# The best BBC drama series

From Peaky Blinders, Sherlock and Line of Duty to Happy Valley, Fleabag and Normal People: whatNerd's ranking of the best BBC dramas.

- 550 votes · 15 items
- May 8, 2024 · Jack Doyle
- https://even.best/en/l/4588/the-best-bbc-drama-series

## Top 15

1. **Peaky Blinders (2013)** (55 · ▲60 ▼5) — Steven Knight. The Shelby family's rise in post-war Birmingham.
2. **Sherlock (2010)** (43 · ▲47 ▼4) — Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss. Benedict Cumberbatch as a modern-day Sherlock Holmes.
3. **The North Water (2021)** (37 · ▲40 ▼3) — A disgraced surgeon on an 1850s Arctic whaling ship, with Colin Farrell.
4. **Happy Valley (2014)** (34 · ▲39 ▼5) — Sally Wainwright. Sarah Lancashire as a Yorkshire police sergeant.
5. **Fleabag (2016)** (31 · ▲35 ▼4) — Phoebe Waller-Bridge breaking the fourth wall in London.
6. **Time (2021)** (30 · ▲33 ▼3) — Jimmy McGovern. Sean Bean as a teacher sent to prison.
7. **Normal People (2020)** (26 · ▲31 ▼5) — Marianne and Connell, from Sally Rooney's novel.
8. **Line of Duty (2012)** (24 · ▲33 ▼9) — Jed Mercurio. An anti-corruption unit investigating police officers.
9. **The Responder (2022)** (23 · ▲26 ▼3) — Martin Freeman as a burnt-out Liverpool police officer on night shifts.
10. **Great Expectations (2023)** (19 · ▲27 ▼8) — Steven Knight's take on Dickens.
11. **The Missing (2014)** (19 · ▲24 ▼5) — A father searches for his son who vanished in France.
12. **Killing Eve (2018)** (19 · ▲24 ▼5) — An MI5 officer and an assassin obsessed with each other.
13. **Taboo (2017)** (19 · ▲21 ▼2) — Tom Hardy returns to 1814 London to claim his father's inheritance.
14. **Luther (2010)** (18 · ▲21 ▼3) — Idris Elba as a brilliant, troubled London detective.
15. **SAS: Rogue Heroes (2022)** (13 · ▲19 ▼6) — Steven Knight. The founding of the SAS in North Africa in the Second World War.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.