The Best TV Shows on NPO 3

Every NPO 3 Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Boasting a rich catalog, NPO 3 features more than 20 shows, with broadcasting dates ranging from 1986 to 2024. Premiering in 1986 and 2001, Pingu and Sinterklaasjournaal are among NPO 3’s most celebrated shows. As of January 2026, our compilation of NPO 3’s top-rated series boasts over 20 unique shows.

  • Sinterklaasjournaal
    Sinterklaasjournaal (2001)8.6

  • Commandos
    Commandos (2020)8.6

    Former commando John de Koning, traumatized by a failed mission in Nigeria, is confronted with a murderer trying to eliminate his former comrades in battle. He starts the fight, but ends up in a war in which he threatens to lose his mates, his family and himself.

  • Rundfunk
    Rundfunk (2015)8.3

    Two friends attending a messed up high school.

  • Tropenjaren
    Tropenjaren (2022)8.0

    Tropenjaren is a comedy about the whirlwind of new parenthood and a former life that’s gone for good. When Jelle and his wife Rosa welcome their first child, a new chapter unfolds. The young parents strive to do their best for their daughter Stella while also trying to keep their work lives and relationship as lively and ambitious as ever. Nights out and parties, however, quickly give way to diapers and babysitters. In short, the couple is gearing up for the tropenjaren—the intense early years of parenting.

  • Ranking the Stars
    Ranking the Stars (2006)7.7

    Ten Dutch celebrities participate in each broadcast. Two non-ordinary questions are asked of the Dutch celebrities per episode, such as "Who would have the easiest time going forty days without sex?", "Who used to be chosen last in gymnastics?" and "Who is your best friend?". The broadcasts claim that for each question a panel of 100 people compiled in advance a top 10 in which the famous candidates were "ranked."

  • Penoza
    Penoza (2010)7.7

    Carmen, the daughter of a notorious Amsterdam drug lord, reluctantly takes charge of the family's smuggling business in order to clear her husband's debts.

  • Het gouden uur
    Het gouden uur (2022)7.3

  • #BOOS
    #BOOS (2016)7.0

  • De Zomer van Zoë
    De Zomer van Zoë (2020)7.0

  • De Faker
    De Faker (2021)7.0

  • Pingu
    Pingu (1986)6.9

    Playful penguin Pingu lives with his family in Antarctica, where he often finds himself caught up in mischievous high jinks with his pal Robby.

  • Arcadia
    Arcadia (2023)5.9

    Following a major catastrophe, a new society, Arcadia, is born. Resources have become scarce and a point system, known as the Citizen Score, is introduced. It determines what you can and may do and what a citizen is entitled to.

  • Flight HS13
    Flight HS13 (2016)5.6

    Mourning the death of her husband Simon, supposedly killed in a plane crash, Liv is shocked to discover that Simon lied to her and was not a passenger on the tragic flight. Seeking the truth surrounding her husband’s mysterious disappearance, Liv uncovers secrets that threaten to destroy her entire family…

  • The First Years
    The First Years (2014)5.2

    The First Years is a Dutch series for young people in which real-life situations are recreated. The series sheds light on subjects that pupils in the first year of secondary school may be confronted with.

  • Best Friends
    Best Friends (2007)3.0

    Best Friends follows the life of a group of friends at their high school ‘Spangalis College’. Inside and outside of school exciting and challenging experiences take place. Growing up is never easy; every character has its own, unique story of love, friendship, loneliness, sorrow, discovery. There is drama and joy in school, family, teachers, parents, divorce, bullying, and always dreams for the future.

  • Waku Waku
    Waku Waku (2022)1.0

    Waku waku is the Dutch version of a Japanese game-show format (hence the name, unintelligible in Dutch or other Western languages) in which a small panel of celebrities is shown a number of short film sequences in which (usually wild or zoo) animals are shown in unusual (often artificially created) situations. The presenter asks the panel members multiple choice-questions about what an animal (or group)'s next move or reaction will be, as a rule a matter of guessing, the scores don't actually affect the show.

  • Super Surprise
    Super Surprise (2021)N/A

  • CHICA
    CHICA (2022)N/A

  • Bestseller Boy
    Bestseller Boy (2022)N/A

    Based on the best-selling novel, it depicts the real life of a Dutch-Moroccan millennial Mano Bouzamour navigating between two cultures, his sudden success and his identity in Amsterdam.

  • Summer Break
    Summer Break (2024)N/A

    Enjoy the summer feeling for a while and dream away about the adventures of a close group of friends at a sun-drenched holiday resort in Turkey. In the feel-good series Summer Break, 16-year-old friends Tess and Yasmin have a holiday job at Yasmin's uncle's resort in Turkey. Together with the other young people from the entertainment team, they become a close group of friends and experience great adventures with the young hotel guests.