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The Best TV Shows on BBC One

Every BBC One Show Ranked From Best To Worst

BBC One’s extensive portfolio includes more than 20 shows, spanning the years from 1947 to 2019. Premiering in 1947 and 1962, BBC Proms and Compact are among BBC One’s most celebrated shows. Discover the best of BBC One with our list of over 20 series, meticulously updated for December 2024.

  • Sherlock
    Sherlock (2010)8.5

    A modern update finds the famous sleuth and his doctor partner solving crime in 21st century London.

  • Peaky Blinders
    Peaky Blinders (2013)8.5

    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.

  • Ghosts
    Ghosts (2019)8.1

    A cash-strapped young couple inherits a grand country house, only to find it is both falling apart and teeming with the ghosts of former inhabitants.

  • Doctor Who
    Doctor Who (1963)7.9

    The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.

  • BBC Proms
    BBC Proms (1947)7.5

    The World's Greatest Classical Music Festival. The BBC Proms is a classical music festival held every summer at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and in recent years has explored an innovative series of Proms around the UK with concerts in all four nations. Its aim: to bring the best in classical music to the widest possible audience, which remains true to founder-conductor Henry Wood’s original vision in 1895. Whether you are a classical connoisseur or think classical music isn’t for you, there is something for everyone in the eight-week stretch of concerts.

  • Top Gear
    Top Gear (2002)7.5

    This fast-paced and stunt-filled motor show tests whether cars, both mundane and extraordinary, live up to their manufacturers' claims. The long-running show travels to locations around the world, performing extreme stunts and challenges to see what the featured cars are capable of doing. The current hosts are Paddy Mcguinness, Chris Harris and Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff.

  • Doctor Who
    Doctor Who (2005)7.5

    The Doctor is a Time Lord: a 900 year old alien with 2 hearts, part of a gifted civilization who mastered time travel. The Doctor saves planets for a living—more of a hobby actually, and the Doctor's very, very good at it.

  • Death in Paradise
    Death in Paradise (2011)7.5

    A brilliant but idiosyncratic British detective and his resourceful local team solve baffling murder mysteries on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint-Marie.

  • Call the Midwife
    Call the Midwife (2012)7.5

    Drama following the lives of a group of midwives working in the poverty-stricken East End of London during the 1950s, based on the best-selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth.

  • Shetland
    Shetland (2013)7.5

    Created from the novels by award winning crime writer Ann Cleeves, Shetland follows DI Jimmy Perez and his team as they investigate crime within the close knit island community. In this isolated and sometimes inhospitable environment, the team have to rely on a uniquely resourceful style of policing.

  • Father Brown
    Father Brown (2013)7.5

    Father Brown is based on G. K. Chesterton's detective stories about a Catholic priest who doubles as an amateur detective in order to try and solve mysteries.

  • Match of the Day
    Match of the Day (1964)7.4

    BBC's football highlights and analysis. "The longest-running football television programme in the world" as recognised by Guinness World Records in 2015.

  • The Graham Norton Show
    The Graham Norton Show (2007)7.2

    Each week celebrity guests join Irish comedian Graham Norton to discuss what's being going on around the world that week. The guests poke fun and share their opinions on the main news stories. Graham is often joined by a band or artist to play the show out.

  • Top of the Pops
    Top of the Pops (1964)6.5

    The biggest stars, the most iconic performances, the most outrageous outfits – it’s Britain’s number one pop show.

  • Newsnight
    Newsnight (1980)6.0

    A daily BBC Television current affairs programme which specialises in analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians.

  • Strictly Come Dancing
    Strictly Come Dancing (2004)5.8

    A dance competition where celebrities compete to be crowned the winner. Who is kicked out of the competition each week is decided by the judges scores and viewer votes. Are today's celebrities fleet of foot or do they have two left feet?

  • Antiques Road Trip
    Antiques Road Trip (2010)5.0

    Antiques experts travel across the country, competing to make a profit at auction.

  • EastEnders
    EastEnders (1985)4.1

    The everyday lives of working-class residents of Albert Square, a traditional Victorian square of terrace houses surrounding a park in the East End of London's Walford borough.

  • Compact
    Compact (1962)3.0

    Compact was a British television soap opera shown by the BBC between 1962 and 1965. The series was created by Hazel Adair and Peter Ling, who together went on to devise Crossroads. In contrast to the kitchen sink realism of Coronation Street, Compact was a distinctly middle-class serial, set in the more "sophisticated" arena of magazine publishing. An early "avarice" soap, it took the viewer into the business workplace, and aligned the professional lives of the characters with more personal storylines. The show was scheduled for broadcast on Tuesdays and Thursdays, thus avoiding a clash with ITV's Coronation Street on Mondays and Wednesdays. When Compact began, the editor was a woman, Joanne Minster, yet it was not long before she was replaced by Ian Harmon, the son of the magazine's owner. Despite being largely criticised by reviewers, Compact was popular with the general public, and in 1964 a regular omnibus edition was introduced, broadcast on Sundays. Morris Barry, a some-time actor and BBC director – he directed several Doctor Who stories in the 1960s – took over as producer and was given a brief to spice the series up in view of the criticism it had received from the national press. But the BBC, never comfortable with the concept of soap opera, quietly dropped the series in 1965.

  • Rip Off Britain
    Rip Off Britain (2009)3.0

    Rip Off Britain is a BBC One series which exposes Britain's rip-offs and helps consumers. It began on 30 November 2009, presented by former news journalists Angela Rippon, Gloria Hunniford and Jennie Bond. Newsreader Julia Somerville replaced Bond from series three. From the second series onwards, the show was remade into cut-down editions of 30 minutes which air in a prime time slot on Friday evenings.