15 awesome miniseries you can watch in one evening

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Patrick Melrose, Night Administrator, Miracle Workers and other stories that won't take long.

1. The Lost Room

• USA, 2006.
• Mystical detective, fantasy, thriller.
• Duration: 3 episodes.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

Detective Joe Miller and his faithful partner are haunted by the 10th room of the Sunshine Motel. However, the local mafia, sectarians and other influential people would also not mind getting the key to this amazing room. The audience, together with the heroes, will have to find out what is so unusual hidden behind her door.

It seems that the creators of the series were inspired by the aesthetics of David Lynch. Much reminds of the corporate style of the American independent director, including the mystical plot and understatement. The project will surely be appreciated by those who like the series "The X-Files" or "Supernatural", as well as fans of Elle Fanning: a very young actress plays the missing daughter of the main character.

2. Buy

• UK, 2009.
• Crime drama, thriller.
• Duration: 4 episodes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

Freddie Jackson had a good time in prison and got all the necessary connections. Once released, he begins to conquer the city's criminal market, sweeping away all obstacles in his path.

Tom Hardy does a great job in the role of charismatic macho, but the actor looks no less good in the image of a psychopathic criminal. Viewers will have to savor the details from the life of representatives of the criminal world, which is presented here in all its glory.

3. Crimson petal and white

• UK, 2011.
• Romantic drama.
• Duration: 4 episodes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

A resident of Victorian London and not too lucky heir to the perfume business, William falls in love with a nineteen-year-old prostitute nicknamed Sweetie. Soon, the hero transports the precocious girl to his home. It turns out that there he hides from the outside world his wife, who has gone mad after the birth of a child.

The series does a good job of conveying the gloomy atmosphere of the novel of the same name by Michel Faber, author of "Stay in My Skin." The leading roles are played by excellent actors Romola Garay and Chris O'Dowd (and the latter used to humor in "Geeks", but showed an unexpected dramatic talent), and the flamboyant Gillian Anderson appears in the episodic role of the brothel mistress.

4. Mildred Pierce

• USA, 2011.
• Drama.
• Duration: 5 episodes.
• IMDb: 7, 7.

The series takes place during the Great Depression. The husband leaves the housewife, and she is left alone with two children. However, the heroine does not lose heart and finds the strength to start life from scratch.

The show is based on the novel of the same name by James Kane, which has already been transferred to the screen once. The main role was then played by the great actress Joan Crawford. However, the restart with Kate Winslet was also a success: the series was highly praised by Stephen King himself.

5. End of the parade

• UK, 2012.
• Military melodrama.
• Duration: 5 episodes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

Virtuous civil servant Christopher Tietjens lives in an unhappy marriage with his unfaithful wife Sylvia and raises someone else's child. But soon after the hero platonically falls in love with a young suffragette Valentine, he is forced to go to war.

A rare film adaptation of a literary work (in this case, a tetralogy of Ford Madox Ford novels), which pleased everyone: both readers and viewers. The main roles in the series were played by British stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Rebecca Hall, as well as Australian Adelaide Clemens.

6. What Olivia Knows

• USA, 2014.
• Drama.
• Duration: 4 episodes.
• IMDb: 8, 4.

The mini-series, covering 20 years of the life of an ordinary American family, is based on the book of the same name by Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Stout.

The marvelous Frances McDormand plays former math teacher Olivia Kitteridge, who lives with her husband Henry and son Christopher in the fictional town of Crosby. As with any family history, there are enough secrets and skeletons hidden in closets.

7. Houdini

• USA, Canada, 2014.
• Biographical drama.
• Duration: 2 episodes.
• IMDb: 7, 4.

The history of the ups and downs of the magician Harry Houdini, famous for his amazing escapes. His life was surprisingly bright: the illusionist happened to become a destroyer of legends and even meet people like Arthur Conan Doyle and Grigory Rasputin.

The role of Houdini is played by Oscar winner Adrian Brody, known for his intellectual expressive play. And he coped superbly, although outwardly the actor is not too similar to his historical prototype.

8. Night administrator

• UK, USA, 2015.
• Crime drama, detective, thriller.
• Duration: 6 episodes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

The secret services recruit the night administrator of the Nefertiti Hotel, Jonathan Pine, to infiltrate a criminal gang led by the influential businessman and arms dealer Richard Ruper.

If the tandem of Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie does not seem to be enough reason for you to watch The Night Administrator, the numerous awards will speak for themselves: an Emmy for director Suzanne Beer, three Golden Globes and the title of Best British TV Series 2016 by versions of the Radio Times.

9. 11.22.63

• USA, 2016.
• Fantastic drama, detective, thriller.
• Duration: 8 episodes.
• IMDb: 8, 2.

English teacher Jake Epping travels back in time to prevent the assassination of Kennedy. However, he does not yet know that it is not so easy to change the course of history.

A detective retro series from the J. J. Abrams team based on Stephen King's novel will be appreciated by everyone who is close to the spirit of post-war America of the 1960s. They decided to call James Franco for the main role and were not mistaken: the hero in his performance turned out to be a terribly sweet and charming guy.

10. Rillington Place

• UK, 2016.
• Biographical crime drama.
• Duration: 3 episodes.
• IMDb: 7, 1.

The miniseries starring Tim Roth tells the story of the real maniac John Christie, who, while his wife was away, lured women into his house, gassed them, raped, strangled and buried corpses in the back.

The name of the series is consonant with the street where the killer once lived. True, it can no longer be found on the map of modern London: after the story became public, the street had to be renamed due to notoriety.

11. One night

• USA, 2016.
• Crime drama.
• Duration: 8 episodes.
• IMDb: 8, 5.

In the morning, after a stormy night with a girl, Pakistani-American student Nasir finds his new acquaintance dead. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, all charges fall on him.

At first, you might get the impression that this is a series about finding the killer. But instead of a detective investigation, we are shown a long and painful trial. At the same time, the young actor Reese Ahmed demonstrated an impressive evolution of his character, clearly showing how a naive guy turns into a person who has been forever changed by the brutal penitentiary system.

12. Patrick Melrose

• UK, 2018.
• Drama.
• Duration: 5 episodes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

Aristocrat Patrick Melrose tries to overcome his addictions and return to normal life. It soon becomes clear that the reasons for the hero's self-destructive behavior lie in distant childhood.

In the series based on the autobiographical stories of Edward St. Aubin, Benedict Cumberbatch gives a masterful performance and shows a very reliable overcoming of personality decay. Patrick Melrose also brings up important topics such as the horror of sexual abuse and the aftermath of childhood trauma. Unsurprisingly, the series won two well-deserved BAFTA awards at once.

13. Chernobyl

• USA, UK, 2019.
• Historical drama.
• Duration: 5 episodes.
• IMDb: 9, 5.

The five-part project of the HBO channel, dedicated to one of the most terrible man-made disasters in history - the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, recreates the events associated with the tragedies itself and the elimination of its consequences.

A special merit of the 2019 Emmy-winning series was that the authors did not focus on the disaster itself. Instead, they showed how a wide variety of people saw the situation: high-ranking officials, station workers and ordinary Soviet citizens.

14. Family marriage

• UK, 2019.
• Comedy family drama.
• Duration: 10 episodes.
• IMDb: 7, 9.

Tom and Louise come to the pub every week for a drink before another session with a family therapist. Over the course of 10 short episodes, the characters will try to figure out whether they should save their marriage.

The series is built exclusively on the lengthy dialogues of the two main characters and is full of charming black humor. It's nice that Rosamund Pike and Chris O'Dowd in the Russian version were voiced by Tatyana Lazareva and Mikhail Shatz - a real married couple of actors.

15. Miracle workers

• USA, 2019.
• Comedy fantasy.
• Duration: 7 episodes.
• IMDb: 6, 9.

This light and funny story about everyday office life with Daniel Radcliffe and eccentric Steve Buscemi as a bored God will surely appeal to many. According to the plot, in order to cancel the end of the world, the lower-ranking angels Craig and Eliza must fulfill one of the most impracticable prayers: to help two insecure people come together.