20 best shows like Northwest Passage (1940)

The lives of two families, one white American, one native American, become mingled through the momentous events of American expansion, between 1825 and 1890.

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Vikings follows the adventures of Ragnar Lothbrok, the greatest hero of his age. The series tells the sagas of Ragnar's band of Viking brothers and his family, as he rises to become King of the Viking tribes. As well as being a fearless warrior, Ragnar embodies the Norse traditions of devotion to the gods. Legend has it that he was a direct descendant of Odin, the god of war and warriors.

Vice Adm. Horatio Nelson's remarkable naval career and troubled personal affairs are brought to life in this miniseries, which tells his famous story through the narratives of those who knew him best.

The series follows the "untold" story of Leonardo Da Vinci: the genius during his early years in Renaissance Florence. As a 25-year old artist, inventor, swordsman, lover, dreamer and idealist, he struggles to live within the confines of his own reality and time as he begins to not only see the future, but invent it.

Spartacus is an American television series inspired by the historical figure of Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who from 73 to 71 BCE led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic departing from Capua.

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

Dynamic reenactments and expert commentaries bring to life the tumultuous history and power struggles of a warring 16th-century feudal Japan.

The incredible, true story of the Norwegian Crown Princess Märtha’s efforts to support her country during World War II. After a headlong flight from the Nazis, she was forced to part from her husband and cross the Atlantic Ocean to seek refuge in the United States. There, she soon found herself involved in a close relationship with the President of the United States: Franklin D. Roosevelt.

A down-to-earth account of the lives of both illustrious and ordinary Romans set in the last days of the Roman Republic.

A military attaché at the French embassy is drawn into a world of abduction, betrayal and intrigue in the diplomatic salons and back alleys of Warsaw. A classic tale of spying, intrigue, and romance, based on the novels of Alan Furst and adapted by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais.

The economic and cultural growth of town of Centennial, Colorado, through the intertwining lives of the brave men and women inhabiting it. Spanning two centuries from the settling of the area in the 1700s, to the late 1970s.

Berlin, Germany, 1935. The day Karl Weiss, a Jewish painter, and Inga Helms, a Christian woman, marry, is the one in which both of them and the entire Weiss family are caught up in the maelstrom of the Nazi regime, the storms of World War II and the horrors of the criminal Final Solution, the Holocaust, the Shoah; while Erik Dorf, an ambitious lawyer, undertakes his fall into hell at the hands of the sinister Reinhard Heydrich.

Track the intertwined real-life stories of three U.S. Marines – Robert Leckie, John Basilone, and Eugene Sledge – across the vast canvas of the Pacific Theater during World War II. A companion piece to the 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers.

Scarlett is a 1994 six hour miniseries loosely based on the sequel to Margaret Mitchell's novel, Gone with the Wind, written by Alexandra Ripley. The series was filmed at 53 locations in the United States and abroad, and stars Joanne Whalley as Scarlett O'Hara, Timothy Dalton as Rhett Butler, and Sean Bean as Lord Richard Fenton as well as many other notable British and American actors.

The story of a young Louis XIV on his journey to become the most powerful monarch in Europe, from his battles with the fronde through his development into the Sun King. Historical and fictional characters guide us in a world of betrayal and political maneuvering, revealing Versailles in all its glory and brutality.

Spartacus is an American television series inspired by the historical figure of Spartacus, a Thracian gladiator who from 73 to 71 BCE led a major slave uprising against the Roman Republic departing from Capua.

The Tudors is a history-based drama series following the young, vibrant King Henry VIII, a competitive and lustful monarch who navigates the intrigues of the English court and the human heart with equal vigor and justifiable suspicion.

Drama series set in the mid-sixties, in which a unit of Royal Military Police officers and their families deal with the challenges of politics, love and war in British-controlled Aden.

The life of Osman Bey, the son of Ertugrul Gazi and the founder of the Ottoman Empire.

A English navigator becomes both a player and pawn in the complex political games in feudal Japan.

A story that revolves around five aristocratic families, set during the reign of Alexander I, and centered on the love triangle between Natasha Rostova, Pierre Bezukhov, and Andrei Bolkonsky.

David McCallum stars as the rebellious Alan Breck Stewart, and this ambitious serial (a co-production between HTV and Germany's Tele-Munchen) also features a host of British character actors, including Bill Simpson, Patrick Allen, Andrew Keir, Patrick Magee and Frank Windsor.When young David Balfour arrives at his uncle's bleak Scottish house to claim his inheritance, his relative tries to murder him then has him shipped off to be sold as a slave in the colonies. Luckily for the lad, he strikes up a friendship with Alan Breck Stewart, who is on the run after Bonnie Prince Charlie's defeat at Culloden. When a ship's captain tries to kill Breck for his money, the two manage to get to land and set out for Edinburgh, dodging the ruthless Redcoats along the way.

American Dreams is an American television drama program broadcast on the NBC television network, produced by Once A Frog and Dick Clark Productions in association with Universal Network Television and NBC Studios. The series was created by Jonathan Prince and developed by Josh Goldstein and Prince; the latter was also one of the executive producers with Dick Clark. It debuted on September 29, 2002. The show is set mostly in Philadelphia. It initially aired on Sundays at 8:00 pm Eastern time, but moved to the same time on Wednesdays from March 9, 2005, to the third season finale. The show tells the story of the Pryor family of Philadelphia during the mid-1960s. Season one takes place in 1963–64, season two in 1964–65, and season three in 1965–66. The show was known as Our Generation when it debuted in Australia, however it was changed back to American Dreams when it returned for the second season.The theme song "Generation" was written and performed by Emerson Hart, lead singer of the band Tonic. The song earned Hart an ASCAP award for Best Theme Song of Television in 2003. The show was the 2003 TV Land Awards "Future Classic" winner.

Saka no Ue no Kumo is an NHK 21st Century special drama which was aired over three years starting from November 29, 2009. The series runs 13 episodes at 90 minutes each. The first series, with 5 episodes, was broadcast in 2009, while series two and three, each with 4 episodes, were broadcast in late 2010 and 2011. While most episodes were shot in Japan, one of the episodes in series two was shot in Latvia. The TV series is based on the novel Saka no ue no kumo by Ryōtarō Shiba and adopted by Hisashi Nozawa.The theme song of the drama series is titled "Stand Alone". It was composed by Joe Hisaishi, written by Kundo Koyama and performed by British soprano singer Sarah Brightman.