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20 Of The Best British TV Shows You Can Binge Right Now
From Toxic Town to Playing Nice and Dope Girls, these are the best British TV shows to watch now.
If there's one thing the British can do well, it's creating top-tier television. From heartwarming period dramas to edge-of-your-seat thrillers – via characteristically dry comedies and tear-jerking romances – there's a British show for every taste and mood.
British TV shows may call to mind fictional dramatisations, which often have a historical angle (here's looking at you, The Crown) but there are a loads of memorable original stories to dive into as well. Some of the best of these come from young women writer-creators, like Michaela Coel's I May Destroy You and Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag.
For fans of crime dramas, you can’t go wrong with classics like Luther and The Night Manager, but don’t miss newer hits like Toxic Town (Jodie Whittaker and Aimee Lou Wood) and Dope Girls, both of which are earning well-deserved buzz.
As for comedy, look to Derry Girls, Sex Education and Small Town, Big Story for some light – but still meaningful – relief. Or get ready to cry it out to One Day.
Covering Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Apple TV+ and more, there are options across the streaming board, so you can use whatever membership you've happened to forget to cancel this month...
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20 Best British TV Shows To Watch In 2025
Toxic Town (2025)
Jodie Whittaker and Aimee Lou Wood star in this dramatised miniseries which uncovers the disturbing events which led to a group of mothers taking their local council to court after realising their waste mismanagement had caused their children to be born with severe limb defects.
Playing Nice (2025)
Set in Cornwall, James Norton stars in this tense drama which sees two families come together to try and cope with the aftermath of finding out that their sons were switched at birth. The fallout which it brings will keep you gripped from beginning to end.
Dope Girls (2025)
Set just after the end of World War One in 1918, four women living in London must navigate the seedy and unsettling underworld of crime and scandal in the early boom of Soho.
Small Town, Big Story (2025)
A big time Hollywood producer (Christina Hendricks) relocates back to her small Irish town to wrap up filming for her latest TV series. While there, she and a local doctor (Paddy Considine) must confront long concealed secrets held within the perimeters of their town.
Baby Reindeer (2024)
Baby Reindeer, which began life as an Edinburgh Fringe show, is the jaw-dropping limited series that's caught everybody's attention, but if it's slipped under your radar since its release in April 2024, then remedy that now by marking it as one to watch. Based on Richard Gadd, the writer and creator of the show's real experience of being the victim of sexual abuse and stalking, the show is a simmering meditation on victimhood, the aftermath of abuse and how the systems we are meant to trust are not adequately equipped to support us.
I May Destroy You (2020)
Michaela Coel's masterpiece centres on the sexual assault of the protagonist, Arabella (Coel), as she tries to process the act of violence. The series also takes on the complex subjects of sexuality, gender and race in Britain.
The Night Manager (2016)
Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman star in this tense, stylish thriller adapted from the novel by spy master John Le Carré. Two more series have just been announced, so it's the perfect time to catch up (or relive it).
Scoop (2024)
Netflix's new fictional dramatisation offers an insider look at how the women of Newsnight secured one of the most infamous interviews in British history: Prince Andrew by Emily Maitlis. Billie Piper and Gillian Anderson star.
Fleabag (2016)
Electrifying and heartbreaking at the same time, Fleabag made a superstar of its writer and creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge thanks to its two perfectly formed series covering love, loss and Hot Priests.
One Day (2024)
Everyone who's watched Netflix's adaptation of David Nicholls' 2009 novel of the same name seems to say the same thing: you might not be able to stop crying by the end, but you have to watch it in any case.
Slow Horses (2022)
Witty, dry and action-packed, this spy drama follows MI5's most dysfunctional team of agents, the 'Slow Horses', as they attempt to protect England from some sinister forces.
Killing Eve (2018)
Bold, brutal and surprisingly funny, Killing Eve is a must-watch for many reasons: the intriguing energy between its two leads Eve (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer); its twisty plot; its fabulous fashion – and more.
Luther (2010)
Starring Idris Elba, this beloved drama focuses on a brilliant yet troubled detective who consistently treads the line between personal and professional as he investigates crimes in London.
Sex Education (2019)
It's easy to see why this Netflix series has won the hearts and minds of so many viewers. It focuses on a teenage boy with a sex therapist mother (played by Gillian Anderson), who sets up an underground sex therapy clinic at school.
The Crown (2016)
It doesn't get much more British than The Crown, a fictional dramatisation that focuses on Queen Elizabeth II and the events that shaped her reign – both political and personal.
Boarders (2024)
This series centres on a group of five talented Black scholarship students, who arrive at an elite private school – and delivers a pointed satire in the process.
Peaky Blinders (2013)
Prepare to fall for Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) and his fearsome family, a notorious gang in 1919 Birmingham. He's intent on moving up in the world – whatever the cost.
Derry Girls (2018)
This candid, award-winning comedy features a group of young women growing up in Northern Ireland in the early 1990s. It's heartwarming and hilarious, and stars Bridgerton's Nicola Coughlan.
The Gentlemen (2019)
An aristocratic man inherits a family estate then finds it's home to a huge drug empire (and that its proprietors aren't moving...) An action-comedy from Guy Ritchie, this is a spin-off series from the 2019 film of the same name.
Black Mirror (2011)
There are six series of Charlie Brooker's deliciously dark cult series to enjoy. The episodes play on humanity's worst traits – as well as some of our greatest innovations – in often trippy fashion.
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.
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