BBC iPlayer is home to some of the greatest TV series ever made. Whether you’re into police thrillers, psychological dramas, or gripping medical shows, there’s no shortage of top-tier television waiting to stream.
The BBC has already delivered some huge hits in 2026. Viewers kicked off the year with The Night Manager, The Traitors, and Lord of the Flies, while audiences are still unpacking the twists of The Capture series 3.
The truth is simple: for decades, the BBC has produced some of the most memorable drama on television. So, if you’ve already worked through the best ITVX dramas, we’ve dug into the iPlayer library to round up the best BBC dramas you can stream right now.
Babies
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2026
- Cast: Paapa Essiedu, Siobhán Cullen, Charlotte Riley, Jack Bannon
- Creator: Stefan Golaszewski
- Length: 1 season, 6 episodes
What it’s about: Lisa and Stephen are dealing with the painful struggle of pregnancy loss while life continues around them. However, despite facing dark times of grief and loneliness, they are finding their way through it with a burning sense of hope, humour, and love, realising the strength of their relationship, which will ultimately bring them closer than ever.
Why to watch: Babies is a true test of stamina, more so than anything Stefan Golaszewski has ever made. It’s an onslaught of grief and awkward conversations – but it’s also remarkably tender, and one of the best BBC dramas this year.
Time
- Genre: Drama, Thriller
- Year: 2021 – present
- Cast: Sean Bean, Stephen Graham, Siobhan Finneran, Bella Ramsey
- Creator: Jimmy McGovern
- Length: 2 seasons, 6 episodes
What it’s about: In a British prison, a first-time inmate and a prison officer face guilt, violence, and impossible choices as they try to get through each day. This tense, gritty drama explores survival, responsibility, and the emotional toll of life in prison.
Why to watch: The first series of Time, following Sean Bean and Stephen Graham’s profound, harrowing life behind (and in front of) bars, was a grim masterpiece. It had two British TV heavyweights at the absolute top of their game.
Series 2 is sorely underrated, boasting a pained, accomplished turn from The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey. What else did you expect; it’s written by Jimmy McGovern! Good news, too: season 3 is in the works.
The Capture
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Year: 2019 – present
- Cast: Holliday Grainger, Callum Turner, Paapa Essiedu, Killian Scott
- Creator: Ben Chanan
- Length: 3 seasons, 13 episodes
What it’s about: A former soldier finally gets his life back after a conviction is overturned, hoping to focus on his young daughter and a fresh start. But new CCTV footage from a night out throws everything into doubt, pulling him into a tense fight to prove what really happened as powerful forces close in.
Why to watch: Are you a chronic dual-screener; someone who dopamine-maxes their way through any TV show or movie by scrolling on social media? The Capture, a riveting, complex thriller that’s so tightly plotted that even the most attuned viewer could miss something, isn’t for you.
Here’s our advice: put down your phone and lock in, because this is a timely series worth all of your attention.
Make sure you check out our recap of The Capture series 1 and 2 before diving into series 3.
I May Destroy You
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2020
- Cast: Michaela Coel, Paapa Essiedu, Weruche Opia
- Creator: Michaela Coel
- Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
What it’s about: In modern-day London, a young writer with a busy social life is thrown off course after a night out leaves her shaken and searching for answers. As she tries to make sense of what happened, she rethinks relationships, consent, and the everyday choices that shape her future, leaning on friends while rebuilding her confidence and direction.
Why to watch: I May Destroy You is a masterpiece; a staggering odyssey of real-life trauma, revenge, and self-reflection that feels enduringly essential. However, it’s a one-time watch. Though not devoid of light, it’s a difficult watch that warrants endurance.
Bodies
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2004 – 2006
- Cast: Max Beesley, Neve McIntosh, Patrick Baladi
- Creator: Jed Mercurio
- Length: 3 seasons, 17 episodes
What it’s about: This British medical drama follows staff on a busy NHS obstetrics and gynaecology ward as they juggle relentless targets, workplace politics, and personal entanglements. It aims for a gritty, unvarnished look at hospital life, with intense procedures and hard choices that test professional ethics and relationships.
Why to watch: Line of Duty made Jed Mercurio a household name. However, there’s an argument for Bodies remaining his best TV show. It’s morbid in every way; its humour, the grotesque effects, and how it makes you feel. And, yet, it’s incredibly addictive.
Even Mercurio (via The Guardian) says it’s the drama he’s “most proud of”.
Luther
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Year: 2010 – 2019
- Cast: Idris Elba, Ruth Wilson, Warren Brown, Dermot Crowley
- Creator: Neil Cross
- Length: 5 seasons, 20 episodes (plus a Netflix movie)
What it’s about: A driven detective hunts brutal killers across London while battling his own inner turmoil and a growing reputation that puts him at odds with colleagues. Each case piles on fresh pressure, forcing him to make risky choices as his personal life and work crises collide.
Why to watch: Getting a late-night bus and sitting on the top deck alone, going to bed, opening the door to someone who tells you they’re a police officer: Luther envisaged the worst-case scenario of all of these, whether it’s a satanic obsessive licking your face or a man snaking out from underneath you.
Elba’s smouldering, haymaker copper is a legend, but Ruth Wilson’s beguiling temptress is the show’s true icon.
Doctor Foster
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2015 – present
- Cast: Suranne Jones, Bertie Carvel, Jodie Comer
- Creator: Mike Bartlett
- Length: 2 seasons, 10 episodes
What it’s about: A woman begins to suspect her husband is having an affair and starts digging for the truth. As she follows one lead after another, the situation spirals beyond betrayal into a tense, emotionally charged unravelling that exposes darker behaviour and a streak of violence beneath the surface.
Why to watch: Is Doctor Foster as refined as other BBC dramas on this list? No, but it is a compulsively entertaining, irresistibly wild psycho(melo)drama that you will give yourself over to.
It was a sensation when it originally aired, and with series 3 confirmed, there’s no better time to revisit or discover it.
Three Girls
- Genre: Drama
- Year: 2017
- Cast: Maxine Peake, Lesley Sharp, Molly Windsor
- Creator: Nicole Taylor
- Length: 1 season, 3 episodes
What it’s about: New to the area, Holly is keen to make friends but finds herself drawn in to a frightening world she is unable to escape, a world all too familiar to sexual health worker Sara.
Why to watch: With the release of Unchosen, viewers may turn to Three Girls, the role that launched Molly Windsor’s career and saw her win a BAFTA. There’s serious mastery on display here, whether it’s the performances or the delicate handling of a horrible (and true) story. It’s disquieting, unflinching, and essential television.
Normal People
- Genre: Drama, Romance
- Year: 2020
- Cast: Paul Mescal, Daisy Edgar-Jones
- Creator: Catherine Magee
- Length: 1 season, 12 episodes
What it’s about: Two young people keep drifting in and out of each other’s lives, pulled together by attraction and pushed apart by insecurity, class pressures, and what they leave unsaid. As they move from school into early adulthood, their connection becomes a tender, painful study of intimacy, power, and the need to be loved.
Why to watch: Normal People is one of the most intimate and sexually vivid shows that’s ever aired on British TV. As tempting as it is to talk about it on those terms (don’t watch it with your mum and dad), and as inseparable as it is from why the series works, it’s much, much more than that.
It’s among the most soul-stirring love stories ever written, and the fact that people struggle to accept Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones not being a couple in real life tells you everything you need to know.
The Lakes
- Genre: Mystery, Drama
- Year: 1997 – 1999
- Cast: John Simm, Emma Cunniffe, Kaye Wragg
- Creator: Jimmy McGovern
- Runtime: 2 seasons, 14 episodes
What it’s about: Danny Kavanagh leaves Liverpool for the Lake District, finding work at a hotel and love with a local girl named Emma. Yet Danny remains an outsider in the close-knit community, and through the machinations of fate, he finds himself implicated in a tragedy. The secrets, lies, and crimes, of the seemingly tranquil community continue to be revealed.
Why to watch: The Lakes has been somewhat lost to time – but if it landed on Netflix today, it’d be a smash hit. Once described by the BBC as “torrid” (when it received even more complaints than Queer as Folk), this is a gutsy, dark, and enduringly provocative drama that’s rough-edged and totally absorbing. Plus, it was an early showcase – and clear proof – of John Simm’s star power.
This Is Going to Hurt
- Genre: Comedy, Drama
- Year: 2022
- Cast: Ben Whishaw, Ambika Mod, Alex Jennings
- Creator: Adam Kay
- Length: 1 season, 7 episodes
What it’s about: A junior doctor in a busy obstetrics and gynaecology ward faces relentless shifts, limited resources, and constant pressure. The series mixes sharp humour with raw, emotional moments as work and personal life collide in an overstretched hospital system.
Why to watch: It’s easy to laud Ben Whishaw for This is Going to Hurt (he’s perfect in it; a kind, sarky, frazzled presence that anchors the whole show). But it’s also a near-flawless adaptation of Adam Kay’s memoir: hilarious and heartbreaking all at once, and a genuinely meaningful (and rightfully exhausting) post-pandemic drama.
Line of Duty
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
- Year: 2012 – present
- Cast: Martin Compston, Vicky McClure, Adrian Dunbar
- Creator: Jed Mercurio
- Length: 6 seasons, 36 episodes
What it’s about: A controversial police anti-corruption unit investigates wrongdoing from within the force, where every case tests loyalty, procedure, and trust. As inquiries intensify, tense interviews and courtroom moments push investigators to follow tiny details that could expose cover-ups or clear the innocent.
Why to watch: Line of Duty is one of the most addictive crime dramas the BBC has ever produced. It genuinely feels painful not to press play on the next episode after every immense, skin-tingling cliffhanger. Series 3 was the best, but its troughs (the ‘H’ reveal) are far fewer than its peaks.
Here’s the good news: Line of Duty series 7 has been confirmed.
Life on Mars
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Sci-fi
- Year: 2006 – 2007
- Cast: John Simm, Philip Glenister, Liz White
- Creator: Matthew Graham, Tony Jordan, Ashley Pharoah
- Length: 2 seasons, 16 episodes
What it’s about: After a car accident during a major investigation, a modern-day detective wakes up in 1973 with no clear explanation. Forced to work cases in a world of outdated tools and rougher attitudes, he tries to survive the culture shock while searching for clues that might explain what happened and how to get back.
Why to watch: An imaginative, bracingly funny, and thrilling merge of timey-wimey fun and police procedurals, Life on Mars is an absolute must-watch (it’s even one of Stephen King’s favourite shows). It will have you hooked to the small screen, but it’s far from a saddening bore; in fact, you’ll want to relive it 10 times or more.
Peaky Blinders
- Genre: Drama, Crime, History
- Year: 2013 – 2022
- Cast: Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Helen McCrory, Tom Hardy
- Creator: Steven Knight
- Length: 6 seasons, 36 episodes (plus a Netflix movie)
What it’s about: In postwar 1919 Birmingham, a notorious gang builds its reputation with razor-bladed caps and ruthless ambition. As their sharp-minded leader pushes the family business to new heights, shifting alliances and mounting pressure test how far they’ll go to rise in a changing world.
Why to watch: Peaky Blinders’ reputation (sometimes a little cringe-worthily) precedes itself. It’s a swaggering, ultra-stylish, violent, and macho gangster epic that’s far more sophisticated and rich than its place in pop culture gives it credit for, and it sits comfortably in the same echelon as the likes of The Sopranos and Goodfellas.
Then again, who among us hasn’t felt the urge to shout, “By order of the [bleep] Peaky Blinders!”? If nothing else, it’s a testament to the power of Cillian Murphy.
Happy Valley
- Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
- Year: 2014 – 2023
- Cast: Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, James Norton
- Creator: Sally Wainwright
- Length: 3 seasons, 18 episodes
What it’s about: A tough, experienced police officer juggles demanding cases with a complicated home life while raising a grandchild after a personal loss. Set in a close-knit Yorkshire community, the series blends dark humour with tense investigations and the everyday pressures that follow her on and off the job.
Why to watch: Is Happy Valley the best drama the BBC has ever made? Quite possibly. It has everything: Sarah Lancashire at her furious and lovable best, brilliantly loathsome characters (particularly James Norton’s icy, magnetic villain), and a story that starts strong, stays strong, and sticks the landing. It is the ultimate foolproof TV show: don’t trust anyone with a bad word to say about it.
Read more: The best movies you can stream for free on BBC iPlayer now
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