The Best British Biography Series Ever
Ranked By
600 votes
94 voters
Voting Rules
Vote up the best British biographies that have aired on television.
- 1Jenna Coleman, Tom Hughes, Peter BowlesVictoria is a British historical drama series that chronicles the life and reign of Queen Victoria, starting from her ascension to the throne at the young age of 18 in 1837. The series portrays key events and relationships during Victoria's early years as monarch, including her relationship with her first Prime Minister Lord Melbourne and her romance and marriage to Prince Albert. The series received positive reviews, and critics praised Jenna Coleman's performance in the lead role as well as the show's lavish production values and attention to historical detail. While some criticized certain historical inaccuracies, the series was generally lauded for bringing the early life of the famous Queen to the screen in an engaging and dramatic way.
- 2Ruth Wilson, Iain Glen, Keeley HawesMrs Wilson (BBC One, 2018), is a British television drama starring and executive produced by Ruth Wilson, who plays the role of her real-life grandmother. In 1963, Alison Wilson's happy home life is shattered upon the death of her husband, novelist and former MI6 officer Alexander "Alec" Wilson, and she discovers she is not the only Mrs. Wilson.
- 3
Napoleon and Love
Tim Curry, Ian Holm, Billie WhitelawNapoleon and Love was a 1974 British television series originally aired on ITV and lasting for 9 episodes from 5 March to 30 April 1974. The series starred Ian Holm in the title role as Napoleon I and depicts his relationships with the women who featured in his life as a backdrop to his rise and fall. - 4
Dickens Of London
Ben Kingsley, Patsy Kensit, John SlaterDickens of London is a 1976 television miniseries from Yorkshire Television based on the life of English novelist Charles Dickens. Both Dickens and his father John were played by British actor Roy Dotrice. The series was written by Wolf Mankowitz and Marc Miller. In the United States, the series was shown in 1977. The series of 13 episodes of 60 minutes was directed by Michael Ferguson and Marc Miller, who was also the series' producer, with David Cunliffe as executive producer. Mankowitz's book, Dickens of London, published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in 1976, was based on the detailed research he made while writing the screenplay. - 5Glenda Jackson, Ronald Hines, Robert HardyThe life story of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen.
- 6
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years
Robert Hardy, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nigel HaversWinston Churchill: The Wilderness Years is an 8-part 1981 drama serial based on the life of Winston Churchill, and particularly his years in enforced exile from political position during the 1920s and 30s. It was made by Southern Television on a budget of ÂŁ3ÂĽ million and originally broadcast on ITV on Sunday nights at 10 pm. It was written and directed by Ferdinand Fairfax, with historian Martin Gilbert as co-writer. Churchill was played by Robert Hardy. - 7
The Brontes of Haworth
Michael Kitchen, Alfred Burke, Barbara Leigh-HuntAn accurate and detailed film version of the Brontë family story. - 8
Oscar
Michael Gambon, Norman Rodway, Bryan MurrayOscar is a British TV serial first transmitted by BBC 2 in March 1985. Michael Gambon portrayed Oscar Wilde while other actors included Robin Lermitte as Lord Alfred Douglas, Tim Hardy as Alfred Taylor, Emily Richard as Constance Wilde and Norman Rodway as the Marquis of Queensberry. The serial concentrated on Wilde's trials and time in prison. - 9Francesca Annis, Peter Egan, Anton RodgersLillie is a British television serial made by London Weekend Television for ITV and broadcast in 1978. This period serial starred Francesca Annis in the title role of Lillie Langtry. She had played the same character in the 1975 serial Edward the Seventh and many of the same writers and directors that were responsible for that series helped to create this one. Other actors featured include Anton Rodgers as Edward Langtry, Peter Egan as Oscar Wilde, Brian Deacon as Frank Miles, Jennie Linden as Patsy Cornwallis-West, Don Fellows as James Whistler, David Gwillim as Arthur Jones and Annette Crosbie as Henrietta Labouchere. Denis Lill played Bertie the Prince of Wales, later Edward the VII. He had played Frederick Ponsonby to Timothy West's Edward in the aforementioned Edward the Seventh whereas Crosbie played Queen Victoria in that production. It is available on DVD in both the UK and North American markets, and has also been repeated on UKTV Drama.
- 10
Nancy Astor
Lisa Harrow, Lise Hilboldt, James FoxNancy Astor (1982) is a British biographical television drama. The story follows Virginia-born Lady Astor (Lisa Harrow), the first woman to sit in Parliament. Her outspokenness in unpopular causes leaves her open to heartbreak, public and private. - 11
Disraeli
Ian McShane, Patricia Hodge, David de KeyserDisraeli is a British four-part serial about the great statesman and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Benjamin Disraeli. It was originally featured on British network ITV. With a screenplay by David Butler, it was produced by Cecil Clarke and directed by Claude Whatham. It focused on Disraeli's personal life as much as it did on his political persona spanning five decades of his life. Shot on site in England, it ended up with multiple Emmy nominations. It was broadcast in the US as part of Masterpiece Theatre in 1980. Distributed by Granada Productions, it is available in a 2-disc DVD set that runs 4 hours and 13 minutes. - 12Richard O'Sullivan, Christopher Benjamin, David DakerDick Turpin is a British television drama series starring Richard O'Sullivan and Michael Deeks. It was created by Richard Carpenter, Paul Knight and Sydney Cole and written by Richard Carpenter, John Kane, Charles Crichton and Paul Wheeler, it was made by Gatetarn, Seacastle productions in-association with London Weekend Television between 1979 and 1982. 26 half hour episodes and one feature length episode were filmed on location at Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. The series is loosely based on the adventures of the real 18th century highwayman Dick Turpin.
- 13Michael Aspel, Eamonn AndrewsThis is Your Life is a British biographical television documentary, based on the 1952 American show of the same name. It was hosted by Eamonn Andrews from 1955 until 1964, and then from 1969 until his death in 1987 aged 64. Michael Aspel then took up the role of host until the show ended in 2003. It returned in 2007 as a one-off special presented by Trevor McDonald, which to date was its most recent airing. In the show the host surprises a special guest, before taking them through their life with the assistance of the 'big red book'. Both celebrities and non-celebrities have been 'victims' of the show. The show was originally broadcast live, and over its run it has alternated between being broadcast on the BBC and on ITV.
- 14
Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond
Dominic Cooper, Lara Pulver, Rupert EvansA no-holds-barred view reveals the life of author Ian Fleming, the man behind the James Bond legend. - 15
The Caesars
Freddie Jones, André Morell, Caroline BlakistonThe Caesars is a British television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV network in 1968. Made in black-and-white and written and produced by Philip Mackie, it covered similar dramatic territory to the later BBC adaptation of I, Claudius, dealing with the lives of the early emperors of Ancient Rome, but differed in its less sensationalist depictions of historical characters and their motives. Actor Kevin Stoney played the astrologer Thrasyllus of Mendes in both productions whilst other actors Donald Eccles appeared as Nerva and John Paul as Cassius Chaerea in The Caesars and respectively Gaius Asinius Pollio and Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa in I, Claudius. - 16
Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill
Lee Remick, Barbara Parkins, Ronald PickupThe story of Jennie Jerome. - 17Hayley Mills, David Robb, Holly AirdThe Flame Trees of Thika is a British television serial of seven 50-minute episodes made by Euston Films for Thames Television in 1981. It was adapted by John Hawkesworth from the 1959 book of the same title by Elspeth Huxley, and is set in and around the town of Thika in Kenya's Central Province. The story deals with the lives of British settlers in this part of East Africa in 1913, when the country was a British colony, up to the start of World War One. The series stars Hayley Mills, Holly Aird, David Robb and Ben Cross.
- 18Philip Madoc, Rachel ThomasThe Life and Times of David Lloyd George is a BBC Wales drama serial broadcast in 1981 on the BBC1 network and which starred Philip Madoc, Lisabeth Miles, Kika Markham and David Markham. It featured music by Ennio Morricone, including the theme music, which was a surprise hit in the UK charts, reaching number 2. The opening titles showed an elderly David Lloyd George walking through the Welsh countryside near Criccieth remembering his Uncle Lloyd baptising the young David George in a mountain stream. The series is in 9 hourly parts covering most of the major events of Lloyd George's life from his birth in Manchester in January 1863 until his death in 1945 in Llanystumdwy. The major events of Lloyd George's life are covered in the production including his personal life, specifically the running of two families. The duration of Lloyd George's political career, of over 54 years, despite the length of the series means that certain periods of history have been skirted over. This is particularly the case with the various Liberal Party splits from 1918 onwards. The historical consultant for the series was the historian A. J. P. Taylor.
- 19
Lucan
Stockard Channing, Ned Beatty, John RandolphLucan is a TV drama which aired on ABC from 1977 to 1978, starring Kevin Brophy, John Randolph, Stockard Channing and Don Gordon. A 20-year old man who spent the first 10 years of his life running wild in the forest after being raised by wolves, Lucan is taken to a research institute and taught the ways of human society. He is befriended by a kind research doctor whom he bonded with during his journey to civilization. Lucan's continued freedom at the research center is put in peril once his doctor friend and mentor is hurt. Unable to insure Lucan's well being at the institute, his friend encourages him to strike out on his own in search of his identity. The short-lived TV series chronicled the encounters, challenges, and intrigues Lucan faced interacting with people using his new learned social graces and old Wolfen instincts. Lucan did have special Wolfen skills that were invoked when he was made very angry. When upset to the point of violence his eyes glowed amber. He also had heightened senses of smell and hearing. In a few episodes he was able to call on his old wolf family/pack for help. - 20Tress MacNeille, Dean Jones, Kath SoucieBeethoven is an animated sitcom, loosely based on the 1992 motion picture of the same name. The series was produced by Northern Lights Entertainment, Universal Animation Studios, and Universal Television, and aired for one season on CBS, with 26 fifteen-minute episodes produced.
- 21Susan Hampshire, John Neville, John StandingThe First Churchills was a BBC serial from 1969 about the life of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough and his wife, Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough. It starred John Neville as the duke and Susan Hampshire as the duchess, was written and produced by Donald Wilson, and was directed by David Giles. The serial presents the lives of John and Sarah Churchill from their meeting in 1673 until a time shortly before the first duke's death in 1722, and illustrates, along the way, much of the context of contemporary English politics. Like many BBC serials of the era, it was made on a low budget, with sound studio sets, and generally avoided battle and crowd scenes due to inability to stage them in a convincing manner. The series is based on the Marlboroughs' famous descendant Winston Churchill's life of his ancestor the Duke, and as such presents a very favourable portrait of the Marlboroughs. The theme for the opening titles of each episode is the "Trumpet tune" from Act V of Henry Purcell's opera King Arthur.
- 22
Oppenheimer
Sam Waterston, David Suchet, Barry DennenOppenheimer is a television miniseries about J. Robert Oppenheimer, produced by the BBC. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on 29 October 1980 and in the United States on 11 May 1982. The series starred Sam Waterston as Oppenheimer. The miniseries had seven "episodes". It was nominated for seven BAFTA Television Awards and won three. It was nominated for two Emmy Awards, for Outstanding Limited Series and for Outstanding Writing in a Limited Series or a Special. It was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV. The miniseries depicted Oppenheimer's wartime role as head of the weapons laboratory of the Manhattan Project, during which he was under constant surveillance by the federal government because of his association with Communists. The teleplay culminates in an U.S. Atomic Energy Commission hearing in 1954, in which Oppenheimer is stripped of his security clearance. Kenneth Nichols wrote that, contrary to the series which: portrayed me serving as a personal aide to Groves on frequent visits to Los Alamos, the only time I ever accompanied him to Los Alamos was during my March 1943 visit. - 23Piers Morgan, Graham Norton, Sarah HardingPiers Morgan's Life Stories, also known as Life Stories, is a British television chat show on ITV, presented by journalist Piers Morgan. Recorded in front of a studio audience, each programme is devoted to one celebrity guest. Episodes are currently shot at The London Studios, although episodes were previously made at Teddington Studios and BBC Television Centre between one and two weeks before they are aired on television. From 2011 Morgan taped all of the episodes in advance before the start of a series owing to his commitment to the U.S. CNN channel.
- 24Geraldine James, Kenneth ColleyI Remember Nelson is a UK's adventure biography drama TV series.
- 25
Freud
Freud, also known as Freud: the Life of a Dream, is a BBC television serial based on the life and times of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. David Suchet stars as Freud. The 6-part production is 360 minutes in duration. - 26Buck Braithwaite, Steven Hartley, Jadran MalkovichThe life of Alexander the Great and his burning desire to conquer the world.
- #222 of 654 onThe 500+ Best Current Shows On Netflix
- #42 of 60 onThe Best New Historical Drama TV Series of the Last Few Years
- #147 of 171 onThe Best History TV Shows
- 27Jason Isaacs, Calam Lynch, Dainton AndersonFollowing the life Cary Grant, who was born into poverty in 1904 Bristol as Archibald Leach.More Archie
- #483 of 687 onThe 600+ Best TV Shows Of The Last 5 Years
- #152 of 1,056 onThe 250+ Best Streaming Shows Of The Last Few Years
- #47 of 203 onThe 150+ Most Popular Shows Right Now
- Explore the life and career of Elvis Presley and his unforgettable music.
- 29Helena Bonham Carter, Max Brown, Antonia BernathThe story of reign and fall of Noele Gordon, who was a mainstay long-running ITV soap opera star.More Nolly
- #60 of 60 onThe Best New Historical Drama TV Series of the Last Few Years
- #363 of 654 onThe 500+ Best Drama Shows
- #59 of 80 onThe Best New Period Piece TV Shows Of The Last Few Years
- 30Kenneth Branagh, Ophelia Lovibond, Andrew BuchanFollowing the the prime minister's tumultuous first months in Downing Street as he grapples with the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.More This England
- #75 of 116 onThe Best New Cable Dramas of the Last Few Years
- #183 of 656 onThe 500+ Best Drama Shows
- #148 of 171 onThe Best History TV Shows
