The 35 Greatest British Limited Series of All Time

Costume dramas sit beside true-crime retellings, Cold War spy stories and recent streaming hits, each one a self-contained story.

1. 1
   Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

   The BBC's 1979 adaptation of John le Carré's spy novel, with Alec Guinness as George Smiley.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Baby Reindeer

   Richard Gadd's 2024 Netflix drama based on his own experience of being stalked, winner of the Emmy for Outstanding Limited Series.
   714pts
3. 3
   Edge of Darkness

   Troy Kennedy Martin's 1985 BBC thriller, with Bob Peck as a detective investigating his daughter's murder.
   681pts
4. 4
   Wolf Hall

   The BBC's 2015 adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novels, with Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell.
   636pts
5. 5
   I, Claudius

   The BBC's 1976 adaptation of Robert Graves's novels, with Derek Jacobi as the Roman emperor Claudius.
   636pts
6. 6
   Middlemarch

   The BBC's 1994 adaptation of George Eliot's novel, written by Andrew Davies and filmed largely in Stamford.
   584pts
7. 7
   Traffik

   A 1989 Channel 4 drama following the heroin trade from Pakistan to Europe, later remade as the film Traffic.
   584pts
8. 8
   Three Girls

   Nicole Taylor's 2017 BBC One drama about the Rochdale child sexual exploitation case.
   524pts
9. 9
   Bleak House

   The BBC's 2005 Dickens adaptation by Andrew Davies, mostly shown in half-hour episodes, with Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock.
   524pts
10. 10
    Elizabeth R

    A 1971 BBC serial of six plays with Glenda Jackson as Queen Elizabeth I.
    524pts
11. 11
    The Jewel in the Crown

    Granada's 1984 ITV adaptation of Paul Scott's Raj Quartet, set in India in the last years of British rule.
    524pts
12. 12
    North & South

    The BBC's 2004 adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's novel, starring Daniela Denby-Ashe and Richard Armitage.
    454pts
13. 13
    GBH

    Alan Bleasdale's 1991 Channel 4 drama, with Robert Lindsay as a council leader and Michael Palin as a headteacher.
    454pts
14. 14
    The Shadow Line

    Hugo Blick's 2011 BBC Two conspiracy thriller, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Christopher Eccleston.
    454pts
15. 15
    Adolescence

    A 2025 Netflix drama co-created by Stephen Graham, each of its four episodes shot in a single continuous take.
    454pts
16. 16
    The Six Wives of Henry VIII

    A 1970 BBC serial with Keith Michell as Henry VIII, giving one episode to each of his wives.
    454pts
17. 17
    Smiley's People

    The BBC's 1982 adaptation of le Carré's follow-up novel, with Alec Guinness returning as George Smiley.
    454pts
18. 18
    Brideshead Revisited

    Granada Television's 1981 ITV adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's novel, starring Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews.
    372pts
19. 19
    The Singing Detective

    Dennis Potter's 1986 BBC serial, with Michael Gambon as a hospitalised writer suffering from severe psoriasis.
    372pts
20. 20
    The Virtues

    Shane Meadows's 2019 Channel 4 drama, with Stephen Graham as a man confronting the abuse he suffered as a child.
    372pts
21. 21
    War & Peace (2016)

    The BBC's 2016 Tolstoy adaptation by Andrew Davies, with Lily James, Paul Dano and James Norton.
    372pts
22. 22
    Small Axe

    Steve McQueen's 2020 BBC anthology of five films about London's West Indian community from the 1960s to the 1980s.
    372pts
23. 23
    Des

    A 2020 ITV drama with David Tennant as the serial killer Dennis Nilsen.
    372pts
24. 24
    And Then There Were None

    BBC One's 2015 three-part Agatha Christie adaptation, written by Sarah Phelps.
    372pts
25. 25
    A Very English Scandal

    Russell T Davies's 2018 BBC One drama, with Hugh Grant as Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe and Ben Whishaw as Norman Scott.
    372pts
26. 26
    Pride and Prejudice (1995)

    The BBC's 1995 Jane Austen adaptation, with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet.
    272pts
27. 27
    Our Friends in the North

    Peter Flannery's 1996 BBC drama following four friends from Newcastle between 1964 and 1995.
    272pts
28. 28
    Mr Bates vs The Post Office

    A 2024 ITV drama about the Post Office Horizon scandal, with Toby Jones as sub-postmaster Alan Bates.
    272pts
29. 29
    State of Play

    Paul Abbott's 2003 BBC thriller about journalists digging into the death of an MP's researcher.
    272pts
30. 30
    Boys from the Blackstuff

    Alan Bleasdale's 1982 BBC drama about unemployed Liverpool men, remembered for Bernard Hill's Yosser Hughes.
    0pts
31. 31
    The Honourable Woman

    Hugo Blick's 2014 BBC Two thriller, with Maggie Gyllenhaal in a Golden Globe-winning role as an Anglo-Israeli businesswoman.
    0pts
32. 32
    I May Destroy You

    Michaela Coel's 2020 BBC One and HBO drama about a writer piecing together her sexual assault, which won her an Emmy for writing.
    0pts
33. 33
    It's a Sin

    Russell T Davies's 2021 Channel 4 drama following a group of friends in London during the 1980s AIDS crisis.
    0pts
34. 34
    Pennies from Heaven

    Dennis Potter's 1978 BBC musical drama, with Bob Hoskins as a sheet-music salesman in 1930s England.
    0pts
35. 35
    The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies

    Peter Morgan's 2014 ITV drama, with Jason Watkins as the Bristol landlord wrongly suspected of murder.
    0pts

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