20 best shows like The Royal Game (2021)

In a Kentucky orphanage in the 1950s, a young girl discovers an astonishing talent for chess while struggling with addiction.

Park Jung-Woo is a prosecutor at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. One day, he wakes up and finds himself in locked up at the police station. He has temporary amnesia. Park Jung-Woo is falsely accused and is sentenced to death. He must struggle to prove his innocence.

A former U.S. Marine, Lázaro Mendoza, enters a maximum security prison in Mexico (La Rotunda), under a false identity and accused of an alleged triple murder. Now as Dante Pardo, his mission is to infiltrate a dangerous band of inmates and guards that operate inside and outside of prison who are the prime suspects of the kidnapping of the teenage daughter of U.S. Judge, John Morris. Inside La Rotunda, Lázaro has to find out who carried out the kidnapping and the whereabouts of the girl.

During a routine search of an old cabin in the remote and wintery back country, Finnish policewoman, Nina Kautsalo, discovers two dead prostitutes, with a third still fighting for her life. The ensuing investigation takes a surprise twist when an extremely rare and deadly virus is discovered in the surviving woman’s bloodwork. When the Finnish Bureau of Investigation takes over the case, German virologist, Thomas Lorenz is called in to assist in identifying and containing the virus. Set within the endless white expanse of the arctic circle, Nina and Thomas must rely on each other to have any hope of saving the ones they love. But what takes precedence? A deadly virus or an active serial killer?

A newly minted military interrogator arrives at a covert detention center to discover that some of the terrorists held there are not of this world.

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.

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.

The stranger-than-fiction account of a prison break in upstate New York in the summer of 2015, which spawned a massive manhunt for two convicted murderers who were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled.

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.

An ex-cop entered a prison as convicted under a false identity in order to infiltrate within a group of prisoners that has just kidnapped the teenage daughter of an important national judge.

Based on the true story of Grace Marks, a housemaid and immigrant from Ireland who was imprisoned in 1843, perhaps wrongly, for the murder of her employer Thomas Kinnear. Grace claims to have no memory of the murder yet the facts are irrefutable. A decade after, Dr. Simon Jordan tries to help Grace recall her past.

An agent in the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit develops profiling techniques as he pursues notorious serial killers and rapists.

Inspired by the adventures of Arsène Lupin, gentleman thief Assane Diop sets out to avenge his father for an injustice inflicted by a wealthy family.

After seven years in a Málaga prison, a male stripper is released pending retrial and sets out to prove his lover framed him for her husband's murder.

After a fateful domestic clash, a devoted mother finds herself in prison and fighting to survive in hopes of reuniting with her daughter.

Winter in Vienna. Children disappear. For now without a trace, then their bodies are found. A gift for the tabloid press. For the police a series of defeats. Politically a problem. And at the same time the long-awaited opportunity for the ambitious interior minister. The organized crime is in trouble. The child murderer must be found so that all other dirty jobs can go on.

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

The daily lives of prisoners in Emerald City, an experimental unit of the Oswald Maximum Security Prison where ingroups - Muslims, Latinos, Italians, Aryans - stick close to their mutual friends and terrorizes their mutual enemies.

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis, as well as a large cast of notable actors and actresses.

A prisoner consumed by guilt, an officer with an impossible choice. What does it take to survive? A tense story of punishment and principles, starring Sean Bean and Stephen Graham.

Alcatraz is an American television series created by Elizabeth Sarnoff, Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt, and produced by J. J. Abrams and Bad Robot Productions. The series premiered on Fox on January 16, 2012, as a mid-season replacement. Switching between eras, the series focuses on the Alcatraz prison, which was allegedly shut down in 1963 due to unsafe conditions for its prisoners and guards. The show's premise is that both the prisoners and the guards disappeared in 1963 and have abruptly reappeared in modern-day San Francisco, where they are being tracked down by a government agency. The series starred Sarah Jones, Jorge Garcia, Sam Neill and Parminder Nagra. The show was cancelled on May 9, 2012.

The story of a wealthy family that lost everything, and the one son who had no choice but to keep them all together.

A security consultant hunts for a ruthless assassin. Based on the Villanelle novellas by Luke Jennings.

A crime she committed in her youthful past sends Piper Chapman to a women's prison, where she trades her comfortable New York life for one of unexpected camaraderie and conflict in an eccentric group of fellow inmates.

A devoted woman makes the ultimate sacrifice for her boyfriend, only to learn that love doesn't always conquer all. Yoo Jeong is a sweet, upbeat person who has always stuck by her boyfriend, Ahn Do Hoon, all through school as he cared for a disabled father. But Do Hoon gets into a car accident that results in the death of a woman. Unable to face her boyfriend having to go to jail for a hit-and-run accident, the self-sacrificing Yoo Jeong takes the blame for the accident and serves time in prison in his place. Min Hyeok, a cold-hearted heir to a business empire, had just begun to open his heart to a woman when she is killed in the hit-and-run accident. Years later, he is engaged to Shin Se Yeon, a congressman's daughter. Can Yoo Jeong and Min Hyeok mend their wounded hearts and discover the real meaning of love?

The Driver tells the story of Vince who, following a family mystery, blames himself and his inadequacies and, out of this crisis, he accepts an offer to start driving for a criminal gang.

Fresh out of prison, world-class thief Daisy ”Jett” Kowalski is forced back into doing what she does best by dangerous and eccentric criminals determined to exploit her skills for their own ends.

Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to July 4, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during World War II. Bob Crane starred as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, coordinating an international crew of Allied prisoners running a Special Operations group from the camp. Werner Klemperer played Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the commandant of the camp, and John Banner was the inept sergeant-of-the-guard, Hans Schultz.The series was popular during its six-season run. In 2013, creators Bernard Fein through his estate and Albert S. Ruddy acquired the sequel and other separate rights to Hogan's Heroes from Mark Cuban through arbitration and a movie based on the show has been planned.

Bea Smith is locked up while awaiting trial for the attempted murder of her husband and must learn how life works in prison. A modern adaptation and sequel of the iconic Prisoner series.

Three girls in high school made a prank on the fourth girl and caused her to be expelled from the high school with her teacher. After 20 years they got together in a high society environment.

As Delhi reels in the aftermath of a gang rape, DCP Vartika Chaturvedi leads a painstaking search for the culprits. Based on the 2012 Nirbhaya case.

When a gruesomely staged body is found, propped up on a mountain pass in the Alps close to the German-Austrian border, two detectives are sent to investigate. For German detective Ellie, this is the first real challenge of her career; her Austrian counterpart Gedeon though seems to have lost any ambitions in his job. Very soon, they discover more crime scenes with symbolically posed victims, reminiscent of pagan rituals. It all seems to be part of a bigger, sinister plan. Ellie finds herself under increasing pressure to understand the deranged killer's motives so she can stop him. The hunt leads them ever deeper in the dark valleys and archaic Alpine customs - and the paranoid world of the killer.

The son of a notorious serial killer becomes an acclaimed criminal psychologist who uses his unique insight into how killers think to help the NYPD.

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.

Berlin, summer of 1941, during the World War II. Five young Germans promise to meet again as soon the war ends… in Christmas: brothers Wilhelm and Friedhelm will go to the Russian front. Charlotte will serve as a nurse in a campaign hospital. Greta dreams of becoming a singer. Viktor, her Jewish boyfriend, works as a tailor with her father. But soon their naive wishes of peace and happiness will become a long and tragic nightmare.

Jeanne Deber, known as "La Mante", the famous serial murderer who terrorized France more than 20 years ago, is forced by the police to come out of isolation to track down her copycat. She agrees to collaborate on one condition: to have only one interlocutor, Damien Carrot, her son, who became a cop because of the crimes of his mother, and who refuses all contact with her since her arrest.

Endgame is a Canadian drama television series that premiered on the Showcase Television network on Monday, March 14, 2011. The series is developed and produced by Thunderbird Films. The series follows former World Chess Champion Arkady Balagan, a genius who uses his analytical skills to solve crimes. The show starts three months after the death of Balagan's fiancée Rosemary, where Balagan has developed agoraphobia. Balagan uses those faculties he honed playing chess to help him solve cases. In the United States, the series is broadcast exclusively on Hulu.

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.

Tracy Whitney was in love, pregnant and engaged to marry into one of America's best family. And then, with one phone call, she lost everything. After 5 years of unjust imprisonment, Tracy emerges from prison a new woman. Cunning. Ruthless. Determined to survive. But there is one man as formidable as she is. As their paths crisscross, they eventually become daredevil partners in an adventure that climaxes their criminal careers.

The lives of the Roy family as they contemplate their future once their aging father begins to step back from the media and entertainment conglomerate they control.

This drama series is a fictionalized retelling of the story of meth dealer-turned-ATF informant Charles Falco, who spent three years inside one of America's most dangerous motorcycle gangs, the Vagos. Although Falco originally took on the assignment to avoid spending 20 years in prison on drug charges, it eventually evolved into a quest for justice for him. “Gangland Undercover” documents the lives of outlaw bikers, who live in a world in which respect is earned through fear. The series is based on Falco's memoir, “Vagos, Mongols, and Outlaws,” and documented historical research of gang rivalries.

Inspired by actual cases and experiences, Numb3rs depicts the confluence of police work and mathematics in solving crime as an FBI agent recruits his mathematical genius brother to help solve a wide range of challenging crimes in Los Angeles from a very different perspective.

A prisoner becomes a lawyer, litigating cases for other inmates while fighting to overturn his own life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit.

The worst thing Ben has ever done is, tonight, he takes his Dad's black cab out without his permission. But that's not why Ben ends the evening in a police cell. What looked to be a spontaneous evening of fun with a sexy stranger, Melanie, has culminated in a dead girl and Ben covered in her blood, holding the murder weapon. All the evidence points to Ben. There are no other leads. But he didn t do it. He can t remember all the events of the night, but he s sure he didn t. Ben is about to see what the criminal justice system does to someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time

Based on the stories of Stephen King, the series intertwines characters and themes from the fictional town of Castle Rock.

After seven years in prison, David Collins is acquitted of the murder of his wife. Now, he must fight to rebuild his shattered life while police search for the real murderer.

Freddie Jackson is released from prison in 1984 having served a four-year sentence for armed robbery. His wife Jackie, who has been waiting for him on the outside in the mistaken belief that that he wants to go straight, soon finds herself disappointed: Freddie is in fact raring to get back into the game and has set his sights on becoming top dog in the East End underworld.

Superjail! is an American animated television series produced by Augenblick Studios the first season and Titmouse, Inc. the second and third season. The series follows the events that take place in an unusual prison. The pilot episode aired on television on May 13, 2007, and its first season began on September 28, 2008. Superjail! is characterized by its psychedelic shifts in setting and plot and extreme graphic violence, which give the series a TV-MA-V rating. These elements are depicted through highly elaborate animated sequences, which have been described as "baroque and complicated and hard to take in at a single viewing". A fourth season was confirmed on David Wain's Twitter.

Life with Louie is an American animated series. The show is based on the childhood of stand-up comedian Louie Anderson, growing up with his family in Wisconsin.The first two episodes aired in primetime on Fox.The series has since aired on the European version of Jetix and was popular enough to merit a few DVD releases in the region.