 and 1883 with amateur sides Wanderers and Old Etonians. The new era of professional sport is embodied in the figure of\u00a0Fergus Suter (Kevin Guthrie), a Glaswegian stonemason who wanted to be paid to play.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
La R\u00e9volution\u00a0(drama series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The events surrounding the overthrow of the monarchy in France might seem quite dramatic enough not to need too much embellishment, but that\u2019s to reckon without the needs of episodic television. The premise for this expensive-looking French Netflix series is that the future inventor of the guillotine<\/a> \u2013 a device used in the execution of, among others, Louis XVI and\u00a0 Marie Antoinette<\/a> \u2013 uncovers a disease that drives the aristocracy to murder common folk. An alternate and horror-tinged take on late 18th-century history. Young actor Amir El Kacem leads the cast. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
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Halston (Netflix drama series)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
Roy Halston Frowick (1932\u201390) was one of America\u2019s most influential fashion designers, whose creations included the pillbox hat that Jacqueline Kennedy wore to her husband\u2019s inauguration. Subsequently, Halston\u2019s clothes, which typically mixed clean lines with luxurious fabrics, would do much to define the look of the 1970s and 1980s. In a biopic series executive produced by Ryan Murphy (Glee, Pose), <\/span>Ewan McGregor\u00a0stars as a man who was famous enough to be known only by his surname, yet who endured business setbacks and drugs issues prior to his death from an Aids-related illness. Now streaming on Netflix<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Best history documentaries to watch on Netflix<\/h3>\n
Amend: The Fight F<\/strong>or America<\/strong> (documentary series<\/em>) <\/strong><\/p>\n
Ratified in 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution granted citizenship to \u201call persons born or naturalized in the United States\u201d. Three years after end of the Civil War<\/a>, here was legal protection of the rights of emancipated slaves \u2013 and indeed all Americans. But even rights enshrined in law have to be fought for and protected. This six-part documentary, co-presented by Will Smith, explores how the ideals enshrined in the Fourteenth Amendment have influenced subsequent American history. Featuring readings from the Hollywood A-list likes of Mahershala Ali, Diane Lane and Samuel L Jackson. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Age <\/strong>Of Samurai: Battle F<\/strong>or Japan<\/strong> (drama-documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
It\u2019s said that, as a child, the 16th-century warlord Date Masamune plucked out his own smallpox-blinded eye. Whether this story is true or not, the fact that it\u2019s passed down the years gives an idea of just how tough he must have been. It\u2019s also said his \u2018kabuto\u2019 helmet helped inspire the costume\u00a0 of Darth Vader in Star Wars. If that all sounds like catnip to a certain stripe of filmmaker, you\u2019re not wrong, and this series puts Masamune and those he fought at the centre of events as it looks back to when competing clans struggled for control of feudal Japan. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Pel\u00e9 (documentary<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Ferenc Pusk\u00e1s, a man who scored 84 goals in 85 internationals for Hungary, once declared that his teammate at Real Madrid, Alfredo Di St\u00e9fano, was the \u201cgreatest player in history\u201d. However, there was a caveat. \u201cI refuse to classify Pel\u00e9 as a player,\u201d said Pusk\u00e1s. \u201cHe was above that.\u201d Such otherworldly talent enabled Pel\u00e9, who played Brazil at four World Cups and scored in the finals of 1958 and 1970, to become a major figure in his country\u2019s turbulent 20th-century history. This documentary, featuring interviews with the great man himself, charts the years when Pel\u00e9 became football\u2019s first global superstar. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Bobby Kennedy for President\u00a0(documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
On 6 June 1968, in Los Angeles where he was on the campaign trail to be the Democratic presidential candidate, Bobby Kennedy was targeted by a Palestinian gunman,\u00a0Sirhan Sirhan, and murdered. Following soon after the April assassination of Martin Luther King Jr<\/a>, it\u2019s a tragedy that\u2019s come to be seen as one of the days when the idealism of the 1960s also perished. This four-part documentary series traces Kenned\u2019s trajectory through the decade, taking in his work on his brother\u2019s campaigns, JFK\u2019s death, Bobby\u2019s championing of civil rights. It also looks at events in the aftermath of the killing. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Challenger: The Final Flight\u00a0(documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
On 28 January 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded as the world looked on. The tragedy occurred just 73 seconds into its tenth mission. All seven crew members died. What went wrong and could the accident have been prevented? This four-part documentary series explores a story of an institutional failure to tackle a known technological problem. It\u2019s a story given added poignancy by the presence onboard the spacecraft of Christa McAuliffe, a civilian schoolteacher chosen because NASA wanted to promote interest in its work amongst students. Engineers, officials and the crew\u2019s family members are among those offering their perspective. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Mercury 13\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
When Nasa launched its programme to select astronauts, it focused on recruiting military test pilots, in part because these men had already undergone rigorous testing and training. But what if Nasa\u2019s intake had been different? This documentary offers a glimpse of what might have been as it traces the experiences of a baker\u2019s dozen of female flyers. These were pilots who, in a privately funded initiative launched with the support of William Randolph Lovelace II, chairman of the Nasa Special Advisory Committee on Life Science, subjected themselves to the physical tests their male counterparts also undertook, only to find themselves denied the opportunity of further training. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
13th\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
In 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution abolished both slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime. In other words, nobody could be forced to work except prisoners. It\u2019s an idea taken up by director Ava DuVernay (Selma<\/em>) in this documentary charting the history of what\u2019s been dubbed \u2018the US prison-industrial complex\u2019, which has developed since the 1970s as the country\u2019s prison population has increased (while at the same time as crime rates have declined). It all makes for a righteously angry piece of filmmaking as DuVernay also explores the history of post-American Civil War racist legislation from an economic perspective. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Five Came Back\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
In the wake of the\u00a0USA entering the Second World War<\/a>, Hollywood swung into action to support the war effort. Leading directors John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra and George Stevens enlisted in the armed forces to document the war, ultimately crafting documentaries that we should (probably) see as propaganda pieces. They are, however, brilliantly made pieces of film \u2013 as contemporary directors including Steven Spielberg (discussing Wyler) and Paul Greengrass (Ford) attest in this documentary exploring works including Ford\u2019s\u00a0The Battle Of Midway<\/em>(1942). Meryl Streep narrates \u2013 and many of the original films featured in the series are also available to stream via Netflix.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Vietnam War\u00a0(documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
The historical documentaries of American director Ken Burns have won him an international reputation, but even by his own considerable standards,\u00a0The Vietnam War<\/em><\/a>\u00a0stands out. Made with long-time collaborator Lynn Novick, it\u2019s a 10-part series that takes us back in time to trace\u00a0just how the US came to be involved in the country<\/a>\u00a0before taking viewers through the major campaigns and onwards to the ignominious American withdrawal from the country. Importantly, Vietnamese voices feature throughout and there\u2019s a strong sense of the filmmakers going back over the historical record to grapple with what happened rather than accepting narratives imposed after the event.\u00a0Now streaming on Hoopla in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n
We interviewed Lynn Novick about the series for our podcast back in 2018.\u00a0You can still listen here:<\/strong><\/p>\n\nFear City: New York vs The Mafia\u00a0(documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIn the 1970s and 1980s, New York wasn\u2019t the largely gentrified city of today. This was a decade when the city, which suffered a fiscal crisis, was synonymous with violence. It was also a time when organised crime \u2013 and, in particular, five Italian-American Mafia families \u2013 exerted a destructive influence on day-to-day life. But the passing of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act in 1970 had given the authorities new powers to bring down mobsters. As this new series explores, the authorities now had the power to target not just Mafia foot soldiers, but those who directed them. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\nHigh On The Hog: How African-American Cuisine Transformed America (cooking series)<\/em><\/strong> <\/span><br\/>Yes, this is a cookery series, but it\u2019s one that delves into the past as food writer Stephen Satterfield tells a story that takes in slavery, the American Civil War and Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the emancipation of those who had previously been enslaved. The first of four documentaries, Our Roots, gives an idea of what to expect as Satterfield heads for bustling <\/span>Dantokpa Market in Benin. Here, he meets J<\/span>essica B<\/span> Harris<\/span>, culinary historian author of the book on which the series is based, and the two investigate the deeper roots of African-American cuisine. The show has been renewed for a second season. Now streaming on Netflix<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div>\nRoman Empire<\/strong> (Netflix docudrama series)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\nIt certainly isn\u2019t the most subtle evocation of the past, but <\/span>Roman Empire<\/span> doesn\u2019t want for\u00a0 spectacle and incident. Each of its three series focuses on a specific story from Roman times, beginning with Commodus: Reign of Blood<\/em> (narrated by Sean Bean), the tale an emperor who outraged and disgusted his contemporaries by performing as a gladiator. Julius Caesar: Master of Rome<\/em> tells of the general\u2019s rise and eventual assassination at a time when the great and good competed violently for power; while <\/span>The Mad Emperor<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>charts the reign of Caligula, whose name has become associated with sadism, corruption and sexual perversity. Now streaming on Netflix<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nI Am Not Your Negro\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nWhen he died, James Baldwin (1924\u201387) left behind the unfinished manuscript and notes for\u00a0Remember This House<\/em>. This was\u00a0his personal memoir of\u00a0Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr and the less-celebrated\u00a0Medgar Evers, who was gunned down by a segregationist in Jackson, Mississippi in 1963. Raoul Peck\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/history-oscars-academy-awards-facts\/"\">Academy Award<\/a>-nominated documentary (2016) uses Baldwin\u2019s words, narrated by\u00a0Samuel L Jackson, to take us back to some of\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/timeline-the-american-civil-rights-movement-of-the-1950s-and-1960s\/"\">the most vivid and dangerous years of the civil rights struggle<\/a>. The documentary also serves another important function, to remind us that Baldwin was a figure whose meditations on racism and American history still carry huge weight today.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/malcom-x-activism-assassinated-killed-who-when-how-why-film-documentary-netflix-die\/"\">Malcolm X: Activism, assassination and how he predicted his own death<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/martin-luther-king-washington-speech-march-civil-rights-activist-america-what-happened-facts-mlk-how-death-assassin\/"\">\u201cI have a dream\u201d: the story of Martin Luther King\u2019s struggle for civil rights in America<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/from-rosa-parks-to-martin-luther-king-the-boycott-that-inspired-the-dream\/"\">From Rosa Parks to Martin Luther King: the boycott that inspired the dream<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><hr\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" c=\"\"\/>Best history movies to watch on Netflix<\/h3>\n<div>\n<div>\nA Call To Spy (film)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nFemale agents with the Special Operations Executive (SOE) played a vital role in the Allied war effort during the Second World War. The women who served faced not just the risks inherent in going behind enemy lines, but had to contend with sexism from male colleagues along the way. Written by Sarah Megan Thomas and directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher, A Call To Spy, based on a true story,<\/span> charts the experiences of some of those who served: Romanian-born \u201cspymistress\u201d Vera Atkins (Thomas); Virginia Hall (<\/span>Stana Katic<\/span>), an adventurous American who had a wooden leg; and Indian-Muslim pacifist <\/span>Noor Inayat Khan<\/span> (<\/span>Radhika Apte). Streaming now on Netflix and available on Showtime in US via Fubo<br\/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nDance Of The 41 (film)<\/em><\/strong><br\/><\/span><\/p>\nIt was a scandal that rocked Mexico. In November 1901, police conducted an illegal raid on a private home in Mexico City where a party was taking place. Of the gay men in attendance, half were in drag and all were from the higher echelons of society. Despite official efforts to hush up what had happened, the press were keenly interested, the first time the Mexican media had talked so openly about homosexuality. <\/span>Alfonso Herrera <\/span>stars <\/span>as Ignacio de la Torre y Mier<\/span>, the son-in-law of Mexico\u2019s president, who in real life was rumoured to have been in attendance at the party. Now streaming on Netflix<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nEmma\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nRather lost on its cinema release in early 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, this version of Jane Austen\u2019s acerbic Regency romcom is a delight. Scripted by novelist Eleanor Catton, it stars Anya Taylor-Joy, whose Emma Woodhouse is cool and detached even by the standards of a character Austen hardly portrayed as warm. It\u2019s probably just as well that longtime acquaintance George Knightley (Johnny Flynn) won\u2019t take any nonsense. Directed by Autumn de Wilde, famed for her photography and music videos, this Emma looks fantastic, and a sterling supporting cast includes Miranda Hart, Bill Nighy and Rupert Graves.\u00a0Streaming on Netflix in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\nLittle Women (film<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nThe sisters are most definitely doing it for themselves in writer-director Greta Gerwig<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s <\/span>multiple Oscar-nominated take on Louisa May Alcott<\/span>\u2019<\/span>s classic novel set in the aftermath of the American Civil War. <\/span>Saoirse Ronan<\/span> leads the cast as <\/span>Josephine <\/span>\u2018<\/span>Jo<\/span>\u2019 March, a fiercely opinionated aspiring writer and one of four sisters raised in genteel poverty. In the supporting cast, the likes of Emma Watson, Florence Pugh and, as wealthy and wilfully difficult Aunt March, Meryl Streep all make the most of their screen time. A generous and big-hearted drama that explores themes of sibling rivalry, grief and the need for independence. Streaming on Netflix in the UK and Direct TV in the US<br\/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nNews Of The World (film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s five years after the end of the American Civil War and a former Confederate infantryman, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Tom Hanks), makes his living as a storyteller, spreading news of the wider world out in frontier towns. But Kidd\u2019s lonely life changes forever when he crosses paths with a 10-year-old, Johanna (Helena Zengel), who has spent years living with the Kiowa people. Co-written and directed by Paul Greengrass (United 93<\/em>, Captain Phillips<\/em>) from Paulette Jiles\u2019 novel, a Western that blends elements of The Outlaw Josey Wales<\/em>, True Grit<\/em> and The Searchers<\/em> to fine effect. Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and HBO in the US<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nGladiator\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nEasy to forget now, but the sword-and-sandals epic was something of a joke movie genre when Ridley Scott set to work on <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/roman\/gladiators-in-ancient-rome-how-did-they-live-and-die\/"\">Gladiator<\/a><\/em>. The payoff for Scott\u2019s faith in the project was the second-highest grossing film of 2000 (behind\u00a0Mission: Impossible 2<\/em>) and five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and, for Russell Crowe, Best Actor. If you\u2019ve not seen it for a while, Gladiator<\/em> is well worth revisiting, both because it evokes the world of the Romans so vividly via then groundbreaking CGI techniques, and because Crowe brings a mesmerising mix of anger and angst to\u00a0Maximus Decimus Meridius, a warrior forced into slavery.\u00a0Streaming now on Netflix in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Dig<\/strong><\/p>\nThe discovery of an undisturbed ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk gave the world both spectacular artefacts and new insights into the Anglo-Saxon era. As this drama adapted from John Preston\u2019s novel explores, it was an excavation largely undertaken by a self-taught archaeologist, Basil Brown, who began work on the eve of the Second World War at the behest of landowner Edith Pretty. Taking a few dramatic liberties,\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/second-world-war\/the-dig-film-movie-real-history-who-when-basil-brown-sutton-hoo\/"\">The Dig<\/em><\/a> is an understated and melancholy film, but one with subtle central performances from Carey Mulligan and Ralph Fiennes. It\u2019s also a film that beautifully conveys an appreciation of the landscape in which it\u2019s set. Streaming now on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Forgotten Battle<\/strong><\/p>\nIn the autumn of 1944, the Allies needed to open up the shipping route to Antwerp in order to supply troops fighting their way through north-west Europe. But to secure access to the port, the Allies had to overcome resistant from well-established Wehrmacht troops. This would take five weeks and cost 12,873 Allied casualties, including more than 6,000 Canadians. The Forgotten Battle<\/em>, one of the most expensive films ever produced in the Netherlands, follows what came to be known as the battle of the Scheldt from the perspective of a British glider pilot, a Dutch Axis soldier and a resistance operative. Streaming now on Netflix<\/strong><\/p>\nOutlaw King (film) <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIn the constant battle to keep up with what everyone else is watching, it can be easy to overlook films and series that you missed when they were first released. Reason enough in itself to recommend Outlaw King. Directed by Scottish filmmaker David Mackenzie, it revisits the story of <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/medieval\/robert-the-bruce-champion-of-scotland-or-murderous-usurper\/"\">Robert the Bruce<\/a> (1274\u20131329) \u2013 and attracted much comment back in 2018 for a full-frontal scene featuring its star, Chris Pine. Scenes recreating the battle of Loudoun Hill are spectacular, but there\u2019s much else to admire here too, including a taut script and a strong performance from Florence Pugh as Bruce\u2019s queen consort, Elizabeth de Burgh. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Wind Rises\u00a0(animated film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe inclusion of Japanese animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli\u2019s back catalogue on Netflix reveals flight as a recurring theme, notably in the movies of co-founder Hayao Miyazaki. Nowhere is this more true than in Miyazaki\u2019s biopic of Jiro Horikoshi (1903\u201382), chief designer at Mitsubishi as the company worked on creating the A6M Zero fighter, a fighter famed for its manoeuvrability. Miyazaki shows Horikoshi as a dreamer, a man who longs to be a pilot, but whose nearsightedness makes this impossible. Solace comes from his work creating flying machines, only for Horikoshi to look on in horror when his creations are employed in the Second World War. Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and available on HBO Max in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nMa Rainey\u2019s Black Bottom\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nDubbed the \u201c<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/ma-rainey-black-bottom-mother-blues-viola-davis-chadwick-boseman-facts-who-was-she\/"\">Mother of the Blues<\/a>\u201d, Gertrude \u2018Ma\u2019 Rainey, n\u00e9e Pridgett (1886\u20131939) was one of the first singers to lay down blues tracks in the recording studio. Based on August Wilson\u2019s 1982 play, a heavily fictionalised account of the recording of one of Ma\u2019s trademark songs, this feature-length Netflix drama, set in 1927, shows her as fiery and single-minded. Viola Davis stars as Ma, while the supporting casts includes Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther) in his final screen appearance as ambitious trumpet player Levee. A taut and claustrophobic piece with much to say about American social and cultural history. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nDa 5 Bloods\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nFor many African-American veterans,\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/vietnam-war-facts-history-rifles-american-presidents\/"\">the Vietnam War<\/a>\u00a0and its aftermath remain especially vivid. These are the former soldiers who returned from the front line with physical and psychological injuries, only to find they weren\u2019t supported properly back in the US. The experiences of four such soldiers lie at the centre of Academy Award winner Spike Lee\u2019s new drama, debuting on Netflix and which follows the four veterans \u2013 Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis) and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock, Jr) \u2013 as they return to Asia to search for the remains of their squad leader and, they fervently hope, to recover some buried treasure. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Irishman\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nConsidering its three-hour-plus running time, it may help to put aside a couple of evenings for Martin Scorsese\u2019s innovative gangster epic, which utilises digital technology to de-age stars\u00a0Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci. Based on I Heard You Paint Houses by\u00a0Charles Brandt, it follows the life of\u00a0Frank Sheeran\u00a0(1920\u20132003), a corrupt union official with links to organised crime who, towards the end of his life, claimed to have murdered Teamster leader Jimmy Hoffa (1913\u201375) \u2013 a disputed claim, it\u2019s worth noting. A self-referencing salute to Scorsese\u2019s own cinematic past? Maybe, but a vital, compelling drama nonetheless. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nMank (film<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nDespite its central place in the history of Hollywood,\u00a0Citizen Kane\u00a0<\/em>(1941) won just one Academy Award, awarded to the film\u2019s director and star, Orson Welles, and Herman J Mankiewicz for the screenplay. Mankiewicz was unhappy at the way Welles took credit for work the writer thought was his and tension between the two men lies at the heart of biopic Mank. Directed by David Fincher of\u00a0Fight Club<\/em>\u00a0fame from a script by his late father, Jack Fincher, this Netflix original stars Gary Oldman in the title role. A stellar supporting cast includes Tom Burke (lately seen as Cormoran Strike) as Welles. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nSergio\u00a0(Netflix original film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nBrazilian career diplomat S\u00e9rgio Vieira de Mello\u00a0(1948-2003), styled in this drama as \u201cthe world\u2019s Mister Fixit\u201d and \u201cthe most powerful official in UN history\u201d, was a man who spent much of his life trying to bring peace to war zones. He lost his life in Iraq when a suicide bomber driving a truck packed with explosives targeted the\u00a0Canal Hotel\u00a0in Baghdad. Director Greg Barker\u2019s drama cuts between this atrocity and\u00a0Vieira de Mello\u00a0(Wagner Mouraof\u00a0Narcos<\/em>fame), caught between life and death, looking back on his own sometimes questionable choices. Netflix also has a documentary,\u00a0Sergio<\/em>\u00a0(2009), profiling\u00a0Vieira de Mello. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Trial of the Chicago 7\u00a0(film<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nCulture wars are not new, as the story of the Chicago 7 demonstrates. The seven (originally eight, including Black Panther leader Bobby Seale) were countercultural figures tried for inciting to riot and conspiracy related to anti-Vietnam protests. Their trial, in part at the instigation of the defendants, who included Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin of Yippies fame, became a circus. Just how this happened is the subject of this legal drama written and directed by West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin. A fine ensemble cast includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Michael Keaton, Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance. Now streaming on Netflix\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n1917\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nBecause of its sheer scale, Sam Mendes\u2019\u00a01917<\/em>\u00a0demanded to be seen on the big screen. Here was a First World War drama that showed us the shell-pocked landscapes of the Western Front in widescreen. And yet it works equally well on the small screen too, in part because of its race-against-time structure, which draws you in, and it because it tells a story so largely centred on just two men and one mission. Besides, wherever you see\u00a01917<\/em>, its combination of cinematography, script and central performances by young actors Dean-Charles Chapman and George MacKay is utterly extraordinary. Now streaming on Netflix in the UK<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" f=\"\"\/>Best history TV shows and series to watch on Amazon Prime<\/h3>\n<div>\nThe Underground Railroad (drama series)<\/em><\/strong><br\/><\/span><\/p>\nPrior to filming this 10-part series, Oscar-winning writer and director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight<\/em>) noted on more than one occasion that he wanted to make a drama dealing with slavery. But how to approach such a difficult subject? By adapting Colson Whitehead\u2019s award-winning 2016 novel, which reimagines the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/victorian\/harriet-tubman-who-underground-railroad-how-saved-people-slavery\/"\">underground railroad<\/a>, the network of secret routes and safe houses used by slaves fleeing the American South, as a physical system of tracks. The fantastic element adds to the power of the piece, by making us look back with fresh eyes. <\/span>Thuso Mbedu <\/span>stars <\/span>as Cora Randall<\/span>, a young woman fleeing life on a plantation. Streaming now.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nOutlander\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nBased on the novels of\u00a0Diana Gabaldon\u00a0and developed for television by Ronald D Moore (Battlestar Galactica<\/em>),\u00a0Outlander<\/em>\u00a0is both historical drama and time-travel fantasy romance. At its centre lies Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a former Second World War nurse who finds herself transported from 1946 to the Scotland of 1743, where she meets a handsome Highland warrior, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan) and finds herself caught up in the\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/jacobites-rebellions-when-why-fail-bonnie-prince-charlie-stuarts\/"\">Jacobite risings<\/a>. The BBC\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/poldarks-cornwall-the-history-behind-the-hit-series\/"\">Poldark<\/em><\/a>, a series that perhaps takes a less fantastical approach to the actual history, is an apposite comparison; they are both\u00a0perfect for escapist binge-viewing.\u00a0Season five (2020) dealt with <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/who-regulator-movement-war-regulation-governor-tryon-battle-alamance-what-happened-outlander-real-history\/"\">the Regulator movement<\/a>, while season six recently launched. Now streaming on Starz via Amazon Prime in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nMad Men\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nFor anyone who missed out on following Matthew Weiner\u2019s story of Madison Avenue advertising executives when it was first broadcast between 2007 and 2015, it\u2019s well worth the effort of catching up. Over seven seasons and 92 episodes, it follows a cast of characters you may not always much like, but who always demand your attention. Chief among these is Don Draper (Jon Hamm), a creative director with a shadowy past linked to his experiences in\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/forging-alliances-britain-and-the-us-in-the-korean-war\/"\">the Korean War<\/a>. A drama that, by looking at the 1960s from the perspective of one industry, turns out to have much to say about America\u2019s history in a tumultuous decade.\u00a0Streaming now on AMC in US and Amazon Prime in UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nLeonardo (drama series)<\/em><\/strong><br\/><\/span><\/p>\nIt\u2019s 1506 and <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/medieval\/leonardo-da-vincis-genius-visions-future-sketches\/"\">Leonardo da Vinci<\/a> is in trouble. Accused of poisoning Caterina de Cremona (Matilda De Angelis), his muse and confidant, the genius polymath has been arrested in Milan. His interrogator, Stefano Giraldi (Freddie Highmore) is far from convinced that Leonardo is guilty and decides to investigate further. The scene is set for an excellent eight-part drama that finds Leonardo looking back at key moments in his life and how these played into his art. C<\/span>reated by Frank Spotnitz (The Man In The High Castle<\/em>) and Steve Thompson (Vienna Blood<\/em>), and starring Aidan Turner of Poldark fame.<\/span> A second series has been commissioned. Streaming now in the UK | Read more about the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/renaissance\/leonardo-drama-real-history-historical-accuracy-true\/"\">real history in Leonardo<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nVikings\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIn AD 793,\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/anglo-saxon\/key-viking-dates-lindisfarne-raid-danelaw-swein-forkbeard-harald-hardrada-stamford-bridge\/"\">northern raiders sacked the monastery at Lindisfarne<\/a>, an event now taken to mark the beginning of the Viking Age. It\u2019s also the starting point for this six-season drama that follows the exploits of Viking chieftain\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/ragnar-lothbrok-the-immortal-viking\/"\">Ragnar Lothbrok<\/a>\u00a0and his crew, and in later seasons Ragnar\u2019s descendants as well. Originally made for the History Channel,<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/real-history-behind-drama-vikings-ragnar-lothbrok-who-how-accurate-fact-fiction\/"\">\u00a0the show draws extensively on chronicles written later and also on contemporary historical sources<\/a>, which isn\u2019t in any way to suggest it\u2019s somehow didactic. Rather, this is blood-and-thunder entertainment that\u2019s not for the squeamish. A sequel, <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/viking\/vikings-valhalla-netflix-real-history-how-accurate-plot-trailer-spoiler\/"\">Vikings: Valhalla<\/em><\/a>, is now available to stream via Netflix.\u00a0 Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and Amazon Prime\/Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Americans\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nEvoking the chill of the Cold War during the Reagan years, The Americans ran for six seasons from 2013\u201318. The title is, of course, ironic because Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) are in reality Soviet spies so deeply embedded that few guess at their true identities \u2013 and those that do sometimes wind up dead. At the heart of the series lies the emotional cost of such duplicity within the Jennings\u2019 marriage, often played out via the couple\u2019s strained relationships with their children. A slow-burning and subtle series whose reputation, quite rightly, continues to grow. Perfect binge-viewing.\u00a0Streaming now on Amazon Prime in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nPoldark (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nSet in 18th-century Cornwall, this adaptation of Winston Graham\u2019s novels follows the trials and tribulations of a young Ross Poldark. Upon returning from the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/facts-american-war-of-independence-declaration-battle-yorktown-george-iii-colonies\/"\">American War of Independence<\/a>, Poldark is devastated to learn that his father is dead; his sweetheart is engaged to his cousin and his copper and tin mine is failing.<\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/modern\/poldark-tv-tourism-holiday-britain-historical\/"\">The \u2018Poldark effect\u2019 and 7 other shows that have tourists flocking to Britain<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/modern\/poldark-and-historical-tv-drama\/"\">Podcast: Poldark and historical TV drama<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>The hugely popular BBC One drama starring Aidan Turner (as Poldark) and Eleanor Tomlinson (as Demelza) draws inspiration from Winston Graham\u2019s 12 novels, which were written between 1945 and 2002. The show\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/the-real-history-behind-poldark-series-three-episode-one\/"\">historical adviser Hannah Greig told\u00a0History Extra<\/em>:\u00a0<\/a>\u201cAlthough\u00a0Poldark\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0characters are fictional, Winston Graham drew inspiration for his stories from wide-ranging historical research and these new characters capture yet more facets of everyday 18th-century life and the place of ordinary people whose experiences might otherwise be lost to history\u201d.\u00a0Now streaming on Netflix in the UK and Amazon Prime in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nHunters\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIt\u2019s 1977 in New York City and, in a big-budget series inspired by the work of real-life Nazi hunters, it seems the USA has a problem with fascism. More specifically, in part thanks to the real-life Operation Paperclip, under which top German scientists were covertly brought to the USA at the end of the Second World War, Nazis have settled Stateside and are dreaming of a Fourth Reich. Cue clever young Jewish maths whiz\u00a0Jonah Heidelbaum (Logan Lerman) finding his way to\u00a0concentration camp survivor Meyer Offerman\u00a0(Al Pacino), who it turns out is leading a decidedly motley band trying to track down war criminals.\u00a0Now available on Amazon Prime in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/historical-accuracy-amazon-tv-show-hunters-al-pacino-controversial-nazi-germany-nazis-real-story-review\/"\">Read our review of\u00a0Hunters<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/real-nazi-hunters-ww2-how-escaped-south-america-ratlines-who-hunted-hitler\/"\">Discover more about the\u00a0real<\/em>\u00a0Nazi hunters \u2013 and those who brought them to justice<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>The Man in the High Castle\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nBased on a 1962 novel by science fiction writer Philip K Dick, this four-season drama imagines life in a USA that lost the Second World War to the Axis powers. On a continent divided between Germany and Japan, much is made of the gap in technology between the Greater Nazi Reich and, controlling territory on the west coast, the Empire of Japan. At the heart of a sometimes opaque series lie newsreels and home movies that seem to show history panning out differently. Rufus Sewell does much scene-stealing as John Smith, an American SS man at home in suburbia.\u00a0Streaming now on Amazon Prime in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Marvelous Mrs Maisel\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe \u2018Mrs Maisel\u2019 of the title here is a New York housewife who, via downtown misadventures with alcohol and an encounter with Lenny Bruce (1925\u201366), finds she has a knack for comedy. Created by\u00a0Amy Sherman-Palladino, who also unleashed Gilmore Girls on the world, the Emmy-winning Mrs Maisel sometimes trades in fuzzy nostalgia, yet more often offers an acerbic take on the social mores of the USA in the late 1950s and early 1960s. At times it could interrogate Maisel\u2019s privilege more acutely, but it\u2019s always funny and the main cast, notably Rachel Brosnahan as Miriam \u2018Midge\u2019 Maisel, is terrific.\u00a0Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\nSmall Axe\u00a0(anthology series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nToo often the Black British experience is treated as a kind of parallel history. One of the many triumphs of director Steve McQueen\u2019s mesmerising anthology series is to remind us how the stories of Black Britons are intrinsic to wider British history. The first film in the sequence, Mangrove, which details an infamous trial that followed police harassment of a restaurant used by activists, rightly attracted rave reviews. Elsewhere, there\u2019s considerable star power on view, including John Boyega (Star Wars<\/em>) taking the lead in Red, White And Blue as Leroy Logan, a copper who bravely fought institutional racism in the Met from within.\u00a0Streaming now on Amazon Prime in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Legend of El Cid (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nForget Charlton Heston, this Spanish take on Rodrigo \u2018Ruy\u2019 D\u00edaz de Vivar, aka, El Cid, stars Jaime Lorente (Money Heist) as the Spanish national hero, a complex and even contradictory character. Over five episodes, it explores El Cid\u2019s younger years when, according to an Amazon press release, \u201che becomes a faithful subject, knight and hero for the crown\u201d. Set in the 11th century, it thus revisits an era when the Iberian Peninsula was home to Christians, Arabs and Jews. Expect a mix of court politics, battle scenes and romance. Also expect scale. This was a series that employed 11,000 extras. Streaming now on Amazon Prime<\/strong><\/p>\nDeath Comes to Pemberley\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nA mash-up between Jane Austen and Agatha Christie may sound initially like an awful idea, but there\u2019s much fun to be had from this adaptation of PD James\u2019 sequel to Pride And Prejudice, first shown by the BBC back in 2013. Set six years after the marriage of\u00a0Fitzwilliam Darcy\u00a0(Matthew Rhys) and Miss Elizabeth Bennet (Anna Maxwell Martin), it follows what happens after George Wickham (Matthew Goode) is accused of murdering his friend, Captain Denny. Granted, Elisabeth\u2019s brother-in-law isn\u2019t the most admirable of men, but is he really capable of such a heinous crime?\u00a0Streaming now via Amazon Prime in the UK and PBS Masterpiece in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nRipper Street\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nRipper Street is one of those series that, after recurring problems with its financing, and being cancelled at different points by the BBC and Amazon, seemed to end with more of a whisper than a bang. Shame, because over five series and 37 episodes (2012\u201316), it was consistently excellent, a Gothic Victorian crime drama that on occasion sends proper shivers down the spine. Set in Whitechapel shortly after the last of the Jack the Ripper murders, the cast included Matthew Macfadyen as haunted copper Edmund Reid, Jerome Flynn as taciturn police enforcer Bennet Drake and MyAnna Buring as brothel madam \u2018Long\u2019\u00a0Susan Hart.\u00a0Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nBritannia\u00a0(drama series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe year is 43 AD and life for ordinary Britons is about to change thanks to the arrival of Roman invaders who, unlike the troops landed by Julius Caesar many decades previously, aren\u2019t going to go home anytime soon. Jez Butterworth\u2019s series, a mix of fantasy and historical drama, may be over the top, but it\u2019s undeniably entertaining, at least so long as you enjoy a mix of Celtic-tinged mysticism, strong violence and switchback plotting. Amidst an ensemble cast, look out for David Morrissey as\u00a0General Aulus Plautius, Kelly Reilly as Kerra and\u00a0Mackenzie Crook\u00a0as Veran.\u00a0Streaming now via NOW in the UK, and Amazon Prime in the US.<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" e=\"\"\/>Best history documentaries to watch on Amazon Prime<\/h3>\nBerlin 1945 (documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nWhat was it like to live in Berlin in the year when the Allies defeated Nazism? This German-made documentary series charts a momentous year in the city\u2019s history, beginning in months when the regime\u2019s propaganda held out a promise of victory in stark contrast to a day-to-day reality of bombing raids, blasted-out buildings and the endless task of burying corpses. The second documentary charts the battle for the city, which would see the Red Flag flying over the Reichstag and the suicide of Hitler; while the final documentary focuses on days when the fate of the city was determined at the Potsdam Conference.\u00a0Streaming now on Amazon Prime in the US and BBC iPlayer in the UK<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nThe Witness\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOn 13 March 1964, 28-year-old\u00a0Kitty Genovese\u00a0was murdered near the Queens apartment where she lived, stabbed and raped by Winston Moseley. The case became notorious in the USA after The New York Times claimed that 38 witnesses saw or heard the attack, yet did nothing to help. As this documentary narrated by Kitty\u2019s brother,\u00a0William Genovese, relates, the truth was rather different, a case of misreporting giving such a strong impression of big-city indifference that Genovese syndrome became a synonym for bystander apathy. Directed by James D\u00a0Solomon,\u00a0The Witness<\/em>\u00a0also explores the enduring effects of the crime on William.\u00a0Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and Hoopla in the US<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nThe American West (documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe eight-part series focuses on the Wild West in the years between 1865 and 1880, and features the gun-toting histories of such legendary figures as Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Crazy Horse, George Custer, Sitting Bull and Wyatt Earp. Expect a mix of docudrama footage and interviews, with those speaking ranging from historians to Hollywood actors that have played cowboys, including Kiefer Sutherland, Danny Glover and Mark Harmon. Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the US<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" d=\"\"\/>Best history movies to watch on Amazon Prime<\/h3>\n<div>\nEscape From Pretoria (film)<\/em><\/strong><br\/><\/span><\/p>\nIn 1979, a trio of anti-<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/apartheid-facts-history-south-africa-dates-when-start-end-laws-nelson-mandela-affect-impact\/"\">apartheid<\/a> activists escaped prison in Pretoria. But how exactly did Tim Jenkin, Stephen Lee and Alex Moumbaris (renamed Leonard Fontaine here) get away? Adapted from a book by Jenkin, this Australian film takes us back to an era when South Africans could be incarcerated for distributing pro-ANC leaflets and when political prisoners received especially harsh treatment in jail. The trio\u2019s ingenious bid for freedom involves making wooden keys and plays out as a thriller. Daniel Radcliffe leads the cast as Jenkin. Ian Hart plays Denis Goldberg, a long-imprisoned activist who helps his fellow prisoners. Streaming now, and available on Starz in the US<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe Green Knight<\/strong><\/p>\nThe story of <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/medieval\/sir-gawain-and-the-green-knight-story-summary-what-about-who-wrote-bertilak\/"\">Sir Gawain And The Green Knight<\/em><\/a>, dating from the 14th century, is one of the most haunting chivalric romances. It tells the story of a mysterious figures fetching up in\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/medieval\/where-is-camelot-where-arthurs-court-camelot-castle\/"\">Camelot<\/a> and issuing a challenge, which is taken up by <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/medieval\/king-arthur-facts-real-round-table-holy-grail-death-buried-lancelot-guinevere\/"\">King Arthur<\/a>\u2019s nephew. Directed, written, edited and produced by David Lowery (The Old Man & The Gun<\/em>), this new cinematic take stars Dev Patel (The Personal History of David Copperfield) as Gawain, and offers both Hollywood spectacle and an underlying respect for its source material. A strong cast also includes Alicia Vikander, Joel Edgerton, Sarita Choudhury and Sean Harris. Expect a talking fox. Streaming now on Amazon Prime in the UK, and via Showtime in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nPeterloo\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOn Monday 16 August 1819,\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/peterloo-massacre-uprising-example-english-populism\/"\">a crowd of between 60,000 and 80,000 people gathered at St Peter\u2019s Field in Manchester<\/a>to demand electoral reform and the extension of the franchise. The actions of the authorities would become infamous after cavalrymen charged the gathering, leaving 18 dead and hundreds injured.\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/mike-leigh-on-peterloo\/"\">Mike Leigh\u2019s drama<\/a>, released in cinemas to coincide with the 200th anniversary of an event dubbed the Peterloo Massacre, conveys a righteous anger as it explores what happened that day. Throughout, there\u2019s a sense of the epic that seems wholly appropriate and there are fine performances from the likes of Rory Kinnear, who plays radical orator Henry Hunt.\u00a0Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\nWe interviewed Mike Leigh about the film for our podcast back in 2019.\u00a0You can still listen here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Peterloo:\" the=\"\" story=\"\" of=\"\" a=\"\" massacre=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/historyextra\/peterloo-thestoryofamassacre"\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""180px"\" scrolling=\""no"\" frameborder=\""0"\" style=\""border:none;overflow:hidden;"\"\/>\n<div>\nOne Night in Miami (film)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nIn February 1964, 7-1 underdog Cassius Clay <\/span>(Eli Goree)<\/span>, soon to change his name to Muhammad Ali, defeated Sonny Liston to become world heavyweight champion. After the fight, he met up with three friends: soul singer Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr), Nation of Islam leader Malcolm X (<\/span>Kingsley Ben-Adir<\/span>)<\/span> and American football star Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge). Directed by Regina King and scripted by Kemp Powers from his own play, One Night imagines what might have transpired. Suffice to say the quartet spent more time musing on their lives and the fight for civil rights than partying. Illuminating and powerful. Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and US<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Lost City of Z\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe British explorer Percy Fawcett was convinced there was an ancient lost city, which he dubbed \u2018Z\u2019, to be found in the jungles of Brazil. In 1925, Fawcett set off on what would be his final foray into the Amazon basin. He never returned from an expedition during which his own son, Jack, also went missing. On the film\u2019s cinema release in 2016, there were complaints that, in real life, Fawcett was at best an incompetent. Leaving that criticism aside, director James Gray\u2019s take on the story makes for a fine adventure tale that draws strong performances from\u00a0Charlie Hunnam\u00a0and Tom Holland as father-and-son Fawcetts.\u00a0Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nSylvie\u2019s Love\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAs an exercise in creating atmosphere, writer\/director Eugene Ashe\u2019s drama is a terrific piece of film-making. It\u2019s the summer of 1957, Harlem, and Sylvie (Tessa Thompson) helps out at the family record store as she waits for her fianc\u00e9 to return from serving with the military. Enter saxophone player Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha), who needs a day job to help make ends meet. The attraction is immediate and we follow the duo down the years. A study of how two people can experience adversity that self-consciously nods towards the melodramas of Hollywood\u2019s golden age without ever seeming too knowing.\u00a0Streaming now<\/strong>\u00a0on Amazon Prime in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Sylvie's\" love=\"\" official=\"\" trailer=\"\" prime=\"\" video=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SbjakuJZgww?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\nThe Aeronauts\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nJames Glaisher (Eddie Redmayne) has a big idea. He thinks it\u2019s possible to predict the weather. To help prove this, he needs to get as high up in the sky as possible in a balloon. Enter pilot Amelia (Felicity Jones), a fictionalised composite of women balloonists. Based on\u00a0Falling Upwards: How We Took To The Air<\/em>\u00a0(2013) by academic and biographer Richard Homes, Tom Harper\u2019s fine drama charts an ascent in 1862, when Glaisher (and, in reality, balloonist Henry Tracey Coxwell) climbed to at least 29,000ft and perhaps as high as 37,000ft, the kinds of altitudes at which today\u2019s jet liners fly.\u00a0Now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""The\" aeronauts=\"\" official=\"\" trailer=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""113"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Rm4VnwCtQO8?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" l=\"\"\/>Best history TV shows and series to watch on Now<\/h3>\nChernobyl\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOn 26 April 1986,\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/chernobyl-disaster-ukraine-when-what-first-responders-diary-eyewitness-nuclear-exclusion-zone\/"\">a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine went catastrophically wrong<\/a>. The plant\u2019s No4 reactor exploded, an accident that spewed nuclear contamination across Europe. What would it have been like to be on the ground, living through these events as they happened? The multiple award-winning drama\u00a0Chernobyl<\/em>, based in part on Svetlana Alexievich\u2019s book\u00a0Voices From Chernobyl<\/em>, imagines just that. Those who lives we glimpse include firefighters who were first responders and miners who had to dig beneath the facility. A strong ensemble cast includes Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd, Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley and Emily Watson.\u00a0Now streaming on Now\u00a0 in the UK <\/strong><\/p>\nListen to our podcast exploring the real history behind the events of 1986:<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""Chernobyl:\" the=\"\" story=\"\" of=\"\" a=\"\" tragedy=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/historyextra\/chernobyl-thestoryofatragedy"\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""180px"\" scrolling=\""no"\" frameborder=\""0"\" style=\""border:none;overflow:hidden;"\"\/>\nBand of Brothers\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nFirst shown in 2001, the 10-part\u00a0Band Of Brothers<\/em>\u00a0has dated well. In great part, that\u2019s down to the elegant simplicity of the central idea: to follow Easy Company, part of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training through parachute landings in Normandy and onwards to the end of conflict. Based on historian Stephen E Ambrose\u2019s 1992 book, which gathered together interviews with veterans, it conveys a gritty authenticity, although the filmmakers did take some historical liberties for dramatic reasons. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks bag credits as executive producers, further proof if any were needed that\u00a0Band Of Brothers<\/em>\u00a0was a big-money, high-profile project. \u00a0Now streaming on Now\u00a0 in the UK <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/second-world-war\/how-when-ww2-began-start-countdown-war-britain\/"\">Countdown to WW2: the 72 hours that took the world to war<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/second-world-war\/boys-who-lied-about-age-to-fight-ww2-teenage-soldiers\/"\">The boys who lied about their age to fight in WW2<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>Britannia\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe year is 43 AD and life for ordinary Britons is about to change thanks to the arrival of Roman invaders who, unlike the troops landed by Julius Caesar many decades previously, aren\u2019t going to go home anytime soon. Jez Butterworth\u2019s series, a mix of fantasy and historical drama, may be over the top, but it\u2019s undeniably entertaining, at least so long as you enjoy a mix of Celtic-tinged mysticism, strong violence and switchback plotting. Amidst an ensemble cast, look out for David Morrissey as\u00a0General Aulus Plautius, Kelly Reilly as Kerra and\u00a0Mackenzie Crook\u00a0as Veran.\u00a0Streaming now via NOW\u00a0 in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nThe American West (documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nhe eight-part series focuses on the Wild West in the years between 1865 and 1880, and features the gun-toting histories of such legendary figures as <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/victorian\/jesse-james-films-who-killed-how-did-he-die-assassination-robert-ford\/"\">Jesse James<\/a>, Billy the Kid, Crazy Horse, George Custer, Sitting Bull and Wyatt Earp. Expect a mix of docudrama footage and interviews, with those speaking ranging from historians to Hollywood actors that have played cowboys, including Kiefer Sutherland, Danny Glover and Mark Harmon. Now streaming on Now in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\nDomina (drama series)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nLivia Drusill<\/span>a (<\/span>Kasia Smutniak) was one of the most powerful women in Rome, both wife and advisor to the emperor Augustus Caesar. But as this new series fictionalising her early life makes clear, she first had to survive through years when the men around her ruthlessly competed for power. It helps, it seems, that <\/span>Livia was single minded and ambitious. We meet the young Livia in the wake of the assassination of Julius Caesar when, despite still being a teenager, she is married to boorish <\/span>Tiberius Claudius Nero. A strong cast includes Liam Cunningham, <\/span>Isabella Rossellini<\/span> and Matthew McNulty. Now streaming on Now in the UK<br\/><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe Good Lord Bird\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nEthan Hawke is on fine form as real-life abolitionist John Brown in a raucous adaptation of James McBride\u2019s 2013 novel. The plot here has strong fictional elements, not least because we see events through the eyes of Henry \u2018Little Onion\u2019 Shackleford (Joshua Caleb Johnson), a teenage slave Brown frees and then informally adopts. Bowen mistakenly thinks Henry is a girl, Henrietta, and survivor Henry isn\u2019t about to tell the truth if it keeps him out of trouble. It was Brown, remember, who led the Harpers Ferry raid in October 1859, an attempt to initiate a slave revolt in the South.\u00a0Streaming via Now in the UK and Showtime in US<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nJohn Adams\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAdapted from historian David McCullough\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, John Adams chronicles the political life of the founding father and second president of the US.\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/founding-fathers-men-who-made-america-us-constitution-bill-rights-washington-hamilton-jefferson\/"\">The life of Adams<\/a>\u00a0(1735\u20131826) was eventful, yet by telling its story over seven episodes, there\u2019s plenty of time for the series (from 2008) to explore the deeper currents of his life. Paul Giamatti stars as Adams, Laura Linney as his wife, Abigail. There are some inaccuracies, yet John Adams never takes too many liberties with the historical record and its sheer quality was reflected in a haul of 13 Emmy Awards.\u00a0Now streaming on Now in the UK <\/strong><\/p>\nThe Plot Against America\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAlternate histories don\u2019t come much spookier than Philip Roth\u2019s 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, which imagines a xenophobic Charles Lindbergh using his fame as an aviator to run for president and then to turn the country towards fascism. In this six-part mini-series from writers David Simon and Ed Burns of The Wire fame, it\u2019s a rise to power we see primarily through the eyes of a working-class Jewish family from Newark, New Jersey. A strong cast includes Winona Ryder as independently minded Evelyn Finkel and John Turturro as charismatic Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf, who supports Lindbergh despite the disquiet this causes many in his community.\u00a0Streaming via Now in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nDas Boot\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nLike the 1981 movie, the television version of submarine drama\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/second-world-war\/must-see-world-war-two-films-schindlers-list-saving-private-ryan-iwo-jima-great-escape\/"\">Das Boot<\/em><\/a>\u00a0probably isn\u2019t for those who suffer from claustrophobia. Nevertheless, the series widens out the story considerably. In season one, set in 1942, we see events on U-boat 612 as a secret mission starts to go badly wrong. Back on land, watch as the French Resistance seeks to disrupt the Nazi war effort in La Rochelle, home to the Germans\u2019 submarine base. Season two takes the show further from Lothar-G\u00fcnther Buchheim\u2019s 1973 novel and its sequel,\u00a0Die Festung<\/em>\u00a0(1995), but without losing any of the essence of the books.\u00a0Streaming now on Now in the UK and Hulu in the US<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nThe Pacific\u00a0(series)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOnce again numbering Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as executive producers, the follow-up to\u00a0Band of Brothers\u00a0<\/em>focuses on the experiences of three real-life members of the US 1st Marine Division, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone. Based on such first-hand memoirs as Leckie\u2019s Helmet For My Pillow, it\u2019s a series notable for offering, as its predecessor did, an unflinching portrait of men at war. Over 10 episodes, it also portrays many of the key engagements in the Pacific theatre during the Second World War, including the Guadalcanal campaign, the battle of Iwo Jima and the notoriously bloody US landing at Okinawa.\u00a0Now streaming on Now in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""The\" pacific=\"\" trailer=\"\" the=\"\" promotional=\"\" width=\""200"\" height=\""150"\" src=\""https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aDzxaxY0gKI?feature=oembed"\" frameborder=\""0"\" allow=\""accelerometer;\" autoplay=\"\" clipboard-write=\"\" encrypted-media=\"\" gyroscope=\"\" picture-in-picture=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\nBoardwalk Empire\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nPlaying out over five series that originally aired between 2010 and 2014, Boardwalk Empire set out to tell an epic story of Atlantic City gangsters in the prohibition era. And it largely succeeded, although it\u2019s arguable the earlier episodes are stronger, notably a pilot directed by Martin Scorsese that cost $18m. Back before the long-form television revolution meant it was routine to see film stars on TV, its cast was notably starry, including\u00a0Steve Buscemias\u00a0Enoch\u00a0\u2018Nucky\u2019 Thompson, corrupt city treasurer; Michael Shannon as\u00a0Nelson Van Alden, a puritanical government agent whose life spirals out of control; and Kelly Macdonald as troubled widow Margaret Thompson.\u00a0Now streaming on Now\u00a0 in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nCatherine the Great (series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nFar more imperious than most royals, Helen Mirren deservedly won a Golden Globe for her turn here as the <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/early-modern\/catherine-great-empress-russia-did-she-murder-her-husband-tsar-peter-helen-mirren-sky-atlantic\/"\">empress who ruled Russia<\/a> from 1762 until 1796, and who revitalised the country after organising a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat against her own husband, Peter III. The four-part series, where you can see the budget in every frame, focuses on Catherine\u2019s years in power, and shows her as both ruthless and enlightened, interested in the latest thinking across Europe. It also makes much of the relationship between the empress and her lover, military commander Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke), which is central to the series.\u00a0Streaming on Now TV in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" k=\"\"\/>Best history documentaries to watch on Now TV<\/h3>\n1968: A Year of War, Turmoil and Beyond (documentary<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nAs the title here series suggests, 1968 was a momentous year in US history. This was the year of the Tet offensive, a coordinated series of attacks by the Viet Cong that played a key role in weakening support for the Vietnam War in the USA. It was also the year that Lyndon B Johnson announced he wouldn\u2019t be standing for re-election as president, a decision that threw open the race to be Democratic candidate. Both Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr were assassinated. Above the Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 circled the Moon and\u00a0Bill Anders\u00a0captured his famous Earthrise image. Now streaming on Now in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\nRiver Hunters (documentary series)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nExploring Britain\u2019s rivers can reveal hitherto unfound archaeological evidence. That\u2019s broadly the premise of this entertaining series, which sees wild swimmer Rick Edwards, <\/span>underwater archaeologist Gary Bankhead<\/span>and American <\/span>river detectorist Beau Ouimette<\/span> diving into the past. Series two, which recently aired on Sky History, begins by looking back at the battle of Killiecrankie, fought during the Jacobite rising of 1689, an engagement notable for featuring one of the earliest uses of grenades. Other shows in the series take a look back at the Viking era in York and find the researchers hunting for relics left by 12th-century pilgrims in Canterbury. Now streaming on Now in the UK.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe Beatles: Eight Days A Week \u2013 The Touring Years\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/1966-the-beatles-tumultuous-world-tour\/"\">In 1966, The Beatles quit touring<\/a>. The Fab Four,<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/how-the-beatles-broke-america\/"\">\u00a0the cheeky lads from Liverpool who had conquered the world,<\/a>\u00a0ceased to be \u2013 and been replaced by serious musicians who preferred recording at Abbey Road to life on the road. Yet the quartet\u2019s itinerant years between 1962 and 1966 are important to understanding the band, and Ron Howard\u2019s acclaimed documentary from 2016 tells a cultural history story of huge significance as we see The Beatles on the hoof redefining what it meant to be a pop star. Plus, for all the screaming, the music\u2019s pretty good.\u00a0Streaming on Now in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nApollo 11\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOriginally released in cinemas to mark the\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/legacy-1969-moon-lunar-landing-space-race-thomas-ellis\/"\">50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong becoming the first human being to step out onto the surface of the Moon<\/a>, director Todd Douglas Miller\u2019s extraordinary documentary uses hi-res period footage and audio to tell the story of the Apollo 11 mission. Yes, you know what happens, but that doesn\u2019t lessen the awe and wonder. More specifically, the pervading sense that all this happened a long time gives the footage a near-mythic quality. Did men and women really do this less than a quarter of a century after the end of the Second World War? Yes, they did. Streaming on Now TV in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nHillary\u00a0(documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIf journalism is the \u201cfirst rough draft of history\u201d, the analysis piece that runs a little after the newsmen have gone home might be said to be its second draft. Television has developed its own variation on this latter idea with series that offer testimony from those who were there during major events yet have had time to reflect, an approach much used by the BBC. Hillary, one of the highlights of the recent Sky Documentaries launch, takes a similar approach. Nanette Burstein\u2019s four-part series draws on campaign footage from the 2016 presidential election, and features Hillary Clinton reflecting on what\u2019s been, by any standards, an eventful life.\u00a0Streaming via Now TV in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nBattle of Britain 80: Allies at War\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe summer of 1940 was a time when the fate of Great Britain hung in the balance. The retreat from Dunkirk may have been a small miracle of improvisation but it also represented a demoralising defeat. And yet somehow the Royal Air Force, its Spitfires and Hurricanes flown by those Churchill dubbed \u201cthe few\u201d, summoned up the fighting strength and will to repel the Luftwaffe, which was seeking to establish control of the skies over the country prior to invasion. This one-off documentary celebrates the role of those Polish and Czech pilots who escaped Nazi-occupied Europe to fight alongside their British compatriots.\u00a0Streaming now on Now TV (in the UK)<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" j=\"\"\/>Best history movies to watch on Now TV<\/h3>\n<div>\nSix Minutes To Midnight (film)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nIn a drama loosely inspired by a strange-but-true story, co-scriptwriter Eddie Izzard, in what he recently dubbed \u201cboy mode\u201d, stars as <\/span>Thomas Miller<\/span>, who in the summer of 1939 takes a job at <\/span>Augusta Victoria College <\/span>in Bexhill-on-Sea. It\u2019s a place where, despite tensions between Britain and Germany, the pupils are the daughters of high-ranking Nazi officials. (In real life, the school badge featured both a u<\/span>nion <\/span>jack and a swastika.) The school is also, it transpires, at the centre of a Nazi intelligence plot. Dame Judi Dench stars as <\/span>Miss Rocholl, the school\u2019s head teacher. Streaming now on Now in the UK and Fubo\/Showtime in the US<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nMichael X: Hustler, Revolutionary, Outlaw (film)<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nMichael De Freitas or Michael Abdul Malik, better known as Michael X, was once feted as the UK\u2019s answer to Malcolm X. But what are we to make of the life of a Black Power leader who was hanged for murder in 1975 in Port Spain, Trinidad and Tobago? This new film, initially broadcast on Sky Documentaries, tries to make sense of a contradictory and controversial figure. It traces a life where pre-gentrification Notting Hill is key, both because Michael X was an enforcer for slum landlord Peter Rachman, and because it was here that Michael first encountered so many of the political ideas he espoused. Streaming now on Now in the UK<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" g=\"\"\/>Best history TV shows and series to watch on HBO<\/h3>\nThe Pacific\u00a0(series)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOnce again numbering Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks as executive producers, the follow-up to\u00a0Band of Brothers<\/em>focuses on the experiences of three real-life members of the US 1st Marine Division, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge and John Basilone. Based on such first-hand memoirs as Leckie\u2019s Helmet For My Pillow, it\u2019s a series notable for offering, as its predecessor did, an unflinching portrait of men at war. Over 10 episodes, it also portrays many of the key engagements in the Pacific theatre during the Second World War, including the Guadalcanal campaign, the battle of Iwo Jima and the notoriously bloody US landing at Okinawa.\u00a0Now streaming on HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Plot Against America\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAlternate histories don\u2019t come much spookier than Philip Roth\u2019s 2004 novel, The Plot Against America, which imagines a xenophobic Charles Lindbergh using his fame as an aviator to run for president and then to turn the country towards fascism. In this six-part mini-series from writers David Simon and Ed Burns of The Wire fame, it\u2019s a rise to power we see primarily through the eyes of a working-class Jewish family from Newark, New Jersey. A strong cast includes Winona Ryder as independently minded Evelyn Finkel and John Turturro as charismatic Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf, who supports Lindbergh despite the disquiet this causes many in his community.\u00a0Streaming via HBO in the US.<\/strong><\/p>\nCatherine the Great (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nFar more imperious than most royals, Helen Mirren deservedly won a Golden Globe for her turn here as the empress who ruled Russia from 1762 until 1796, and who revitalised the country after organising a coup d\u2019\u00e9tat against her own husband, Peter III. The four-part series, where you can see the budget in every frame, focuses on Catherine\u2019s years in power, and shows her as both ruthless and enlightened, interested in the latest thinking across Europe. It also makes much of the relationship between the empress and her lover, military commander Grigory Potemkin (Jason Clarke), which is central to the series.\u00a0Now streaming on HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nPerry Mason\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe character of Perry Mason has long been associated with Raymond Burr, who played the character on television from 1957 until his death, from kidney cancer, in 1993. This longevity perhaps explains why it\u2019s taken so long for crime novelist Erle Stanley Gardner\u2019s upstanding defence attorney to return to our screens. The spin in this big-budget HBO series is that we meet Mason (Matthew Rhys) in 1932 Los Angeles, where he\u2019s working as a gumshoe detective. Haunted by his experiences in the First World War, this is Mason down on his luck, when along comes a kidnapping case that holds out the opportunity for redemption.\u00a0Now streaming on HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nChernobyl\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOn 26 April 1986,\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/chernobyl-disaster-ukraine-when-what-first-responders-diary-eyewitness-nuclear-exclusion-zone\/"\">a safety test at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine went catastrophically wrong<\/a>. The plant\u2019s No4 reactor exploded, an accident that spewed nuclear contamination across Europe. What would it have been like to be on the ground, living through these events as they happened? The multiple award-winning drama\u00a0Chernobyl<\/em>, based in part on Svetlana Alexievich\u2019s book\u00a0Voices From Chernobyl<\/em>, imagines just that. Those who lives we glimpse include firefighters who were first responders and miners who had to dig beneath the facility. A strong ensemble cast includes Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsg\u00e5rd, Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley and Emily Watson.\u00a0Now streaming on Now\u00a0 in the UK and HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nBoardwalk Empire (series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nPlaying out over five series that originally aired between 2010 and 2014, Boardwalk Empire set out to tell an epic story of Atlantic City gangsters in the prohibition era. And it largely succeeded, although it\u2019s arguable the earlier episodes are stronger, notably a pilot directed by Martin Scorsese that cost $18m. Back before the long-form television revolution meant it was routine to see film stars on TV, its cast was notably starry, including\u00a0Steve Buscemias\u00a0Enoch\u00a0\u2018Nucky\u2019 Thompson, corrupt city treasurer; Michael Shannon as\u00a0Nelson Van Alden, a puritanical government agent whose life spirals out of control; and Kelly Macdonald as troubled widow Margaret Thompson.\u00a0Now streaming on HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nJohn Adams\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAdapted from historian David McCullough\u2019s Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, John Adams chronicles the political life of the founding father and second president of the US.\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/founding-fathers-men-who-made-america-us-constitution-bill-rights-washington-hamilton-jefferson\/"\">The life of Adams<\/a>\u00a0(1735\u20131826) was eventful, yet by telling its story over seven episodes, there\u2019s plenty of time for the series (from 2008) to explore the deeper currents of his life. Paul Giamatti stars as Adams, Laura Linney as his wife, Abigail. There are some inaccuracies, yet John Adams never takes too many liberties with the historical record and its sheer quality was reflected in a haul of 13 Emmy Awards.\u00a0Now streaming on HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\nIt\u2019s A Sin (series<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nIt\u2019s 1981, and Ritchie, Roscoe and Colin begin new lives in London. Each, in their way, is searching for freedom in the capital at a time when, as gay men, they face overt prejudice But a mysterious new illness is causing unexplained deaths. The Aids epidemic has begun. Following the interweaving stories of the boys and their friends over the next decade, Russell T Davies\u2019 acclaimed drama <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/books-films-tv-podcast-lgbt-lgbtq-history-recommendations\/"\">It\u2019s A Sin<\/em><\/a>, which landed during lockdown to become UK streaming platform All4\u2019s most binged show ever, is funny and touching without ever trivialising the tragedy we see inexorably unfolding. Olly Alexander leads a superb ensemble<\/span> cas<\/span>t. Now streaming on HBO in the US<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nBand of Brothers\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nFirst shown in 2001, the 10-part\u00a0Band Of Brothers<\/em>\u00a0has dated well. In great part, that\u2019s down to the elegant simplicity of the central idea: to follow Easy Company, part of the 101st Airborne Division, from jump training through parachute landings in Normandy and onwards to the end of conflict. Based on historian Stephen E Ambrose\u2019s 1992 book, which gathered together interviews with veterans, it conveys a gritty authenticity, although the filmmakers did take some historical liberties for dramatic reasons. Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks bag credits as executive producers, further proof if any were needed that\u00a0Band Of Brothers<\/em>\u00a0was a big-money, high-profile project. \u00a0Now streaming on HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/second-world-war\/boys-who-lied-about-age-to-fight-ww2-teenage-soldiers\/"\">The boys who lied about their age to fight in WW2<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" h=\"\"\/>Best history documentaries to watch on HBO<\/h3>\n\u2013<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" i=\"\"\/>Best history movies to watch on HBOj.<\/h3>\nJ. Edgar (film<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nLeonardo DiCaprio stars as J Edgar Hoover, the chief of the FBI between 1935 and 1972, in a biopic directed by Clint Eastwood. It\u2019s a movie told in flashback as Hoover dictates his life story to a succession of junior agents. Throughout, DiCaprio gives a nuanced performance that makes much of Hoover\u2019s interest in library systems and collating information, and explores the ambiguities of his sexuality. As to whether the film, which received mixed reviews on its cinema release in 2011, ever quite comes to any firm opinions about its subject, that\u2019s a different matter. Judi Dench plays Hoover\u2019s mother, a domineering figure.\u00a0Streaming via HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" m=\"\"\/>Best\u00a0history series\/documentaries\/movies streaming on Hulu<\/h3>\nMrs. America\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nAuthor and activist Phyllis Schlafly (1924\u20132016) was a conservative who doggedly fought the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution in the 1970s, legislation that would have offered women protection from discrimination. The contradictions of such an intelligent, formidable and self-starting campaigner, a woman who herself often had to battle sexism, pitting herself against the leading lights of American feminism are explored in a series that stars Cate Blanchett as Schlafly. Those on the other side of the argument include writer and feminist leader Gloria Steinem, played with a waspish intensity by Rose Byrne.\u00a0Streaming now on Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nApollo 11\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOriginally released in cinemas to mark the\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/legacy-1969-moon-lunar-landing-space-race-thomas-ellis\/"\">50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong becoming the first human being to step out onto the surface of the Moon<\/a>, director Todd Douglas Miller\u2019s extraordinary documentary uses hi-res period footage and audio to tell the story of the Apollo 11 mission. Yes, you know what happens, but that doesn\u2019t lessen the awe and wonder. More specifically, the pervading sense that all this happened a long time gives the footage a near-mythic quality. Did men and women really do this less than a quarter of a century after the end of the Second World War? Yes, they did.\u00a0Now streaming on Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Beatles: Eight Days A Week \u2013 The Touring Years\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/1966-the-beatles-tumultuous-world-tour\/"\">In 1966, The Beatles quit touring<\/a>. The Fab Four,<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/how-the-beatles-broke-america\/"\">\u00a0the cheeky lads from Liverpool who had conquered the world,<\/a>\u00a0ceased to be \u2013 and been replaced by serious musicians who preferred recording at Abbey Road to life on the road. Yet the quartet\u2019s itinerant years between 1962 and 1966 are important to understanding the band, and Ron Howard\u2019s acclaimed documentary from 2016 tells a cultural history story of huge significance as we see The Beatles on the hoof redefining what it meant to be a pop star. Plus, for all the screaming, the music\u2019s pretty good.\u00a0Now streaming on Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nHillary\u00a0(documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nIf journalism is the \u201cfirst rough draft of history\u201d, the analysis piece that runs a little after the newsmen have gone home might be said to be its second draft. Television has developed its own variation on this latter idea with series that offer testimony from those who were there during major events yet have had time to reflect, an approach much used by the BBC. Hillary, one of the highlights of the recent Sky Documentaries launch, takes a similar approach. Nanette Burstein\u2019s four-part series draws on campaign footage from the 2016 presidential election, and features Hillary Clinton reflecting on what\u2019s been, by any standards, an eventful life.\u00a0Streaming via Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story (series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nThe 1995 trial of sportsman OJ Simpson, who was accused of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman, became a media sensation and was followed by millions around the world. This Emmy award-winning 10-part drama recounts how the investigation unfolded \u2013 from Simpson\u2019s arrest to his ultimate acquittal.<\/p>\nStarring John Travolta as Simpson\u2019s defence attorney, Robert Shapiro, and David Schwimmer as OJ\u2019s most loyal friend Robert Kardashian, the series was met with near-universal praise and was considered to be one of the best dramas of 2016. Also available is the second instalment of American Crime Story,\u00a0The Assassination of Gianni Versace.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nAlso available are the second and third instalments of American Crime Story,\u00a0<\/em>The Assassination of Gianni Versace<\/em> and, dealing with the Clinton\u2013Lewinsky scandal, Impeachment.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nNow streaming on Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Vietnam War\u00a0(documentary series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe historical documentaries of American director Ken Burns have won him an international reputation, but even by his own considerable standards,\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/the-vietnam-war-on-film\/"\">The Vietnam War<\/em><\/a>\u00a0stands out. Made with long-time collaborator Lynn Novick, it\u2019s a 10-part series that takes us back in time to trace\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/20th-century\/vietnam-war-facts-history-rifles-american-presidents\/"\">just how the US came to be involved in the country<\/a>\u00a0before taking viewers through the major campaigns and onwards to the ignominious American withdrawal from the country. Importantly, Vietnamese voices feature throughout and there\u2019s a strong sense of the filmmakers going back over the historical record to grapple with what happened rather than accepting narratives imposed after the event.\u00a0Now streaming on Hoopla in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nWe interviewed Lynn Novick about the series for our podcast back in 2018.\u00a0You can still listen here:<\/strong><\/p>\n<iframe title=\""The\" vietnam=\"\" war=\"\" on=\"\" film=\"\" src=\""https:\/\/embed.acast.com\/historyextra\/thevietnamwaronfilm"\" width=\""100%"\" height=\""180px"\" scrolling=\""no"\" frameborder=\""0"\" style=\""border:none;overflow:hidden;"\"\/>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" n=\"\"\/>Best history films streaming on Apple TV<\/h3>\nGreyhound\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nEver adept at playing everyman figures placed in danger, Tom Hanks stars as a US Navy commander,\u00a0Ernest Krause, given command of a destroyer,\u00a0USS Keeling<\/em>.\u00a0Krause\u00a0is tasked with defending a merchant ship convoy from u-boat attack during the\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/second-world-war\/danger-in-the-deep-battle-of-the-atlantic\/"\">Battle of the Atlantic<\/a>\u00a0in 1942, but also has to battle his own demons. Based on CS Forester\u2019s novel\u00a0The Good Shepherd<\/em>\u00a0and scripted by Hanks himself, the film was initially going to be released in cinemas in June, until the pandemic made this impossible and Apple stepped in. Also starring Stephen Graham, Rob Morgan and Elisabeth Shue.\u00a0Streaming from now on Apple TV+<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/second-world-war\/greyhound-film-ww2-tom-hanks-battle-atlantic-the-good-shepherd-novel-c-s-forester\/"\">The real history that inspired WW2 film\u00a0Greyhound<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>The Banker (film<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nPulled from release in December 2019 following allegations of sexual abuse were levelled at one of its producers (the son of one of the lead characters, whose name was removed from the film\u2019s credits),\u00a0The Banker<\/em>\u00a0arrived with baggage. It is a drama that tells an important story, of how real-life African-American entrepreneurs \u2013\u00a0Bernard Garrett (Anthony Mackie)\u00a0and Joe Morris (Samuel L Jackson) \u2013 employed a white frontman,\u00a0Matt Steiner (Nicolas Hoult), and beat a racist system to make a fortune in Los Angeles real estate in the 1950s. But success eventually brings the unwanted attention of the authorities.\u00a0Now streaming on Apple TV+ in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Velvet Underground (documentary film<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Velvet Underground\u2019s debut, released in 1967, sold only a few thousand copies. Yes according to Brian Eno, everyone who bought the album started a band. Yes, that\u2019s an exaggeration, but the very fact this idea exists is testament to the huge, and ongoing, cultural influence of the Velvets. As to why the band are considered so important, director Todd Haynes\u2019 documentary, which features new interviews with surviving members John Cale and Mo Tucker, should help to explain this. Expect evocative footage of Lou Reed, Nico and the denizens of Andy Warhol\u2019s Factory, including Drella himself, where the Velvets were the house band. Streaming now on Apple TV+ in the UK<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nLincoln\u2019s Dilemma (documentary series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nThe thoughts of Abraham Lincoln on slavery evolved through his life. For much of his life, for example, he was a supporter of \u2018colonization\u2019, the idea that African-Americans might be funded to leave the United States. Ultimately, after issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, he abandoned this position. The subject of how his standpoint on this crucial issue changed over the years, and why, is at the centre of Lincoln\u2019s Dilemma. In this context, much is made of the way abolitionist and social reformer Frederick Douglass may have pushed the 16th president into changing his stance. Narrated by Jeffrey Wright. Now streaming on Apple TV+<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr\/><h3><a id=\""LINK\" name=\"\" p=\"\"\/>Best history films and series streaming on Disney+<\/h3>\n<div>\n<div>\nThe Help (film<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nBased on Kathryn Stockett\u2019s 2009 novel, The Help<\/em> begins with an aspiring journalist, <\/span>Eugenia <\/span>\u2018<\/span>Skeeter<\/span>\u2019<\/span> Phelan<\/span> (Emma Stone), deciding to interview African-American maids working for white families in Jackson, Mississippi. However, the heart of an drama lies in <\/span>Skeeter<\/span>\u2019s relationship with <\/span>Aibileen Clark <\/span>(Viola Davis) <\/span>and Minny Jackson<\/span> (Octavia Spencer). While Hollywood\u2019s take on the story (2001) lacks many of the nuances of the book and was criticised for putting a white character at the centre of the story, the film stands up as a fine ensemble piece, reflected by Davis, Spencer and their co-star <\/span>Jessica Chastain<\/span> all receiving Academy Award nominations. Now streaming via Disney+ in the UK and Hoopla in the US<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe Thin Red Line (film)<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nLaunched in late February 2021, Disney\u2019s Star Channel gather together much of the studio\u2019s grown-up content, including plenty of films and series that are well worth revisiting. These include Terrence Malick\u2019s Second World War drama, which follows GIs at the battle of Mount Austen, part of the Guadalcanal campaign. For all the gunfire that punctuates the film, this is a drama that\u2019s as much as anything about the ominous silence of conflict, the awful moments when troops are waiting for something to happen. Reflecting Malick\u2019s near-legendary status, the film attracted an A-list ensemble cast, including Sean Penn, Adrien Brody and <\/span>Jim Caviezel<\/span>. Streaming now on Star via Disney+ in the UK<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHamilton\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nWas there ever a more unlikely Broadway hit? Inspired by Ron Chernow\u2019s biography,\u00a0Lin-Manuel Miranda\u2019s hip-hop musical traces the eventful life and times of founding father\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/alexander-hamilton-facts-duel-aaron-burr-united-states-america-musical\/"\">Alexander Hamilton<\/a>, lawyer, soldier, statesman and\u00a0 banker, a man who rose to prominence despite the stigma of being born out of wedlock in the British Leeward Islandds. It\u2019s an exhilarating show that received rave reviews and, at least before Covid-19 intervened, could be seen in London as well as New York. This film dates from the show\u2019s first Broadway run and features\u00a0Miranda\u00a0himself in the title role.\u00a0Streaming now on Disney+<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/alexander-hamilton-women-who-angelica-eliza-schuyler-sisters-maria-reynolds-affair\/"\">The women of\u00a0Hamilton<\/em>: Angelica, Eliza and\u2026 Maria Reynolds<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Read about\u00a0<a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/georgian\/dark-side-alexander-hamilton-lin-manuel-miranda-musical-realistic-portrayal-founding-father\/"\">the darker side of Alexander Hamilton<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>Mulan\u00a0(film)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nControversy has swirled around Disney\u2019s live-action remake of its 1998 animation. These arrived both over star\u00a0Liu Yifei\u2019s support for Hong Kong\u2019s police in their crackdown against pro-democracy campaigners, and because the movie was filmed in Xinjiang, associated with allegations of human rights abuses against Uighurs. Despite these news stories, it seems Disney\u2019s decision to stream the movie has paid off commercially. Reports suggest it\u2019s been a hit despite Disney+ subscribers needing to pay a premium to access a spectacular account of a female fighter who passes herself off as a man when China\u2019s emperor issues a call to arms.\u00a0Streaming now on Disney+<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li><a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/ancient-history\/real-history-mulan-who-what-looked-like-chinese-legend-disney-culture\/"\">Mulan: the history of the Chinese legend behind the film<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><div>\nBuried Secrets Of WWII (documentary series) <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nThe latest 3D scanning techniques are revealing hitherto hidden information about the battlefields of the Second World War. Step forward Pete Kelsey, an expert in this technology, who here teams up with military historian <\/span>Martin <\/span>KA <\/span>Morgan<\/span> to look anew at the past. The six-part series takes in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the Nazi V-bomb programme, the relentless German Siege of Malta in 1940, the Allied advance on Rome, the 1944 battle of H<\/span>\u00fcrtgen Forest <\/span>on the Belgian-German border, and Allied attempts to dismantle the Japanese war machine during the long-running New Guinea campaign. Streaming now on National Geographic via Disney+ and on Fubo in the US<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nNotre Dame: Race Against the Inferno\u00a0(documentary)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nOn 15 April 2019, at around 6.20pm, a fire broke out beneath the roof at\u00a0Notre-Dame de Paris. What followed was a catastrophe, as the cathedral\u2019s spire and much of its roof were destroyed. Yet it could have been much worse. In part because of the bravery of the city\u2019s firefighters, who fought for seven hours and more to bring the blaze fully under control, restoration has already begun at a building that\u2019s a marvel of the French Gothic style. Drawing on exclusive footage and interviews with those who were there, this National Geographic documentary focuses on efforts to contain the blaze.\u00a0Streaming now on Disney+<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\nEurope From Above (documentary series<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nThe format here is straightforward. Deploying cameras in the sky and \u2018<\/span>hyperlapse<\/span>\u2019 effects, Europe From Above travels to six countries, and looks down on both natural wonders and manmade marvels. The results of this filming are frequently mesmerising as we\u2019re offered, for example, a bird\u2019s eye view of star-shaped\u00a0 <\/span>Fort Bourtange<\/span> in the Netherlands, originally constructed in the 16th century to control the only road between Germany and the city of Groningen. Subsequent episodes are devoted to Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain and Poland, home to the world\u2019s largest castle, which sprawls over more than 50 acres. Streaming now on Disney+<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe Americans\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nEvoking the chill of the Cold War during the Reagan years, The Americans ran for six seasons from 2013\u201318. The title is, of course, ironic because Elizabeth (Keri Russell) and Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) are in reality Soviet spies so deeply embedded that few guess at their true identities \u2013 and those that do sometimes wind up dead. At the heart of the series lies the emotional cost of such duplicity within the Jennings\u2019 marriage, often played out via the couple\u2019s strained relationships with their children. A slow-burning and subtle series whose reputation, quite rightly, continues to grow. Perfect binge-viewing.\u00a0Streaming now on Disney+ in the UK<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nThe Lost City Of Machu Picchu (documentary<\/em>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\nIt\u2019s not compulsory to access only Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar product via Disney+. There\u2019s also a terrific range of National Geographic documentaries, including this documentary focusing on the Inca citadel of <\/span>Machu Picchu<\/span>, the existence of which was revealed to the wider world by American archaeologist Hiram Bingham (1875\u20131956) in 1911, after he had been guided to the site with the help of local farmers. The selling point here is that the documentary will go below the citadel where \u201cmummy kings wait to share their stories\u201d. In truth, the chance just to see the site in detail makes this worth watching. Streaming now.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nThe Right Stuff\u00a0(series)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nPublished in 1979, Tom Wolfe\u2019s account of test pilots and Project Mercury astronauts was as meticulously researched as it was vivid, an attempt to understand why people would choose to put themselves in such danger. Although it has previously been filmed \u2013 a 1983 movie that was critically lauded but a box-office flop \u2013 it\u2019s easy to see why National Geographic chose to commission a drama of the book (although it has subsequently been cancelled). Even leaving aside the opportunities for spectacular footage of planes and rockets, episodic television provides ample time to explore the backstories of such figures as Alan Shepard (Jake McDorman), the first American to reach space. Streaming on Disney+<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Beatles: Get Back (film<\/em>)<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nReleased in 1970, The Beatles\u2019 Let It Be<\/em> movie, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, was widely interpreted as showing the disintegration of the Fab Four. Here was a story of infighting and young men growing up to find they are tired of spending time with the same bandmates. But was that really the whole story? Arriving amidst much fanfare, Get Back<\/em> found Peter Jackson of Lord Of The Rings<\/em> and They Shall Not Grow Old<\/em> fame returning to the raw footage captured by Lindsay-Hogg, and telling a story where friendly camaraderie and deep bonds of shared experience are to the fore. Streaming now on Disney+<\/strong><\/p>\nDrain The Oceans (series<\/em>)<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nWhat might we find if we could, as the title here has it, drain the world\u2019s oceans? Plenty of evidence of sunken cities and lost ships if this series from National Geographic is anything to go by. There are two seasons to stream, and individual episodes cover such subjects as D-Day, treasure ships and shipwrecks dating from the American Civil War. While the show doesn\u2019t skimp on CGI recreations and spectacle, this is also a series that reflects recent advances in marine archaeology, in particular the insights offered by new scanning techniques that are leading to sometimes radical reappraisals of what lies beneath. Streaming now on Disney+<\/strong><\/p>\nSummer Of Soul (\u2026Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (film<\/em>)<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nIn the summer of 1969, a series of half-a-dozen free concerts took place in Manhattan\u2019s Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The Harlem Cultural Festival, dubbed the Black Woodstock, attracted 300,000 people to see performances by such African-American musical luminaries as Nina Simone, BB King, Stevie Wonder, Sly And The Family Stone and Mahalia Jackson. The concerts were filmed and yet somehow don\u2019t feature in all too many cultural histories of the era. The feature debut from musician Questlove explores how and why this happened, as well as offering restored footage of the concerts, recorded at the time by TV producer Hal Tulchin. Streaming now on Disney+<\/strong><\/p>\nPride (documentary series<\/em>)<br\/><\/strong><\/p>\nSetting itself a near-impossible task \u2013 telling the story of the queer experience in the US over six decades \u2013 Pride,<\/em> probably sensibly, doesn\u2019t offer a conventional narrative history. Instead, each of the six documentaries here offers its own take on the ongoing battle for LGBTQ+ rights. \u2018People Had Parties\u2019, for example, looks back at the 1950s and, while telling stories of police harassment and tragedies rooted in institutionalised homophobia, also challenges assumptions about how gay men and women lived and loved. With each film covering a different decade and made by a different filmmaker, Pride<\/em> builds a mosaic picture of how contemporary queer America came to be. Streaming now on Disney+ and Hulu in the US<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Last Duel (film<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nRooted in Germanic law, a judicial duel involved two parties fighting in single combat to settle a dispute. Such duels were fought in Europe through the Middle Ages, with the last such encounter in France taking place in 1386, a real-life face-off that underpins this historical epic directed by Ridley Scott of Gladiator<\/em> fame. The drama plays out over three distinct chapters, each essentially offering a different character\u2019s perspective, and relates what happens after Marguerite de Carrouges (Jodie Corner), the wife of knight Jean (Matt Damon), accuses his one-time friend, squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver), of raping her. Now streaming on Disney+ in the UK and HBO in the US<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul><li>Read more | <a href=\""https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/period\/medieval\/medieval-trial-by-combat-real-history-behind-last-duel\/"\">Medieval trial by combat: the real history behind The Last Duel<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>Flooded Tombs Of The Nile (documentary<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\nAs anyone who has watched an Indiana Jones movie can testify, it\u2019s dangerous exploring ancient sites. Doubly so when the ancient site in question is a pyramid that has become inundated because of rising groundwaters. This one-off documentary shows the risks very clearly as it follows efforts to explore a site associated with Nastasen, the Nubian king of Kush, a kingdom that was centred on the Nile valley in northern Sudan and southern Egypt. The work of Pearce Paul Creasman, an archaeologist whose expertise encompasses ancient Egypt and Nubia, maritime archaeology and the study of the ancient environment, is central to the documentary. Now streaming on Disney+ in the UK and US<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Rachel Dinning Published: Friday, 25 March 2022 at 12:00 am Looking for something to watch? Here are the best historical dramas, TV shows and films available to stream in the UK and US in 2022 \u2013 from binge-watchable period dramas to fascinating documentaries\u2026 *All information correct at time of publication Follow the links below […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":12029,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"87"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/the-best-historical-tv-shows-and-movies-to-stream-in-2022-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/the-best-historical-tv-shows-and-movies-to-stream-in-2022-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/the-best-historical-tv-shows-and-movies-to-stream-in-2022-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/the-best-historical-tv-shows-and-movies-to-stream-in-2022-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/the-best-historical-tv-shows-and-movies-to-stream-in-2022-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/the-best-historical-tv-shows-and-movies-to-stream-in-2022-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2022\/03\/the-best-historical-tv-shows-and-movies-to-stream-in-2022-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Rachel Dinning Published: Friday, 25 March 2022 at 12:00 am Looking for something to watch? Here are the best historical dramas, TV shows and films available to stream in the UK and US in 2022 \u2013 from binge-watchable period dramas to fascinating documentaries\u2026 *All information correct at time of publication Follow the links below…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/12028"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Best history TV\/documentaries\/movies streaming on BBC iPlayer<\/h3>\n\nThe Witchfinder (comedy series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Best history TV\/documentaries\/movies streaming on other British TV services<\/h3>\n\nDeutschland 89 (series<\/em>)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n