11 min read
If you’ve been searching for shows like Bridgerton, you already know the problem. You want the costumes, the tension, the stolen glances across a candlelit ballroom. But most recommendations send you to the same five titles. This list goes deeper. Every series here earned its place because it does something Bridgerton does well (romance, spectacle, period setting) while bringing its own voice to the table.
Some of these lean heavier into politics, some into raw emotion, some into sheer visual beauty. Not all of them are Regency era, and that’s intentional. What connects them is the feeling: that slow-burn pull between characters navigating worlds that weren’t built for their kind of love.
If you’re also building a broader watchlist, my romance series guide covers modern titles. This list is specifically for the period side of things.
Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story (2023)
The most obvious starting point, and for good reason. Shonda Rhimes took a secondary character from the original series and gave her a full origin story. India Amarteifio plays young Charlotte with a stubborn fire that makes you forget you already know how her story ends. The courtship between Charlotte and George is tender and complicated in ways the main Bridgerton series rarely slows down enough to explore. Corey Mylchreest brings a fragility to George that cuts through the pageantry.
Where Bridgerton is playful, Queen Charlotte is quieter. The pacing is more deliberate. If you found yourself wishing Bridgerton spent more time sitting with its characters instead of racing through plot, this prequel is exactly that version.
Outlander (2014–2026)
Eight seasons. A World War II nurse falls through standing stones in Scotland and lands in 1743. It sounds like a gimmick, but Outlander plays it completely straight, and the commitment pays off. Claire and Jamie Fraser’s relationship is the backbone, and it holds up across decades of story. Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan have a chemistry that never fades, which is saying something for a show that ran this long.
The first two seasons are where the period romance hits hardest. After that, the show expands into war, politics, and colonial America. It gets uneven. But those early Highland episodes, the tension between Claire’s modern sensibility and the brutal beauty of 18th-century Scotland, that’s peak television for this genre.
Fair warning: Outlander doesn’t shy away from violence. It earns its mature rating.
The Great (2020–2023)
This is the wildcard on the list. Elle Fanning as Catherine the Great, navigating a Russian court that’s equal parts absurd and dangerous. Tony McNamara’s writing is sharp, funny, and surprisingly romantic underneath all the satire. The relationship between Catherine and Peter (Nicholas Hoult, perfectly cast) starts as a power struggle and evolves into something neither of them expected.
The Great doesn’t look like Bridgerton. It’s messier, darker, and deliberately anachronistic. But if what you love about Bridgerton is watching a woman claim power in a world designed to keep her small, Catherine’s arc delivers that with more teeth.
Poldark (2015–2019)
Cornwall. Cliffs. A brooding man returning from war to find his world collapsed. Poldark is a period romance that doesn’t pretend the romance exists in a vacuum. Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) comes home to debt, class resentment, and a love triangle that actually has consequences. His relationship with Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson) is the heart of the show, and it’s written with enough friction to stay interesting across five seasons.
The scenery alone is worth your time. But what keeps Poldark grounded is how seriously it takes class. Ross isn’t just a handsome lead; he’s a man constantly caught between privilege and principle, and that tension shapes every relationship he has.
More Shows Like Bridgerton: The Deeper Picks
Belgravia (2020)
Julian Fellowes wrote Downton Abbey, and Belgravia carries that same DNA. Set against the backdrop of the Battle of Waterloo and 1840s London, it follows a secret that connects two families across decades. The pacing is slower than Bridgerton, more restrained. Fellowes trusts his audience to pay attention to dialogue rather than spectacle.
If you’ve already gone through drama series with that prestige British polish, Belgravia fits right in. It’s a six-episode limited series, tight and well-constructed. The romance here is woven into the mystery rather than sitting at the center, which makes it a good palate cleanser between more overtly romantic picks.
The Gilded Age (2022–)
Fellowes again, this time in 1880s New York. Old money versus new money. The costumes are extraordinary, the social warfare is vicious, and Christine Baranski is having the time of her life as the old guard’s fiercest defender. The romantic subplots run alongside the central class conflict, and they’re given room to breathe.
This is a slower burn than Bridgerton. HBO’s production values are immaculate, and the show rewards patience. If you enjoy the social maneuvering of Bridgerton’s ton but want it set against the backdrop of American industrial ambition, The Gilded Age is the one.
My Lady Jane (2024)
Amazon cancelled this after one season, and the internet hasn’t forgiven them. My Lady Jane takes the story of Lady Jane Grey (who historically was queen for nine days before being executed) and rewrites it into a romantic adventure with fantasy elements and a sharp sense of humor. Emily Bader is magnetic in the lead.
It’s playful in the way early Bridgerton is playful, but it goes further. The alternate history framing gives the writers freedom to be ridiculous, and they use it well. If you like your period romance with a wink and a sword fight, this is the one to queue up. Just know going in that the story doesn’t get a resolution.
Gentleman Jack (2019–2022)
Based on the real diaries of Anne Lister, a 19th-century landowner in Yorkshire who lived openly (for her time) as a queer woman. Suranne Jones plays Lister with a confidence that borders on swagger. The show doesn’t treat her sexuality as tragedy or spectacle. It’s simply part of who she is, and the romances unfold with the same weight and complexity you’d expect from any period love story.
Sally Wainwright’s writing is precise. Halifax in the 1830s is rendered with a texture that feels lived-in rather than staged. For anyone looking for period romance that expands who gets to be at the center of these stories, Gentleman Jack is essential. Fans of romance movies that push boundaries will find a kindred spirit here.
Versailles (2015–2018)
The French court of Louis XIV, and the show doesn’t hold back. The politics are ruthless, the visuals are gorgeous, and the romantic entanglements are as strategic as they are passionate. George Blagden plays Louis as a man who uses charm the way others use weapons.
Versailles is darker than most entries on this list. The power dynamics in every relationship are explicit, and the show treats the court as a place where love and survival are often the same thing. It ran three seasons on Canal+, and it holds up as a complete arc. If you enjoy drama movies with political weight, this series stretches that same tension across hours.
Harlots (2017–2019)
18th-century London, seen through the eyes of women running competing brothels. Samantha Morton and Lesley Manville are extraordinary as rivals, and the show uses its setting to tell a story about economics, survival, and the narrow choices available to women outside polite society.
The romance in Harlots isn’t gentle. It’s tangled up with transaction, power, and sometimes real closeness emerging from impossible circumstances. Three seasons, all of them sharp. This is the grittier side of the same world Bridgerton glamorizes, and it’s better for the honesty.
Reign (2013–2017)
Mary Queen of Scots arrives at French court as a teenager, and the show follows her through marriage, politics, and betrayal. Adelaide Kane carries the series with a warmth that keeps you invested even when the plotting gets soapy (and it does). The CW roots show: the soundtrack is modern, the dialogue is casual, the drama runs hot.
Reign isn’t prestige television. It’s not trying to be. But it’s fun, and the central romance between Mary and Francis has moments of real emotional weight. If you burned through Bridgerton quickly and want something bingeable with similar energy, Reign has four seasons waiting.
Becoming Elizabeth (2022)
Young Elizabeth Tudor before she was queen. This is a political thriller wrapped in period clothing, with romance threaded through the danger. Alicia von Rittberg plays Elizabeth as cautious and watchful, a teenager learning that every relationship around her is a potential trap.
One season on Starz, and unfortunately it wasn’t renewed. But the eight episodes stand on their own as a portrait of a young woman figuring out who to trust in a court where trust gets people killed. The Thomas Seymour subplot is handled with uncomfortable precision.
The Period Romance Conversation Doesn’t End Here
There’s a version of this list that could run to thirty titles. The appetite for stories set in corsets and candlelight isn’t slowing down, and studios know it. What makes the best of these shows work isn’t the setting. It’s the willingness to let complicated people want things they can’t easily have, in worlds that make wanting dangerous.
If none of these quite scratch the itch, the genre keeps growing. New titles land every season, and the ones that last tend to be the ones that care about their characters as much as their costumes.
All promotional images used in this article belong to their respective production companies and distributors. They are used here solely for editorial commentary and review purposes.
