Best slow-burn TV shows
Slow-burn shows take their time. Tension builds over whole seasons, characters change by degrees and the payoff lands harder because you waited for it. These are dramas we rate as slow, heavy and intricate. Every pick has a TMDB rating of 7.0 or more from at least 300 votes, and new releases wait until their ratings settle. The order follows the Boxlist quality score, and we checked the list by hand to remove obvious misfits.
- 1
The Sopranos (1999)
TV8.5
The story of New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the conflicting...
US HBO, Amazon Prime (buy), UK NowTV, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 2
Severance (2022)
TV8.4
Mark leads a team of office workers whose memories have been surgically divided between their work and personal lives.
US Apple TV+, UK Apple TV+
- 3
- 4
The Crown (2016)
TV8.3
The gripping, decades-spanning inside story of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the Prime Ministers who shaped Britain's post-war destiny.
US Netflix, UK Netflix
- 5
Mad Men (2007)
TV8.2
Mad Men is set in the 1960s, initially at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City, and later at the...
US AMC, Amazon Prime (buy), UK UKTV Play, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 6
Dark (2017)
TV8.4
A missing child causes four families to help each other for answers.
US Netflix, UK Netflix
- 7
Twin Peaks (1990)
TV8.2
The body of Laura Palmer is washed up on a beach near the small Washington state town of Twin Peaks.
US Paramount+, Amazon Prime (buy), UK NowTV, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 8
Lessons in Chemistry (2023)
TV8.2
In the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott's dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong in the domestic sphere.
US Apple TV+, UK Apple TV+
- 9
Hannibal (2013)
TV8.2
Both a gift and a curse, Graham has the extraordinary ability to think like his prey, he sees what they see, feels what they feel.
US Amazon Prime, Shudder, UK Netflix, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 10
Landman (2024)
TV8.0
Set in the proverbial boomtowns of West-Texas and a modern-day tale of fortune-seeking in the world of oil rigs, the series is an...
- 11
The Newsroom (2012)
TV8.1
A behind-the-scenes look at the people who make a nightly cable-news program.
US HBO, Amazon Prime (buy), UK NowTV, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 12
Black Bird (2022)
TV8.1
As Jimmy Keene begins a 10-year prison sentence, he gets an incredible offer: If he can elicit a confession from suspected killer Larry Hall...
US Apple TV+, UK Apple TV+
- 13
From (2022)
TV8.3
Unravel the mystery of a nightmarish town in middle America that traps all those who enter.
US MGM+, Amazon Prime (buy), UK NowTV, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 14
Boardwalk Empire (2010)
TV7.9
Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition is a place where the rules don't apply.
US HBO, Amazon Prime (buy), UK NowTV, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 15
The Expanse (2015)
TV7.9
A thriller set two hundred years in the future following the case of a missing young woman who brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship's...
US Amazon Prime, Syfy, UK Amazon Prime, Google Play (buy)
- 16
Halt and Catch Fire (2014)
TV8.0
Set in the early 1980s, and about a fictional visionary, an engineer and a prodigy whose innovations confronts the corporate behemoths of the time.
US Amazon Prime, AMC, UK Channel 4, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 17
Luther (2010)
TV7.9
A dark psychological crime drama starring Idris Elba as Luther, a man struggling with his own terrible demons, who might be as dangerous as the...
US BritBox, Tubi TV, UK BBC, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 18
Broadchurch (2013)
TV7.9
The murder of a young boy in a small coastal town brings a media frenzy, which threatens to tear the community apart.
US Amazon Prime, PBS, UK ITV, Amazon Prime (buy)
- 19
The Killing (2011)
TV7.9
The Killing is an American crime drama television series based upon the Danish television series Forbrydelsen.
US Acorn TV, Hulu, UK Channel 4, Disney
- 20
Bates Motel (2013)
TV8.1
A "contemporary prequel" to the 1960 film Psycho, depicting the life of Norman Bates and his mother Norma prior to the events portrayed in...
US Amazon Prime, Google Play (buy), UK BBC, Channel 4
Ratings are TMDB audience scores out of 10. Where to watch shows up to two services each for the UK and US.
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