Top 10 Television Drama Series of the Last Decade, Ranked

The top television drama series of the last decade and the years just before it include Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Mad Men, The Wire, Sherlock, Homeland, The Walking Dead, Downton Abbey and Grey’s Anatomy. Each ran for more than three seasons and shaped how TV drama is written and watched today.

This list keeps to one rule: only drama series with more than three seasons qualify, so short limited series are left out. The shows are ranked from 10 to 1 by their writing, influence and how well they hold up for a first-time viewer in 2026. Run dates and episode counts have been updated.

Quick facts: the 10 dramas at a glance

Rank	Series	Years	Network	Seasons
1	Breaking Bad	2008 to 2013	AMC	5
2	The Sopranos	1999 to 2007	HBO	6
3	Game of Thrones	2011 to 2019	HBO	8
4	Mad Men	2007 to 2015	AMC	7
5	The Wire	2002 to 2008	HBO	5
6	Sherlock	2010 to 2017	BBC One	4 and a special
7	Homeland	2011 to 2020	Showtime	8
8	The Walking Dead	2010 to 2022	AMC	11
9	Downton Abbey	2010 to 2015	ITV	6
10	Grey’s Anatomy	2005 to present	ABC	22 so far

Honourable mention: Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights (2006 to 2011) follows coach Eric Taylor, played by Kyle Chandler, and his wife Tami, played by Connie Britton, in a small Texas town that lives for high school football. Developed by Peter Berg from his 2004 film and H. G. Bissinger’s book, it ran for five seasons and 76 episodes.

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There are no guns, drugs or zombies here. The drama comes from family, money and the pressure a town puts on teenage players. Chandler won the 2011 Emmy for lead actor in a drama.

Top 10 television drama series of the last decade

10. Grey’s Anatomy

Shonda Rhimes’s medical drama premiered on ABC in March 2005 and follows surgeon Meredith Grey and her colleagues at a Seattle hospital. Its strength has always been the bond between its doctors, from Meredith and Derek’s romance to her close friendships at work.

Updated for 2026: the show has completed 22 seasons and 466 episodes, and ABC renewed it in March 2026 for a 23rd season due in autumn 2026. Ellen Pompeo stepped back in season 19 but still narrates and produces.

9. Downton Abbey

Julian Fellowes’s period drama follows the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants on a Yorkshire estate, starting in April 1912, just after the Titanic sinks. Six series and 52 episodes aired on ITV from 2010 to 2015.

The story kept going on the big screen with films in 2019 and 2022, and Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale reached cinemas in September 2025. It remains a gentle, sincere show about class, inheritance and changing times.

8. The Walking Dead

Sheriff Rick Grimes, played by Andrew Lincoln, wakes from a coma into a world overrun by the dead. Developed by Frank Darabont from Robert Kirkman’s comics, it ran for 11 seasons and 177 episodes until November 2022.

The zombies are the setting, but the real threat is other survivors. The franchise lives on through spin-offs such as Dead City and Daryl Dixon.

7. Homeland

CIA officer Carrie Mathison, played by Claire Danes, suspects that rescued US Marine Nicholas Brody, played by Damian Lewis, may have become a terrorist while in captivity. Based on the Israeli series Prisoners of War, it ran for eight seasons and 96 episodes on Showtime.

The first season won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series in 2012. Its fast pace and flawed lead made it one of the most talked-about thrillers of its time.

6. Sherlock

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss moved Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective to modern London, with Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock and Martin Freeman as Watson. It ran from 2010 to 2017 in four three-episode series plus a 2016 special.

Both leads won Emmys in 2014. No fifth series has been confirmed, and in July 2025 Gatiss said the two stars were not interested in returning.

5. The Wire

Created by former Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon, The Wire looks at Baltimore through a different lens each season: the drug trade, the port, city government, schools and the newspaper business. It ran on HBO from 2002 to 2008.

It is slow to start and has no clear heroes, but few shows have explained how institutions fail ordinary people so clearly.

4. Mad Men

Matthew Weiner’s drama follows advertising creative director Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm, in 1960s New York. Over seven seasons it shows how the decade’s events reshaped work, family and identity.

It won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series four years in a row, from 2008 to 2011, and was the first basic cable series to win that award.

3. Game of Thrones

David Benioff and D. B. Weiss adapted George R. R. Martin’s novels into a war between noble houses with a deadly threat rising in the North. Eight seasons and 73 episodes aired on HBO from 2011 to 2019.

It won 59 Primetime Emmys, the most for any drama series. The world continues in House of the Dragon (from 2022) and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which premiered in 2026.

2. The Sopranos

David Chase’s HBO series looks like a mob show, but it is really about Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, a New Jersey boss in therapy and in a mid-life crisis. It ran for six seasons from 1999 to 2007.

In 2013 the Writers Guild of America named it the best-written TV series of all time. A prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, followed in 2021.

1. Breaking Bad

Vince Gilligan’s AMC drama follows chemistry teacher Walter White, who starts making methamphetamine with former student Jesse Pinkman after a cancer diagnosis. Five seasons and 62 episodes aired from 2008 to 2013.

It won 16 Primetime Emmys, and Guinness World Records named it the highest-rated TV series in 2013. The story continued in the film El Camino (2019) and the prequel Better Call Saul (2015 to 2022).

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Frequently asked questions

Sources: Wikipedia: Breaking Bad, Wikipedia: Game of Thrones, Wikipedia: Grey’s Anatomy, Wikipedia: Sherlock.