Shardlake

Series Similar to Shardlake

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

1. Death by Lightning

   2025 · Drama, History · ended95% match

   Recommended for similar History profile.

   Death by Lightning is a drama series that brings to life the epic and stranger-than-fiction true story of James Garfield, reluctant 20th president of the United States, and his greatest admirer Charles Guiteau — the man who would come to kill him.

2. Chernobyl

   2019 · Drama, History · ended92% match

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

   Chernobyl dramatizes the true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history and tells of the brave men and women who sacrificed to save Europe from unimaginable disaster. The miniseries focuses on the heartbreaking scope of the nuclear plant disaster that occurred in Ukraine in April 1986, revealing how and why it happened and telling the shocking, remarkable stories of the heroes who fought and fell.

3. The Making of The Mob

   2015 · Drama, Crime, History · ended92% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / History profile.

   The Making of The Mob is a special event miniseries chronicling the historical roots of the original Five Families that led to the formation of the modern American Mafia.

4. Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy

   2025 · Drama, Crime, History · ended92% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / History profile.

   From 1972-1978, thirty-three young men were kidnapped, murdered, and buried in a crawl space beneath their killer's house. And no one was the wiser. Not for all those years. Why? He was charming and funny. Had a good, All-American job. Was a community leader. He even volunteered to entertain sick kids... while dressed as a clown. Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy peels back the twisted layers of Gacy's life while weaving in heartrending stories of his victims; exploring the grief, guilt, and trauma of their families and friends; and exposing the systemic failures, missed opportunities, and societal prejudices that fueled his reign of terror.

5. Inside Man

   2022 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · ended91% match

   Recommended for similar Crime profile.

   A vicar's life begins to intertwine with that of a prisoner on death row and a maths teacher trapped in a cellar.

6. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

   2024 · Drama, Crime, History · ended91% match

   Recommended for similar Crime / History profile.

   This riveting true-crime drama probes the lives of convicted killers the Menendez brothers and the brutal 1989 murder of their parents in Beverly Hills.

7. The Hollow Crown

   2012 · Drama, History · ended91% match

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

   The Hollow Crown brings together four filmed adaptations of Shakespeare's History Plays - Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. Starting in the year 1399, this continuous story of monarchy follows events during sixteen years of dynastic and political power play. Kings, with their families and followers, are threatened by rebellion and conflict. The story takes us from the Royal Court at Westminster to battlefields in England and France. These rich films are woven with the finest of Shakespeare's poetry and are filmed in the architecture and landscape of the period.

8. This England

   2022 · Drama, History · ended91% match

   Recommended for similar History profile, hidden gem.

   This England will tell the tale of some of the most devastating events to ever befall the United Kingdom, and of a Prime Minister leading in these unprecedented times. The drama will trace the impact on Britain from this once in a generation pandemic, and the response of scientists, nurses, and doctors as they worked tirelessly and heroically to contain and overcome the virus. It is based on the first-hand testimony of people from all walks of life; from Number 10 Downing Street, the Department of Health, The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), and from hospitals and care homes across the country.

9. Victoria

   2016 · Drama, History · ended91% match

   Recommended for similar History profile, highly rated (8.3).

   Victoria comes to the throne at a time of great economic turbulence and resurgent republicanism – and died 64 years later the head of the largest empire the world had ever seen, having revitalised the throne's public image and become ‘grandmother of Europe'. The first series of Victoria, will tell the story of the first years of the reign, beginning with the moment of the Queen's accession in 1837, following her first faltering steps from capricious, hormonal teenager with a weak grasp on her duties and responsibilities to her marriage to Albert. The show is a saga of interlocking circles – the circuits of power in Buckingham Palace and Westminster, the intermarrying royal houses of Europe and the scandals of the below-stairs palace staff. At the centre stands the new Queen – a spirited, passionate woman who must, somehow, become an enduring icon of stability and strength.

10. The Pale Horse

    2020 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · ended91% match

    Recommended for similar Crime profile.

    When a mysterious list of names is found in the shoe of a dead woman, one of those named, Mark Easterbrook, begins an investigation into how and why his name came to be there. He is drawn to The Pale Horse, the home of a trio of rumoured witches in the tiny village of Much Deeping. Word has it that the witches can do away with wealthy relatives using the dark arts alone, but as the bodies mount up Mark is certain there has to be a rational explanation. And who could possibly want him dead?