The Best TV Shows on BBC Two

Every BBC Two Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Across the timeline from 1962 to 2022, BBC Two has presented audiences with over 20 captivating shows. Stay up-to-date with over 20 of BBC Two’s elite series, with our list refreshed for December 2025. Leading the pack on BBC Two are University Challenge and Match of the Day, with their initial broadcasts in 1962 and 1964.

  • 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.

  • Line of Duty
    Line of Duty (2012)8.2

    A drama about the investigations of AC-12, a controversial police anticorruption unit.

  • The Last Kingdom
    The Last Kingdom (2015)8.2

    A show of heroic deeds and epic battles with a thematic depth that embraces politics, religion, warfare, courage, love, loyalty and our universal search for identity. Combining real historical figures and events with fictional characters, it is the story of how a people combined their strength under one of the most iconic kings of history in order to reclaim their land for themselves and build a place they call home.

  • Red Dwarf
    Red Dwarf (1988)8.0

    The adventures of the last human alive and his friends, stranded three million years into deep space on the mining ship Red Dwarf.

  • Top Gear
    Top Gear (1978)7.9

    Motoring programme featuring reviews of and reports about cars of all types.

  • QI
    QI (2003)7.9

    Comedy quiz show full of quirky facts, in which contestants are rewarded more if their answers are 'quite interesting'.

  • Match of the Day
    Match of the Day (1964)7.5

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

  • Absolutely Fabulous
    Absolutely Fabulous (1992)7.5

    Set in the world of fashion and PR, immature fun-loving mother Edina Monsoon and her best friend Patsy drive Eddie's sensible daughter, Saffron, up the wall with their constant drug abuse and outrageous selfishness. Numerous in-jokes and heavy doses of cruel humour have made this series a cult hit in the UK and abroad.

  • 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.

  • Horizon
    Horizon (1964)7.4

    Horizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before.

  • Torchwood
    Torchwood (2006)7.3

    The exploits of a team of people whose job is to investigate the unusual, the strange and the extraterrestrial.

  • 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.

  • Have I Got News for You
    Have I Got News for You (1990)7.1

    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.

  • Never Mind the Buzzcocks
    Never Mind the Buzzcocks (1996)7.0

    Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game show with a pop and rock music theme. The show is infamous for its dry, sarcastic humour and scathing, provocative attacks on the pop industry.

  • The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros
    The Boys from Brazil: Rise of the Bolsonaros (2022)7.0

    The remarkable rise of one of the world’s most controversial leaders, Jair Bolsonaro, from obscurity to the presidency of Brazil.

  • The Repair Shop
    The Repair Shop (2017)6.9

    The Repair Shop is a workshop of dreams, where broken or damaged cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life. Furniture restorers, horologists, metal workers, ceramicists, upholsterers and all manner of skilled craftsmen and women have been brought together to work in one extraordinary space, restoring much-loved possessions to their former glory.

  • Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
    Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps (2001)6.7

    Sitcom about the lives and loves of five twenty-somethings in Runcorn.

  • University Challenge
    University Challenge (1962)6.0

    Academic quiz show where teams of students from UK universities answer questions on all manner of subjects.

  • Newsnight
    Newsnight (1980)6.0

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

  • Ready, Steady, Cook
    Ready, Steady, Cook (1994)N/A

    Talented chefs battle it out against the clock, creating delicious dishes in 20 minutes