Taboo poster

Taboo

★ 8.3 164K votes 2017–2017 1 season · 8 episodes Ended BBC One
Antihero leadA protagonist doing bad things you can't stop watching.This show: 9/10AtmosphericMood and place thick enough to touch.This show: 9/10Dark toneShadowy mood and subject matter, a shade short of outright bleak.This show: 9/10Slow burnDeliberate pacing where the payoffs are earned over long stretches.This show: 8/10Stylized directionBold, signature formal choices.This show: 8/10Visually strikingComposition and imagery worth pausing for.This show: 8/10GrittyRaw, unglamorous realism in both look and subject matter.This show: 8/10Morally grayNo clean heroes or villains anywhere in sight.This show: 8/10
Rate this series
Starring
Tom HardyDavid HaymanJonathan PryceOona ChaplinRichard DixonLeo Bill
Written by
Tom HardyChips HardySteven Knight
Starring
Tom HardyDavid HaymanJonathan PryceOona ChaplinRichard DixonLeo Bill
Written by
Tom HardyChips HardySteven Knight
Ratings per Episode
246810
Votes per Episode
02k4k6k8k

Taboo Episode Ratings Heatmap

AvgE1E2E3E4E5E6E7E8
S18.58.48.28.18.68.28.58.79.0

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About

"Gothic revenge thriller soaked in candlelight and menace"

James Delaney, a mysterious adventurer, returns to 1814 London after years abroad to claim a small, contested slice of inherited shipping territory that pits him against the East India Company and his own fractured family. It's a moody, grimy period thriller built on secrets, revenge, and occult undertones rather than conventional plotting. The pace is deliberate, almost brooding, favoring atmosphere and menace over action, carried heavily by a magnetic, near-feral lead performance and a filthy, candlelit vision of Georgian London that feels genuinely dangerous rather than picturesque.

Watch it for

a brooding, feral lead performance anchoring a grimy, richly atmospheric vision of Georgian London.

Maybe skip if

you want brisk pacing or a fully resolved story rather than a moody, open-ended slow burn.

Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.

All Seasons

Series 12017
8.541K87h 56m
1814: James Keziah Delaney returns to London from Africa and is encircled by conspiracy, murder and betrayal.
EpTitleRatingYoursVotesRuntime
1Episode #1.18.4
7K58 min
2Episode #1.28.2
5K60 min
3Episode #1.38.1
5K59 min
4Episode #1.48.6
5K59 min
5Episode #1.58.2
4K60 min
6Episode #1.68.5
4K61 min
7Episode #1.78.7
4K60 min
8Episode #1.89.0
5K59 min

Full Cast & Crew

Cast

Tom Hardy James Keziah Delaney
David Hayman Brace
Jonathan Pryce Sir Stuart Strange
Oona Chaplin Zilpha Geary
Richard Dixon Pettifer
Leo Bill Wilton
Edward Hogg Godfrey
Ruby-May Martinwood Winter
Jessie Buckley Lorna Bow
Stephen Graham Atticus

Crew

Chips Hardy
Steven Knight

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