The 45+ Best TV Shows About Viruses & Diseases, Ranked

Ranker TV
Updated April 12, 2024 30.7K views 48 items
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1.5K votes
476 voters
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Voting Rules
Vote up the best documentary series and scripted shows with the central theme around outbreaks and pandemics.
Latest additions: Kaala Paani, Happiness, Angels in America
Most divisive: Medical Investigation
Over 400 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of The 45+ Best TV Shows About Viruses & Diseases, Ranked

The best shows about disease outbreaks can be both escapist fantasy or become painfully relevant. Some people prefer to watch dramas or documentaries related to viruses so that they can learn more about the pathology of such organisms and how an epidemic spreads. Some pandemic TV shows are more topical than others and are based on real events, such as the National Geographic miniseries The Hot Zone. Other television series about medical pandemics are less sober - and offer escapism rather than facts. We probably don't have to worry about the world transforming into The Walking Dead just yet. From the fantastical to the scarily plausible, it's time to rank the best outbreak shows around. 

When you're tasked with social distancing and need to binge-watch, what pandemic series plague your watchlist? Perhaps you turn to the 2016 drama Containment about an epidemic breaking out in Atlanta, forcing the entire city to be quarantined. There's also The Last Ship about a crew onboard a naval destroyer who need to confront their new reality when a pandemic kills off much of the planet's population. 

A lot of good shows about disease outbreaks have been made over the years. Which television series do you find yourself turning to in times of isolation? Don't forget to vote for your favorites, and make sure to wash your hands afterward.