The Best TV Shows on BBC One

Every BBC One Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Highlighting BBC One’s quality programming, BBC Proms and An Age of Kings stand out, premiering in 1947 and 1960. BBC One’s extensive portfolio includes more than 20 shows, spanning the years from 1947 to 2013. As of August 2026, we’ve curated over 20 of BBC One’s premier shows for your viewing pleasure.

  • 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.

  • 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)7.7

    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.

  • Match of the Day
    Match of the Day (1964)7.6

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

  • Silent Witness
    Silent Witness (1996)7.6

    A team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists investigate heinous crimes and use their skills to catch the people responsible.

  • Doctor Who
    Doctor Who (2005)7.6

    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.

  • Father Brown
    Father Brown (2013)7.6

    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.

  • 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.

  • Have I Got News for You
    Have I Got News for You (1990)7.2

    Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.

  • 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)6.6

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

  • Play for Today
    Play for Today (1970)6.6

    Play for Today is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage plays and novels, were transmitted. The individual episodes were between fifty and a hundred minutes in duration.

  • Casualty
    Casualty (1986)6.2

    Drama series about the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department, charting the ups and downs in their personal and professional lives.

  • Holby City
    Holby City (1999)5.8

    Drama series about life on the wards of Holby City Hospital, following the highs and lows of the staff and patients.

  • An Age of Kings
    An Age of Kings (1960)5.3

    A linking together of Shakespeare's history plays — Richard II, 1 Henry IV, 2 Henry IV, Henry V, 1 Henry VI, 2 Henry VI, 3 Henry VI, and Richard III — chronicling the rise and fall of monarchs over the 86 years between Richard II and Richard III.

  • The One Show
    The One Show (2006)4.4

    A topical magazine-style daily television programme broadcast live on BBC One.

  • EastEnders
    EastEnders (1985)4.2

    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.

  • Thursday Theatre
    Thursday Theatre (1964)N/A

    Thursday Theatre is a British television anthology programme produced by and aired on the BBC from 1964–1965. The productions ranged in duration from 75 to 95 minutes. Out of the 23 episodes, 13 are believed lost, and one is incomplete.