20 Miniseries That Tell Great and Remarkable Stories in Few Episodes

It’s hard to deal with the temptation to watch the next episode of a series, even more so if the story is engaging and full of intrigue and mystery. And the scene repeats itself: the final credits roll, the platform streaming the countdown to the next episode begins and the easiest thing to do seems to be to accept this invitation and stay in front of the TV a little longer — and when you realize it, hours have passed.

O awesome.club gathered several miniseries for you to do these little marathons without any guilt, as they are all productions with a single season and with a maximum of 10 episodes. Check out!

A young woman from an ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in New York decides to flee that lifestyle and an arranged marriage. She moves to Berlin, where she meets a group of musicians made up of students from different countries, who begin to help her, but even so, it won’t be easy to get rid of her past. This engaging miniseries is based on true events — Deborah Feldman’s autobiographical book.

Hugh Grant plays Jeremy Thorpe, a British MP who is willing to do anything, including committing a crime, so that his romantic relationship with a young model does not come to light; the plot unfolds in the early 1960s, a time when homosexuality was considered a crime in England. The miniseries is based on real events and received rave reviews.

It should be noted that this miniseries brings all the ingredients present in Stephen King’s novel of the same name. In this story, full of mystery and terror, a boy is brutally murdered and all the evidence of the crime falls on his baseball coach, although a video shows him speaking at an out-of-town conference on the day of the murder. Jason Bateman and Ben Mendelsohn lead the cast.

Russell Crowe, unrecognizable in the role, plays Roger Ailes, the executive responsible for transforming Fox News into one of the most influential news networks in the United States. The miniseries, which earned the Australian actor a Golden Globe, crosses journalistic coverage of key events at the time with accusations of sexual harassment suffered by Roger in the last years of his career.

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood, author of the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, is the mind behind this story. In the narrative, set in the 19th century, a psychiatrist must decide whether a murderer deserves to be forgiven for her crime, due to her insanity. The miniseries stars Sarah Gadon and Edward Holcroft.

An angel and a demon who love their lives on Earth must put their differences aside to together stop the final battle between Heaven and Hell that will end the lives of humanity. This is the theme of the miniseries, which combines humour, adventure and fantasy and features Michael Sheen and David Tennant in the lead roles, in addition to the participation of celebrities such as Jon Hamm and Frances McDormand.

band of brothers is a modern take on a classic theme. Co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks in 2001, the story chronicles the exploits of a regiment of paratroopers during World War II. The good special effects and a star-studded cast, such as Damien Lewis, Ron Livingston, David Schwimmer and Simon Pegg, are great reasons for you not to miss it.

The political situation, economic instability and technological advances, from the present of the narrative to the next 15 years, are portrayed with great detail and great realism in this miniseries that follows the life of a British family during this period. Emma Thompson leads the cast of an incredible production, which makes us reflect on the world situation.

Mae Martin is a young comedian from stand up with a life full of ups and downs. With a toxic past and a dysfunctional family, he goes through an existential crisis to enter into a new relationship. An ideal miniseries for lovers of romantic comedies, who prefer short half-hour episodes. The British production still brings a bonus for fans of Friends: Lisa Kudrow is in the cast.

The miniseries, with Chris Evans in the lead role, is based on William Landay’s novel of the same name. The plot revolves around a family that needs to deal with the fact that their 14-year-old son has been accused of murder. Drama, crime and family conflicts are present in this plot.

Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie and Olivia Colman together are an excellent reason to watch this 2016 British production. Another irresistible ingredient involves espionage: an ex-soldier is recruited by intelligence agents to infiltrate an international distribution network of weapons. And the “icing on the cake” is knowing that this miniseries received 12 Emmy nominations.

The name says it all: it tells the story of the nuclear power plant disaster in April 1986, from the point of view of those who were summoned by the authorities to respond to the tragedy. For this, the scriptwriters used the stories of the inhabitants of Pripyat, the closest city to the power plant, the rescuers and the scientists affected by the incident. It won an Emmy in 2019 as Outstanding Miniseries.

This drama is based on the true story of five African-American teenagers, falsely accused and prosecuted for the rape of a woman in Central Park, New York. The production, which brings together renowned actors such as Vera Farmiga, Joshua Jackson and John Leguizamo, was very well received by critics and had several Emmy nominations.

Amy Adams demonstrates her versatility as an actress by playing a journalist who returns to her hometown to cover the double murder of two young girls. Her own mental fragility and that of her family, with whom she is reunited after several years, become part of the puzzle of crimes. One thriller psychological which received eight Emmy Award nominations in 2019.

The plot is set in the 18th century in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. An 18-year-old girl, coming from a debt-ridden family, marries a rich merchant and receives a mysterious dollhouse as a gift. To bring it to life, she orders furniture from a miniaturist, but she will discover that both these orders and everything that happens in her new home hide big secrets.

This comedy revolves around the life of Eve Fletcher, a middle-aged divorcee who enters a new phase of life after her only child leaves to attend college. The protagonist, played by Kathryn Hahn, feels alone at home and decides to adopt a new personality and experiment with sexuality, as she did not when she was younger.

Steven Spielberg produced this must-see miniseries for movie lovers Western, which received 16 Emmy nominations in 2006. Set in the 1820s, the plot chronicles population expansion in America’s Wild West from the perspective of two families: a white American and a Native American; two very different people whose lives intersect.

Bette Davis and Joan Crawford were two of the most coveted movie stars of the early 1960s, and when they worked on the film What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, began one of Hollywood’s greatest and most legendary feuds. That story is portrayed in this 2017 production, which stars Susan Sarandon and Jessica Lange in the lead roles.

A young woman denounces having been raped, but later recants and is accused of lying. Years later, two detectives investigate a series of similar events, which will lead to the truth being revealed. A strong story based on the facts revealed in a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper article. Toni Collette, Merritt Wever and Kaitlyn Dever make up the cast.

At the end of 2003, HBO surprised with this mega production, which has a first-rate cast: Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson and Jeffrey Wright. Set in the fictional year of 1985, it narrates like few other miniseries the situation of AIDS, the LGBT community and social relations. It won an Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries and received awards in all acting-related categories.

Interested? Which of these miniseries do you want to see first? Are there any that you would like to recommend? Share your thoughts with our team in the comments section!