From long-buried betrayals to teary porch confessions at sunset, the beachfront is officially the new battleground for the best kind of TV drama: the kind you can binge in one gloriously air-conditioned weekend, Hugo Spritz firmly in-hand.
This summer, Prime Video has declared the beach house its official stage — and every show is serving high drama with a side of salty air. Stock up on tissues, ice-cold drinks and maybe some sibling therapy brochures (trust us, you’ll need them).
From The Summer I Turned Pretty to We Were Liars, these are shows where the sun is always shining and the drama is always simmering. Here’s why we’re staying in to stream them.
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The Beach-House Aesthetic Alone Is Worthy Of A TV Show
Those breezy linens, salty tan lines and piercing sunsets make for quite the backdrop. Prime Video’s stable of TV shows perfectly marry the soft melancholy atmosphere of late summer with the soft delicacy of Nancy Meyers’ coastal grandmother aesthetic. On just looks alone, it’s a yes from us.
Women Are Finally At The Heart Of Their Own Stories
Whether it's The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Jenny Han as a creative powerhouse or the female-led narratives at the core of The Better Sister and We Were Liars, these shows have a common thread of placing women — messy, complicated, brilliant women — where they belong, at the forefront of their own stories.
There’s Nothing Better Than a Gripping Summer Romance...
For the uninitiated, let us bring you up to speed: The Summer I Turned Pretty has returned for its third outing this summer, and it’s had a serious glow-up. Belly, Conrad, Jeremiah, and those impossibly golden sunsets are back — and this time, the stakes are higher, the heartbreak deeper, and the playlists even sadder (yes, Taylor Swift is obviously involved again).
...Or A Thrilling Summer Mystery
Based on E. Lockhart’s bestselling YA novel, We Were Liars is Prime Video’s next addictive entry into the ‘rich people behaving badly on private islands’ canon. Think: East Coast wealth, generational secrets and an ending nobody could predict (even if you’ve read the book).
The Beach Brings Out The Drama In All Of Us
In the same way any good family holiday will always have at least one no-holds-barred row, a seafront location is the perfect backdrop for some serious dissection of family relationships. It’s not just teens and trust funds (although admittedly it is a lot of that), but The Better Sister, based on the novel of the same name by Alafair Burke, delivers adult-sized dysfunction with a side of sea breeze. When a woman’s ex-husband (who is also her sister’s dead husband — yes, really) turns up murdered, the two sisters must reconcile on the shores of Long Island. Come for the murder mystery, stay for the passive-aggressive beach walks.
Get your beach-house drama fix now on Prime Video
Prime Video is available in the UK and Ireland at no extra cost to a Prime membership for just £8.99 a month or £95 per year. New customers can find out more at amazon.co.uk/prime and subscribe to a free 30-day trial.
Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
