Best drama & documentary shows streaming, ranked.

In April 1986, the city of Chernobyl in the Soviet Union suffers one of the worst nuclear disasters in the history of mankind. Consequently, many heroes put their lives on the line in the following days, weeks and months.

A documentary series on the wildlife found on Earth. Each episode covers a different habitat: deserts, mountains, deep oceans, shallow seas, forests, caves, polar regions, fresh water, plains and jungles. Narrated by David Attenbo...

A film following the lives of two inner-city Chicago boys who struggle to become college basketball players on the road to going professional.

David Attenborough returns to the world's oceans in this sequel to the acclaimed documentary filming rare and unusual creatures of the deep, as well as documenting the problems our oceans face.

Led by Michael Jordan, the 1990s Chicago Bulls establish themselves as one of the most notable dynasties in sports history.

David Attenborough returns with a new wildlife documentary that shows life in a variety of habitats.

Attenborough explores the planet's undersea habitats, revealing the greatest age of ocean discovery and emphasizing the ocean's vital importance while exposing its problems and highlighting opportunities for marine life recovery.

A team of brave individuals risk their lives to protect the last mountain gorillas.

Explores and unravels the mystery of how and why animals migrate, showing some of the most dramatic and compelling stories in the natural world through spectacular and innovative cinematography.

A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco.

A musical comedy special shot and performed by Bo Burnham, alone, over the course of a very unusual year.

A horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.

Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.

In "Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions," Taylor Swift performs each song in order of her album, "folklore," and reveals the stories and secrets behind all 17 songs.

A look at the Apollo 11 mission to land on the moon led by commander Neil Armstrong and pilots Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins.

Spike Lee documents the former Talking Heads frontman's brilliant, timely 2019 Broadway show, based on his recent album and tour of the same name.

A global view of the specialized strategies and extreme behavior that living things have developed in order to survive; what Charles Darwin termed "the struggle for existence."

Australian comic Hannah Gadsby reshapes standard stand-up by pairing punchlines with personal revelations on gender, sexuality and childhood turmoil.

The story of life on our planet by the man who has seen more of the natural world than any other. In more than 90 years, Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of our planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. Addressing the biggest challenges facing life on our planet, the film offers a powerful message of hope for future generations.

An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city, but receive little attention.

Two young Swedish children in the 1900s experience the many comedies and tragedies of their lively and affectionate theatrical family, the Ekdahls.

A chronicle of the enthralling, against-all-odds story that transfixed the world in 2018: the daring rescue of twelve boys and their coach from deep inside a flooded cave in Northern Thailand.

A look at tightrope walker Philippe Petit's daring, but illegal, high-wire routine performed between New York City's World Trade Center's twin towers in 1974, what some consider, "the artistic crime of the century".

In January 1969, The Beatles set out to write and record new songs for their first live show in more than two years, culminating in an impromptu concert atop their Savile Row studio.

The Roy family is known for controlling the biggest media and entertainment company in the world. However, their world changes when their father steps down from the company.

A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.

A model discovers a retired judge is keen on invading people's privacy.

Coral reefs around the world are vanishing at an unprecedented rate. A team of divers, photographers and scientists set out on a thrilling ocean adventure to discover why and to reveal the underwater mystery to the world.

Life in Cuba for three struggling families over the course of 45 years, from the cautious optimism of the early 1970s to the harrowing 1990s after the fall of the Soviet Union and the 2016 death of Fidel Castro.

Focuses on life and the environment in both the Arctic and Antarctic.

Seven continents formed by Earth's splitting crust each have unique climates, terrain and wildlife. Journey across South America's paradise to Africa's heat, discovering unexpected stories and spectacular nature.

Classic American Anthology series created by Rod Serling, featuring standalone stories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror, each with a twist ending or moral lesson.

Alex Honnold faces the biggest challenge of his career, climbing El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. He pursues it Free Solo, which means climbing without a rope and alone.

A heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

Boxing documentary on the 1974 world heavyweight championship bout between defending champion, George Foreman, and the underdog challenger, Muhammad Ali.

The Beatles candidly tell their own story, with all its complexities and contradictions.

In Jeju, a spirited girl and a steadfast boy's island story blossoms into a lifelong tale of setbacks and triumphs, proving love endures across time.

30 years later, we're bringing the Banks family back together. Join Will Smith and his former co-stars for a funny and heartfelt night full of music and dancing in honor of the show that ran for six seasons and 148 episodes.

Nathan Fielder uses his business degree and life experiences to, in unorthodox ways, help real small businesses turn a profit.

Follows Elvis Presley, featuring never-before-seen footage and recordings.

A drama about one of New York's most prestigious ad agencies at the beginning of the 1960s, focusing on one of the firm's most mysterious but extremely talented ad executives, Donald Draper.

A look at the final years in the life of Martin Luther King, Jr.

A bureaucrat tries to find meaning in his life after he discovers he has terminal cancer.

A documentary of the notorious racial terrorist 1963 bombing by the Ku Klux Klan of the African American 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham during the Civil Rights Movement, which killed four young girls.

Down the road from Woodstock, a revolution blossomed at a ramshackle summer camp for teenagers with disabilities, transforming their lives and igniting a landmark movement.

A documentary that utilizes hundreds of hours of audio that Marlon Brando recorded over the course of his life to tell the screen legend's story.

On January 28th 1985, dozens of the era's most popular musicians gathered in Los Angeles to record a charity single for African famine relief. Setting egos aside, they collaborated on a song that would make history.

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

An in-depth look at Hollywood's depiction of transgender people and the impact of those stories on transgender lives and American culture.

A documentary of the successful career and assassination of San Francisco's first elected gay city supervisor.

The daily lives of healthcare professionals in a Pittsburgh hospital as they juggle personal crises, workplace politics, and the emotional toll of treating critically ill patients, revealing the resilience required in their noble ...

Using extensive interviews with survivors and archival footage, an examination reveals the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

A group of activists risk their lives fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Chechnya.

Africa, the world's wildest continent. David Attenborough takes an awe-inspiring journey through one of the most diverse places in the world. We visit deserts, savannas, and jungles and meet up with some of Africa's amazing wildlife.

Documentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.

Follows US president Josiah Bartlet and his administration as they tackle various political issues in order to maintain peace and harmony in the nation.

In official collaboration with the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, this documentary series takes viewers through harrowing moments of the historic morning of September 11, 2001.

USA Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar is convicted of serial sexual abuse of young athletes.

Explores the life and legacy of Mariska Hargitay's mother, Hollywood icon Jayne Mansfield, who died tragically in a car accident at age 34 when Mariska was only three years old.

Incarcerated men defy the odds to expose a cover-up in one of America's deadliest prison systems.

The life and work of the renowned primatology scientist, Jane Goodall, especially on her research about chimpanzees.

Follow the Indianapolis Star reporters that broke the story about USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar's abuse and hear from gymnasts like Maggie Nichols.

An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman see the value of his own life.

HBO special featuring the folk duo from New Zealand performing live at the London Apollo.

Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.

A man in his 40s withstands the weight of life. A woman in her 20s goes through different experiences, but also withstands the weight of her life. The man and woman get together to help each other.

A single father begins to narrate the story of the missing mother to his child and nothing remains the same.

The story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.

The secret life of a young World of Warcraft gamer is vividly reimagined when his online friends contact his family after his death.

His unforgettable scores are an essential part of some of the most beloved movies of our time, over a career that spans decades. See and hear maestro John Williams' own story, with insights from filmmakers, musicians, and others he has inspired, complete with rare behind-the-scenes looks at the making of movie history.

A man forms an unlikely friendship with a wild otter while living in the remote Shetland Islands

A young couple trying for a baby moves into an aging, ornate apartment building on Central Park West, where they find themselves surrounded by peculiar neighbors.

The life and career of fashion designer Lee Alexander McQueen: from his start as a tailor, to launching and overseeing his eponymous line and his untimely death.

Follows the man who survived an assassination attempt by poisoning with a lethal nerve agent in August 2020. During his months-long recovery he makes shocking discoveries about the attempt on his life and decides to return home.

An examination of the U.S. government's response to Hurricane Katrina.

In this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.

A filmmaker forges an unusual friendship with an octopus living in a South African kelp forest, learning as the animal shares the mysteries of her world.

Exposing her role behind the camera, Kirsten Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.

A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.

On an isolated island in Brittany at the end of the eighteenth century, a female painter is obliged to paint a wedding portrait of a young woman.

An elderly man and his dog struggle to survive on his government pension in Rome.

In late 1944, even as they faced imminent defeat, the Nazis expended enormous resources to kill or deport over 425,000 Jews during the "cleansing" of Hungary. This Oscar-winning documentary, executive produced by Steven Spielberg,...

A daughter helps her father prepare for the end of his life.

A documentary looking at the inner-workings of the Church of Scientology.

When death is your business, what is your life? Laced with irony and dark situational humor, the show approaches the subject of death through the eyes of the Fisher family, who owns and operates a funeral home in Los Angeles.

A look at the life, work, activism and controversies of actress and fitness tycoon, Jane Fonda.

In post-war Italy, a working-class man's bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. He and his son set out to find it.

Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded.

Two rival hockey stars at the top of their game face an unexpected challenge when they develop feelings for each other, complicating their careers and the sport's expectations.

Cast and crew members from all "Harry Potter" films reunite in a retrospective special to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001).

Reeve's rise to becoming a film star follows with a near-fatal horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. After the accident, he became an activist for spinal cord injury treatments and disability ri...

Newly-discovered archive footage and witness accounts to lay bare the tragedy and heroic efforts made to prevent another explosion.

Guido seeks peace after his success but faces pressure from past collaborators. As he struggles with creativity, he reflects on his life and past romances.

This unnervingly vivid dive into the 1971 uprising from Emmy® winning director Stanley Nelson sheds new light on the enduring violence and racism of the prison system and highlights the urgent, ongoing need for reform 50 years later.

An orphaned young man in India pursues his dream of becoming a writer while navigating life's challenges and personal growth.

The fascinating relationship between predators and their prey, and the strategies predators use to catch their food and prey use to escape death.

Bomman and Bellie, a couple in South India, devote their lives to caring for an orphaned baby elephant named Raghu, forging a family like no other that tests the barrier between the human and the animal world.

A nature documentary series on five vulnerable or endangered species known to form enduring populations: chimpanzee, emperor penguin, lion, tiger and African wild dog.

Follows the life of artist Nan Goldin and the downfall of the Sackler family, the pharmaceutical dynasty who was greatly responsible for the opioid epidemic's unfathomable death toll.

A tale of ambition, family, love, and war set in the midst of the Japanese Civil Wars of the sixteenth century.

As daily airstrikes pound civilian targets in Syria, a group of indomitable first responders risk their lives to rescue victims from the rubble.

An intimate portrait of actress Debbie Reynolds and her relationship with her beloved children, Carrie and Todd.

An exploration of the history of the Bee Gees, featuring revealing interviews with oldest brother Barry Gibb, and archival interviews with the late twin brothers Robin and Maurice.

An in-depth look at various NASA moon landing missions, starting with Apollo 8.

A heartwarming and emotional story about a unique set of triplets, their struggles, and their wonderful parents.

Chris Rock's 2008 comedy tour visits London, New York and Johannesburg. Various parts of this tour are edited together to create his fifth HBO stand-up special.

Discover amazing landscapes, the most amazing fights of animals on our planet, from the highest mountains to the deepest oceans, from the darkest caves to the hottest deserts with new technology.

A group of teenagers in Hawaii enter the world of professional competitive surfing in the 1990s and rise to super stardom.

Impoverished priest Harihar Ray, dreaming of a better life for himself and his family, leaves his rural Bengal village in search of work.

A woman explores the events surrounding a film she and her friends began making with a mysterious stranger decades ago.

Falling in love in 1947, two women -- Pat Henschel and pro baseball player Terry Donahue -- begin a 65-year journey of love and overcoming prejudice.

Four dogged door-to-door Bible salesmen travel from Boston to Florida on a seemingly futile quest to sell luxury editions of the Good Book to working-class Catholics.

A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.

Documentary film that focuses on the period beginning with the birth of Motown in Detroit in 1958 until its relocation to Los Angeles in the early 1970s.

A son creates a list of things worth living for--all in an attempt to raise the spirits of his chronically depressed mother--in this adaptation of the acclaimed one-character show.

When Raj meets Simran in Europe, it isn't love at first sight but when Simran moves to India for an arranged marriage, love makes its presence felt.

In 1973, Hollywood actor Bing Russell starts an independent minor league baseball team in Portland consisting of outcasts and misfits, and turns them into unlikely overnight success.

This intimate, in-depth look at Beyoncé's celebrated 2018 Coachella performance reveals the emotional road from creative concept to cultural movement.

When three hundred thousand members of the Love Generation collided with a few dozen Hells Angels at San Francisco's Altamont Speedway, the bloody slash that transformed a decade's dreams into disillusionment was immortalized on t...

An authorized documentary on the late musician Kurt Cobain, from his early days in Aberdeen, Washington to his success and downfall with the grunge band Nirvana.

Anthony Bourdain visits countries, delving into their political issues as well as indigenous food and culture.

A lonely widow meets a much younger Moroccan worker in a bar during a rainstorm. They fall in love, to their own surprise and to the outright shock of their families, colleagues, and drinking buddies.

A drama that follows the lives of the Dillon Panthers, one of the nation's best high school football teams, and their head coach Eric Taylor.

A users guide to the cosmos from the big bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons. Where did it all come from and how does it all fit together. A primer for anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered.

Kon Ichikawa examines the beauty and rich drama on display at the 1964 Summer Games in Tokyo, creating a record of observations that range from the expansive to the intimate.

A tribute to Jaws (1975), the movie that sparked a lasting fascination with the ocean's most misunderstood predator.

A stage director and an actress struggle through a grueling, coast-to-coast divorce that pushes them to their personal extremes.

Documentary covering Bob Dylan's 1965 tour of England, which includes appearances by Joan Baez and Donovan.

A documentary on the unrest in Ukraine during 2013 and 2014, as student demonstrations supporting European integration grew into a violent revolution calling for the resignation of President Viktor F. Yanukovich.

A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.

Four strangers' paths cross by chance, leading to complex emotional entanglements that challenge their existing relationships and force them to confront uncomfortable truths about love and commitment.

A TV show devoted to help young people to be mature in their faith, work, and knowledge.

This documentary explores the murder of DeeDee Blanchard by her daughter Gypsy Rose, as well as the circumstances leading up to the event.

An anxious New Yorker attempts to give everyday advice while dealing with his own personal issues.

A young African-American man grapples with his identity and sexuality while experiencing the everyday struggles of childhood, adolescence, and burgeoning adulthood.

An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school sparks a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.

Journalist Shiori Ito investigates her own sexual assault, seeking to prosecute the high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case, exposing Japan's outdated judicial and societal systems.

A single mother working as a dishwasher who has another life as record-breaking mountain climber.

The bizarre untold truth behind the greatest con in music history - Milli Vanilli.

A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

Examines the groundbreaking career of pioneering television host Ed Sullivan, focusing on his platforming of Black musicians during the civil rights era.

Two sisters find out the existence of their long-lost mother, but the younger cannot take the truth of being abandoned as a child.

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class...

In the summer of 1983, a 17-year-old Elio spends his days in his family's villa in Italy. One day Oliver, a graduate student, arrives to assist Elio's father, a professor of Greco-Roman culture. Soon, Elio and Oliver discover a summer that will alter their lives forever.

Meeting a stranger in a railway station, a woman is tempted to cheat on her husband.

Discover the special bond -- and uncommon competitive spirit -- shared by the world's Rubik's Cube-solving record breakers in this documentary.

Recently released from a mental hospital, Karin rejoins her emotionally disconnected family in their island home, only to slip from reality as she begins to believe she is being visited by God.

A look at the people involved with various political campaigns during the 2018 U.S. congressional election.

A care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.