25 Best Book to TV Show Adaptations Ever Made

Walk through a cinema lobby or listen in on any pub conversation and you’ll hear it, the constant complaint of the booklover. Stay very quiet and you may even be able to hear it now, carried along ghost-like on the wind: “The book was better!” Wherever a screen adaptation exists, somebody, somewhere will be complaining that it isn’t as good as the novel on which it was based.

“The book was better” is such an established perspective in fact, that you might question why TV producers even bother to take out options on novels at all. They do it, of course, because of the titles below, TV dramas that wove gold from, and in more than a few cases, improved on, their book inspirations.

We’re not including non-fiction books or comics here (there are so many of those that they deserve their own separate shout-outs), just shows that used novels or novel series as the starting point for some truly great television. Faithful or revisionist, modernised or period-set, these are the shows that future TV adaptations could learn from. 

25. Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2015)

Based on: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

Shrinking Susanna Clarke’s 1,000-page fantasy into just seven hour-long episodes? As Jonathan Strange would say: a magician might, though a screenwriter never could! Against the odds though, screenwriter Peter Harness (Constellation, Doctor Who) and director Toby Haynes (Andor, Black Mirror) did manage to extract the essence of Clarke’s vast Victorian pastiche for this underappreciated BBC One adaptation. Starring Bertie Carvel, Eddie Marsan, Alice Englert, Marc Warren and Charlotte Riley, and set in a 19th century England where magic is real, this well-cast miniseries told a dark and transportive story about obsession, ambition, grief, and selling your soul. On a limited budget but with unlimited imagination, it struck several of Clarke’s most visionary notes (the talking statues at York Minster, the white horses in the waves, the fairy realm…) and captured the heart, if not quite the massive scope, of the story. – Louisa Mellor

24. Station Eleven (2021)

Based on: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Released at either the best possible time or the worst possible time, Station Eleven begins with a civilization-ending flu pandemic. But it uh…gets chiller from there, we promise. This Max miniseries is a visually stunning and emotionally affecting journey that delves into what’s left behind after the world ends. And the answer is simply: us. Following several seemingly disparate storylines from the apocalypse and the before-times, Station Eleven incorporates a traveling symphony of Shakespeare performers, one very busy regional airport, and the titular fictional comic book that stars heroic astronaut Dr. Eleven.

Like Emily St. John Mandel’s book on which it’s based, Station Eleven has a lot going on (though it tones down one cultish storyline a bit). And also like the novel, it’s a timely, touching exploration of humanity’s relationship to art. – Alec Bojalad

23. Bridgerton (2020—)

If one of the things we’re celebrating here is the Fairy Godmother-like transformation of book-pumpkins into glittering TV coaches, then Bridgerton reigns supreme. Not that Julia Quinn’s Regency-era romance books aren’t glamorous and escapist – they are, but the Shondaland TV adaptation sent them into the stratosphere both in terms of representation (the book characters are all white and straight) and beauty. Such beauty! Even if the love stories of minor aristocrats aren’t your thing, you could watch this Netflix show with the volume down like a very expensive screensaver and bask in the décor, dresses and flowers. A lesson in what can be conjured from the page onto the screen. – LM

22. True Blood (2008 – 2014)

Based on: The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris

The first few seasons of HBO’s US southern adult fantasy made excellent TV drama out of some highly readable but, let’s be honest, fairly workaday books. Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse novels are sexy pageturners with bags of fantasy imagination, but their prose style is unlikely to win any literary awards. Enter: Alan Ball (Six Feet Under), a showrunner whose team elevated this world, not just doing it justice, but making it better. First of all, they cast the hell out of the show, installing Anna Paquin as telepathic waitress Sookie, Stephen Moyer as Civil War-era vampire Bill Compton, Alexander Skarsgård as dangerous Swedish Viking vamp Erik, alongside a terrific supporting cast. Filled with subtext about real-world issues from HIV AIDs to race and LGBT+ rights, True Blood was dangerous, exciting and meaningful television…for at least the first half of its overlong seven-season run. – LM 

21. Sharpe (1993 – 2008)

Based on: The Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell

How’s this for a mark of adaptation success? Actor Sean Bean became so indivisible from the character of Richard Sharpe that novelist Bernard Cornwell admitted to writing the later entries in his Sharpe book series specifically for Bean’s voice and delivery. That’s how entwined the screen and page Sharpes became. It wasn’t just exemplary casting (not only Bean but also Brian Cox, Pete Postlethwaite, Daragh O’Malley…) that made this Napoleonic era-set period spy series an excellent adaptation for ITV, but the perfect meeting of form and content. 90-minute episodes filled with intrigue and action allowed audiences to spend enough time with the Major (later Colonel) to really get to know him and to get absorbed by the cleverly evoked period setting. – LM 

20. The Last Kingdom (2015 – 2022)

Based on: The Saxon Stories novels by Bernard Cornwell

This TV adaptation became so inseparable from Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon Stories books that they’re now published under its name (The Last Kingdom was originally just the title of the first book in Cornwell’s series). That’s not just a canny marketing ploy, but also an indication of in what high regard the TV series is held, and how closely entwined the character of warrior hero Uhtred became with actor Alex Dreymon, to whom Cornwell dedicated the final book in his series. Initially adapted by Stephen Butchard for the BBC and later Netflix, The Last Kingdom is the 10th-century set story of Saxon-born but Viking-raised Uhtred, a military strategist whose Pagan beliefs put him on uneasy ground with the Christian King Alfred to whom he is forced to swear an oath. It’s an excellent ensemble, from Emily Cox as Danish warrior Brida to Eliza Butterworth as Queen Aelswith, David Dawson as Alfred and far too many beloved roles to name. Exciting, funny, filled with action and heart, this series took Cornwell’s characters and made them indelible. – LM 

19. Slow Horses (2022—)

Based on the Slough House series by Mick Herron

Two words for you: Gary Oldman. When The Dark Knight and Bram Stoker’s Dracula actor signed up to play MI5’s brilliant but disgusting Jackson Lamb, TV history was made. The combination of Oldman’s charisma and rude, shrewd, anti-social Lamb formed one of TV’s greatest ever characters, better even than the Lamb of the books. The success of Apple TV+ spy thriller Slow Horses isn’t just down to Oldman, of course. There’s also showrunner Will Smith’s fastidiously close adaptation, his and his team’s sharp comedic writing, the rest of the ensemble cast gathered to play Slough House’s team of misfits, from Jack Lowden to Aimee Ffion-Edwards, and the sleazily brilliant theme song written and performed by Mick Jagger. All of it adds up to an unmissable British TV drama, and an adaptation par excellence. – LM 

18. The Expanse (2015 – 2022)

Based on: The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey

True to its name, sci-fi drama The Expanse ran for an expansive six seasons on Syfy and then Prime Video. Set in a future where humanity has colonized the Solar System, the series follows characters involved in the delegations of the Earth and moon, Mars, and the outer planets as they deal with rising political tensions and the discovery of new alien technology. 

The Expanse had plenty of source material to work through as the series is based on a series of nine novels from James S. A. Corey, which is the joint pen name of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. There is also a host of novellas and short stories to work through as well. – AB

17. Smiley’s People (1982)

Based on: Smiley’s People by John Le Carré

Why not its 1979 predecessor Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy? Good question. Both BBC series are as well-adapted from John le Carré’s novels, as well-directed and as-well cast as one another. Sir Alec Guinness gives as excellent a performance as “the Circus” intelligence officer George Smiley in both. The latter series though, gives us a different kind of George Smiley – reluctantly called out of retirement to investigate the murder of a former asset, this Smiley is less stationary and more hands-on than in the previous series. He travels more, interrogates more, and gets into the thick of the action more, leading to an almighty confrontation with his nemesis Karla. It’s supreme television which could never be accused of dumbing down the book – if anything, this six-part series is harder to pin down than the novel, which makes it all the more intriguing. – LM

16. Inspector Morse (1987 – 2000)

Based on: the Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter

Another example of casting so spot-on that a book character is utterly eclipsed by their TV face. John Thaw is Inspector Morse, the brilliant, lonely, real ale-and-whisky-drinking eternal bachelor who solves Oxford’s murders and its cryptic crosswords alike. One genius of this British crime drama classic was the length of its episodes (see our pick of the very best here) – at two hours each, they were essentially feature films able to give ample development to every crooked scheme and crime of passion ever dreamt up by novelist Colin Dexter (who approved heartily of the adaptation and made several cameo appearances in this, and in spinoff Lewis and prequel series Endeavour). This ITV adaptation didn’t feel the need to reinvent the wheel, but simply took a great book character and made him all the greater. – LM

15. Dexter (2006 – 2013)

Based on: the Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter is one of the most unlikely big ticket franchises on television right now. Before Showtime commissioned spinoffs Dexter: New Blood, Dexter: Original Sin, and Dexter: Resurrection, however, there was only one Dexter. Running for eight seasons (four of them good, two of them bad, two more of them so bad you want to claw your eyes out), this pulpy drama followed the exploits of Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) – a Miami Police Department blood splatter analyst who also just happens to be a serial killer. 

Dexter isn’t just any kind of serial killer though – thanks to a code instilled in him by his father Harry, he kills only other serial killers (of which there appears to be an infinite amount of in Miami). Though Dexter developed a reputation of becoming a little goofy, it really has nothing on its source novels from Jeff Lindsay. Those eight Dexter books, which were published between 2004 and 2015, truly go to some strange places. – AB

14. Brideshead Revisited (1981)

Based on: Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder by Evelyn Waugh.

Yes, it’s yet more British TV rubbing its thighs over aristos and bemoaning the passing of the good old days, and yes, you could make a good argument (in fact, Guardian critic Stuart Jeffries does) that this show’s enormous popularity paved the way for Boris Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg and that whole Etonian shower to go about like they did… but ITV’s Brideshead Revisited was also a beautifully acted and composed TV drama. Jeremy Irons made a poignant Charles Ryder, both in his Oxford days and in his wartime return to Brideshead, the stately home of the Flyte family whose scion Sebastian nudged Ryder towards his sexual awakening. When it comes to literary TV adaptations, this version of Evelyn Waugh’s story simply can’t be missed out. – LM

13. Sherlock (2010 – 2017)

Based on: the Sherlock Holmes stories and novels by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

There have been many incarnations of Sherlock Holmes on television, and many of them are as indelible as they are wonderful, but none of them are as imaginatively and energetically adapted as Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ modernised BBC version. Those two and director Paul McGuigan (who established the series’ distinct look and tone in the first series) didn’t just put Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s character on screen, they created a modern TV icon. Taking the essence of a Doyle story or villain and presenting them with a sinister or funny modern sheen, and then stuffing that with Easter egg references to the whole canon, the creators of Sherlock did masterful work that audiences loved. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman, the show was a phenomenon, and however you feel about the madly ambitious, no-holds-barred final series, you can’t deny that this drama forged a path that so many since have tried to follow. – LM

12. The Forsyte Saga (1967)

Based on: The Forsyte Saga series by John Galsworthy

Celebrated here as much for its influence and international reach as for the actual adaptation, this 1960s series was one of Britain’s biggest TV exports of all time. Modern TV producers would give their eye teeth to enjoy the international success of Donald Wilson’s BBC adaptation, which was sold in multiple territories around the world, and forged the shape of countless British TV dramas that followed from Upstairs, Downstairs all the way to global hit Downton Abbey.

Over 26 black-and-white episodes, this series adapted all of Nobel prize for literature-winner John Galsworthy’s Forsyte books, which told the early 20th century story of the titular upper middle-class ‘new money’ family Soames, wife Irene, son Young Jolyon and more. The novels continue to be mined for drama, having been readapted in 2002, and in 2024, forming the basis of an acclaimed two-part London stage production. – LM

11. Hannibal (2013 – 2015)

Based on: The Hannibal Lecter series by Thomas Harris

“Hannibal Lecter: he wants to have you for dinner!” That’s not just an inexplicable, constantly repeated catchphrase from a recent presidential campaign, it’s also a punny acknowledgement of a certain cannibal doctor’s modus operandi. A brilliant psychiatrist and gourmand who just happens to also be a cannibalistic serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter is an iconic character from Thomas Harris’ series of Hannibal novels (which include Red Dragon, The Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal, and Hannibal Rising).

All four of those novels would go on to become movies of varying success (and in the case of The Silence of the Lambs, an Oscar-winning movie). But the project that hews closest to Harris’ gothic vision might just be the NBC series Hannibal. This Bryan Fuller-created show is decadent, bloody, and bleak. – AB

10. The Jewel in the Crown (1984)

Based on: The Raj Quartet by Paul Scott

In this 14-episode ITV drama, writer Ken Taylor picked carefully from among Paul Scott’s Raj Quartet novels to tell a streamlined version of this contemplative colonial story. If more screen adaptations knew what to use and what to discard in this way, they’d be better off for it. Once again, the casting, with a central core made up of Art Malik, Tim Piggott-Smith, Susan Woolridge and Charles Dance (now best known to younger audiences as Tywin Lannister in Game of Thrones), was tremendous and played a vital part in lifting Scott’s characters off the page and onto the streets of fictional Mayapore. The 1940s-set story of the British-educated but Indian-born Hari’s return to India under British colonial control, The Jewel in the Crown is sad, brutal and dark, and 40 years ago, forced mainstream British TV viewers to confront the bloody history of Empire and racism, reaching audiences that the books never could. – LM

9. Interview With the Vampire (2022—)

Based on: The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice

No author since Bram Stoker has done more to bring vampires into the cultural consciousness and expand upon their monstrous lore than Anne Rice. This spooky queen incorporated elements of her Catholic upbringing and personal experience with grief to craft the brilliant and moody novel Interview with the Vampire in 1976. That one book would go on to inspire the subsequent Vampire Chronicles novels, which have now found their way to television on AMC.

Even moreso than the decent but forgettable 1994 film, this Rolin Jones-created series gets to the bottom of what makes undead blood-drinkers so intriguing: their immense sensuality. Featuring incredible performances from Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid as Louis de Pointe du Lac and Lestat de Lioncourt, Interview with the Vampire suggests a bright future for The Vampire Chronicles. – AB

8. Shogun (2024—)

Based on: Shōgun by James Clavell

James Clavell’s 1975 novel Shōgun is so epic and richly realized that it was adapted into not one but two separate miniseries (in 1980 and 2024) that are seen as among the best of their respective eras. Of course the thing about that second miniseries is that it’s no longer so mini.

FX’s Shōgun took the TV world by storm in 2024. Blessed with incredible lead performances from Hiroyuki Sanada, Cosmo Jarvis, and Anna Sawai, this story about an English sailor becoming enmeshed in a late 16th century Japanese game of thrones was a thrilling (and seemingly complete) saga. Now the story is expected to continue in future seasons. While Clavell never penned a direct sequel to Shōgun, he did write five other books in his “Asia Saga” series. One of those books even catches up with the descendants of Lord Toranaga. – AB

7. House of Cards (1990)

Based on: House of Cards by Michael Dobbs

No list of the best television adaptations would be complete without at least one entry by Andrew Davies, adapter extraordinaire, and the man behind countless book-to-TV-and-film series from Pride and Prejudice to Vanity Fair to Bleak House to War and Peace, Les Misérables and more. Why House of Cards? Because it, and its 2014 Netflix US reworking, show exactly what can be done when a clever book is translated cleverly to screen.

It’s the story of Tory chief whip Francis Urquhart (Ian Richardson)’s Machiavellian rise to power in British politics, and as such, it’s about everything: class, influence, snobbery, money, evil, ambition – all the great themes are covered in its three x four-episode series (the BBC original has 12 episodes total; the US version went all the way up to 73). It set a standard for grown-up drama led by despicable yet extremely watchable characters. Without House of Cards, would TV’s golden age antihero have even existed? – LM

6. I, Claudius (1976)

Based on: I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Compelling, sexy, funny, and with the writing, directing and cast (if not quite the budget) to achieve its vast ambition, Jack Pulman’s BBC adaptation of Robert Graves’ I, Claudius and Claudius the God is an all-time classic. This retelling of events from the early Roman Empire has all the scheming, double-dealing, murder and skulduggery of Game of Thrones and House of Cards put together. Admittedly, its theatrical sets and acting style feel a little out of place now, but – as we said here – don’t let that keep you from a gripping and intrigue-filled drama. A young Derek Jacobi (well, these days, a young everybody) leads a packed cast including Siân Phillips, Sir Patrick Stewart, Sir John Hurt, Brian Blessed and more. – LM

5. The Handmaid’s Tale (2017 – 2025)

Based on: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

A prestige TV drama for a prestigious literary novel. A common fear with screen adaptations is that they’ll bowdlerise, gloss over, and concertina story, but Bruce Miller’s adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1985 feminist dystopia The Handmaid’s Tale did exactly the opposite; it went deeper, expanding incidental details from Atwood’s original to create a fully conceived world inside and outside of Gilead – the corrupt theocracy that replaced the United States of America after a military coup. Due to end after its soon-to-come sixth season (with an adaptation of Atwood’s follow-up novel The Testaments also promised), The Handmaid’s Tale is an astonishing achievement. A large part of that is down to star, producer and sometime director Elisabeth Moss, who has been to hell and back with her character Offred/June. Dark, confrontational, unsettling and with iconic imagery, this is the adaptation every novel deserves. – LM

4. M*A*S*H (1972 – 1983)

Based on: Mash: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker (H. Richard Hornberger)

This pick’s a slight cheat seeing as M*A*S*H the long-running TV series was more properly adapted from M*A*S*H the 1970 movie instead of Rickard Hooker (H. Richard Hornberger)’s autobiographically inspired novel, but as an all-time TV hero with a novel in its development, we’re saluting it with a top five spot. Larry Gelbart’s CBS comedy-drama was set during a MASH (mobile army surgical hospital) unit during the Korean War and, after a shaky ratings start, wasn’t just a success, but a stonking success the finale of which was watched by over 125 million people. With a cast led by Alan Alda, Loretta Swit, this Emmys-magnet show is an undeniable television classic. – LM

3. Game of Thrones (2011 – 2019)

Based on: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin

George R. R. Martin is a frequent target of the internet’s frustration. The legendary fantasy author, whose A Song of Ice and Fire books were the basis of HBO’s Game of Thrones, has thus far proven unable to make it past book number five in his planned seven-part series. While it’s certainly unfortunate that the book narrative remains stalled in 2011’s A Dance With Dragons, sometimes that criticism can lose sight of an important fact: Game of Thrones rules.

Despite only just ending in 2019 (and carrying on in multiple spinoffs), this HBO epic already feels like something out of another era. Blessed with a big budget and an even bigger imagination, this saga about the kings, queens, knights, and dragons of Westeros stands out as the last true “watercooler” TV experience. – AB

2. The Leftovers (2014 – 2017)

Based on: The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

The Leftovers is a bit of an oddity as far as book adaptations on TV go. The first season of this all-time classic HBO drama covers pretty much the entirety of author Tom Perrotta’s book of the same name about a mysterious supernatural event in which two percent of the world’s population suddenly vanished. It all made for an incredible (and incredibly depressing) season of television.

Thankfully Perrotta, series co-creator Damon Lindelof, and the rest of The Leftovers team weren’t content to stop there. The following two seasons of the show expanded upon Perrotta’s initial concept, delving deeper into the cultural, personal, and spiritual implications of a dark miracle. By the time the credits rolled on the stellar season 3 finale, The Leftovers had become one of the best HBO dramas of all time…which makes it one of the best TV dramas of all time by default. – AB

1. Wolf Hall (2015 – 2024)

Based on: The Wolf Hall trilogy by Hilary Mantel

Put it down to recency bias if you like, but in 10 years’ time, I’m convinced Wolf Hall will still top any such list. Yes, it’s a great period drama built on enthralling and layered performances from Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Jonathan Pryce, Claire Foy and more, but its real genius is in how writer Peter Straughan and director Peter Kosminsky translated it from page to screen. Hilary Mantel’s meticulous Wolf Hall trilogy – which tells the rise-and-fall story of Henry VIII’s ‘fixer’ Lord Thomas Cromwell – is enveloping and immersive. Dialogue blends into description, which can disorient but also make you feel as though you’re in the midst of the characters and the action rather than watching it from a distance. It’s the work of a genius writer, and it took two genius adapters plus the genius cast they assembled to recreate that feeling on television. – LM

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