PCMag UK Features TV Shows to Watch if You Love 'The Handmaid's Tale' Alias Grace (Netflix) K. Thor Jensen 22 May 2019, 6:50 p.m. We review products independently, but we may earn affiliate commissions from buying links on this page. Terms of use. (Photo courtesy of/Hulu) Much of Hulu's original programming is quite good, but it hadn't developed a show that broke into the cultural mainstream like Stranger Things did until the debut of its adaptation of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, which combines a timely premise with exceptional production quality and performances. It won the 2018 Golden Globe for best TV drama series and the 2017 Outstanding Drama Series Emmy, while Elisabeth Moss took home her own Golden Globe and Emmy for acting. The second season was also met with acclaim and received numerous nominations. Season three starts June 5. Unlike Netflix, Hulu adopted a more traditional TV model with The Handmaid's Tale, dropping new episodes once a week. It can be tough to watch at times, but it keeps you hooked. If you need something to tide you over until new episodes are released or after the season finale airs, these TV shows covers some of the same issues—dystopian sci-fi with strong social messaging, diverse casting, and unique world building. Alias Grace (Netflix) Margaret Atwood adaptations are not limited to Hulu. Netflix picked up Alias Grace, a 2017 Canadian miniseries based on Atwood's book of the same name. It tells the story of a woman sentenced for murder in the 1800s, and the doctor who takes a special interest in her. As she tells her story, things aren't what they seem, and there might be more to Grace Marks than initially believed. Stream all six episodes on Netflix. Black Mirror (Netflix) Charlie Brooker's brilliant sci-fi anthology is built around the same kind of concepts that motivate The Handmaid's Tale—how fragile our society is in the face of progress and change. Each episode presents a completely different world, but they're nearly all worth watching (check out PCMag's ranking of every episode from best to worst).Special mention must be made of "San Junipero" from season three, which deftly handles the relationship between two young women in a beach town that is not what it seems.Four seasons and the choose-your-own-adventure Bandersnatch film are streaming on Netflix. A three-episode season five arrives on June 5. Cleverman (Netflix) Cleverman is an Australian series that weaves together the country's Aboriginal folklore and socio-political battles over racism and immigration.The title character is a chosen one, bestowed with gifts he must use to help save his people from persecution. Watch both seasons on Netflix. Colony (Netflix) One of the most interesting things about USA's Colony is how it treats collaborators with the invading alien force that has taken over the planet. Because we never lay eyes on the mysterious Hosts, their doctrines are carried out by ordinary human beings just like you and me, making things even more chilling.We live in a world that's already proved willing to compromise its morals for survival and comfort, so it's all too feasible that, given the right circumstances, the government could just choose to let people with chronic illnesses like diabetes die without medical treatment to reduce their impact on society. Humanity is its own worst enemy, and it just takes a little push to strip away our better nature. Check out Colony on Netflix. Dollhouse (Hulu) Probably Joss Whedon's saddest failure, Dollhouse was way ahead of its time. Frequent muse Eliza Dushku is Echo, a blank human being rented out to clients for a variety of purposes. The show took the female empowerment of Buffy and gave it a severe twist.Like Westworld, the "dolls" have their memories wiped after each assignment, but when Echo starts remembering parts of her past life, it kicks off her quest for identity. Much like The Handmaid's Tale, this show examined the treatment of women as objects for male pleasure. Sadly, it only got two seasons to find its footing. Watch the show on Hulu. Game of Thrones (HBO) Perhaps the most popular television series of the decade, Game of Thrones just finished its long run, but it's never too late to start from the beginning. Like The Handmaid's Tale, GoT can be cruel to its most beloved characters, but it's also hard to look away when the stakes are so high.The quality across the board—from acting to production—has likely contributed to both its success and popularity around the world. After winning nearly 50 Primetime Emmy Awards in its lifetime, it's safe to say the show is worth checking out. Especially since multiple spin-offs are in the works. Orphan Black (Amazon Video) This is probably the most obvious modern equivalent to The Handmaid's Tale, and I'd bet the producers of that series took some inspiration from Atwood's novel. When a young woman discovers she's one of a group of lab-grown clones, it opens up a tale of deep conspiracies that spans five seasons.Reproductive rights and child bearing is a huge part of Orphan Black's world building; only two of the clones are fertile, and their struggle for self-determination against forces seeking to control and exploit them is a powerful thing. Watch the show on Amazon Prime Video. What Happened to Monday (Netflix) On The Handmaid's Tale, fertile women are forced to have as many children as possible. On What Happened to Monday, there is a one-child policy, which makes life difficult for a group of septuplets. Luckily, they are identical, so they devise a plan whereby they are named after a day of the week, and that's the only day they are allowed outside. It works for awhile, but then something happens to Monday. Stream it on Netflix. The Leftovers (HBO) HBO's quirky micro-apocalypse drama The Leftovers touches on some of the elements in The Handmaid's Tale, most notably the ability of religion to give people the structure they need to do the unthinkable.When 2 percent of the world's population vanishes all at once, it sends the survivors into an existential tailspin as they search for answers that never seem to be forthcoming. In the wake of the disappearance, a cult called the Guilty Remnant rises to remind those left behind that they were somehow unworthy.The show brilliantly toes the line between serious and bizarre, and the third and final season proves to be a truly mind-bending experience. Watch the full series on HBO GO/Now. The Society (Netflix) The Society is like The Leftovers, but with teenagers. Naturally, things get very Lord of the Flies-esque real quick, as these kids try to create a functional society. Season one is streaming on Netflix. The Man in the High Castle (Amazon Video) Based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name, The Man in the High Castle takes place in an alternative 1962 where the Axis won World War II. America has been split up between the Germans and Japanese, and the show focuses on several characters who discover propaganda films that depict an Allied victory at the end of the war.Similar to The Handmaid's Tale, US citizens are persecuted by the ruling regime. The alternate version of America that serves as the show's setting is well rendered and gives the series some much needed depth. Watch exclusively on Amazon Prime Video. The OA (Netflix) This Netflix original series combines science fiction, supernatural, and fantasy to create a truly unique viewing experience. Blind as a child, Prairie Johnson goes missing for seven years before returning with the ability to see and unusual scars on her back.She refers to herself as the OA and claims she has the ability to travel through dimensions. Prairie enlists local teenagers to help her free those she says are still held captive, but the real draw is solving the mysteries of Prairie's life. Two seasons are streaming on Netflix. The 100 (Netflix) The CW's teen sci-fi show is possibly the best thing on the network for how it wrestles with the thorny morality of survival. When nuclear war wipes out pretty much all of humanity except for stragglers orbiting the Earth in a space station, society up there devolves into a draconian grind for resources.When they grow short, the ruling party makes the decision to send 100 kids to the planet's surface on a suicide mission to see if the radiation has dissipated enough to survive. The kids live, which kicks off six seasons and counting of political machinations, tough choices, and war crimes. Watch The 100 on Netflix (while you can). 3% (Netflix) Netflix's take on the dystopia concept hails from the somewhat surprising nation of Brazil. The conceit of 3% is simple: almost all the world's population lives in grinding poverty, but when you turn 20 you get the chance to move to the Offshore, where 3% of the population lives in luxury.Getting there isn't easy, though, and the show follows a group of 20-year-olds going through the Process. Their trials are so harrowing that some don't survive. They also begin to learn things they didn't want to know about the world they live in.One of the most notable points about The Handmaid's Tale is its diverse casting, and that's a big draw here. Sci-fi from a South American perspective isn't something we see a lot of, and the show's voice is unique. Watch 3% on Netflix. Top of the Lake (Hulu) Top of the Lake is a BBC production that centers on a detective (The Handmaid's Tale's Moss) investigating the disappearance of a pregnant girl in New Zealand. A second series, subtitled China Girl, is set five years after the first and follows the same detective's investigation of a girl's death in Sydney. The focus on missing girls in a world that doesn't seem to care about them is something fans of The Handmaid's Tale will find familiar. Watch both seasons on Hulu.

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