What To Watch
9 Shows to Fill the ‘Downton Abbey’–Sized Hole in Your Heart
The Granthams may be taking their leave, but that’s no reason to leave your dance card empty.
March 5, 2024
The Best Netflix Historical Shows Like Downton Abbey - Netflix Tudum
Ring the dressing gong because it’s time to change... shows, that is. With Downton Abbey taking its final bow on Netflix on May 31, it’s time to bid adieu to the Crawley family and their downstairs staff. Spanning some 13 years, from 1912 to 1925, Downton Abbey’s six seasons are set against a backdrop of massive social upheaval in Great Britain. When the series begins, the biggest concern of Lord and Lady Crawley (Hugh Bonneville and Elizabeth McGovern) — aka the Earl and Countess of Grantham — is whether their eldest daughter, Mary (Michelle Dockery), will marry her distant cousin (Dan Stevens), whom fate has chosen as heir to the Grantham estate. Fast-forward through a world war, Spanish flu, the dawn of the Jazz Age, and several near-bankruptcies, and the world has changed far more than Dowager Countess (Maggie Smith) may care to admit. Hemlines are shorter, footmen are a dying breed and a runaway marriage to the chauffeur seems positively tame. At least you can always count on Carson (Jim Carter) to have the silver polished to a gleam — you never know who might be coming to dinner.
Now, like the Crawleys, we too must embrace a new age. Whether you came to Downton for the scandals, the historical facts, the fashion, the family drama or even Mrs. Patmore’s (Lesley Nicol) colorful insults, these nine shows are here to fill the void.
The Crown
The events of Downton Abbey may have taken place before the ascension of Queen Elizabeth II, but if lavish surroundings, intricate costumes and explosive family drama are what kept you coming back to the Crawleys, you can bet the Windsors can give them a run for their money. With four seasons streaming and another one on the horizon, The Crown dramatizes the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and the evolution of the monarchy itself, from her marriage to Prince Philip in 1947 to the turmoil surrounding the relationship of Prince Charles and Princess Diana through the 1980s and ’90s.
Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung
If you enjoyed watching the women of Downton Abbey forge their own paths in a restricted society, this Korean historical drama fits the bill. Shin Sae-kyeong Kyung stars as Goo Hae-ryung, an aspiring historian who befriends secret romance novelist Prince Dowon after accepting a position at the royal court in the early 19th century.
The English Game
Julian Fellowes, creator of Downton Abbey, is behind this six-part miniseries about the creation of modern football — that’s “soccer” to all Americans reading. In the Great Britain of the 1870s, football is still considered a sport for aristocrats and wealthy gentlemen, and if it were up to Arthur Kinnaird (Edward Holcroft), captain of the Old Etonians, it would remain that way forever. But mill owner James Walsh (Craig Parkinson), who runs a working class team from the village of Darwen, outside Manchester, has a different idea. In the upstairs-downstairs tradition of Downton, social classes face off (and bond) against a backdrop of economic and cultural change. What better way to blow off that class-warfare steam than battling it out on the pitch?
Cable Girls
Remember when the very first telephone was installed at Downton Abbey and it changed everything? Cable Girls is that but in 1920s Madrid. The first season (there are five total) kicks off in 1928 when Lidia Aguilar (Blanca Suárez), Carlota Senillosa (Ana Fernández), Marga Suárez (Nadia de Santiago) and Ángeles Vidal (Maggie Civantos) begin work at a new telecommunications company in the Spanish capital. Though all have very different backgrounds, the four women, known as “cable girls,” for the literal cables they use to connect calls, become unlikely friends and navigate work and love in a male-dominated society.
Call the Midwife
If you’re curious what life would be like for the British working class a few decades after the events of Downton Abbey, this drama (based on true events) is a good place to start. Adapted by Heidi Thomas from the bestselling memoirs of midwife Jennifer Worth, the show follows a group of nurses and nuns serving as midwives in London’s East End during the 1950s and ’60s. There, they bear witness to the joy, grief and determination that punctuate the daily lives of the women of Poplar. And with 10 seasons, there’s a whole lot to be learned about the travails of childbirth!
Peaky Blinders
Vibe shift, but bear with us — not everything can be about lords and ladies. Set during the same time period as Downton Abbey, Peaky Blinders follows the fortune-seeking Shelby family, whose razor-wielding gang strikes fear in the industrial city of Birmingham, England.. Led by World War I veteran Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy), the Blinders take advantage of a precarious political and economic situation to build a crime empire. Five seasons are already available on Netflix, with the sixth and final chapter premiering June 10. So, channel your inner Lady Rose MacClare (Lily James) and take a walk on the wild side. Don’t worry, we won’t tell.
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