Over the last decade, television viewers have been spoiled with choices. From gripping dramas and crime shows that leave them breathless with their cliffhangers, to bingeworthy comedies that give off “comfort TV” vibes, British television has produced some genuinely unforgettable shows that have become international hits in a range of genres. Fans have turned the weekly watch into an all-night binge thanks to the surge in popularity of online streaming platforms, and now with social media, TV fans can share their thoughts on the series they love and obsess over globally.
Throughout the 2010s, television provided numerous opportunities to expand cultural influence and generate revenue. In 2012, sales of British television to the United States were worth £27 million, mostly thanks to the love for ITV’s quintessentially British Downton Abbey and BBC’s Sherlock. However, television lovers around the world were no strangers to U.K.-grown series like Ricky Gervais’ The Office in the early 2000s, thanks to the brilliant American adaptation it spawned and the fact that it’s since been remade in eight other countries. That import (and the bevy of reality shows America has taken from the country) created immense attention toward British television, but there have been many other excellent British shows over the last decade which also deserve worldwide recognition. By now, it’s safe to assume that most people enjoy a good binge, so here’s a list of the top British television shows from the 2010s that had (and continue to keep) viewers obsessed.
10 Downton Abbey
ITV Studios
Downton Abbey, created by Academy Award winner Julian Fellowes, is one of the most popular period dramas of the last decade, airing in 2010. The show, set between 1912 and 1926, follows the lives of the Abbey’s aristocratic family, the Crawleys, and their servants, navigating how they find their way through the quickly changing post-Edwardian world. Along the way, the characters cope with some of the most momentous historical events of the twentieth century, including the sinking of the Titanic, World War I, and the Spanish influenza outbreak. Fans adored the romanticized “Britishness,” class systems, and historic traditions, and by the time the final episode of season one aired in 2010, it had a U.K. audience of ten million viewers. For period drama enthusiasts, it is a must-watch for the romance, storyline and, of course, its typically British vibes.
9 The Crown
Netflix Streaming Services
The Crown, a sweeping Netflix drama written by Peter Morgan that follows Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, has been a hugely successful series throughout the last decade. Following the death of her father, King George VI, the drama opens with the Queen’s ascent to the throne. The show is an intimate dramatization of the Windsors’ private life and public struggles, as well as significant historical events, making it one of the best historical television shows in recent years. When the show first aired in 2016, fans were ecstatic to get a glimpse into the life of a royal and all the goings-on of the Queen, who was brilliantly portrayed by Claire Foy in seasons one and two and Olivia Colman in seasons three and four, who all have won numerous Emmy and Golden Globe Awards, as has Tobias Menzies as Prince Phillip and the great Gillian Anderson (in one of her several excellent British TV roles) The show earned praise from critics and fans alike, and it became one of the most bingeworthy programs of recent years.
8 Line of Duty
Line of Duty first aired in 2012 and very quickly became one of the country’s best performing drama series with 4.1 million views, and is now considered the UK’s highest-rated TV drama in thirteen years, taking over Doctor Who and Downton Abbey. The police crime procedural is created by Jed Mercurio, who won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for best writer here and is also known as the writer of other hit series, Bodyguard. With its dramatic, gasp-inducing cliffhangers, the series enthralled crime lovers across the country as one of the most compelling thrillers of the decade. It follows the investigations within AC-12, a controversial police anti-corruption unit, as its team explores the police’s deep ties to organized crime. British television was treated to several shocking deaths and mind-boggling conspiracy twists here that have had them trying to piece it all together since the start.
7 Peaky Blinders
BBC Studios
Inspired by the true story of a notorious Birmingham gang, Peaky Blinders hit BBC screens in 2013. Creator and award winner Steven Knight also found inspiration for the show from his father, telling the story of his uncle’s family (the Sheldons) who were part of the heritage of the Peaky Blinders. Fans were loving period drama’s in the 2010s, and this one, set in the 1920s, immediately became one of the most exciting, action-packed gangster dramas on television. The series surged in popularity, becoming one of the biggest word-of-mouth campaigns on television. Tommy Shelby, the gang’s leader, is played by Cillian Murphy, who also stars alongside real-life brothers Joe and Finn Cole, as well as the sensational Helen McRory as the brilliant Aunt Polly. The Shelby family are a must-watch, their characters being violently lovable with their three-piece tweed suits, occasional outright gang warfare, and a razor blade in their caps.
6 Black Mirror
Endemol Shine UK
Black Mirror, a 2011 anthology series from Charlie Brooker, is one of the best and most disturbing shows of the previous decade. The Netflix series is a brilliant blend of science fiction and horror (and occasionally touching drama), perfectly portraying the idea of human contact deteriorating as technology advances. Even the show’s title has a technological meaning– the “Black Mirror” alludes to a switched-off phone or television, where we see ourselves reflected in the terrifying black screen, a representation of our reality and even darker future. Each episode confronts dark and serious topics of humanity’s deterioration and collapsing future to identify the changes in society due to digital technology.
Season three’s “Nosedive” is a great example, where “likes” and ratings on social media affect a person’s work, housing, lifestyle, and chances in a dystopian society. It tells the narrative of a woman whose life falls apart as her number of social media ratings decreases. Each episode taps into the audience’s fear of a true dystopian future and show some frighteningly realistic scenarios of where technology becomes terrifying and literally controls life itself, and Brooker doesn’t miss a trick when it came to incorporating a dark meaning into every episode. Black Mirror has been appreciated by a wide range of audiences and has received high ratings and reviews, and now multiple of its episodes have been nominated for awards, and even received eight Emmy Awards.
5 Our Girl
RLJ Entertainment
BBC’s drama Our Girl launched in 2013 and follows the experiences of a female medic in the British Army. Michelle Keegan, well known for her appearance on Coronation Street, plays Lance Corporal Georgie Lane. The show melted hearts and drew a consolidated audience of 6.3 million, earning a nomination at the Royal Television Society Awards for Best Single Drama, with Michelle Keegan winning a well-deserved TV Choice Awards for Best Actress. The show is a gritty, realistic, and emotional tale of ordinary people doing extraordinary work, which truly pulled at the viewers heartstrings. It perfectly conveys the very real struggles that service personnel suffer with when returning to normal life and does very well to not glorify war; it has even become more urgently necessary during the recent years of heroic first responders in the COVID pandemic.
4 Luther
Award-winning actor Idris Elba stars in BBC’s 2010 psychological crime drama Luther, which became the most-watched show on New Year’s Day in 2019; the season five finale also proved itself to be a huge success, attracting 4.6 million views. The show is instantly gripping and follows the life of DCI John Luther, a dedicated police officer working in London’s SCU (serious crime unit) who often bends the rules and risks it all to find ways of convicting criminals, but still has his own battles to fight as he must stop the crimes he deals with from consuming him. Although Luther is an honorable, decent man with good intentions, he is also a self-destructive loose-cannon and, frankly, a disaster waiting to happen. His dark personal inner demons wreak havoc amongst his friends, family, and even ex-wife. Elba’s performance as the tortured detective earned him a Golden Globe, a Critic’s Choice Television Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actor.
3 Killing Eve
IMG
Sandra Oh made history in 2018 as the first Asian actress to be nominated for an Emmy for Best Actress in a Drama for Killing Eve, which was followed by a well-deserved Golden Globe. The cat-and-mouse spy drama follows the developing tense (but ultimately romantic) connection between MI6 spy Eve and the glamorous Russian assassin, Villanelle (played by Jodie Comer, who fans are going crazy for). Eve (Sandra Oh), an American agent working for British intelligence, becomes obsessed with finding a killer after piecing together a sequence of random murders. Villanelle, as charming as she is psychopathic, recognizes that she is being hunted, and so she hunts right back in return. The chemistry of the actresses is excellently conveyed on-screen, and the story of these enemies (but almost lovers) is chilling, enticing, and cut-with-a-knife tense. The fourth and final season is just around the corner, and fans can’t wait to see what Villanelle has up her sleeve.
2 The Fall
Everyone enjoys a good murder mystery, and The Fall, released in 2013, introduced viewers to an evil Belfast version of Jamie Dornan, who, amongst the ladies, is best known for his role as Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey. Dornan plays Paul Spector, a handsome husband and great father by day and a merciless killer of women by night. For lovers of crime series, this was a breathless, edge of your seat series which made viewers uncomfortable to be alone but enamored with the show nonetheless. Of course, where there is a murderer, there is a cop, and the brilliant Gillian Anderson, also known for her work in Netflix’s Sex Education (and, of course, The X-Files) shows up as DI Stella Gibson, to solve the case. When the show first aired on BBC, fans were obsessed with the psychological thriller and all the plot twists thrown at them. The Fall elicited a chilling reaction from fans who were struggling to sleep after watching it, with one saying, “it’s traumatizing me but at the same time I can’t stop watching it.” In true psychological thriller style, it had everyone completely hooked.
1 Fleabag
Phoebe Waller-Bridge is an actress, screenwriter, and playwright who is both brilliant and hilarious. She is most known for creating and starring in the sitcom Fleabag, as well as writing the first season of the television series Killing Eve. Waller-Bridge plays a free-spirited and confused young woman who frequently breaks the fourth wall to offer the audience a running commentary and internal monologues. Fleabag received eleven Emmy nominations and Waller-Bridge herself won a British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.
Despite the fact that Fleabag deals with a lot of serious topics, it has a brilliant and witty feel to it and is still a comedy at heart, which makes it a great binge. The exploration of grief was something that fans absolutely loved over the course of the series; Fleabag deals with grieving following her mother’s death and her best friend’s suicide, and while it is undeniably dramatic and sincere, the show’s light-hearted wittiness and dark comedy provide a fantastic contrast. Years after it has ended, fans continue to rave about the show, making it one of the greatest British TV series of the last decade.
