“Roots,” the story of an African American man tracing his family history to the slave era, was a groundbreaking television miniseries when it debuted in 1977. Since then, the miniseries has become a popular concept among audiences. It gained a boost in the 2000s when it was resurrected on cable and is now a staple among streaming services. (If you prefer the long form, here are the best movie classics you’ve never seen available to stream right now.)
To determine the best TV miniseries of all time, 24/7 Tempo reviewed data on audience reception of all multi-part presentations tagged as “miniseries” on IMDb. The miniseries were ranked based on IMDb user rating as of March 2023. In the case of a tie, the miniseries with the greater number of user votes was ranked higher. Only miniseries with at least 5,000 user votes were considered. Cast information is also from IMDb.
While many miniseries tell fictional stories, whether intimate or sweeping, a number of documentary miniseries also scored highly on our list. The natural world and space exploration have been extremely popular themes. In particular, miniseries hosted by the esteemed British biologist, natural historian, and author David Attenborough appear nine times on our list.
Space-themed miniseries include “Cosmos,” hosted by astronomer Carl Sagan, and two offerings hosted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Click here to see the 50 best TV miniseries of all time
History or period pieces have proved to be viewer favorites as well. In particular, miniseries with World War II themes have garnered large audiences. These include “Band of Brothers,” “Das Boot,” and “The War.” No miniseries list would be complete without including Ken Burns’ “Civil War” and “The Vietnam War.” (These are the 50 best documentaries of all time.)
Also on our list is the 2019 miniseries “When They See Us.” Directed by Ava DuVernay, the series is about five Harlem boys whose lives are thrown into turmoil when they are falsely accused of a brutal attack on a jogger in Central Park.
50. John Adams (2008)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10
> IMDb user votes: 34,236
> Starring: Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, John Dossett, Stephen Dillane
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49. Erased (2016)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10
> IMDb user votes: 50,354
> Starring: Tao Tsuchiya, Ben Diskin, Michelle Ruff, Minami Takayama
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48. Generation Kill (2008)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10
> IMDb user votes: 55,327
> Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, Lee Tergesen, Jon Huertas
47. Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (2011)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10
> IMDb user votes: 139,975
> Starring: John Hannah, Manu Bennett, Peter Mensah, Dustin Clare
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46. The Night Of (2016)
> IMDb user rating: 8.5/10
> IMDb user votes: 156,838
> Starring: Riz Ahmed, John Turturro, Bill Camp, Amara Karan
45. Stephen Hawking’s Universe (2010)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 5,445
> Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Stephen Hawking, Melissa Ricci, Simon Haines
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44. Brideshead Revisited (1981)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 7,590
> Starring: Jeremy Irons, Diana Quick, Roger Milner, Phoebe Nicholls
43. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (1994)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 8,097
> Starring: Jeremy Brett, Rosalie Williams, Edward Hardwicke, Charles Gray
42. The Untold History of the United States (2012-2013)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 9,304
> Starring: Oliver Stone, Alan Shearman, Jim Ward, André Sogliuzzo
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41. From the Earth to the Moon (1998)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 12,524
> Starring: Tom Hanks, Nick Searcy, Lane Smith, David Andrews
40. Long Way Round (2004-2010)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 14,511
> Starring: Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman, David Alexanian, Russ Malkin
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39. North & South (2004)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 33,321
> Starring: Daniela Denby-Ashe, Richard Armitage, Tim Pigott-Smith, Sinéad Cusack
38. The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (2015)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 47,793
> Starring: Andrew Jarecki, Robert Durst, Gary Napoli, Jeanine Pirro
37. Dopesick (2021)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 61,948
> Starring: Michael Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Stuhlbarg, Will Poulter
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36. The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 253,983
> Starring: Michiel Huisman, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Elizabeth Reaser
35. The Queen’s Gambit (2020)
> IMDb user rating: 8.6/10
> IMDb user votes: 476,286
> Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chloe Pirrie, Bill Camp, Marcin Dorocinski
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34. One Strange Rock (2018)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10
> IMDb user votes: 8,030
> Starring: Will Smith, Chris Hadfield, Jerry Linenger, Mae C. Jemison
33. Greatest Events of WWII in Colour (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10
> IMDb user votes: 9,398
> Starring: Derek Jacobi, Geoffrey Wawro, James Holland, Saul David
32. Lonesome Dove (1989)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10
> IMDb user votes: 23,907
> Starring: Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane
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31. The Offer (2022)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10
> IMDb user votes: 30,263
> Starring: Miles Teller, Matthew Goode, Dan Fogler, Burn Gorman
30. It’s a Sin (2021)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10
> IMDb user votes: 33,220
> Starring: Olly Alexander, Nathaniel Curtis, Shaun Dooley, Omari Douglas
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29. 1883 (2021-2022)
> IMDb user rating: 8.7/10
> IMDb user votes: 87,906
> Starring: Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May
28. The Century of the Self (2002)
> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10
> IMDb user votes: 6,068
> Starring: Adam Curtis, Robert Reich, Ann Bernays, Alfred Pritz
27. I, Claudius (1976)
> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10
> IMDb user votes: 18,058
> Starring: Derek Jacobi, John Hurt, Siân Phillips, Brian Blessed
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26. Over the Garden Wall (2014)
> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10
> IMDb user votes: 59,931
> Starring: Elijah Wood, Collin Dean, Melanie Lynskey, Christopher Lloyd
25. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
> IMDb user rating: 8.8/10
> IMDb user votes: 86,983
> Starring: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Susannah Harker, Julia Sawalha
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24. Das Boot (1985)
> IMDb user rating: 8.9/10
> IMDb user votes: 31,203
> Starring: Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer, Klaus Wennemann, Hubertus Bengsch
23. When They See Us (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 8.9/10
> IMDb user votes: 125,697
> Starring: Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse, Marquis Rodriguez
22. The War (2007)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10
> IMDb user votes: 5,411
> Starring: Keith David, Katharine Phillips, Tom Hanks, Paul Fussell
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21. Apocalypse: The Second World War (2009)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10
> IMDb user votes: 13,037
> Starring: Mathieu Kassovitz, Martin Sheen, Rudolf Hess
20. Africa (2013)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10
> IMDb user votes: 16,358
> Starring: David Attenborough, Simon Blakeney, Mark MacEwen, Hugh Pearson
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19. The Beatles: Get Back (2021)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10
> IMDb user votes: 24,230
> Starring: Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
18. Human Planet (2011)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10
> IMDb user votes: 26,806
> Starring: John Hurt, Roger Munns
17. Frozen Planet (2011-2012)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10
> IMDb user votes: 31,315
> Starring: David Attenborough, Alec Baldwin, Chadden Hunter, Michael Kelem
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16. The Blue Planet (2001)
> IMDb user rating: 9.0/10
> IMDb user votes: 40,545
> Starring: David Attenborough, Pierce Brosnan, Peter Scoones
15. Cosmos: Possible Worlds (2020)
> IMDb user rating: 9.1/10
> IMDb user votes: 6,919
> Starring: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Seth MacFarlane, Sasha Sagan, Trang Vo
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14. The Civil War (1990)
> IMDb user rating: 9.1/10
> IMDb user votes: 17,068
> Starring: David McCullough, Julie Harris, Betsy Apple, Carol Craven
13. The Vietnam War (2017)
> IMDb user rating: 9.1/10
> IMDb user votes: 25,684
> Starring: Peter Coyote, Huy Duc, James Willbanks, Duong Van Mai Elliott
12. Life (2009)
> IMDb user rating: 9.1/10
> IMDb user votes: 41,456
> Starring: Oprah Winfrey, David Attenborough, Doug Allan, Roger Munns
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11. The Last Dance (2020)
> IMDb user rating: 9.1/10
> IMDb user votes: 130,254
> Starring: Michael Jordan, Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen, David Aldridge
10. The Beatles Anthology (1995-1996)
> IMDb user rating: 9.2/10
> IMDb user votes: 9,213
> Starring: Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, George Martin
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9. Seven Worlds One Planet (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 9.3/10
> IMDb user votes: 5,637
> Starring: David Attenborough, Peter Drost, Goetz Bielefeldt, Chadden Hunter
8. Cosmos (1980)
> IMDb user rating: 9.3/10
> IMDb user votes: 41,860
> Starring: Carl Sagan, Jaromír Hanzlík, Jonathan Fahn, Bob Hevelone
7. Blue Planet II (2017)
> IMDb user rating: 9.3/10
> IMDb user votes: 42,563
> Starring: David Attenborough, Peter Drost, Roger Munns, Roger Horrocks
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6. Our Planet (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 9.3/10
> IMDb user votes: 45,258
> Starring: David Attenborough
5. Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (2014)
> IMDb user rating: 9.3/10
> IMDb user votes: 123,623
> Starring: Neil deGrasse Tyson, Christopher Emerson, Keythe Farley, Piotr Michael
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4. Planet Earth (2006)
> IMDb user rating: 9.4/10
> IMDb user votes: 212,368
> Starring: Sigourney Weaver, David Attenborough, Nikolay Drozdov, Thomas Anguti Johnston
3. Band of Brothers (2001)
> IMDb user rating: 9.4/10
> IMDb user votes: 478,575
> Starring: Scott Grimes, Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Shane Taylor
2. Chernobyl (2019)
> IMDb user rating: 9.4/10
> IMDb user votes: 783,377
> Starring: Jessie Buckley, Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Adam Nagaitis
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1. Planet Earth II (2016)
> IMDb user rating: 9.5/10
> IMDb user votes: 148,553
> Starring: David Attenborough, Gordon Buchanan, Chadden Hunter, Ed Charles
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