20 best shows like The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner (2008)

Just an ordinary boy from the Sofia suburbs becomes the first bulgarian undercover cop. Forced by his father when he was young to lie and cheat, Martin becomes the perfect liar. That skill, and also the hatred of the 'underworld' makes him the perfect match for a dangerous mission - to infiltrate the crime organisation of a rich and powerful businessman. While infiltrating and living in fear of being uncovered, Martin falls in love with the most inappropriate woman - Djaro's girlfriend, Suni. Just when he gains the trust of the mobsters, it appears that the real enemy is in the police. Martin is alone against all, facing difficult decisions.

Two hundred years after the construction of the great cathedral, the medieval town of Kingsbridge is taken under siege by Queen Isabella. Caris, a visionary young woman, inspires her people to stand up for their rights and revolt against to the most powerful forces of her time, the Church and the Crown.

The life of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Northern Italy, 1327. The Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young apprentice Adso of Melk reach an isolated Benedictine abbey on the Alps to aid in a dispute between the Franciscan Order and the Avignon papacy. Upon arrival at the abbey, the two find themselves involved in a chain of mysterious deaths.

The story begins at the darkest moment in 1916 when the country is occupied, the army on Corfu. The plot follows the historical events until 1921 and the death of King Peter, ie the Great War, the liberation of the country, the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.

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?

When a singer is found murdered, with her scent glands excised from her body, detectives probe a group of friends who attended boarding school with her.

Shamed by his father's dying words, con man Attila Miklosi tries to go straight but eventually succumbs to pressure from his demanding wife Janka and his boss, Endre Hollos, and returns to his life of crime. When his son tries to follow him into the criminal underworld, Attila questions if he will be able to shield the boy.

Belfast, 1909. The Harland and Wolff shipyard has been handed the greatest project in its history. It will build a great, unsinkable ship. And it will be called the RMS Titanic.

The main characters in some better people are members of the Uroevi and Graovac families. Three generations under one roof, in the neighboring apartments Graovac and Uroevi, represent an ideal terrain for conflicts between generations and value systems, as well as fine humor.

The true story of the Allied ship Laconia, sunk in WWII by a German U-Boat, which then surfaced against orders to rescue the civilian crew

Newly divorced journalist returns to her hometown to restart her life and work through her past.

Between forests and hills, the river Ahr meanders through a mystical, foggy autumn landscape. Amidst this idyll a man awakens in the middle of a vineyard. He does not know who he is, where he is or how he came to be here. Next to him is a dead young woman lying among the vines. As a foreigner in the secluded town in the Ahr valley he enters an archaic village community, which seems to keep a secret from him.

Icelandic crime drama featuring Chief of Police Andri.

A story about two half-sisters life in the eighteenth century Suriname. There is Lynda, a white colonial and slave owner, and her slave Mini-Mini's. While Lynda is slowly embittered by the hard life in the colony, Mini-Mini gets a chance at her own happiness. The question is, if she dares to seize that chance, as this happiness is at the expense of her mistress and half sister?

A sheltered London professor attempts to uncover the cause of his wife’s mysterious death in Hong Kong, traveling there after discovering she died in a car accident on the mountain roads of Tai Po.

The story of Saverio Barone, a young prosecutor who in the early nineties became the protagonist of the “caccia alla Mafia” (Mafia-hunt) immediately following the Capaci and Via D'Amelio bombings. Inspired by the true story of the anti-Mafia magistrate Alfonso Sabella.

Zen is a British television mini series produced by Left Bank Pictures for the BBC, co-produced with WGBH Boston for its Masterpiece anthology series, Mediaset and ZDF. It stars Rufus Sewell and Caterina Murino and is based on the Aurelio Zen detective novels by Michael Dibdin. The series was filmed on location in Italy, but the dialogue is in English. The series, which comprises three 90-minute films, was broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sunday evenings from 2 January 2011 on BBC One. The three films were based on the books Vendetta, Cabal and Ratking.

Carlos is a French-German television and cinema biographical film from 2010, about the life of the 1970s international terrorist Carlos the Jackal, from his first series of attacks in 1973 until his arrest in 1994. It premiered as a three-part TV mini-series on French pay channel Canal+, with the three parts airing on 19 May, May 26 and June 2, 2010. On the same day it premiered on Canal+, the full 5½ hour version was also shown out of competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Produced by Daniel Leconte of French production company Film En Stock and Jens Meuer of German production company Egoli Tossell Film, in association with Canal+ and French Arte, it was directed by Olivier Assayas from a screenplay by Leconte, Assayas and Dan Franck, and stars Édgar Ramírez as Carlos. The film exists both as a three-part mini-series and a feature film of various lengths between 338 and 319 minutes, but also in several abridged versions, from 187 minutes down to 166 minutes. Classified as a theatrical film as well as a TV film/TV mini-series, Carlos has been awarded both theatrical awards and TV awards; among them the 2010 Golden Globe award for the 'Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television', the 2010 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Director, the National Society of Film Critics 2010 award for Best Director, the New York Film Critics Circle 2010 award for Best Foreign Language Film, the 2010 European Film Award for Best Editor, the 2010 Critics Award for Best Film at the São Paulo International Film Festival, and Édgar Ramírez won the 2010 César Award for Most Promising Actor.

After the death of his mother, 16-year-old Juri and his father Jaschek move into a rundown housing complex on the city outskirts. While Jaschek tries to establish a new life for himself and his son, as caretaker of the building, Juri gradually discovers that the house has a vicious life of its own and feeds on the suffering of its inhabitants

Three people's fates are interwoven in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in 9 A.D., during which Germanic warriors halt the spread of the Roman Empire.

Martin Rauch experiences the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 during his activities as an East German spy.

A hip-hop producer gets tangled in organized crime when the gangster brother of his record label's owner returns from exile to claim his share.