While the likes of Netflix and Prime Video might hold a little more international glamour, for UK TV fans there are few better places to get your fix than good old BBC iPlayer.

The well-stocked library includes everything from long-running series such as Death in Paradise and Call the Midwife, to classic shows such as Luther and Monarch of the Glen – and we're never far away from the next major addition.

One new arrival on the platform is acclaimed drama This City Is Ours, which is currently airing weekly on BBC One but is already available to view in its entirety on the streamer.

It follows a host of other 2025 dramas including the second season of comedy thriller Am I Being Unreasonable? and the Austen-adjacent period drama Miss Austen.

2024 provided plenty of other alternatives, too, with new seasons of shows such as Industry, Showtrial and Moonflower Murders (formerly Magpie Murders) all airing throughout the year, and remaining available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

The platform has plenty more box sets of classic series and iconic modern shows ready for you to binge your way through, and we've put together a list of all the best series available right now.

With this list, you can find something to suit you without all that endless scrolling, whether you're a thriller fan or are more into sci-fi or period dramas.

Read on for our top BBC drama picks.

Showing 1 to 24 of 71 results

  • This City Is Ours

    Liverpool-set crime drama, about a gang member who is tempted to seek a new life when he falls in love just as his criminal mentor contemplates retirement
    BBC iPlayer

  • Am I Being Unreasonable?

    Bored within her depressing marriage Nic is grieving a loss that she cannot share with anyone. Only her son, who she adores, keeps her going. However, when Jen arrives in town her life is lit up with laughter and through this kindred soul her dark secret starts to bubble up. Comedy thriller, written by and starring Daisy May Cooper and Selin Hizli
    BBC iPlayer

  • Miss Austen

    Historical drama based on Gill Hornby's novel, starring Keeley Hawes as Jane Austen's sister, who attempts to conceal the author's secrets years after her death. Also starring Alfred Enoch
    BBC iPlayer

  • Lost Boys and Fairies

    Drama looking at the adoption process from a queer perspective, as Gabriel (Sion Daniel Young) and Andy (Fra Fee) embark on a moving journey of self-discovery involving painful childhood trauma.
    BBC iPlayer

  • Call the Midwife

    Drama series based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, offering an insight into the world of midwifery and family life in 1950s east London. Jenny Agutter is among the regular cast members.
    BBC iPlayer
    +2 more

  • SAS Rogue Heroes

    The story of how David Stirling, an officer injured in the Second World War, planned to radicalise traditional commando units and founded the SAS.
    BBC iPlayer
    +1 more

  • Beyond Paradise

    Death in Paradise spin-off. Humphrey Goodman and fiancée Martha Lloyd swap Saint Marie for Devon, where she runs a restaurant, and he works for the local police.
    BBC iPlayer
    +2 more

  • Amityville: An Origin Story

    Docudrama examining the true story of George and Kathy Lutz, whose move into a dream home in 1975 turned into a nightmare. Those closest to the terror share their stories
    BBC iPlayer

  • Wolf Hall

    Historical drama about Henry VIII's adviser Thomas Cromwell. Adapted from Hilary Mantel's Booker prize-winning novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, it stars Mark Rylance and Claire Foy.
    BBC iPlayer

  • Showtrial

    Tracy Ifeachor and Sinead Keenan star in a crime drama following the arrest of a student from one of Britain's wealthiest families concerning the disappearance of a classmate.
    BBC iPlayer

  • Mr Loverman

    Drama based on Bernardine Evaristo's novel, starring Lennie James as a closeted gay Antiguan man in his seventies trying to pluck up the courage to ask his wife for a divorce
    BBC iPlayer

  • Industry

    Drama following five graduates who join the world's most preeminent financial institution in the aftermath of the 2008 collapse. Starring Harry Lawtey
    BBC iPlayer

  • Ludwig

    When his identical twin goes missing, puzzle setter John 'Ludwig' Taylor assumes his identity as a detective in the Cambridge police. Comedy drama, starring David Mitchell
    BBC iPlayer

  • Kin

    Drama about a fictional Dublin crime family embroiled in gangland war, starring Charlie Cox, Aidan Gillen, Clare Dunne and Emmett J Scanlan.
    BBC iPlayer
    +3 more

  • Small Axe

    Small Axe is based on the real-life experiences of London's West Indian community between 1969 and 1982.
    BBC iPlayer
    +1 more

  • I May Destroy You

    Drama exploring the question of sexual consent in contemporary life, written by and starring Michaela Coel.
    BBC iPlayer

  • The Woman in the Wall

    Mystery, starring Ruth Wilson as a sleepwalking woman who wakes to find a corpse in her house. The unravelling mystery threatens to expose Ireland's darkest secrets
    BBC iPlayer

  • The Gone

    An Irish couple vanish from a small New Zealand town and Irish detective Theo Richter teams up with Kiwi officer Diana Huia to find them. Thriller, starring Richard Flood and Acushla-Tara Kupe
    BBC iPlayer

  • This Town

    Drama by Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight. It follows young people drawn into the ska and two-tone scene in the Midlands during a period of social unrest in the early 1980s.
    BBC iPlayer
    +1 more

  • Baptiste

    The mercurial detective, Julien Baptiste, on holiday in Amsterdam with his wife, assists in an investigation for his former girlfriend, the Amsterdam Chief of Police.
    BBC iPlayer

  • Dopesick

    Drama about America's struggle with opioid addiction, starring Michael Keaton and Will Poulter. Richard Sackler launches a powerful new painkiller, a DEA agent learns of black market pills and federal prosecutors open a case into OxyContin. With Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Rosario Dawson and John Hoogennakker
    BBC iPlayer
    +1 more

  • The Way

    Drama set in the aftermath of a violent uprising in Port Talbot, and following a family forced to flee the ensuing violence. Directed by and starring Michael Sheen, with Steffan Rhodri, Mali Harries and Maja Laskowska
    BBC iPlayer

Authors

Radio Times Staff
Ad
Ad
Ad
Ad