The 25 grittiest historical TV series

Spartacus: Blood and Sand aired on Starz and had the aesthetic of 300 and the story of Gladiator. Through three seasons and a prequel, it focuses on a group of gladiators who set out to find freedom from the bloodthirsty Roman Republic. Filled with blood, violence, and a lot of sex, it’s an immersive experience in the perilous world of antiquity. Though it does take some notable liberties with the known facts of history, it is notable for the extent to which it captures the experience of living in a world where life was precarious for both noble and commoners alike. 

The Viking Age was one of the most important in the history of Europe, and it is also the setting for Vikings, one of the most successful scripted series from History. Though it begins by focusing primarily on Ragnar Lodbrok, it soon broadens its scope to show the adventures of many of his sons and their experiences. There is a lived-in feeling to the world that Vikings creates, primarily because it eschews any sort of romantic idealization of the period and instead shows it in all of its brutal glory and grimy squalor. 

Like its parent series, Vikings, Vikings: Valhalla takes a very de-romanticized view of the Viking Age. From its first episode, it immerses you in the bloody, gritty world of the Vikings as they set out the conquest of England, which its rulers fiercely defend. Gruesome battle scenes are a key part of the series’ appeal, but it also showcases the unusual acts of bravery committed by some of its key characters, including Leif Erikson and Harald Sigurdsson. What’s more, it includes women in its story, demonstrating the extent to which they were a key part of Viking culture and society. 

During the early 2000s, HBO excelled at creating series which took an iconoclastic approach to established Hollywood genres, and perhaps no series demonstrates this approach as well as Deadwood. It peels away the glamorization of the American West so commonly seen as the Western to expose the seedy, profanity-laden truth beneath the myth. Though it includes some of the most recognizable names from American lore, including Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, it shows them as real people — with all of their foibles, flaws, and complexities. As a result, it provides a necessary antidote to the frequent mythologizing of the founding myths of the United States. 

The Last Kingdom, based on a bestselling series of novels by historical fiction writer Bernard Cornwell, takes place in England during the time of the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings. Its main character is Uhtred, an Anglo-Saxon who is taken captive by the Vikings and becomes one of them. Gradually, however, his fortunes — and his desire for vengeance — force him to choose between his adopted people and those to whom he owes ties of blood. The series deftly captures the feeling and spirit of the early Middle Ages while never losing sight of the powerful and wrenching human heart at the center of its story.

The island of Great Britain is the setting for Britannia, a gritty, brutal, and at times unsettling view of the Roman conquest of the island. It toggles between the native Britons and the invading forces, and it leans into the strangeness of the past. It also doesn’t shy away from scenes of gritty brutality, including a pagan ceremony involving human sacrifice.

Britannia also brings women into the center of the story, as they prove key to the islanders’ efforts to fight back against those who would bring Britain into the sphere of the sprawling and relentlessly hungry Roman Empire. 

Though it was relatively short-lived, the HBO series Rome was nevertheless well-regarded for the extent to which it captured the gritty reality of life in the late Roman Republic. It focuses in particular on the later career of Julius Caesar, whose seizure of power and eventual assassination at the hands of various members of the Senate, brings the Republic crashing down. What sets the series apart is the extent to which it focuses not just on the wealthy and powerful but also on the lower orders, granting it a rich and textured realism not always seen in historical dramas. 

Based on Alex Haley’s bestselling novel, the miniseries Roots became a cultural juggernaut in its own right, demonstrating there was an audience hungry for stories of the Black American experience. The miniseries is both sprawling and intensely intimate, following a family as they navigate the fraught waters of American history up to and immediately after the Civil War. Unflinchingly gritty in its depiction of the horrors of slavery, it also features powerful performances from the various members of its cast, particularly LeVar Burton, for whom this series was his breakout role. 

The story entailed in Roots is one which continues to have a great deal of political and cultural salience, which helps to explain why it was remade by History in 2016. Though telling the same story as the novel and the earlier miniseries, it also has a few of its own stylistic flourishes, and it continues to emphasize the power of the human spirit. While it doesn’t shy away from the ugly and brutal realities of chattel slavery in the American South, it also finds moments of beauty amid the violence.

Black Sails, the hit series from Starz, takes a gritty and de-romanticized look at the swashbuckler, serving in particular as a prequel to the classic novel Treasure Island. It has all of the trappings one would associate with premium cable dramas, including lots of sex, nudity, and violence. While some of its characters still have about them the sort of glamor one associates with traditional swashbuckling heroes (and villains), the series is also a bracing look at the nature of greed and, like the best of contemporary television, it shows the consequences of this behavior. 

Even though it is set in Appalachia, Hatfields & McCoys has something of the Western about it. It focuses on the Hatfields and the McCoys, a pair of families who engaged in a long-running and brutal blood feud — with its sepia tone and emphasis on the violence and bloodshed inherent in the bloody conflict between these two families. It is, in its own way, an exploration of the heart of the American frontier, where family loyalty can often have tragic consequences and disagreements can span years before coming to any definitive conclusion. 

The troubled marital life of Henry VIII has long been of interest to the makers of popular culture, and it arguably reaches its peak in The Tudors. Over four seasons, the series explored Henry and his marriages and how these intersect with the broader political conflicts of the era. Its grittiness lies in its depiction of sex, and the series goes out of its way to show the extent to which carnal relations often have a very real, and sometimes very detrimental, impact on the affairs of nations, with consequences that range far beyond the shores of England. 

As its title suggests, Harlots focuses on a group of sex workers in a London brothel during the 18th century. Its primary character is Margaret Wells, who does everything she can to ensure her daughters succeed, even though the world around them is hostile and unpredictable for women. Throughout its run, the series managed to thread the needle between showing the unromantic life of women living on the verges of society while never losing sight of the fact that one of the chief pleasures of the period drama is to escape from the pressures of the present. 

The White Queen, based on the novel by Philippa Gregory, focuses primarily on Elizabeth Woodville, the wife of King Edward IV, and the other powerful women involved in England's Wars of the Roses. The series shows how ruthless the wealthy and the powerful can be when they seek out more influence and how the promise of a crown and a throne can turn even a devoted family against itself. Its characters, whether on the side of the Lancasters or the Yorks, will betray almost anyone in their climb up the ladder. It's a bracingly gritty look at the nature of royal power in the medieval period. 

The White Princess, like many of the other period dramas on Starz, is based on the novel of the same name by Philippa Gregory. In this case, it primarily follows Princess Elizabeth of York, played by Jodi Comer, as she reconciles herself to a marriage with the conquering Henry Tudor. However, their somewhat peaceful marriage is disrupted by those who would take Henry’s crown, and one of them might even be Elizabeth’s brother, one of the mysterious Princes in the Tower. The White Princess offers viewers a look at the tangled and treacherous world of Renaissance English politics. 

The Spanish Princess keeps up the tradition of Starz giving adaptations to the novels of Philippa Gregory, this time focusing on Catherine of Aragon, who comes to England to be the bride to Prince Arthur but ends up married to his younger brother, Henry VIII. The series gives viewers a rich appreciation of Renaissance England, focusing as much on the beauty of the court as it does on the blood, mud, and brutality of the battlefield. It also shows just how difficult and dangerous a royal court would be for a woman like Catherine, who could not give her husband the male heir he so desperately desires. 

As its title suggests, Showtime’s The Borgias focuses on one of the most infamous families of Renaissance Italy. The Borgias, led by family patriarch Rodrigo (played with scene-stealing grit by Jeremy Irons), schemes and murders and poisons their way to the upper echelons of papal authority. Given that it’s a Showtime series, there’s no shortage of sex, but the series also shows how dark, sinister, and dangerous Renaissance Italy could be for those who were caught amid the struggles for power in a world where ruthlessness was seen as a virtue. 

The legend of King Arthur and his court at Camelot is one that has been repeatedly told, but it received a reinvention with Camelot. Though a short-lived series on Starz, it nevertheless deserves credit for the ways it sought to achieve a more equal blend of history and mythology than most retellings of this famous story. Though grounded in the historical period of post-Roman Britain — with all the grittiness that entails — it still has most of the characters associated with the legend, including not only Arthur himself but also Merlin, Guinevere, and Morgan. 

Dangerous Liaisons serves as a prequel to the novel and film of the same name, showcasing the rise to power and influence of the cunning Camille and her lover-turned-enemy Valmont. Though many of its most notable scenes occur in the glittering finery of the French nobility, it also shows what life was like for those in the lower orders, particularly sex workers. As Camille frequently learns during the first season, it is incredibly difficult to drag oneself up from being a subaltern, which makes her presumed victory all the sweeter, both for her and the audience.

Domina tells the story of the rise to power of Livia, the wife of the first Roman emperor, Augustus. The series’ main character is a woman willing and able to do anything to protect her family and her own ambitions to bring about the return of the Roman Republic. Domina is unflinching in its depiction of the brutal nature of power in ancient Rome, as the various members of the fledgling Julio-Claudian dynasty engage in nefarious activities to get a step further ahead. Its grittiness lies in its ability to depict the nature of life in this ancient society frankly, and it often gives just as much attention to the enslaved as it does to the powerful. 

Airing on Starz, The Pillars of the Earth is an adaptation of Ken Follett’s bestselling novel of the same name, telling the story of a sprawling cast of characters as they work to build a magnificent medieval cathedral. As they do so, they also have to confront the political chaos associated with the Anarchy of 12th-century England. Boasting strong production values and a rich authenticity, it ably captures the feeling of living in one of the most tumultuous times in English history, when the lives of even those born into the peasant class could intersect with great events. 

Big-screen stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren star in 1923, a prequel series to the hit western drama Yellowstone. They appear as Jacob and Cara Dutton, who endure various hardships as they try to make a living in the American West. Unlike its parent series, which leans into the melodrama of its story, 1923 is a far grimmer, grittier series. Jacob and Clara stand like monuments to a bygone period of history, standing firm against all the forces of modernity threatening to destroy the home and the family they have built with such painstaking care.

At first glance, Wolf Hall treads the same territory as many other period dramas, particularly since it focuses on Henry VIII and his court. Unlike others, however, it largely centers on the perspective and experience of Henry’s foremost counselor, Thomas Cromwell. Subtle and ruthless, Cromwell slowly works his way into the King’s favor, and the series works hard to create a more realistic vision of the Tudor court, with many scenes taking place in candle-lit corridors. Power is the coin of the realm in Wolf Hall, and the series doesn’t pull any punches in showing just how far Cromwell will go to attain it. 

Elizabeth I remains one of the most lauded queens in the history of England, and Becoming Elizabeth focuses on her early years when she had to endure constant uncertainty during the reign of her brother, Edward VI. Deftly weaving together the personal and the political, many of its most noteworthy scenes occur in dimly lit corridors and council chambers, where various men vie for power while a young Elizabeth bides her time. Like the best period dramas, it shows how uncertain life and fortunes could be in a world where so much authority was vested in one person: the monarch.

Though it is very much a romance — focusing on a World War II nurse, Claire, who finds herself transported to 18th-century Scotland and falls in love with a handsome Highlander — Outlander is also a series that works to capture the feeling of the period. Furthermore, because so much of the story is told from Claire’s modern point of view, it makes the past's grimy and, at times, brutal nature all the more jarring. Beneath the romance plot that dominates so much of the story, there is a very real engagement with the strangeness of the past and its significant differences from the supposedly safer, more sanitary present.