The greatest WWII TV shows of all time
From The World at War to Band of Brothers, explore the greatest WWII TV shows ever made ahead of the new Tom Hanks series.
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A WWII series binge is a bit like packing for a long weekend…you think you’re just grabbing the essentials, and then somehow you’ve got five hours of archive footage, a miniseries about paratroopers and a sudden opinion about convoy routes in the North Atlantic.
With World War II with Tom Hanks landing on Sky HISTORY in 2026 (billed as a sweeping, archival-rich retelling across 20+ episodes), consider this your warm-up lap.
Word of warning before you get stuck in: yes, it’ll eat up your weekend faster than you can say 'turn on the wireless'.
1. The World at War
If you’ve never watched it, you’ll recognise the fingerprints of this 1970s classic everywhere. 26 episodes, narrated by English legend Laurence Olivier, made in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum. This is the series that basically taught television how to do WWII properly.
Why it’s essential: there’s battles, yes. But there’s also economies, politics, fear, propaganda, collaboration and survival. It’s a pretty well-rounded overview of the whole grim ecosystem of war.
2. Band of Brothers
The easy pitch is 'paratroopers in Europe'. The real pitch is 'the closest TV has come to making you feel the weight of a war'. Think mud, exhaustion, terror, loyalty and the weird in-jokes that keep people upright in the most traumatic of times. Created by Steven Spielberg and Hanks, the 10-part miniseries follows Easy Company from training through to the endgame.
Why it’s essential: it’s prestige TV and a memorial. Plus it has some seriously good reviews on platforms like Rotten Tomatoes.
3. The Pacific
If Band of Brothers is brotherhood-in-the-hedgerows, The Pacific is endurance-at-the-edge-of-the-world. It’s the companion piece produced with Hanks and Spielberg, centred on US Marines in the Pacific theatre. Expect lots of jungle terrain, heat and humidity and island fighting, right up until VJ Day.
Why it’s essential: it widens the lens. Same war, completely different setting.
4. Masters of the Air
The air war gets its big, glossy, terrifying turn here. Based on a book, this nine-part miniseries tracks the Mighty Eighth Air Force of the United States Army on daylight raids out of England. Executive produced by Hanks and Spielberg again, completing the informal trilogy.
Why it’s essential: it captures how war looks when your battlefield is 20,000 feet up, and your odds are… not great.
5. Apocalypse: The Second World War
All archival, colourised footage, tightly structured and relentlessly watchable. It’s a six-part French series that barrels through the war’s major turns using images that feel uncomfortably close to home. And no wonder. The footage is shot by front line soldiers, resistance fighters, spies and everyday citizens experiencing the war firsthand.
Why it’s essential: when the footage is this vivid, you stop thinking in generalities.
6. World War II in Colour
If you want a more straightforward 'major events, clearly told' docuseries, this one does the job. Western Front, Eastern Front, North Africa, Pacific… the works. All narrated by the charismatic Robert Powell. It’s a rather heavenly bit of casting (excuse the pun) considering his most famous role as Jesus in the 1970s TV drama.
Why it’s essential: it’s a solid, accessible spine of the war. Great for brushing up on the basics.
7. The War
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick go small to make the scale land. Expect personal accounts from four American towns, stitched into a seven-part series.
Why it’s essential: you learn what it felt like to have your whole life rerouted by the war.
8. Auschwitz: The Nazis and The Final Solution
A six-episode BBC series that traces Auschwitz from its beginnings through to liberation and post-war prosecution, using testimony and careful reconstruction.
Why it’s essential: it treats the subject with the seriousness it demands.
9. The Nazis: A Warning from History
One of those series that leaves you a bit quieter afterwards. It’s less 'battlefield chronology' and more 'how could this happen?'
Why it’s essential: it pushes you past the comforting idea that history is made not only by monsters like Adolf Hitler, but by the complicity of everyday people.
Something different
Keen for a bit of a laugh after all that blood, sweat and tears? Beloved British sitcom Dad’s Army does a fantastic job of turning a serious topic into something warm and funny that pairs perfectly with a nice cuppa. Did we mention there’s a whopping 90 episodes to binge?
Ready for the main event?
Once you’ve done a tour through those, World War II with Tom Hanks is basically the logical next step. Over 20 episodes, Hanks presents a sweeping and definitive retelling of the Second World War, drawing on rarely seen archival footage, insights from leading historians and human stories that bring it all to life.
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