The best limited series to watch

The best argument for the limited series is simple: it ends. Every show below tells one story, finishes it properly, and asks for somewhere between five and ten hours of your life.

The best limited series ever made

1. 
   Chernobyl2019

   Five episodes on the 1986 disaster, and one of the best things HBO has ever aired.

2. 
   Band of Brothers2001

   Easy Company from training to the end of the war. Still the benchmark.

3. 
   The Queen's Gambit2020

   A chess prodigy in the 1960s, and a genuinely gorgeous piece of television.

4. 
   Beef2023

   A road-rage incident escalates over ten episodes into something much sadder.

5. 
   Watchmen2019

   A sequel to the comic rather than an adaptation, and far better than that sounds.

6. 
   When They See Us2019

   The Central Park Five, told across four difficult, essential episodes.

7. 
   Sharp Objects2018

   A journalist returns to her home town. Slow, humid and deeply unsettling.

8. 
   Normal People2020

   Two people over four years, adapted almost perfectly from the novel.

9. 
   The Night Of2016

   One night, one arrest, and a patient look at what the system does next.

10. 
    Mare of Easttown2021

    A small-town detective story that is really about grief.

11. 
    Unbelievable2019

    Two detectives, one disbelieved victim, and a quietly furious true story.

12. 
    Alias Grace2017

    Margaret Atwood adapted with real restraint. Underseen.

Keep your place in Cinopsys

Limited series are ideal for a tracker — short enough to finish, easy enough to forget where you stopped. Add any of these to Cinopsys, mark episodes as you watch, and pick up exactly where you left off. Free, no ads.

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