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The Best TV Shows on Sky Arts

Every Sky Arts Show Ranked From Best To Worst

Our curated list, current as of December 2024, showcases over 20 of Sky Arts’s highest-rated series. Showcasing over 20 shows from 1997 up until 2023, Sky Arts stands as a beacon of television excellence. For top-tier entertainment, Sky Arts delivered Classic Albums and What the Dickens? in 1997 and 2008.

  • The Art of Film with Ian Nathan
    The Art of Film with Ian Nathan (2023)8.0

    Ian Nathan explores the many layers of the world of filmmaking, discussing each episode with filmmakers, cultural commentators, historians, authors and critics; what defines these stories, how they came to be, and who were the creative forces behind them.

  • Classic Movies: The Story Of
    Classic Movies: The Story Of (2023)8.0

    Movie critic Ian Nathan goes in search of the cinematically sublime and explores the ingredients that went into making a classic. With each episode devoted to a single film, their story will be told with detail, affection, looking for the truth behind the myth, and all the trials and triumphs that went into forging the classic.

  • Classic Albums
    Classic Albums (1997)7.7

    A documentary series about pop and rock albums that are considered the best or most distinctive of a well-known band or musician or that exemplify a stage in the history of music.

  • Urban Myths
    Urban Myths (2017)7.6

    Our Urban Myths are stories that have been passed down over time and have now become part of urban folklore. But are they true? We take a slightly tongue in cheek, mischievous – and deliberately ambiguous – look at what might have happened...

  • The Legacy
    The Legacy (2014)7.5

    The death of a matriarch brings forgotten secrets out into the open and causes a prolonged battle for the family inheritance.

  • Brian Johnson's A Life on the Road
    Brian Johnson's A Life on the Road (2017)7.4

    One of rock music’s iconic and tour-hardened frontmen, Brian Johnson, gives us a brand new and exclusive take on one aspect of the rock and roll life: live performance, touring and being ‘on the road’.

  • A Young Doctor's Notebook
    A Young Doctor's Notebook (2012)7.1

    A young doctor who has graduated at the top of his class from the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry is thrust out into an isolated and impoverished country side as the village's only doctor. As he learns to adapt to his new lifestyle, he develops a morphine addiction to stay his sanity while realizing what being a doctor in the real world means.

  • The Nineties
    The Nineties (2017)6.9

    Hit rewind and explore the most iconic moments and influential people of The Nineties, the decade that gave us the Internet, DVDs, and other cultural and political milestones.

  • Landscape Artist of the Year
    Landscape Artist of the Year (2015)6.8

    It is a nationwide search to find the best landscape artist. Filmed at picturesque locations around the UK, contestants paint National Trust properties for a chance to win a £10,000 commission for a British institution's permanent collection. Through several rounds, winners are selected to advance to the semifinal, and then to the final. Judging the competition are British art historian Kate Bryan, independent curator Kathleen Soriano, and award-winning artist Tai-Shan Schierenberg.

  • Portrait Artist of the Year
    Portrait Artist of the Year (2013)6.7

    Artists from the UK and Ireland compete by creating portraits of famous people.

  • The Nightmare Worlds of H.G. Wells
    The Nightmare Worlds of H.G. Wells (2016)6.6

    The Nightmare Worlds of H. G. Wells is a 2016 horror-fantasy television miniseries, based on short stories by H. G. Wells. The four-part series of 30-minute episodes was commissioned for broadcast by Sky Arts. The series is hosted by Ray Winstone as Wells.

  • Neil Gaiman's Likely Stories
    Neil Gaiman's Likely Stories (2016)6.2

    A unique collection of extraordinary fantastical short stories from the pen of Neil Gaiman, directed by Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard. With a score by Jarvis Cocker and starring a host of British acting talent led by Tom Hughes, Johnny Vegas, George MacKay, Rita Tushingham and Kenneth Cranham.

  • Discovering Film
    Discovering Film (2014)6.0

    Leading movie experts celebrate the lives and work of some of the most prolific and iconic Hollywood stars.

  • Master of Photography
    Master of Photography (2016)2.6

    Sky Arts hosts a competition like no other to find the best European amateur or professional photographic talent. An eight-week, eight-episode trial in which finalists must convince a jury of world-famous photographers and experts of their creativity, instinct and versatility,to become the first Master of Photography. The winner will receive €150,000; a show; and a catalogue.

  • What the Dickens?
    What the Dickens? (2008)N/A

    What the Dickens is a television panel game hosted by Sandi Toksvig. Team captains were Dave Gorman and Tim Brooke-Taylor for the first series and Sue Perkins and Chris Addison for the second and third. It is recorded at Sky Studios in West London.

  • Tate Britain's Great Art Walks
    Tate Britain's Great Art Walks (2017)N/A

    Danny Baker, Simon Callow, Richard E Grant, Cerys Matthews, Miriam Margolyes and Michael Sheen follow in the footsteps of their favourite British artists.

  • The Directors
    The Directors (2018)N/A

    This series looks at the 20th century’s iconic film directors; the real innovators whose breakthrough direction made film into the movies. Their early lives, often escaping war or poverty found expression in theatre, then film, forming the fundamental art that is cinema. Each episode brought to life by Derek Malcolm, Neil Norman, Stephen Armstrong, Dr. Bonnie Greer OBE and Ian Nathan along with classic moments from each film career.

  • Boswell & Johnson's Scottish Road Trip
    Boswell & Johnson's Scottish Road Trip (2020)N/A

    Following comedian Frank Skinner and Scottish crime writer Denise Mina as they team up to recreate James Boswell's and Dr Johnson's 18th century trip through Scotland to the Hebrides.

  • Landmark
    Landmark (2021)N/A

    Artists and local communities join forces to create new public landmarks all over Britain, in response to the current debate about what we want to look at and commemorate in our public spaces.

  • Bill Bailey's Master Crafters
    Bill Bailey's Master Crafters (2022)N/A

    Heritage Crafts President HRH The Prince of Wales has lent his name to a new series, The Prince’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation, set to spotlight Britain’s rich heritage of traditional crafts. Backed by Heritage Crafts and The Prince’s Foundation who put forward the featured experts from amongst Heritage Crafts members, the series sees a selection of top amateur craftspeople take on a variety of crafting challenges to supercharge their skills before each of them creates a final showcase piece to present to His Royal Highness in person.