Life

Series Similar to Life

If you enjoyed Life, these series share similar themes, tone, and quality. Each recommendation is scored on genre overlap, tonal match, and critical acclaim.

1. Prodigal Son

   2019 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile.

   Prodigal Son centers on Malcolm Bright who has a gift. He knows how killers think, how their minds work. Why? Back in the ‘90s, his father was one of the worst–a notorious serial killer called "The Surgeon." That's why Bright is the best criminal psychologist around; murder is the family business. Bright uses his twisted genius to help the NYPD solve crimes and stop killers, all while dealing with a manipulative mother, annoyingly normal sister, a homicidal father still looking to bond with his prodigal son, and his own constantly evolving neuroses.

2. Terriers

   2010 · Drama, Comedy, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8).

   Terriers is an American comedic drama television series. Ex-cop and recovering alcoholic Hank Dolworth partners with his best friend, former criminal Britt Pollack, in an unlicensed private investigation business. The series is set in Ocean Beach, San Diego, California, although it is portrayed as a distinct town, with Dolworth having once been a member of the fictional Ocean Beach Police Department. The duo, both struggling with maturity issues, solve crimes while avoiding danger and responsibility.

3. Ray Donovan

   2013 · Drama, Action, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.1).

   Set in the sprawling mecca of the rich and famous, Ray Donovan does the dirty work for LA's top power players as the go-to guy who makes the problems of the city's celebrities, superstar athletes, and business moguls disappear. This powerful drama unfolds when his father is unexpectedly released from prison, setting off a chain of events that shakes the Donovan family to its core.

4. Breakout Kings

   2011 · Drama, Action, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile.

   Breakout Kings follows an unconventional partnership between the U.S. Marshals' office and a group of convicts as they work to catch fugitives on the run. In Breakout Kings, veteran U.S. Marshals Charlie Duchamp and Ray Zancanelli decide to reject protocol and take an unorthodox approach to their work: using former criminals to catch current ones. They form a special task force composed of the three most elusive convicts Ray ever captured: Lloyd Lowery a former child prodigy and behaviorist/psychiatric expert who excels in psychoanalysis; Shea Daniels, an ex-gang banger who knows how to work the system, both in prison and on the street; and Erica Reed, a sexy expert tracker who learned her trade from her bounty hunter father. Charlie and Ray also employ the services of Julianne Simms, a civilian who acts as the "funnel" for the group - all information, tips and data go through her.

5. Gangland Undercover

   2015 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.1), hidden gem.

   The only man brave enough to sneak into three outlaw biker gangs and live to tell the tale, Charles Falco, author of "Vagos, Mongols and Outlaws", goes from convict to infiltrator as he secretly documents the Vagos' illegal activities and ultimately brings them to justice. With the real Charles Falco starting each episode in a silhouetted interview, his story is brought to life in this fact-based docudrama series that sees Falco work as an informant for the Feds on a covert mission inside the dangerous Vagos' world of violence, murder and drug trafficking. Having climbed the gang's ranks while facilitating 62 arrests, Charles Falco exposes how he crippled the criminal enterprise from the core of the biker underworld in this mind-blowing true story, Gangland Undercover.

6. Thorne

   2010 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8).

   Thorne, a television drama series which debuted on Sky1 in the UK on 10 October 2010, is based on crime writer Mark Billingham's novels. The series stars David Morrissey in the title role of Detective Inspector Tom Thorne, and includes Aidan Gillen, Eddie Marsan, and Natascha McElhone as supporting cast members.

7. Run

   2013 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8).

   Run weaves together the stories of four seemingly unconnected people facing life-changing decisions. A series of four fast-paced narratives, Run is a compelling and surprising portrayal of modern British life and the unseen dramas which play out all around us.

8. The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

   2014 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8), hidden gem.

   This drama tells the real-life story of retired schoolteacher Christopher Jefferies who was initially questioned by police as a suspect in the murder of Jo Yeates who rented a flat from him. He was vilified by the press, partly on account of his eccentric appearance and long flowing hair, even after he had been released on bail by the police.

9. The Wire

   2002 · Drama, Crime · ended

   Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8.9).

   The first season of The Wire (2002) concentrated on the often-futile efforts of police to infiltrate a West Baltimore drug ring headed by Avon Barksdale and his lieutenant, Stringer Bell. In Seasons Two and Three, as the Barksdale investigation escalated, new storylines involving pressures on the working class and the city's political leadership were introduced. Season Four focused on the stories of several young boys in the public school system, struggling with problems at home and the lure of the corner - set against the rise of a new drug empire in West Baltimore and a new Mayor in City Hall. The fifth and final season of The Wire centers on the media's role in addressing - or failing to address - the fundamental political, economic and social realities depicted over the course of the series, while also resolving storylines of the numerous characters woven throughout the narrative arc of the show.

10. Banished

    2015 · Drama, Crime · ended

    Recommended for similar Crime profile, highly rated (8).

    At its heart, Banished is a story of survival. Though it is set in the stark historical reality of the founding of the penal colony in Australia in 1788 after the arrival of the First Fleet, it is not the story of Australia and how it came to be. Rather, it is a tale of love, faith, justice and morality played out on an epic scale in a confined community where the stakes are literally life and death.