Television series

Taboo

Name: Taboo
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Mystery
Released: 2017
Cast: Tom Hardy, Jonathan Pryce, Oona Chaplin, David Hayman, Leo Bill

A prestige revenge thriller soaked in tar, blood and candlelight: Tom Hardy's James Delaney comes home from Africa scarred, taciturn and terrifyingly capable, and starts dismantling everyone who crossed his dead father. Half gothic horror, half corporate conspiracy, all mood — this is for people who want their period drama filthy, slow-burning and a little bit possessed.

TVMaze rating

8.3

If you liked this

Peaky Blinders2013

Same appetite for a violent, magnetic antihero clawing his way up through a corrupt system, with the same brooding intensity and gorgeous period grime, just Birmingham gangsters instead of London traders.

But More propulsive gang-war plotting, less occult dread — if you loved Taboo's slow strangeness, this moves faster and stranger less.

Deadwood2004

Filthy, lawless, brilliantly written frontier capitalism where power, land and violence tangle exactly like they do around the East India Company — and the dialogue is even richer.

But Dense, theatrical speech takes real effort to tune into, and it rewards patience Taboo's pacing doesn't quite demand.

The Terror2018

Another British imperial expedition curdling into horror and madness, with the same creeping dread that something ancient and vengeful is closing in on arrogant men.

But Colder and more despairing — there's no Delaney-style triumph to root for, just a slow, bleak unraveling.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Blue Eye Samurai2023

Same wounded, biracial avenger clawing status back from a closed, contemptuous power structure — just drawn instead of filmed, and set in Edo-era Japan instead of Regency London.

A mixed-race outsider, scarred and consumed by vengeance, cuts through a rigid, racist hierarchy to destroy the men who wronged them — Delaney's engine exactly, rebuilt as a gorgeous animated samurai epic.

But It's animation, and unapologetically stylised violence — if you need live-action grit for the tone to land, this may feel like a different genre entirely.

Penny Dreadful2014

Gothic Victorian London, tortured pasts, and a hero wrestling with something monstrous inside himself — pure atmosphere for anyone who loved Taboo's occult undertow.

But Leans harder into literary horror pastiche and supernatural plotting than Taboo's grounded conspiracy and trade-war intrigue.

Black Sails2014no page yet

Piracy, empire and commerce collide as ruthless outsiders take on colonial power structures — the same fascination with how money, not just muskets, actually rules.

But More swashbuckling adventure than psychological drama; it's after thrills first, brooding interiority second.

Ripper Street2012no page yet

Grimy, atmospheric Victorian London crime with real teeth, following flawed men through a city built on exploitation — good company for Taboo's rotten, foggy streets.

But More procedural in structure, without Taboo's singular, half-mad central performance driving everything.

The Knick2014

A brilliant, damaged outsider battling institutional corruption in a filthy, brutal period setting, shot with the same unglamorous intensity and unflinching violence.

But Medical gore replaces occult menace, and its rhythms are colder and more clinical throughout.

Hell on Wheels2011no page yet

A vengeful outsider infiltrates a corrupt, expanding enterprise built on exploited labour — railroad barons standing in nicely for East India Company men.

But Broader and more conventional Western storytelling, without Taboo's fog of ritual and paranoia.

Poldark2015

A brooding, wronged man returns home to reclaim his birthright against a hostile establishment — the bones of Taboo's plot, filed down to something gentler and more romantic.

But Warmer, sunnier and far less menacing; if you wanted more darkness, this will feel oddly cosy.

The Wicker Man1973

Both dig under Britain's respectable surface to find paganism and ritual violence waiting there, and both hinge on a stranger who refuses to be absorbed or dismissed by the system around him.

An outsider walks into a closed community and slowly realises the polite civility conceals something ancient, ritualistic and murderous — the dread Taboo trades in, distilled to ninety perfect minutes.

But It's a standalone film with none of Taboo's serialised conspiracy or corporate scheming, and its horror is folk, not gothic.