10 Essential Binge-Worthy TV Dramas You Might've Missed

3. Peaky Blinders

Approximate Running Time: 720 minutes With HBO's Boardwalk Empire over and done with, Peaky Blinders steps up to the plate to fill the period gangster drama void in style. Lavish period production design and some heavyweight stars make this a worthy successor well worth checking out. Cillian Murphy stars as Tommy Shelby, the head of a criminal gang based in Birmingham, England whose ambitions draw him ever closer to dangerous competitors in the criminal underworld. Set shortly after the First World War, it also stars Sam Neill on sleazy form as Chief Inspector Chester Campbell and, in the second season, Tom Hardy as Alfie Solomons, the head of the Jewish Mafia. Like all good dramas, Peaky Blinders confounds expectations from one episode to the next, rarely falling foul of schematic storytelling and always shot with a great eye for detail, both in the period and the complexity of its characters. The series will be returning this autumn for a third season.