We’ve gathered up the period dramas that are newly included with your US Prime Video membership in June, July, and August 2024. We also include titles that can be watched for free with Freevee, no subscription needed.
Then, we share the historical / costume / period dramas that are newly available on Prime Video Add-On Channels, titles that are now available to rent, as well as movies and TV series in the genre that are being released to DVD this summer.
Check this list throughout the season; we’ll update all the sections (alphabetically) as more titles become available. If some of these titles look familiar, it’s because they were previously available with Prime Video, were pulled off, and now they are back.
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To watch the trailers for the movies and TV series on this list, read further descriptions and add them to your watchlist, just click on “Watch the TRAILER” and “Add to your WATCHLIST.” This is a US-based list, but if you live in Canada or the UK, you can also use our links to check availability in your country.
Finally, we list some newly added non-period movies and series like award-winning films and breezy romances that you may also like, that are included with your Amazon Prime Video membership.
From British costume dramas to sweeping romantic epics, there’s a lot here by the end of the season; we hope this list helps you discover more period dramas to love.
The spring Prime Video list is here. The fall list is here. Also see the list of Period Dramas New on Netflix Summer 2024.
Those who are new here should know that Willow and Thatch also has a special section for period dramas that have been added recently or are coming to different streaming services. See the “New to Streaming” drop-down menu at the top of the page.
Period Dramas Added to Prime Video in June 2024
Newly available historical, costume and period dramas (movies and TV series) that are included with your Prime Video membership, or can be watched for free with ads on Freevee (formerly IMDb TV).
Thirty years after rising to global stardom in “The Wizard of Oz,” Winter 1968, Judy Garland arrives in London to perform a five-week sold-out run at The Talk of the Town. While preparing for the shows, Garland battles with management, reminisces with friends and adoring fans, and embarks on a whirlwind romance with soon-to-be fifth husband Mickey Deans – all while bravely struggling to overcome intensifying anxiety and physical decline.
Starring Renée Zellweger, Jessie Buckley, Finn Wittrock, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon.
Rated PG-13
Available June 26
Are you ready for a twist on the tragic tale of Lady Jane Grey, the young Tudor noblewoman who was Queen of England for nine days and then beheaded? Welcome to “My Lady Jane,” a retelling of history the way it should have happened: the damsel in distress saves herself. This is an epic tale of true love and high adventure set in an alt-universe of action, history, fantasy, comedy, romance, and rompy-pompy. Buckle up. 8 episodes
Starring Emily Bader, Edward Bluemel, Jordan Peters, Anna Chancellor, Dominic Cooper, Kate O’Flynn.
Rated TV-14
Available June 27
During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists spend years developing and designing the atomic bomb. Their work comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, as they witness the world’s first nuclear explosion, forever changing the course of history.
Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, Florence Pugh.
Rated R for some sexuality, nudity, and language
Available June 18
June 1: High Noon (1952), The African Queen (1952), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). June 2: Versailles (Seasons 1 & 2), Housewife, 49 (2005). June 5: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (Season 1). June 16: New Worlds (Season 1), Casanova (Season 1).
Period Dramas Added to Prime Video in July 2024
Newly available historical, costume and period dramas (movies and TV series) that are included with your Prime Video membership, or can be watched for free with ads on Freevee (formerly IMDb TV).
Wealthy lawyer Newland Archer is engaged to sweet socialite May Welland in 1870s New York. On the surface, it is a perfect match. But when May’s beautiful cousin Countess Ellen Olenska, who is estranged from her brutish husband, arrives in town, Newland begins to question the meaning of passion and love as he desperately pursues a relationship with Ellen, even though she has been made a social outcast by Archer’s peers.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Michelle Pfeiffer, Joanne Woodward.
Rated PG
Available July 1
No one expects much from Christy Brown, a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family with 13 children. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author. My Left Foot is based on the 1954 autobiography of Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy on June 5, 1932 in Dublin, Ireland.
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Fiona Shaw.
Rated R for some sexuality, nudity, and language
Available July 1
During the 1930s, James Stevens serves as a proper English butler to the doltish Lord Darlington. Stevens is so dedicated that he forgoes visiting his father on his deathbed in order to serve, and overlooks Darlington’s Nazi sympathies and growing anti-Semitism. Twenty years after his employer’s death, Stevens tries to reconnect with Miss Kenton, Darlington’s head housekeeper, and begins to regret his loyalty to his former master.
Starring Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson, James Fox, Peter Vaughan, Hugh Grant.
Rated PG
Available July 1
July 1: The Chosen (Season 4), A Midsummer Night’s Sex Comedy (1982), Gladiator (2000), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Sleepy Hollow (1999), The Caine Mutiny (1954), The Guns of Navarone (1961), The Magnificent Seven (2016).
Period Dramas Added to Prime Video in August 2024
Newly available historical, costume and period dramas (movies and TV series) that are included with your Prime Video membership, or can be watched for free with ads on Freevee (formerly IMDb TV).
Set during WWII in Germany, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp begins an innocent but forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence ending in a startling and unexpected consequence.
Starring Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Rupert Friend, Asa Butterfield.
Rated PG
Available August 1
Giuseppe Tornatore’s loving homage to the cinema tells the story of Salvatore, a successful film director, returning home for the funeral of Alfredo, his old friend who was the projectionist at the local cinema throughout his childhood just after the Second Word War. Soon memories of his first love affair with the beautiful Elena and all the highs and lows that shaped his life come flooding back, as Salvatore reconnects with the community he left 30 years earlier. BAFTA FILM AWARDS® 5X winner.
Starring Philippe Noiret, Enzo Cannavale, Antonella Attili, Isa Danieli, Leo Gullotta.
Rated PG
Available August 1
Jane Austen’s beloved comedy about finding your equal and earning your happy ending is reimagined in this delicious new film adaptation of Emma. Handsome, clever and rich, Emma Woodhouse is a restless “queen bee” without rivals in her sleepy little English town. In this glittering satire of social class, Emma must navigate her way through the challenges of growing up, misguided matches and romantic missteps to realize the love that has been there all along.
Starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn, Bill Nighy, Josh O’Connor, Callum Turner, Mia Goth.
Read about the Costumes in Emma.
Rated PG
Available August 1
“Miss Potter” explores the life of Potter, the author of beloved and best-selling children’s book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, her struggle to overcome a domineering and unsupportive mother and the chauvinism of Victorian England to become a published author.
Starring Renée Zellweger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson, Barbara Flynn, Bill Paterson.
Rated PG
Available August 17
A British period medical drama set within the fictional seaside town of Elsinby in the North Riding of Yorkshire in the 1960s. A dedicated staff of doctors and nurses care for patients at the fictional St. Aidan’s Royal Free Hospital in the seaside town of Elsinby in this spinoff of the popular British show “Heartbeat.” The series focuses on the medical issues faced by patients and the moral dilemmas those emergencies bring about.
Starring Wendy Craig, Robert Daws, Amy Robbins, Denis Lill.
Rated TV-PG
Available August 23
When Elinor Dashwood’s father dies, her family’s finances are crippled. After the Dashwoods move to a cottage in Devonshire, Elinor’s sister Marianne is torn between the handsome John Willoughby and the older Colonel Brandon. Meanwhile, Elinor’s romantic hopes with Edward Ferrars are hindered due to his prior engagement. Both Elinor and Marianne strive for love while the circumstances in their lives constantly change. A feature-length film from director Ang Lee.
Starring Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet, Tom Wilkinson, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman.
Read our Movie Lover’s Guide to Sense and Sensibility
Read about the Costumes in Sense and Sensibility
Rated PG
Available August 1
This epic period series presents the rarely dramatized, tumultuous early years of King Henry VIII’s nearly 40-year, omnipotent reign (1509-1547) of England. In addition to his famous female consorts and 20+ year marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the infamous dalliance with Anne Boleyn, the series delves into Henry’s most notable political relationship and the deconstruction of the Roman Catholic Church in England.
Starring Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Henry Cavill, Anthony Brophy, Sam Neill, Callum Blue.
Rated TV-MA
Available August 18
In 1939 Poland, Antonina Zabinska and her husband successfully run the Warsaw Zoo and raise their family in an idyllic existence. Their world is overturned, however, when the country is invaded by the Nazis and they are forced to report to the Reich’s newly appointed zoologist. To fight back on their own terms, the Zabinskis risk everything by covertly working with the Resistance and using the zoo’s hidden tunnels and cages to save families from Nazi brutality.
Starring Jessica Chastain, Johan Heldenbergh, Daniel Bruhl, Iddo Goldberg, Efrat Dor.
Rated PG-13
Available August 1
August 1: Free State of Jones (2016), The Day of the Jackal (1973), Once Upon A Time In The West (1969), Windtalkers (2002), and the period-inspired fantasy Stardust (2007). August 14: Back to the Secret Garden (2000). August 15: Frances (1982). August 20: The Lost City (2006). August 21: Pascali’s Island (1988), Jesus Of Nazareth (1977). August 23: The Man Standing Next: The Assassination of a President (2020), Princess Caraboo (1994). August 24: Tales of Para Handy (Seasons 1 & 2), The Mad Whale (2014). August 26: Jacob Have I Loved (1989). August 27: The Secret Garden (2017), Words by Heart (1985), Indescribable (2013).
Available August 15, also see the documentary The Many Lovers of Miss Jane Austen (2011): Historian and professor Amanda Vickery explores why Jane Austen’s books have been popular for nearly 200 years.
New to Prime Video Channels & Purchases
This section contains period dramas added in June, July, and August 2024 (movies and TV series) that are included with add-on Prime Video Channels, are newly available to buy or rent, or have had a significant price cut. Use the links below to sign up for a free trial of a channel, add a title to your watchlist or check prices.
A television movie from the Hallmark Channel. A librarian who thinks that no man can live up to Mr. Darcy gets an unexpected chance to find out if that’s true, when she wakes up inside of her favorite novel, Jane Austen’s “Pride & Prejudice.”
Starring Eliza Bennett, Nicholas Bishop, Nell Barlow, Catherine Hannay, Erica Ford.
Rated ALL
Available with your Hallmark+ Prime Video Add-On Channel or to BUY
Available August 20
In the 18th century, aspiring opera composer Josef Mysliveček, a mentor to Mozart, travels to Italy to achieve his dream. Embracing a hedonistic lifestyle while pouring his heart into his music, his talent and charm bring him success in the sophisticated Venice opera world. “The Bohemian” is a lush biopic following the most prolific decades of an under appreciated musical great. Also known as “Il Boemo.”
Starring Vojtech Dyk, Elena Radonicich, Barbara Ronchi.
Rated 18+
Now Available
The powerful epic of Francesca Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who arrives in New York City in 1889 and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children.
Starring Cristiana Dell’Anna, John Lithgow, David Morse, Romana Maggiora Vergano.
Rated PG-13
Available June 25
It’s 1961 and times are changing in Grantchester. Will has begun to seek new challenges elsewhere, while Geordie and Cathy deal with an independent Esme being free in a dangerous world. It’s not long before Reverend Alphy Kottaram arrives as the new vicar, immediately enchanted by the glorious village. But will the locals ever be able to accept him as one of their own?
Starring Robson Green, Tom Brittney, Rishi Nair.
Rated TV-14
Available with your PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Add-On Channel or to BUY
Available June 16th
Two women endure hardship and heartbreak in postwar West Germany. Both friends strive to create meaningful lives for themselves while the world they know turns upside down. From Walter Presents, in German with English subtitles.
Starring Elisa Schlott, Reomy D Mpeho, Franzyska Brandmeier, Jonas Nay, Anna Schudt.
Rated TV-MA
Available with your PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Add-On Channel or to BUY
Available June 7
Bella is preparing for her father and sister’s arrival but is thrown when Cecil appears requesting divorce. Over the weeks, Bella must decide her future as well as avoiding fascist leader Danioni. But with the Wall Street Crash, things get worse as Bella and Cecil lose everything. Dark secrets are exposed during another adventure on this sun-soaked 1920s Italian drama. 6 episodes
Starring Pasquale Esposito, Mirko Soldano, Ivan Vukelić, Francesco Martino, Petar Benčić, Natascha Mcelhone, Giorgio Marchesi.
Rated TV-14
Available with your PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Add-On Channel or to BUY
Available July 28
An exciting new kind of department store is about to open, promising something better. In season 2, when Harry and Helene return to Berlin, it’s a second chance for Harry and Vicky’s love story. But Nazism is beginning to take hold.From Walter Presents, in German with English subtitles.
Starring Naemi Florez, Ludwig Simon, Alexander Scheer, Nina Kunzendorf.
Rated TV-MA
Available with your PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Add-On Channel
Available June 14th
For more than two decades, Diane de Poitiers was King Henri II’s favorite. Yet despite her strong character and legendary beauty, Diane is just a courtesan. Her position is fragile, and Henri’s impending marriage to Catherine de Medici may destroy her dreams of domination. Can she continue to enchant Henri, 20 years younger than her, forever? From Walter Presents, in French with English subtitles. 4 episodes
Starring Isabelle Adjani, Hugo Becker, Samuel Labarthe, Virginie Ledoyen, Gaia Girace.
Rated TV-MA
Available with your PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Add-On Channel
Available August 16
With boudoirs turning into battlegrounds of espionage and intrigue as 1941 dawns, the girls become soldiers in the imminent war–and the victors might well be decided between the sheets. From Walter Presents, in Estonian with English subtitles.
Starring Merle Palmiste, Andres Dvinjaninov, Gerda Johnson, Liisu Krass, Mirjam Lepik.
Rated TV-MA
Available with your PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Add-On Channel
Available July 5
Catherine is now Queen Regent of France and seeks unity by touring the country with her children. Legalized Protestantism creates tensions, and the Guises and Bourbons vie for power, straining relations in the process. Personal conflicts and betrayals complicate matters. Edith, a new mysterious prophet, challenges the Valois rule, sparking violence. Catherine’s need to hold power knows no bounds. 5 episodes
Starring Samantha Morton, Amrita Acharia, Enzo Cilenti, Ruby Bentall, Nicholas Burns.
Rated TV-MA
Available with your STARZ Prime Video Add-On Channel
Available July 12
“Doctor John Watson, meet Mr Sherlock Holmes.” We’ve been here before – but what if this wasn’t the modern day but the late Victorian period? What if the world’s most famous consulting detective and his best friend lived in a Baker Street of steam trains, hansom cabs, top hats and frock coats? Welcome to Sherlock in 1895!
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, Una Stubbs, Rupert Graves, Mark Gatiss.
Rated 16+
Available with your PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Add-On Channel or to BUY
Available June 30
Drawn from the novel of the same name by Philippa Gregory, “The White Princess” is a tale of power, family, love, and betrayal, charting one of the most tumultuous times in British history uniquely from the point of view of the women. The tempestuous marriage between Elizabeth of York (Lizzie) and King Henry VII officially marks the conclusion of the War of the Roses, but the real battle for the throne is far from over.
Starring Jodie Comer, Rebecca Benson, Jacob Collins-Levy, Richard Dillane, Essie Davis.
Rated TV-MA
Available with your BritBox Prime Video Add-On Channel or to BUY
Available August 20
A 1920s English seaside town bears witness to a dark, absurd scandal in this riotous mystery comedy. Based on a stranger-than-fiction true story, “Wicked Little Letters” follows two neighbours: deeply religious local Edith Swan and rowdy Irish migrant Rose Gooding. When Edith and fellow residents start to receive wicked letters full of unintentionally hilarious profanities, foul-mouthed Rose is charged with the crime. The anonymous letters prompt a national uproar, and a trial ensues. However, as the town’s women, led by Police Officer Gladys Moss, begin to investigate the crime themselves, they suspect that something is amiss and Rose might not be the culprit after all.
Starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Eileen Atkins, Timothy Spall.
Rated R for language throughout and sexual material.
Available June 4
After her husband’s death, Madame Clicquot flouts convention by assuming the reins of their wine business, defying her critics and ultimately revolutionizing the champagne industry, establishing her as one of the world’s first great businesswomen.
Starring Haley Bennett, Tom Sturridge, Sam Riley, Ben Miles, Natasha O’Keeffe.
Rated R for some sexuality and nudity
Available August 6
New Period Drama DVD Releases
This section contains a selection of historical, costume, and period dramas and other titles of interest that are being released this season to DVD and Blu-ray.
Call the Midwife: (Season 13): The midwives of Nonnatus House continue to face complex medical and personal dilemmas as the multi-award-winning drama returns for a thirteenth series. It’s 1959 and more babies than ever are being born in hospital. Pressure on maternity beds remains extremely high across the country: However. Poplar is coping better chan most due to the popularity of home births under the auspices of the Sisters. And a new midwife-training scheme sees Nonnatus House welcome a host of new midwives. The recruits face social problems arising from the docks. concerns among the Nigerian and Sylheti communities and health challenges from Cerebral Palsy, Tetanus and TB. Available HERE June 18, 2024.
Fairytale: A True Story (Special Edition on Blu-ray): In the English countryside of 1917, two schoolgirls’ claim to have photographs of fairies that inhabit the woods near their home makes the youngsters instant celebrities and stirs an international debate with opponents as diverse as believer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and skeptic Harry Houdini. This fanciful spin on a true incident stars Florence Hoath, Elizabeth Earl, and Paul McGann, with Peter O’Toole as Doyle and Harvey Keitel as Houdini. Available HERE July 26, 2024.
Grantchester (Season 9): Masterpiece MYSTERY! brings James Runcie’s books to the small screen with this British detective series about the unique if unlikely partnership between Anglican priest Sidney Chambers (James Norton) and Detective Inspector Geordie Keating (Robson Green). The two join forces to solve baffling crimes when the vicar decides to take up sleuthing work as a hobby in his home village of Grantchester. Available HERE July 16, 2024.
Marcel Pagnol: My Father’s Glory, My Mother’s Castle [Blu-ray Set]: Based on the bestselling memoirs of French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol (the acclaimed author of Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring), MY FATHER’S GLORY and its sequel MY MOTHER’S CASTLE recount the nostalgic memories of Pagnol’s youth growing up in Provence at the turn of the twentieth century. During one idyllic summer, 11-year-old Marcel (Julien Ciamaca) discovers friendship and wonder amid the rocky peaks surrounding his family’s countryside home while learning new respect for his gentle and caring schoolmaster father Joseph (Philippe Caubère). Upon his return to Marseilles, Marcel longs to escape back to his beloved hills and is granted his wish when his adoring mother Augustine (Nathalie Roussel) devises a plan that allows them to visit the cottage more frequently. Available HERE August 27, 2024
Nicholas Nickleby (1947) on Blu-ray: Based on Charles Dickens’s classic novel, “Nicholas Nickleby” tells the story of the eponymous young hero (Derek Bond, When Eight Bells Toll) and his attempts to save his family and friends from the clutches of his greedy Uncle Ralph (Cedric Hardwicke, The Ten Commandments). Staying true to the dark mood of the book, director Alberto Cavalcanti (Dead of Night) conjures up a triumphantly atmospheric adaptation featuring indelible performances from Hardwicke and Bond. Available HERE August 13, 2024.
Sense & Sensibility (2024): A Hallmark period television movie adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”. After a change in circumstances, Marianne is torn between two men, while Elinor longs for a man beyond reach. Stars Deborah Ayorinde, Bethany Antonia, and Dan Jeannotte. Available HERE July 23, 2024.
The Stars Fell On Henrietta on Blu-ray: Texas, 1935. It’s a time of boomtowns or bust for oil wildcatters and, repeatedly, derby-topped Mr. Cox has come out flat busted. Not to worry. Mr. Cox has a mule — headed optimism. He’s sure as the sunrise that near the town of Henrietta on a cotton farm that raises more dust than bolls, there’s black gold beneath the barren sod. Available HERE August 13, 2024.
Wicked Little Letters (2023): Based on a stranger than fiction true story, this ferociously funny mystery follows two neighbors: deeply conservative Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and foul-mouthed Rose Gooding (Jessie Buckley). When Edith begins to receive wicked letters full of hilarious profanities, Rose is charged with the crime. However, as the town’s women begin to investigate themselves, they suspect that something is amiss. Available HERE June 4, 2024.
Other Shows You May Also Like
This section contains a curated list of movies and TV series newly included on Prime, that are NOT period dramas. We think fans of period and costume dramas will enjoy them just the same. Follow the links to watch the trailers. You may also like:
Available in June: June 1: Last Tango In Paris (1973), Death at a Funeral (2007), No Country For Old Men (2007), Not Without My Daughter (1991), Skyfall (2012), Some Kind Of Wonderful (1987), The Russia House (1990). June 25: I Am: Celine Dion (2024).
Available in July: July 1: A Separation (2011), Absence of Malice (1981), Easy Rider (1969), Five Easy Pieces (1970), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939), Mrs. Winterbourne (1996), Rocky (1976), The Awful Truth (1937), The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Wanderlust (2012). July 23: Bob Marley: One Love (2024), Irresistible (2020).
Available in August: August 1: Death Becomes Her (1992), Diary Of A Mad Housewife (1970), How To Be A Latin Lover (2017), Imitation of Life (1959), It’s Kind of a Funny Story (2010), Lover Come Back (1962), Passengers (2016), Superman (1978), Terms of Endearment (1983), The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014), The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Whale (2022). August 6: French Girl (2024). August 15: Paddington (2015). August 20: The Magic Of Belle Isle (2012). August 21: Me & Mrs Jones (2002) – shown on PBS MASTERPIECE. August 23: A Walk to Remember (2002). August 26: The Source (2011). August 29: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season 2).
If you enjoyed this post, be sure to see The Period Films List, with the best British period dramas, historical and costume movies and TV series sorted by era.
