20 best shows like Mean Machine (2001)

This mockumentary goes behind the microphone of Kurupt FM - the second most popular pirate radio station in West London, receiving up to eight texts per show and playing the finest in UK garage and drum 'n' bass. Co-founded by the MC Sniper and DJ Beats in 2002, the station has now built up a following of over a hundred people and has attracted the attention of the BBC who are making a documentary about the lives of those behind Kurupt FM

This Karate Kid sequel series picks up 30 years after the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament and finds Johnny Lawrence on the hunt for redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo. This reignites his old rivalry with the successful Daniel LaRusso, who has been working to maintain the balance in his life without mentor Mr. Miyagi.

The two-night scripted miniseries “Houdini” follows the epic tales of Harry Houdini as he emerges as America’s first bonafide world-renowned superstar.

Kickin' It is an American martial arts inspired comedy television series, which debuted on June 13, 2011 on Disney XD. Created and executive produced by Jim O'Doherty, the series is rated TV-Y7 and follows the karate instructor at an under-performing martial arts academy, played by Jason Earles, and his five misfit students, played by Leo Howard, Dylan Riley Snyder, Mateo Arias, Olivia Holt and Alex Christian Jones.On September 20, 2011, Disney XD announced the series had been renewed for a second season. The show's second season premiered on April 2, 2012. Disney XD announced on November 5, 2012 that the series had been renewed for a third season and would go into production in January 2013. The third season premiered on April 1, 2013. Alex Christian Jones is not a main cast member for the third season. In August 2013, Disney XD ordered a fourth season of the series, which is scheduled to air in 2014. Olivia Holt is leaving the fourth season cast to star in the Disney Channel series I Didn't Do It.

Karen Clarke was an ordinary girl thrown into an extraordinary world, as she first meets the glamorous Biba and her brother Rex in one long summer of love, but quickly becomes tangled up in their tragic family history with the romantic idyll turning into a nightmare – one that haunts her to the present day. She will go to extraordinary lengths to protect her family and the secrets that she keeps from them.

The story of a double-glazing showroom in Essex in the 80s, led by charismatic Vincent Swan, and his unscrupulous sales team, Brian Fitzpatrick and Martin Lavender.

The story of how Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher deliberately breached police procedure and protocol to catch a killer, a decision that ultimately cost him his career and reputation.

A behind-the-scenes drama and espionage thriller in Cold War-era England that centers on a journalist, a producer, and an anchorman for an investigative news programme.

Based on a true story that spanned more than 30 years in which a young man was charged and convicted of brutally murdering his mother. Each episode is structured around an interrogation taken directly from the real police case files, with the goal of turning the viewer into a detective.

Six young performers having been dubbed “most likely to succeed” in their hometowns now face the challenges and opportunities of a lifetime in the City of Angels.

Looking at the lives of former and current football players, the show follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football.

Follow Sugar into the underbelly of Victorian London seething with vitality, sexuality, ambition and emotion.

In a world where everyone is striving for what is not worth having, no one is more determined to climb to the heights of English society than Becky Sharp.

Trying to make a name for themselves in New York's competitive fashion scene, Ben Epstein and his friend and business partner Cam Calderon use their street knowledge and connections to bring their ambitions to fruition. With the help of Cam's cousin Rene, who is trying to market his own high-energy drink, and their well-connected friend Domingo, the burgeoning entrepreneurs set out to make it big, encountering obstacles along the way that will require all their ingenuity to overcome.

Loosely based on infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson, who in the early 1960s returned from ten years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles. With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy attempts to regain his piece of Harlem.

Tommy is a chubby barista, whose perfect hands catapult him into the glamorous but ruthless world of modelling. He can take everything his new career throws at him but the hard part is dealing with his new roommates – a tough-talking catalogue model, a muscled lothario and a neurotic catwalk diva.

A drama about the shifting power in a marriage when the personal and political collide.

Following a raft of shootings in an English market town, the crimes are retold in a nonlinear narrative structure through the eyes of a journalist and the tragedies' victims.

Bedlam was a British supernatural drama television series created by David Allison, Neil Jones and Chris Parker. It first aired on 7 February 2011 on Sky Living and Sky Living HD. The series finale was aired on 15 March 2011. In December 2011, it was announced that a second series had been commissioned for airing in Spring 2012 with an updated cast. Series 2 began airing in June 2012 with Lacey Turner taking the lead as a suspended paramedic who can see dead people. On 13 November 2012 Jack Roth who plays Max in the series revealed that Bedlam may return for Series 3 and that a decision on the shows future is to be made around Christmas 2012. On 11 March 2013 Roth announced on Twitter that Bedlam would not be returning for a third series.

The lives and loves of a 1930s Yorkshire town explored in a passionate tale of politics in small places. South Riding charts the story of Sarah Burton's homecoming to Yorkshire in 1934 after twenty years teaching in London and the Empire. After a fiery interview with a conservative interview panel, outspoken Sarah takes up her first headmistress-ship at Kiplington High School for Girls, determined to demonstrate to her new pupils that the future is theirs for the taking.

Set in the small hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town, Candleford, the series chronicles the daily lives of farm-workers, craftsmen and gentry at the end of the 19th Century. Lark Rise to Candleford is a love letter to a vanished corner of rural England and a heart-warming drama series teeming with wit, wisdom and romance.

A love story in two films charts the very different challenges to happiness for Michael and Thomas in the aftermath of World War 2, and to Adam and Steve in the present day.

The lives of the editors and journalists working at a left-leaning broadsheet and a populist tabloid.

'Unforgotten' follows modern police team DCI Cassie Stuart and DI Sunny Khan, who gradually unravel long-forgotten secrets which have a dramatic impact on their investigation and the four potential suspects. The slow revelation of the secrets will also affect the personal lives of both Sunny and Cassie.

Terry Gannon Jr. was an All Star softball player until life threw her a couple curve balls: a baby, a lost college scholarship and a loser for a husband. After striking out on her own, Terry and her son Danny move in with her estranged father, Terry Sr. aka "The Cannon," an opinionated, beer-guzzling, ex-athlete who never quite made the cut as a single father or professional baseball player. When Terry reluctantly offers to coach Danny and a group of other athletically-challenged hopefuls, her past comes rushing back.

An intoxicating love story set in England's first department store in the 1870s. The Paradise revolves around the lives of the people who live and work in the store, each bound in their own way by the power of the world they live in, and the pasts that follow them there. A love story, mystery, and social comedy all in one.

A probationary angel is sent back to Earth to team up with an ex-cop and help people.

At its heart, Banished is a story of survival. Though it is set in the stark historical reality of the founding of the penal colony in Australia in 1788 after the arrival of the First Fleet, it is not the story of Australia and how it came to be. Rather, it is a tale of love, faith, justice and morality played out on an epic scale in a confined community where the stakes are literally life and death.

Four adults nearing 40, living under the same roof, struggle to keep their relationships and their individual dreams alive.

The Defenders is a drama about two colorful Las Vegas defense attorneys who go all-in when it comes to representing their clients. Nick and Pete are the local go-to guys with an eclectic client list who are still looking to hit their own jackpot.

A young 17th-century witch time travels to the future to save the man she loves, but first must adjust to present-day Cartagena and defeat a dark rival.

Party Down is an American comedy television series that follows a Los Angeles, California, catering team for the titular company. The sextet of aspiring Hollywood actors and writers, as well as drifting lost souls, work small-time catering gigs while hoping for their break or some positive change in their lives.

Martial Law is an American/Canadian crime drama that aired on CBS from 1998 to 2000, and was created by Carlton Cuse. The title character, Sammo Law, portrayed by Sammo Hung, was a Chinese law officer and martial arts expert who came to Los Angeles in search of a colleague and remains in the US.The show was a surprise hit, making Hung the only East Asian headlining a prime-time network series in the United States. At the time, Hung was not fluent in English, and he reportedly recited some of his dialogue phonetically. In many scenes, Hung did not speak at all, making Martial Law perhaps the only US television series in history that featured so little dialogue from the lead character.

The beautiful Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon, navigates the royal lineage of England with an eye on the throne.

Ted Lasso, an American football coach, moves to England when he’s hired to manage a soccer team—despite having no experience. With cynical players and a doubtful town, will he get them to see the Ted Lasso Way?

Cuckoo is every parent's worst nightmare - a slacker full of outlandish, New Age ideas. Ken is the over-protective father of a girl who's impulsively married an American hippie on her gap year.

Following the fact-based historical book of the same name, this drama follows the rise of Cromwell as he becomes Henry the VIII's closest advisor. England in the 1520s is a heartbeat from disaster. If the King dies without a male heir, the country could be destroyed by civil war. Henry VIII wants to annul his marriage of twenty years and marry Anne Boleyn. The Pope and most of Europe oppose him. Into this impasse steps Thomas Cromwell: a wholly original man, a charmer, and a bully, both idealist and opportunist, astute in reading people, and implacable in his ambition. But Henry is volatile: one day tender, one day murderous. Cromwell helps him break the opposition, but what will be the price of his triumph?

A critical and often humorous look at the upper class, tracking the protagonist’s harrowing odyssey from a deeply traumatic childhood through adult substance abuse and, ultimately, toward recovery.

Lights Out is an American television boxing drama series from the FX network in the United States. It stars Holt McCallany as Patrick "Lights" Leary, a New Jersey native, and former heavyweight champion boxer who is considering a comeback. The series premiered on January 11, 2011 at 10 pm ET/PT. On March 24, 2011, FX announced the cancellation of the show. The final episode aired on April 5.

Mary, Queen of Scots, faces political and sexual intrigue in the treacherous world of the French court.

An explosive 1930s drama following a jazz band in London at a time of huge change.

The black sheep of the Argyll family, Jack Argyll, was accused of murdering their matriarch a year ago, but now a man shows up on their doorstep claiming Jack’s innocence. The family must come to terms with this news and the fact that the real killer might still be among them.

Detective dramas featuring private investigator Cormoran Strike based on the novels by Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling's pen name).

The fish-out-of-water story of New York accountant Bruce, who falls in love with a Swedish girl named Emma and follows her to Sweden.

Two 19th-century footballers on opposite sides of a class divide navigate professional and personal turmoil to change the game — and England — forever.

In 1972, the Apollo 17 mission discovered a hypergate to Mars on the surface of the moon. Soon a war breaks out between Earth and Mars, and Martian soldiers begin to descend from the sky, riding steel giants, intent on exterminating humanity.

Rayna Jaymes and Juliette Barnes face personal and professional challenges as they navigate their paths as artists and individuals. Surrounding them, and often complicating their lives, are their family, friends and, in some cases, lovers, as well as the up-and-coming performers and songwriters trying to get ahead in the business. In Nashville, musicians and songwriters are at the heart of the storm driven by their own ambitions. Some are fueled by their creativity and passion for fame. Others struggle to cope with the pressures of success and are doing everything in their power to stay on top.

It is the year 1967. After five happy years of marriage in New York with Alberto and their young son, Anna Ribera returns to Spain to take her project Velvet to the next level. She and Alberto had been managing all things Velvet from across the ocean and, together with their best friends and partners, had made a name for Velvet as the number one address in the world of fashion and innovation. Now they decide to take the next step and turn their reputation into a franchise, first at home, then abroad. The first step is opening shop in the other great Spanish city, Barcelona, on its world famous promenade, the Passeig de Gracia. There, the second Velvet Fashion Store is about to open its gates, managed by Ana's good friend Clara who had made it up the career ladder from seamstress to directorial assistant in the Madrid Velvet years.

Black Books centres around the foul tempered and wildly eccentric bookshop owner Bernard Black. Bernard’s devotion to the twin pleasures of drunkenness and wilful antagonism deepens and enriches both his life and that of Manny, his assistant. Bearded, sweet and good, Manny is everything that Bernard isn’t and is punished by Bernard relentlessly just for the crime of existing. They depend on each other for meaning as Fran, their oldest friend, depends on them for distraction. Black Books is a haven of books, wine and conversation, the only threat to the group’s peace and prosperity is their own limitless stupidity.

Kidnapped in Africa and subsequently enslaved in South Carolina, Aminata must navigate a revolution in New York, isolation in Nova Scotia and treacherous jungles of Sierra Leone, in an attempt to secure her freedom in the 19th century.