Shows Like This Is England '86
If you loved This Is England '86's Drama storytelling, these series deliver a similar experience — chosen for tone, narrative quality, and viewer satisfaction. Each includes where to stream it now.
★ Top Picks
Bad Girls
Bad Girls is a British television drama series that was broadcast on ITV from 1 June 1999 to 20 December 2006 and starred Simone Lahbib, Mandana Jones, Debra Stephenson, Linda Henry, Jack Ellis and many more throughout the eight-year run. The series was broadcast in 17 countries and was produced by Shed Productions, the company which later produced Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road. It is set in the fictional women's prison of Larkhall, and features a mixture of serious and light storylines focusing on the prisoners and staff of G Wing. From 2010, the UK broadcast rights were bought by CBS Drama, and is repeated regularly – as of September 2012, the channel is re-running the series again in a late-night time slot.
Suspicion
Four ordinary Brits are accused of kidnapping the son of a prominent U.S. media mogul. They embark on a desperate race against time to prove their innocence, but will anyone believe them—and are they telling the truth?
Girl Taken
Follow the story of twin sisters Lily and Abby, whose lives are shattered when Lily is abducted from their quiet rural English town by beloved local teacher Rick Hansen. After years of abuse in captivity, Lily escapes - only to discover that freedom brings its own challenges.
Ballers
Looking at the lives of former and current football players, the show follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football.
Wicked City
Detectives Jack and Paco investigate a murder spree on the rock ’n’ roll, cocaine-infused revelry of the Sunset Strip.
Perpetual Grace LTD
James, a disgraced firefighter turned grifter, seizes a chance, illicit opportunity to reverse his life’s worsening course as he attempts to prey upon Pastor Byron Brown, who turns out to be far more dangerous than he appears.
Skins
Irreverent comedy drama which follows the messy lives, loves, delirious highs and inevitable lows of a group of raucous teenage friends in Bristol.
The Hitchhiker
A young hitchhiker introduces characters who are about to experience a frightening and sometimes supernatural incident of some kind in this moody anthology series.
More Shows Like This Is England '86
Peaky Blinders
A gangster family epic set in 1919 Birmingham, England and centered on a gang who sew razor blades in the peaks of their caps, and their fierce boss Tommy Shelby, who means to move up in the world.
The Newsreader
An unconventional relationship in a world on the cusp of change; a star newsreader and an ambitious bisexual reporter join forces in a ruthless 1986 newsroom, as events unfold that will change their lives.
Angelyne
A mysterious blonde bombshell takes over Los Angeles billboards in the mid-80s, ushering in the era of famous-for-being-famous influencer culture.
Boy Swallows Universe
A young boy growing up in the suburbs of 1980s Brisbane faces the harsh realities of life — and the looming dangers that threaten his family.
The Gold
On 26 November 1983, six armed men break into the Brink's-Mat security depot, stumbling across gold bullion worth £26m.
London Spy
A chance romance between two men from very different worlds, one from the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess, leads into mystery after one of them suddenly disappears.
Physical
Sheila Rubin is a quietly tormented housewife in ’80s San Diego. Behind closed doors, she battles extreme personal demons and a vicious inner voice. But things change when she discovers aerobics, sparking a journey toward empowerment and success.
Griselda
Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization shows Griselda Blanco's journey from Medellín to becoming "the Godmother" of Miami's drug empire.
The Carrie Diaries
Before she was a fashion icon, before her column in the New York Star, before Mr. Big, Carrie Bradshaw was an innocent 16-year-old girl living in suburban Connecticut.
Good Behavior
Letty Dobesh is a thief and con artist fresh out of prison whose life is always one wrong turn and bad decision from implosions — just how she likes it. But when she overhears a hitman being hired to kill a man’s wife, she sets out to derail the job, launching her on a collision course with the killer, entangling them in a dangerous and seductive relationship.
COBRA
As widespread power outages cause chaos and threaten lives across the country, the COBRA (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) committee comprised of the UK’s leading experts and politicians, gathers to find a way to turn the lights back on.
Mayans M.C.
Set in the aftermath of Jax Teller’s death, Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes is fresh out of prison and a prospect in the Mayans M.C. charter on the Cali/Mexi border. Now, EZ must carve out his new identity in a town where he was once the golden boy with the American Dream in his grasp.
Why These Shows Are Similar
These recommendations share core qualities with This Is England '86 (2010): Drama themes, similar pacing, and comparable production quality. NoBadPicks uses TMDB collaborative filtering, genre matching, and AI analysis to surface series most likely to resonate with fans of This Is England '86.
See full details for This Is England '86 (2010)