20 Shows Like Peaky Blinders You Can Binge Watch Today

"Peaky Blinders" is one of BBC's greatest period productions, a show that began modestly enough but has been garnering more and more fans with each passing season. It stars Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby, a decorated veteran who returns from World War I deeply traumatized by the experience, and who then has to take on a leadership role in his family's criminal operation. Intelligent, calculating, and ambitious, Tommy builds his family's business until they have a veritable empire for themselves in northern England. Their work is a perplexing combination of illicit activities and legitimate business, all of which are so intertwined that it's difficult for anyone to tell which are against the law and which are perfectly above board. 

"Peaky Blinders" is a massive hit in the UK and has maintained a position of honor in Netflix's catalog, thanks largely to Murphy's dynamic and consistently fascinating performance in the lead role, backed by an uncommonly capable ensemble cast. The show will came to a close after its 6th season, although a movie is on the way. But don't despair! If you're looking for more shows in the style of "Peaky Blinders" — criminal dramas, costume dramas, or, ideally, a series that combines the two — there's plenty out there to watch. Here are a few suggestions.

If you like the Shelby gang in "Peaky Blinders," why not give "The Borgias" a try? The Borgias are, after all, one of the most notorious crime families in history. 

"The Borgias" revolves around the famed Italian clan of the same name, who were most prominent during the Renaissance. The Borgias' lust for power (and just plain regular lust) is virtually limitless, as the family tries to claw their way from foreign outsiders (the Borgias originally hailed from Spain) to major players in Italian politics. Their relentless ambition inspired Machiavelli's most famous work of political theory, "The Prince," and ultimately placed their family patriarch at the head of the Roman Catholic Church as Pope Alexander VI, played in the show by the charmingly malevolent Jeremy Irons. 

"The Borgias" aired on Showtime beginning in 2011, and ran for three seasons before being cancelled in 2013, in part because of the its opulent and apparently unsustainable production budget.

"Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood" may not have the name recognition of some of the other shows on this list, but its unique blend of alcohol and extreme violence will make "Peaky Blinders" fans feel right at home. A German production released in 2020, "Oktoberfest" revolves around two families fighting for dominance at the legendary beer festival in 1900 Munich. 

When Curt Prank (Misel Maticevic) moves from Nuremberg to Munich with the intention of buying enough property to build the biggest Oktoberfest in all of Germany, his plans put him in direct conflict with Ignatz Hoflinger (Frances Fulton-Smith), a poor but proud local brewer who refuses to sell the plot of land essential to making Prank's dream a reality. Prank, one might imagine, doesn't take kindly to this; let's just say that things get a little out of hand. That Prank's daughter falls in love with Hoflinger's son definitely doesn't help matters, either.

If there's one thing in the entire world that Thomas Shelby would understand, it's the psychological ramifications that come with being the head of a crime family. He and Tony Soprano are, you might say, cut from the same cloth. And since it's Tony's attempts to come to terms with these struggles that serve as the emotional heart of "The Sopranos," HBO's groundbreaking mob drama is a fitting companion piece to "Peaky Blinders." 

Tony is a stereotypical New Jersey Italian-American, complete with hypermasculinity and deep roots in the local mob. But he also has a more vulnerable side, as evinced by the panic attacks that destabilize him early on in the series. "The Sopranos" is not just one of HBO's better shows. It represents a watershed moment in television history, proving that a premium cable channel could win over audiences with emotionally complex storytelling that dug deeper than the sitcoms and procedurals offered by network television. It ran for six seasons on HBO and, despite an infamously controversial finale ending, remains a remarkably popular television show to this day.

Speaking of rat fights... 

"Succession" may not be a historical drama, but just like "Peaky Blinders," it has an amoral criminal family at its center that's willing to do pretty much anything to stay on top. "Succession" tells the story of the Roys, the owners of international media conglomerate Waystar Royco, and their constant jockeying for power as they try to win the love of their cold, cruel patriarch, Logan Roy (Brian Cox.) 

Every character on "Succession" is utterly contemptible; these are entitled billionaires, after all. But there's something inherently compelling about the way Logan's children slither around backstabbing one another, each one with something to prove. If the kids can be as ruthless and manipulative as their father, perhaps he will finally see them as worthy of his love. "Succession" should be pretty depressing — and, at times, it can be — but it has a razor sharp sense of humor and a certain absurdity that keeps it from getting too dark.

At this point in the proceedings, you may be thinking to yourself, "Wow, there are a lot of TV shows about crime families from different periods in history!" And you would be right — there are. One of the most critically acclaimed of these is "Boardwalk Empire," an HBO drama starring Steve Buscemi as the leader of Atlantic City's criminal underground during American Prohibition. 

Beyond the powerful performances from its large ensemble cast, "Boardwalk Empire" was notable for how well it captured the atmosphere of a group of men emotionally recovering from the trauma of World War I, a theme that "Peaky Blinders" also explores. These men return from the violence of the battlefield only to create their very own war back at home. Over the course of five seasons, "Boardwalk Empire" took home 20 Emmy awards, cementing its status as one of the most well-received shows of the 21st century.

With all due respect, the Shelby boys' beefs look amateurish compared to the legendary squabbles between brothers on "Vikings." No matter what they do, they can't seem to stop waging literal war on one another. 

Set in the late 700s, "Vikings" explores the Norse legend of Ragnar Lothbrok, a famous Viking warrior, and his descendants. A lush period drama, it travels between early medieval Scandinavia, Britain, France, and even Iceland as the Viking age unfolds in earnest. Battles and political machinations dominate much of the show, but the most intriguing aspect of "Vikings" is the dynamic between Ragnar, his dearest friend Aethelstan, and his several sons. Their loyalties rest on shifting sands, and in the pursuit of power they are willing, at times, to betray one another. 

Although never wildly popular among critics, "Vikings" had staying power, with six seasons on the air and a sequel series in development at Netflix.

Although "Sons of Anarchy" takes place on a different continent than "Peaky Blinders" and is set nearly 100 years later, it captures many of the same themes as the post-World War I drama. Like "Peaky Blinders," it features an organization (in this case, a motorcycle gang) whose actions continually toe the line between merely shady and overtly illegal. It also has more than its fair share of complicated family dynamics, with Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) struggling to find his place in the group after the death of his larger-than-life father, all while butting heads with his stepfather (Ron Perlman), who is the gang's current leader. 

The show frequently diverges from the mechanics of the criminal organization to delve into Jax's life as both a son and a father, similar to how "Peaky Blinders" treats its lead, Thomas Shelby. "Sons of Anarchy" ran for seven seasons on FX, becoming one of the network's most popular shows until it went off the air in 2014.

There's a pervasive sense of lawlessness in "Peaky Blinders," one that carries over into the Netflix original drama "Godless." A band of criminal types in the Old West are on a mission of revenge, eventually finding themselves in a frontier town in New Mexico that's unique in one aspect: It's primarily run by women. Not particularly interested in having violent men invade their town, the women mount a defense, ready to lay down their lives to protect the community they've built. 

Here, Michelle Dockery of "Downton Abbey" fame exchanges her evening dresses for a shotgun and overalls, alongside a strong ensemble cast that includes Merritt Wever, Scoot McNairy, Jack O'Connell, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Jeff Daniels, and Sam Waterston. "Godless" was a critical success, earning supporting actor Emmys for Wever and Daniels amidst a total of 12 nominations. Not bad for a show that only ran for seven episodes!

If there's one thing that the Shelby brothers could never resist, it's an opportunity to make money. If they had been born a few centuries earlier, perhaps they would have found themselves in the company of the characters on "Frontier," an action-heavy period drama set against a backdrop of the late 18th-century Canadian fur trade. "Frontier" stars Jason Momoa as Declan Harp, a trapper who will go to any lengths to ensure his own good fortune, no matter how cruel or violent he has to be. 

Half-Irish, half-Cree, Harp fights to wrestle control of the fur trade from the Hudson Bay Company, a greedy, corrupt corporation with a stranglehold on the fledgling North American industry. The show was praised for Jason Momoa's performance, as well as its sensitivity in depicting the First Nations people of the time, and ran for three seasons on the Discovery Channel in Canada and on Netflix abroad.

Sometimes mobsters reign supreme, ruling like kings over their urban fiefdoms and counting the money that rolls in from semi-legal (and completely illegal) operations. But then, inevitably, their luck turns and they need to disappear. In the case of Frank Tagliano (Steven Van Zandt) on "Lilyhammer," that moment comes when he rolls over on his gangster colleagues, testifying against them in court and winding up in the Witness Protection Program. To start his new, crime-free life, he is relocated to the small Norwegian city of Lillehammer — unlike Michael Corleone in "The Godfather," he doesn't pick the first place anyone would think to look for him as his hideout. 

But although Frank is initially successful at turning over a new leaf, elements of his old identity seep back in, and it's clear that it isn't quite as easy to get a fresh start as he might have thought. A clever and comedic take on mob drama tropes, "Lilyhammer" was one of Netflix's first successful pieces of original television content, running for three seasons on the streaming platform.