What to Watch After The Count of Monte Cristo
If you savored every calculated turn in Edmond Dantès’s revenge quest in The Count of Monte Cristo, you may be craving more stories with that same blend of high-stakes intrigue, psychological maneuvering, and hard-won justice.
MASTERPIECE recommends a selection of equally compelling dramas—delivering sweeping period worlds, intricate plotting, and characters shaped by obsession as they navigate moral gray areas. Start streaming with PBS Passport, an added benefit for PBS station members.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office
This Peabody Award-winning miniseries dramatizes a notorious real-life miscarriage of justice, in which hundreds of British postmasters were falsely accused of theft and fraud due to a defective computer system adopted by the UK Post Office. The series follows Alan Bates (Toby Jones), one of the victims who led the long-running fight to expose the truth, clear names, and hold a powerful UK institution to account.
Why The Count of Monte Cristo fans will savor Mr Bates vs The Post Office: Talk about a revenge story—and this one is shockingly true! It’s impossible not to root for the postmaster underdogs, whose lives were destroyed when a government institution spent years denying that its flawed software had serious bugs. Like The Count of Monte Cristo’s protagonist, Alan Bates faces a seemingly insurmountable battle for accountability.
Stream the compelling documentary, The Real Story of Mr Bates vs The Post Office on PBS Passport to see how the TV drama spurred real-world legal change in Britain. MASTERPIECE is also rebroadcasting Mr Bates vs The Post Office in two-hour installments on Sunday, August 23 and 30, 2026 from 8-10pm ET.
Stream Mr Bates vs The Post Office here.
Poldark | 5 Seasons
This unabashedly swashbuckling period drama follows Ross Poldark, a British Army officer who returns to Cornwall in 1783 from America’s Revolutionary War to find his father dead, the family estate in ruins, and his sweetheart engaged to his cousin. Determined to rebuild his life, Ross reopens the family’s copper mine and seeks love elsewhere.
Why The Count of Monte Cristo fans will relate to Poldark: Trade the dramatic cliffs of Marseilles for those in Cornwall, insert smoldering hero Ross Poldark in place of the Count, and prepare for terrific historical drama. From steadfast heroines and conniving villains to dueling and dancing, both series hook you from the get-go.
MASTERPIECE extends the world of Poldark with its Mining Poldark podcast series, created for superfans. Hosts Barrett Brountas and Robin Ellis—who portrayed Ross Poldark in the 1970s adaptation—unpack all the adventures and exploits, episode by episode.
Sherlock | 3 Seasons
This whip-smart series became an international phenomenon after its 2010 debut on MASTERPIECE. It reimagines Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories in modern-day London, following genius—if arrogant—consulting detective Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) as they solve intricate crimes using deduction and 21st century technology, while battling their formidable nemesis Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott). The series earned nine Emmy® Awards.
Why The Count of Monte Cristo fans will enjoy Sherlock: While set in contemporary London, Sherlock shares the same pleasures of long-game plotting, a brilliant protagonist consistently several steps ahead, and sustained psychological tension. Edmond Dantès is not purely heroic once he commits to revenge, and Sherlock Holmes is equally complex—brilliant but socially detached and often ethically ambiguous. Both stories move beyond simple “good vs evil” and explore how intelligence and obsession can blur moral lines.
The ensemble Sherlock cast was breakout in many ways. Learn where stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Andrew Scott and others are now.
