Upstairs, Downstairs

Series Similar to Upstairs, Downstairs

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

1. The Newsreader

   2021 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile.

   In the maelstrom of a commercial television newsroom in 1986, Dale Jennings is a diligent young reporter, desperate to become a newsreader. Helen Norville is a notoriously ‘difficult' star newsreader determined to build credibility. Paired together over three months, Dale and Helen will cover an extraordinary chain of news events — from the shock of the Challenger explosion, to the hype of Halley's Comet, to the complexities of the AIDS crisis. From messy beginnings, a deep bond is formed that will upend their lives and transform the very fabric of the nightly news bulletin. This is a story of a grand, unconventional relationship in a world on the cusp of change.

2. Lou Grant

   1977 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile.

   Lou Grant, the editor from The Mary Tyler Moore Show, turns serious and moves to LA to work as head editor for a major metropolitan newspaper. In this loose sequel to the popular comedy that takes a turn to the dramatic, Lou takes a bevy of young reporters under his wing and deals with the topical issues of the day.

3. Our Friends in the North

   1996 · Drama · ended

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

   A nine part series depicting the varying fortunes of four friends - Nicky, Geordie, Mary and Tosker - from the optimistic times of 1964 to the uncertainties of 1995. Taking nine pivotal years (1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1987, 1995) the personal lives of the characters become intertwined with the political struggles of their home town of Newcastle, and the capital, London. We also see the machinations behind the scenes that affect their lives, often for the worse: slum housing projects, police corruption, the rise of Thatcherism, political sleaze, and specific events like the 1984 Miners' Strike.

4. Mr. Selfridge

   2013 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, also on ITV1.

   Mr. Selfridge tells the story of 'Mile a Minute Harry', a man with a mission to make shopping as thrilling as sex.

5. Brideshead Revisited

   1981 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, highly rated (8.1), hidden gem, also on ITV1.

   Based on the novel by Evelyn Waugh, two years in the making, and the equivalent of seven feature films back-to-back, this epic drama tells a story of romantic yearning and loss in the glittering but fading world of the British aristocracy between the wars.

6. Dancing on the Edge

   2013 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, hidden gem.

   An explosive 1930s drama following a jazz band in London at a time of huge change.

7. The Colbys

   1985 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, highly rated (8.2), hidden gem.

   A spin-off from the television phenomenon, Dynasty, The Colbys explores the lives and loves of a fabulously wealthy California family as they confront challenges from both outsiders and within their own lineage. To maintain power and control over their empire, The Colbys will stop at nothing… and you will love them for every juicy scheme and shocking betrayal they enact.

8. Downton Abbey

   2010 · Drama, Family, Romance · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, highly rated (8.7), also on ITV1.

   The Downton Abbey estate stands a splendid example of confidence and mettle, its family enduring for generations and its staff a well-oiled machine of propriety. But change is afoot at Downton--change far surpassing the new electric lights and telephone. A crisis of inheritance threatens to displace the resident Crawley family, in spite of the best efforts of the noble and compassionate Earl, Robert Crawley; his American heiress wife, Cora his comically implacable, opinionated mother, Violet and his beautiful, eldest daughter, Mary, intent on charting her own course. Reluctantly, the family is forced to welcome its heir apparent, the self-made and proudly modern Matthew Crawley himself none too happy about the new arrangements. As Matthew's bristly relationship with Mary begins to crackle with electricity, hope for the future of Downton's dynasty takes shape. But when petty jealousies and ambitions grow among the family and the staff, scheming and secrets--both delicious and dangerous--threaten to derail the scramble to preserve Downton Abbey. Downton Abbey offers a spot-on portrait of a vanishing way of life.

9. Anne

   2022 · Drama · ended

   Recommended for similar Drama profile, hidden gem, also on ITV1.

   A drama about the inspirational woman who dedicated her life to campaigning for justice following her son's death at Hillsborough. The mini-series, Anne, which will depict how Anne Williams challenged medical evidence following her son's original inquest, and refused to accept its verdict of accidental death.

10. The Secret

    2016 · Drama · ended

    Recommended for similar Drama profile, hidden gem, also on ITV1.

    Coleraine, Northern Ireland, 1990. Colin Howell is a leading member of the Baptist community, and a loving husband and father. But when he meets fellow Baptist, Hazel Buchanan, they embark on an affair, which will have cataclysmic consequences for themselves, for Colin's wife Lesley and for Hazel's husband, Trevor, Wanting to remain in the Baptist church Colin refuses to consider divorce, but he and Hazel are desperate to find some way to be together. When Lesley's father dies, and she contemplates suicide, Colin believes that he has found a way...