Top 25 Historical Limited Series

Some of these dramas defined event television in the 1970s; others reached streaming services decades later with bigger budgets and darker palettes.

1. 1
   Band of Brothers

   HBO's 2001 ten-part series following Easy Company of the 101st Airborne from D-Day training to the end of World War II.
   1000pts
2. 2
   The Pacific

   A 2010 HBO companion to Band of Brothers that follows three US Marines through battles such as Guadalcanal, Peleliu and Okinawa.
   631pts
3. 3
   Generation Kill

   HBO's 2008 seven-part series about the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, based on Evan Wright's book.
   590pts
4. 4
   The Winds of War

   ABC's 1983 adaptation of Herman Wouk's novel, with Robert Mitchum as a US naval officer from 1939 to Pearl Harbor.
   537pts
5. 5
   War and Remembrance

   The 1988 sequel to The Winds of War, carrying the Henry family from Pearl Harbor to the end of World War II.
   499pts
6. 6
   Roots

   ABC's 1977 adaptation of Alex Haley's book, tracing Kunta Kinte from his capture in Gambia through his descendants in slavery.
   499pts
7. 7
   Mrs. America

   FX on Hulu's 2020 nine-part drama about the 1970s fight over the Equal Rights Amendment, with Cate Blanchett as Phyllis Schlafly.
   499pts
8. 8
   Chernobyl

   A five-part 2019 HBO and Sky drama about the 1986 nuclear disaster and the Soviet response, starring Jared Harris.
   456pts
9. 9
   Elizabeth I

   A 2005 two-part Channel 4 and HBO drama with Helen Mirren as the queen in the second half of her reign.
   408pts
10. 10
    Peter the Great

    NBC's 1986 Emmy-winning miniseries about the Russian tsar, with Maximilian Schell in the title role.
    408pts
11. 11
    Gunpowder

    A 2017 three-part BBC drama about the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, starring Kit Harington as Robert Catesby.
    408pts
12. 12
    Centennial

    NBC's 1978–79 adaptation of James Michener's novel, tracing the settlement of a Colorado region from the 1700s to the 1970s.
    354pts
13. 13
    I, Claudius

    The BBC's 1976 adaptation of Robert Graves's novels, with Derek Jacobi as the stammering emperor of Rome.
    354pts
14. 14
    Lonesome Dove

    CBS's 1989 adaptation of Larry McMurtry's novel about two retired Texas Rangers driving cattle to Montana.
    291pts
15. 15
    Elizabeth R

    A 1971 BBC serial in six plays with Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth I, from her youth to her death in 1603.
    291pts
16. 16
    Manhunt

    Apple TV+'s 2024 seven-part drama about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln's assassination, with Tobias Menzies as Edwin Stanton.
    291pts
17. 17
    North and South

    ABC's 1985 adaptation of John Jakes's novel about two friends from Pennsylvania and South Carolina before the Civil War, with Patrick Swayze.
    291pts
18. 18
    Masada

    ABC's 1981 miniseries about the Roman siege of the Jewish fortress of Masada, with Peter O'Toole as the Roman commander.
    220pts
19. 19
    Catherine the Great

    A 2019 four-part HBO and Sky drama with Helen Mirren as the Russian empress and Jason Clarke as Grigory Potemkin.
    220pts
20. 20
    Hatfields & McCoys

    History's 2012 three-part drama about the Appalachian family feud, with Kevin Costner as Devil Anse Hatfield and Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy.
    220pts
21. 21
    John Adams

    HBO's 2008 seven-part drama starring Paul Giamatti as the second US president, based on David McCullough's biography.
    136pts
22. 22
    Masters of the Air

    Apple TV+'s 2024 series about the 100th Bomb Group flying B-17 raids over Europe, starring Austin Butler and Callum Turner.
    136pts
23. 23
    Shōgun (1980)

    NBC's 1980 adaptation of James Clavell's novel, with Richard Chamberlain as an English pilot shipwrecked in feudal Japan in 1600.
    136pts
24. 24
    Holocaust

    NBC's 1978 four-part drama following a German Jewish family and an SS officer through the Nazi era, with Meryl Streep.
    0pts
25. 25
    Jesus of Nazareth

    Franco Zeffirelli's 1977 British-Italian miniseries about the life of Jesus, with Robert Powell in the title role.
    0pts

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