We’re a month away from 2018 and that means it’s time to see the list of period dramas / historical dramas / costume dramas (with a specific time period) coming to our screens!

Since the Period Dramas 2017 post took too long to update with all the links, I will no longer embed links to trailers in the post. You may, however, find some trailers added to Current & Upcoming Period Drama Trailers on my YouTube channel.

This list is in chronological order (alphabetical where no date is specified) by release date and will be updated as more period/costume dramas and release dates are known. These titles will also appear in Period Dramas – Movies and Period Dramas – TV series but please excuse the extreme lack of update at the moment. In the meantime, visit Period Dramas 2017 to catch up on this year’s films before the year’s over! Films that I have seen are rated out of 5 stars. I will continue to credit my readers who inform me of upcoming period dramas. Thank you very much for your help!

Top 10 Period Dramas in 2018

1. Phantom Thread
2. Victoria S2
3. Call The Midwife S7
4. Mary Shelley
5. Poldark S4
6. Outlander S4
7. Versailles S3
8. Mary Queen of Scots
9. Mary Poppins Returns
10. Ophelia

Last updated: 5 January 2019

January 2018

1 Jan 2018 UK / 25 Dec 2017 US – The Greatest Showman (movie) ★★★★★
Set during the 19th C in the US about showman P. T. Barnum (Hugh Jackman). Also starting Rebecca Ferguson, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron, etc.

5 Jan 2018 UK / 26 Jan 2018 US – Hostiles (movie)
Set in 1892 about an Army captain who escorts a Cheyenne chief and his family through dangerous territory.

8 Jan 2018 UK (Alibi) / 9 Jan 2018 US (Ovation) / 25 Sept 2017 @ 8pm Canada – CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries S11 (TV series) ★★★★★
Renewed for S12.

12 Jan 2018 UK / 22 Nov 2017 US – Darkest Hour (movie)
Set during the beginning of WWII about Winston Churchill (Gary Oldman) leading a charge against Adolf Hitler’s army. Starring Lily James, Kristin Scott Thomas, etc.

14 Jan 2018 Canada/US (PBS) / 27 Aug 2017 UK – ITV’s Victoria S2 (TV series) ★★★★★
8 episodes plus Christmas Special. Renewed for S3.

18 Jan 2018 UK (Amazon/Sky) – Britannia (TV Series)
10 episode drama set in 43 AD when the Roman army invades Britannia, then ruled by warrior queens and powerful Druids. Thank you @foreignrhythm! 

22 Jan 2018 US (Sundance Film Fest) – Ophelia (movie / TV series)
Based on Lisa Klein’s novel of the same name, a spinoff of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Daisy Ridley has been cast as Ophelia and Naomi Watts as Queen Gertrude.

23 Jan 2018 US (Sundance Film Fest) – Damsel (movie)
A Western comedy starring Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson. Thank you, Jez!

25 Jan 208 India – Padmaavat(movie) ★★★★★
Set in medieval Rajasthan about the legendary Queen Padmavati. Thank you, MonsieurA!

February 2018

2 Feb 2018 UK – Journey’s End (movie)
Based on the 1928 play set in a dugout in Aisne in 1918. Starring Sam Claflin, Tom Sturrridge, Toby Jones, etc.

2 Feb 2018 UK / 25 Dec 2017 US – Phantom Thread (movie) ★★
Set in 1950’s London about renowned dressmaker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis). This is to Day-Lewis’ final film.

9 Feb 2018 UK – Jamestown S2 (TV series)

14 Feb 2018 France – Return of the Hero / Le Retour du Heros (movie)
Comedy set in France in 1809 about a plan gone wrong. Thank you, MonsieurA!

18 Feb 2018 US – Hallmark’s When Calls The Heart S5 (TV series)
10 x 1-hour episodes, plus Christmas episode. Renewed for S6.

19 Feb 2018 US (Ovation) / 18 Feb 2015-2017 Canada – CBC’s X Company S1 (TV) ★★★★★
Ovation will air all 3 series (28 episodes). Set in Canada and Europe during WWII about an espionage camp.

March 2018

2 March 2018 – Winchester(movie)
Victorian drama about a firearm heiress (Helen Mirren) who believes she’s being haunted by those killed by the Winchester repeating rifle.

4 March 2018 – Legend of Cambria (TV Series)
7 episodes (42 min each) of a Medieval fantasy inspired by Celtic Lands. Available to view on https://legendofcambria.cambriausa.com.

7 March 2018 US (History) / 20 March 2018 UK (History) – History’s The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen (TV miniseries)
Four-part series on Daniel Boone, Lewis and Clark, Tecumseh, Davy Crocket, and Andrew Jackson.

11 March 2018 US – NBC’s Timeless S2 (TV series) ★★★★★
Three time-travellers from the 21st Century travel to different centuries and decades in American history to prevent a culprit from changing history. Will conclude with a 2-hour movie in December.

13 Mar 2018 UK (BBC One) / 8 Oct 2017 Australia – A Place to Call Home S5 (TV Series)

15 March 2018 Germany – Der Hauptmann / The Captain (movie)
Based on the true story of a WWII German deserter who assumes the identity of a ruthless captain.

25 March 2018 @ 8/7 c 2018 Canada/US (Masterpiece PBS) / 21 Jan 2018 UK – BBC One’s Call the Midwife S7 (TV series) ★★★★★
Set in 1963. New West Indian nurse Lucille Anderson joins Nonnatus House.

26 March 2018 US – AMC’s The Terror(TV Series)
Based on the novel of the same name by Dan Simmons about HMS Erebus’ and HMS Terror’s encounter with a supernatural predator in the Northwest Passage. Thank you hano!

31 March 2018 Canada (Netflix) / 22 Sept 2017 Spain – Velvet Colección (TV series) ★★★★
Spin-off of Velvet with 10 hour-long episodes. Set in 1967. Ana and Alberto and their son Alberto return to Spain and open a second Velvet in Barcelona. Not sure why it’s a spin-off when it could easily be S5. Renewed for S2.

March 2018 – Bye Bye Germany (movie)
A comedy about Holocaust survivors trying to get to America.

April 2018

1 April 2018 UK – Ordeal by Innocence (TV Miniseries)
3-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s detective fiction set on Christmas Day 1954. Thank you hano!

4 April 2018 France / 1 Feb 2018 Germany – Mademoiselle Paradis (movie)
Set in 18th Century Vienna about a blind pianist.

4 April 2018 US (Starz) / 12 Nov 2017 UK (BBCOne) – Howards End (TV miniseries) 
Four part drama based on E.M. Forster’s novel of the same name about social and class divisions in early 20th Century England. Starring Hayley Attwell, Matthew Macfadyen, etc. Filmed in London and nearby.

6 Apr 2018 US / 9 Mar 2018 UK / 25 Jan 2018 Australia – Sweet Country (movie)
Australian Western set in 1929 about racism.

19 April 2018 Canada (Netflix) / 22 Jan 2018 US – TNT’s The Alienist (TV Series) ★★★★★
Set in New York in 1896 about a crime reporter who teams up with a psychologist to catch a serial killer. Starring Dakota Fanning, Daniel Bruehl, Luke Evans, etc.

19 April Canada (Netflix) / 21 March 2017 Germany – Charité (TV Series)
Six episodes about the German physicians and scientists at the Charité Hospital in Berlin

20 April 2018 US / 30 June 2016 Germany – Lou Andreas-Salomé, The Audacity to be Free (Movie)
Biography of Russian-born psychoanalyst from the late-19th Century.

May 2018

4 May 2018 US / 6 Dec 2017 France – Les Gardiennes / The Guardians (movie)
About the women left behind to tend the family farm during WWI.

7 May 2018 UK – CBBC’s Hetty Feather S4 (TV series)
Renewed for S5.

7 May 2018 US (Ovation) / 18 Feb 2015-2017 Canada – CBC’s X Company S2 (TV) ★★★★★
Set in Canada and Europe during WWII about an espionage camp.

11 May 2018 US / 18 May 2018 Canada – The Seagull (movie)
An adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s play of the same name. Set in 1892. Starring Saoirse Ronan, Elizabeth Moss, Annette Bening, etc.

13 & 20 May 2018 US/Canada (PBS) / 25 Dec 2017 UK (BBC) – Little Women (TV Miniseries) ★★★
A three-part (2-part for PBS) adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel.

18 May 2018 – On Chesil Beach (movie)
Based on Ian McEwan’s novel. Set in 1962. Starring Soairse Ronan, Billy Howle, Emily Watson, Anne-Marie Duff, etc.

23 May 2018 France / 27 Oct 2016 – In Guerra per amore / Bienvenue en Sicile (movie)
Romantic comedy set in 1943.

23 May 2018 Spain / 31 Aug 2018 Global (Netflix) – Atena 3’s La Catedral del Mar (TV Series) ★★★★★
13 episodes (75 min each) based on the novel by Idelfoso Falcones (Cathedral of the Sea). Set in 14th Century Barcelona during the Inquisition and the construction of the Santa Maria del Mar. Thank you, Andrea M!

June 2018

1 June 2018 Spain / 19 May 2018 France (Cannes Film Festival) – The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (movie)
Time travel film from the 21st Century to the 17th Century. Don Quixote mistakes an advertising executive for Sancho Panza.

17 Jun 2018 Canada (CBC) – Hallmark’s When Calls The Heart S4 (TV series) ★★★★
10 x 1-hour episodes.

24 June 2018 US (PBS) / 4 Feb 2018 UK – ITV’s Endeavour S5 (TV series) ★★★★★
6 episodes set in 1968. Renewed for S6.

29 Jun 2018 US – Woman Walks Ahead (movie)
Set in the 1890’s about portrait painter Catherine Weldon (Jessica Chastain) who goes to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull. Thank you Tracy!

July 2018

6 July 2018 UK / 25 May 2018 US – Mary Shelley (movie) ★★★★
The romance between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (portrayed by Elle Fanning) and poet Percy Shelley (Douglas Booth), which inspired Mary to write Frankenstein.

7 July 2018 (Netflix) – Miseuteo Shunshain / Mr. Sunshine (TV series)
Set between 1900-1905 about a soldier who spent nearly 30 years in the US as a soldier who returns to Korea and falls in love with an aristocrat’s daughter.

11 Jul 2018 US (Hulu ) / UK (ITV Encore) – Harlots S2 (TV series)

17 July 2018 UK (History) / 6 Dec 2017 US/Canada (History) – Knightfall (TV Series) ★★★★
Renewed for S2.

20 July 2018 US – Running for Grace (movie) 
Set in 1920’s Hawaii about a young mixed-race man who falls in love with the daughter of a plantation owner.

August 2018

3 Aug 2018 US / 17 Aug 2018 UK – Christopher Robin (movie) ★★★★★
Set around 1940’s-50’s about grown-up Christopher Robin.

5 Aug 2018 Canada (Netflix) / 1 Sept 2017 UK – Limehouse Golem (movie) ★★★★★
Crime thriller set in Victorian London based on Peter Ackroyd’s novel of the same name. Stars Bill Nighy.

10 Aug 2018 Canada (Netflix) / 20 April 2018 UK – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (movie) ★★★★
Based on the novel of the same name about a writer who writes about the book club which was founded during the German occupation of Guernsey.

10 Aug 2018 Canada (Netflix) / 10 Sept 2017 US – Starz’s Outlander S3 (TV series) ★★★★★
13 episodes based on Outlander: Voyager.

17 Aug 2018 US / 24 Jan 2018 France – La douleur / Memoir of War (TV Series)
Based on the memoir by writer Marguerite Duras about her experiences in Paris during WWII.

19 Aug 2018 Australia – A Place to Call Home S6 (TV Series)
The series finale.

20 Aug 2018 US (Ovation) / 18 Feb 2015-2017 Canada – CBC’s X Company S3 (TV series) ★★★★★
The series finale.

20 Aug 2018 US (PBS online) / 23 Jan 2018 UK (Alibi) / 6 Nov 2017 @ 10pm ET/7pm PT Canada – CBC’s Frankie Drake Mysteries S1 (TV Series) ★★★★
11 episodes set in Toronto in 1921 about female detective Frankie Drake. Renewed for S2.

24 Aug 2018 US / 29 June 2018 UK  – The Bookshop (movie) ★★★★
Based on the novel of the same name. Set in Hardborough, Suffolk in 1959.

26 Aug 2018 UK (FrightFest London) – The Man Who Killed Hitler and then The Bigfoot (movie)

29 Aug 2018 UK (BBC) – Upstart Crow S3 (TV mini series)

31 Aug 2018 UK / 21 Dec 2018 US – Zimna wojna / Cold War (movie)
Love story set during the Cold War in the 1950’s in Berlin, Paris, Yugoslavia, and Poland.

September 2018

1 Sept 2018 @ 9pm UK (BBC Four) / 12 Jan 2018 Spain – La Peste / The Plague S1 (TV Series)
About the plague in Seville during the 16th Century. Renewed for S2.

2 Sept 2018 @ 9pm UK (ITV / Amazon Prime) / 19 Sept 2018 @ 9pm Canada (CBC) – ITV’s Vanity Fair (TV Miniseries) ★★★★
Another adaptation of the 1848 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray with 7 episodes. Thank you hano!

7 Sept 2018 Canada (TIFF) – Sgaawaay K’uuna / Edge of the Knife (movie)
Haida-spoken film set in Haida Gwaii in the 1800’s about a man who turns into a supernatural being.

7 Sept 2018 Worldwide (Netflix) – Las Chicas del Cable S3 / Cable Girls (TV series)

7 Sept 2018 Canada (TIFF) / 5 Apr 2018 Germany – Transit (movie)
Whilst trying to flee France, Georg meets the wife of the dead author whom he is impersonating.

8 Sept 2018 Canada (TIFF) – Angelo (movie)
Based on the life of Angelo Soliman, an enslaved African who was adopted by a European comtesse and educated.

9 Sept 2018 @ 9/8c US/Canada (PBS) / 26 & 27 Dec 2017 UK – BBC’s The Miniaturist (TV miniseries) ★★★★★
Adaptation of Jessie Burton’s novel of the same name set in 1686 in Amsterdam. Starring Romola Garai and Anya Taylor-Joy.

11 Sept 2018 (Netflix) – The Resistance Banker / Bankier van het Verzet (TV Series) ★★★★★
Set in Amsterdam during WWII about two banker brothers who fund the Dutch Resistance.

11 Sept 2018 Canada (TIFF) / 2018 UK – Vita and Virginia (movie)
Film adaptation of Vita and Virginia, Eileen Atkins’s fictional account of the friendship and affair of writers Virginia Woolf (Elizabeth Debicki) and Vita Sackville-West (Gemma Arterton).

12 Sept 2018 France – Mademoiselle de Joncquières (movie)
Set in the 18th Century, Madame de la Pommeraye plots revenge with Mademoiselle de Joncquières after being spurned by her lover.

13 Sept 2018 Germany – Dreigroschenfilm / Mack the Knife – Brecht’s Threepenny Film (movie)
The film industry adapts Bertolt Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera” into film.

14 Sept 2018 Spain – Velvet Colección S2 (TV series)
Renewed for a third and final series.

14 Sept 2018 UK / 29 Aug 2018 US – Operation Finale (movie) ★★★★★
A team of Israeli secret agents track down Adolf Eichmann in Argentina.

14 Sept 2018 Canada (City TV) / 25 July 2018 UK (ITV) / 26 July 2018 US (BritBox) – The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (TV Mini series) ★★★★
A spin-off of the original series with four stories told in two episodes. Set in 1956, Millie and Jean travel to SF to join two US code-breakers in solving some murder cases. Filmed in Vancouver, Canada.

14 Sept 2018 US / 2018 UK – Where Hands Touch (movie)
Set in Germany 1944 about a mixed-race Black German young woman who falls in love with someone from the Hitler Youth.

20 Sep 2018 Australia – Ladies in Black (movie)
Adapted from the novel of the same name, this comedy set in 1959 Sydney is about the lives of a group of department store employees.

21 Sept 2018 UK/Canada/US – The House with a Clock in its Walls (movie) 
Fantasy film set in the 1950’s about an orphan who stays with his uncle, who is a warlock, and lives in a creaky old house. Thank you, Harv!

21 Sept 2018 Canada/US – The Sisters Brothers (movie)
Western set in 1850’s oregon about the Sisters brothers (Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly).

23 Sept 2018 Canada (CBC) / 6 Jul 2018 UK (Netflix) – CBC’s Anne S2 (TV Series)
Renewed for S3.

24 Sept 2018 @ 9pm Canada – CBC’s Frankie Drake Mysteries S2 (TV Series) ★★
Set in Toronto in the 1920’s about female detective Frankie Drake and her fellow female detectives.

26 Sept 2018 France – Un peuple et son roi / One Nation, One King (movie)
The French Revolution told from the ordinary people’s point of view.

27 Sept 2018 Hungary – Napszállta / Sunset (movie)
An aspiring young miller endeavours to work at a hat store in Budapest that once belonged to her late parents but is rejected by the current owner.

27 Sept 2018 US (PBS) – Jamestown S1 (TV series)

28 Sept 2018 UK/US – Black 47 (movie)
Set in Ireland in 1847 about an Irish Ranger who fights to save his family during the Great Famine. According to reader Geraldine, it’s “the worst year of the Great Hunger, the genocide formerly known as The Famine.” Cast includes Sarah Greene, Stephen Rea, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, etc. Thank you Geraldine!

30 Sept 2018 @ 8/7c US/Canada (PBS) / 18 March 2018 UK – ITV’s The Durrells S3 (TV series) ★★★★★
Set in 1937. Renewed for S4.

30 Sept 2018 @ 9/c US/Canada (PBS) / 10 June 2018 UK – BBC1’s Poldark S4 (TV Series) ★★★★★
Runs until Christmas 1799. Renewed for S5.

October 2018

3 Oct 2018 France – Le Cahier Noir / The Black Book of Father Dinis (movie)
Set at the end of the 18th Century about a nurse and an orphan, both with mysterious backgrounds.

5 Oct 2018 – Amazon’s Man in the High Castle S3 (TV Series)

5 Oct 2018 US / 15 Jun 2018 UK – The Happy Prince (movie)
The last days of Oscar Wilde. Directed by, written by, and starring Rupert Everett as Oscar Wilde.

6 Oct 2018 US (Ovation) / 4 June 2018 @ 9pm (BBC Two) / 23 April 2018 France (Canal) – Versailles S3 (TV series)
Series finale.

12 Oct 2018 Lithuania – Ashes in the Snow (movie)
Based on the novel by Ruta Sepetys. Set in 1941 about an aspiring artist and her family who are deported to Siberia.

21 Oct 2018 US (PBS) / 22 April 2018 UK – BBC One’s The Woman in White (TV mini series)
5-part Victorian thriller adapted from Wilkie Collins’ novel of the same name. Starring Jessie Buckley, Charles Dance, etc.

23 Oct 2018 Italy (Rai 1) / early 2019 UK/Ireland/Canada/US (Netflix) – Medici: Masters of Florence / The Magnificent (TV series)
Four episodes set 20 years after the end of Medici: Masters of Florence. This series focuses on Cosimo’s grandson, Lorenzo Medici. Renewed for S2 and S3.

November 2018

2 Nov 2018 UK – Peterloo (movie)
Set in 1819 about the Peterloo Massacre in St Peter’s Field in Manchester, England when the Cavalry attacked a peaceful protest.

2 Nov 2018 – The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (movie)
Disney adaptation of The Nutcracker ballet set around the late 19th Century.

4 Nov 2018 US – Starz’s Outlander S4 (TV series)
Based on Outlander: Drums of Autumn. Renewed for S5 & S6.

9 Nov 2018 (Netflix) – Outlaw King (TV movie) ★★★
Chris Pine stars as Scottish king Robert the Bruce. Thank you @hisdoryan!

16 Nov 2018 – Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 2 (movie)

16 Nov 2018 UK / 14 Sept 2018 US – Lizzie (movie)
A thriller about Lizzie Borden who murdered her father and stepmother in 1892. Starring Chloe Sevigny, Kristen Stewart, etc.

16 Nov 2018 US – At Eternity’s Gate (movie)
About the last few years of Vincent Van Gogh’s life.

16 Nov 2018 Netflix – The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (movie)
Six-part Western anthology film.

18 Nov 2018 US (HBO) – L’amica geniale / My Brilliant Friend (TV series)
Set in Naples in the early 1950’s.

19 Nov 2018 Worldwide (Netflix) – The Last Kingdom S3 (TV Series) ★★★

21 Nov 2018 – Robin Hood (movie) 
Taron Egerton (Testament of Youth) as Robin Hood, Eve Hewson (The Knick) as Maid Marian, Jamie Dornan as Will Scarlet (rumoured).

23 Nov 2018 – Netflix / Discovery Canada’s Frontier S3 (TV Series)
Six episodes.

23 Nov 2018 US / 14 Sept 2018 Sweden – Unga Astrid / Becoming Astrid (movie)
About Swedish children’s author, Astrid Lindgren, best known for Pippi Longstocking.

28 Nov 2018 – History’s Vikings S5B (TV Series)
10 episodes.

28 Nov 2018 UK (BBC Two) / 26 Nov 2018 Ireland (RTE One) – Death and Nightingales (TV miniseries) 
Based on the 1992 novel of the same name. Set in Ireland in 1885.

30 Nov 2018 UK – Wuthering Heights (movie)
An adaptation by Elisaveta Abraham with Shari Morris as Catherine Earnshaw and Paul Eryk Atlas as Heathcliff. Thank you Vicki!

December 2018

5 Dec 2018 – Amazon Prime’s The Marvellous Mrs. Maisel S2 (TV Series) ★★★★★
Comedy about 1950’s housewife turned stand-up comedian. S1 streamed on 29 Nov 2017. Renewed for S3.

7 Dec 2018 US / 14 and 21 Dec 2018 Canada / 18 Jan 2019 UK – Mary Queen of Scots (movie)
This movie will be written by Michael Hirst (The Tudors) and stars Saoirse Ronan as Mary.

12 Dec 2018 France – Remi Sans Famille (movie)
An adaptation of the 1878 French novel by Hector Malot. Thank you Vanessa!

13 Dec 2018 Italy – Capri-Revolution (movie)
In 1914 just before WWI, a community of young artists from Northern Europe meet in Capri.

18 Dec 2018 UK – BBC One’s The Long Song (TV miniseries)
Adapted from Andrea Levy’s novel of the same name. Set in Jamaica in 1838 just before the abolition of slavery.

20 Dec 2018 US – NBC’s Timeless S2 (TV movie) ★★★★★
Two-hour movie finale.

21 Dec 2018 UK / 25 Dec 2018 US – Mary Poppins Returns (movie) ★★★★★
Set in Depression-era London, 20 years after the original movie, Mary Poppins. Emily Blunt stars as Mary Poppins, whilst Emily Mortimer is grown Jane Banks and Ben Whishaw is grown Michael Banks.

25 Dec 2018 @ 7:45pm UK – BBC One’s Call the Midwife S7: Christmas Special (TV series) ★★★★★

25 Dec 2018 UK (BBC) – Upstart Crow S3: Christmas Special (TV mini series)

25 Dec 2018 US / 4 Jan 2019 UK – On the Basis of Sex (movie)
Biopic on (Supreme Court Justice) Ruth Bader Ginsburg from the 1950-70’s when she fights a case on sex discrimination.

25 Dec 2018 US – Hallmark’s When Calls The Heart S6 (TV series)
Christmas Episode + 10 x 1-hour episodes in 2019.

26 Dec 2018 @ 9pm UK – BBC One’s The ABC Murders (TV Mini series)
3-part drama set in the 1930’s. John Malkovich portrays Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot.

26 Dec 2018 UK / 9 Nov 2018 US – Holmes and Watson (movie)
A comedy on Sherlock Holmes (Will Ferrell) and Watson (John C. Reilly).

28 Dec 2018 US / 11 Jan 2019 UK – Stan & Ollie (movie)
About comedians Laurel and Hardy.

30 Dec 2018 @ 9pm UK (BBC One) / 14 Apr 2019 US (PBS) – BBC1’s Les Miserables (TV miniseries)
A six-part non-musical adaptation of Victor Hugo’s novel of the same name. Thank you, Maria!