Drama TV shows are specific mode of fiction, often considered as a genre of poetry in general. Drama is one of the literary genres, a composition in verse or prose presenting a story in pantomime or dialogue, which is an imitation of some action. Quite a number of shows have depicted the dramatic mode, blending in with other fiction genres. These shows have a continuous plot that unfolds in sequential episode-by-episode fashion, possessing narrative complexity.
Here are the top 10 best drama TV shows to watch right now.
1. Money Heist
A criminal mastermind who goes by “The Professor” has a plan to pull off the biggest heist in recorded history – to print billions of euros in the Royal Mint of Spain. To help him carry out the ambitious plan, he recruits eight people with certain abilities and who have nothing to lose. The group of thieves take hostages to aid in their negotiations with the authorities, who strategize to come up with a way to capture The Professor. As more time elapses, the robbers prepare for a showdown with the police.
2. Alias Grace
Based on the 1996 Margaret Atwood novel of the same name, “Alias Grace” tells the story of young Grace Marks, a poor Irish immigrant and domestic servant in Upper Canada who is accused and convicted of the 1843 murder of her employer and his housekeeper. Stablehand James McDermott is also convicted of the crime. McDermott is hanged, but Grace is sentenced to life in prison, leading her to become one of the most notorious women of the period in Canada. The story is based on actual 19th-century events.
3. Peaky Blinders
Britain is a mixture of despair and hedonism in 1919 in the aftermath of the Great War. Returning soldiers, newly minted revolutions and criminal gangs are fighting for survival in a nation rocked by economic upheaval. One of the most powerful gangs of the time is the Peaky Blinders, run by returning war hero Thomas Shelby and his family. But Thomas has bigger ambitions than just running the streets. When a crate of guns goes missing, he recognizes an opportunity to advance in the world because crime may pay but legitimate business pays better. Trying to rid Britain of its crime is Inspector Chester Campbell, who arrives from Belfast to try to achieve that goal.
4. Mindhunter
Catching a criminal often requires the authorities to get inside the villain’s mind to figure out how he thinks. That’s the job of FBI agents Holden Ford and Bill Tench. They attempt to understand and catch serial killers by studying their damaged psyches. Along the way, the agents pioneer the development of modern serial-killer profiling.
5. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
After the bodies of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman are discovered, police finger O.J. as a suspect and prosecutor Marcia Clark takes the case. While his lawyers play to the media, a suicidal O.J. leads police on a slow-speed car chase before turning himself in to face charges of homicide. This dramatization, based on true events, traces the twists and turns of O.J. Simpson’s murder trial, examining behind-the-scenes gambits on both sides of the court.
The pursuit, arrest, and trial were among the most widely publicized events in American history. The trial, often characterized as the ‘Trial of the Century’ because of its international publicity, culminated after eleven months on October 3, 1995, when the jury rendered a verdict. An estimated 100 million people nationwide tuned in to watch or listen to the verdict announcement.
6. Mad Men
Mad Men is set primarily in the 1960s – initially at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York City – later at the newly created firm of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (later named Sterling Cooper & Partners), located near the Time-Life Building at 1271 Sixth Avenue. It focuses on the day-to-day business of the advertising agencies, as well as the personal lives of the characters, thereby depicting the changing moods and social mores of the United States throughout the 1960s.
7. Better Call Saul
He wasn’t always Saul Goodman, ace attorney for chemist-turned-meth dealer Walter White. Six years before he begins to represent Albuquerque’s most notorious criminal, Goodman is Jimmy McGill, a small-time attorney hustling to make a name for himself. He’s a forceful champion for his low-income clients, an underdog whose morals and ambitions often clash. Jimmy works with private eye Mike Ehrmantraut, a former Philadelphia cop and recent transplant to the Southwest. Mike has a specialized skill set – he’s a “fixer” of sticky situations – that Jimmy soon learns to appreciate.
8. The Crown
This show chronicles the life of Queen Elizabeth II from the 1940s to modern times. The series begins with an inside look at the early reign of the queen, who ascended the throne at age 25 after the death of her father, King George VI. As the decades pass, personal intrigues, romances, and political rivalries are revealed that played a big role in events that shaped the later years of the 20th century.
9. Person of Interest
Former CIA agent Reese – now presumed dead – and billionaire software genius Finch join forces as a vigilante crime-fighting team. Using Finch’s program, which employs pattern recognition to determine individuals who will soon be involved in violent crimes, they combine Reese’s covert-operations training and Finch’s money and cyberskills to stop crimes before they happen. Former Army Intelligence Support Activity operative Sameen Shaw joins the pair in their quest.
10. Narcos
This series chronicles the rise of the cocaine trade in Colombia and the gripping real-life stories of drug kingpins of the late ’80s in this raw, gritty original series. Also detailed are the actions taken by law enforcement as they battle in the war on drugs, targeting notorious and powerful figures that include drug lord Pablo Escobar. As efforts are made to control cocaine, one of the world’s most valuable commodities, the many entities involved – legal, political, police, military and civilian – find themselves in conflict.