7 Romance Shows That Are 10/10 Masterpieces

Image via Starz Published Nov 10, 2026, 5:44 PM EST Sign in to your Collider account Romance gets a bad rep for being the guilty pleasure of TV. It's considered as the genre people binge in secret and never put on their "best shows" lists. That reputation is a little unfair, though. A truly great love story is one of the hardest things to pull off on screen. It takes chemistry that can't be faked, and a slow build that makes the audience desperate for two people to finally get it right. When a romance gets all of that right, it becomes something viewers return to again and again, long after they know exactly how it ends. The shows on this list are the ones that understand romance is really about vulnerability rather than the boring, one-dimensional stereotypes people usually associate with the genre. They give viewers messy, complicated people who have to get out of their own way before they can fall in love. This is a list of romance shows that are 10/10 masterpieces because they do justice to the very act of falling in love. 'One Day' (2024) Image via Netflix One Day is a right person, wrong time story that is both heartwarming and unbearable to watch, and that is the mark of a true romance. The series, based on David Nicholls' bestselling novel, begins on July 15, 1988, when Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall) spend one night together after graduating from university in Edinburgh. Every episode then drops in on them on that same date, year after year. The two characters couldn't be any different. Emma is a sharp, working-class aspiring writer who never quite believes she’s good enough, while Dexter is a golden boy who survives on pure charm until his life starts to unravel. The genius of the show is in its format. Since the audience only sees one day a year, entire relationships and careers happen off-screen, and every episode feels like catching up with an old friend who has changed as life has gone on. Both characters experience genuine growth over the years, and it's impossible not to root for their connection. Just be warned that the final episodes take a turn that hits like a gut punch, and the show ends with a twist that is guaranteed to stay with viewers for days. One Day is the perfect love story about missed chances, and is guaranteed to wreck anyone who makes it to the end. 'Heated Rivalry' (2025–Present) Image via Crave Nobody expected a Canadian hockey romance to take over the internet, but Heated Rivalry did exactly that within a few weeks. The series, based on Rachel Reid's Game Changers novels and created by Letterkenny's Jacob Tierney, follows two of professional hockey’s biggest young stars. Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) is a disciplined, focused Canadian, while Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) is a cocky Russian who loves getting under his skin. The two have been rivals since their rookie days in 2008, and on the ice, they can't stand each other. Off the ice, though, they get secretly caught up in an affair that could end both of their careers if anyone found out. Beneath all the steam, Heated Rivalry is really about two men who have been taught their entire lives that wanting each other could cost them everything. The six-episode season stretches across a decade, so the audience gets to watch a secret fling slowly turn into something neither of them is ready to name. The two are a perfect mismatch, and every stolen moment they get feels charged because things can fall apart at any time. On top of that, the show delivers a second great romance through hockey captain Scott Hunter (François Arnaud) and his boyfriend, Kip (Robbie G.K.), whose story nearly steals the spotlight. Heated Rivalry turned a niche book series into a global obsession, and it has more than earned its place among the great modern love stories. 'Outlander' (2014–2026) Image via Starz There are slow burns, and then there's a love story that literally spans two centuries. Outlander, based on Diana Gabaldon's novels, follows World War II nurse Claire Randall (Caitríona Balfe), on her second honeymoon in Scotland who is suddenly thrown back to 1743 after touching an ancient standing stone. Suddenly, Claire finds herself in the middle of a brewing Jacobite rebellion. To protect herself, she is forced to marry Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan), a young Highland warrior, even though she already has a husband waiting for her in the future. Unlike most romances, Outlander gets its central couple married early and then asks what happens after they say "I do." Claire and Jamie face wars and impossible choices together, and their love grows deeper with every hardship instead of fading. It's hard not to melt every time Jamie calls her "Sassenach," the nickname that started as a jab and turned into a declaration of love. Claire is also a refreshingly modern heroine, a woman who refuses to stay quiet in a century that expects her to. After eight seasons, Outlander remains the gold standard for epic, sweeping romance on TV. 'Bridgerton' (2020–Present) Bridgerton is Shonda Rhimes' version of Regency, and provides a refreshing take on London high society's ruthless marriage market. The series, based on Julia Quinn's novel series, follows the Bridgerton siblings and their individual love stories. Bridgerton Season 1 centers on Daphne Bridgerton (Phoebe Dynevor), who strikes a deal with the brooding Duke of Hastings (Regé-Jean Page) to fake a courtship, only for real feelings to get in the way. The following seasons follow a new Bridgerton sibling and cover a new romance trope with every season, from enemies-to-lovers to friends-to-lovers, and even a Cinderella-style love story. Of course, overseeing all this drama is the anonymous gossip columnist Lady Whistledown, voiced by Julie Andrews, whose scandal sheet keeps the entire ton on edge. Bridgerton stands out from other period dramas because of how unapologetically modern it feels. The show reimagines Regency London with a diverse cast and swaps classical music for string-quartet covers of songs by artists including Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift to help the audience relate to the era. Not to mention the series tells its love stories from the women's point of view, which makes the fight for independence just as important as the search for a husband. Bridgerton took the stuffy period romance formula and turned it into a feel-good show that has made period romance cool for a whole new generation. Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Taylor Swift Era Matches Your Personality? 1989 · Reputation · Folklore · Red Eight specific questions: what is in your notes app, the item of clothing you wear into the ground, what you did the last time you needed a fresh start, the track you skip to first on a new album. Answer them and we will tell you which era you have been living in. Four of the biggest, and four completely different women to be. 🕊️1989(2014) 🐍Reputation(2017) 🧶Folklore(2020) 🍂Red(2012) FIND YOUR ERA → 01 What did you do the last time you needed a fresh start? Everybody has a move, and everybody repeats it. ACut my hair and changed cities. BWent quiet and let people wonder. CStayed in and did not speak to anybody. DFell for somebody new within a month. NEXT QUESTION → 02 What is in your notes app right now? Go and look. We will wait. ALists, plans and goals for the year. BThings I will never send to anybody. CHalf a story I started at midnight. DEverything I wanted to say to one person. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What does your main group chat look like? The one you open first in the morning. ATwelve people and a plan for Saturday. BThree people who know everything. CMostly me, sending very long voice notes. DOne person, constantly, for years. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What is the item of clothing you wear into the ground? The one that needs replacing and never gets replaced. ASomething bright I wear to be seen. BBlack, from the shoulders down. CA cardigan I have had far too long. DA coat that only belongs to autumn. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you handle somebody who wronged you? The whole discography rests on this question. AMove on loudly and live extremely well. BSay nothing and let them find out. CWrite it all down and never send it. DTalk about it for about ten years. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Where do you want to be at nine on a Saturday? Pick the one you would choose twice. AA rooftop with everybody I know. BSomewhere exclusive, with four people. CAt home with all the lamps on. DA long dinner that becomes a long walk. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Which track do you skip to first on a new album? Everybody cheats, and everybody cheats differently. AThe big one everybody is already posting. BThe one that sounds like a warning. CThe quietest one on the record. DThe long one about one specific night. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What do you want people to say about you? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your era. AThat I reinvented myself and pulled it off. BThat I came back harder than before. CThat I noticed what nobody else did. DThat I felt everything, all the way down. REVEAL MY ERA → The Era Is Announced You Belong In…With The Life of a Showgirl getting an encore edition this week, the era argument is live all over again. Here is yours, what it says about you, and the case for it being the best one she has made. 1989You are the reinvention. 1989 is the record where she walked away from the thing that made her famous and rebuilt everything from scratch, and it worked so completely that people forgot there had ever been a risk. You are at your best when you have decided to become somebody slightly new, and you commit to it in public. This is the album that won her a second Album of the Year, making her the first woman ever to take the award twice. The era ran on friendship and the city, and you are the one who organises everybody and then gets photographed doing it. Your risk is the same as the album's, which is that the polish can start doing the work that honesty used to. ReputationYou are the one who stopped explaining. Reputation arrived after a year of being written off, with almost no interviews and no attempt to be liked, and it turned out that saying nothing was the loudest available option. You go silent when you are hurt, and people mistake that for weakness right up until it is very clear that it was not. She released it with no press campaign at all, which had never worked for anybody and worked enormously here. The joke about this album is that half of it is armour and the other half is the softest love songs she had written. You would rather be underestimated than misunderstood, and you keep receipts on everybody either way. FolkloreYou are the quiet one who was paying attention the whole time. Folklore appeared with less than a day of warning, made entirely indoors, and swapped autobiography for invented characters who somehow felt more personal than the real ones. You process things by writing them down or turning them into a story, and you would rather be read than watched. It won Album of the Year at the 2021 Grammys, her third, and it was made by people who never shared a room. The teenage love triangle running across three songs is the most fun anybody had with a tracklist that decade. You notice the small thing in a room that everybody else walks past, and you will still be thinking about it next week. RedYou feel everything at maximum volume and you have never apologised for it. Red is the messiest album she has made and the one most people love best, because it is the sound of somebody refusing to be reasonable about how much something hurt. You hold onto things, you replay them, and you can still describe a conversation from years ago line by line. All Too Well became a ten minute song and a short film she directed herself, and it went to number one anyway. The whole record is autumn, and you are the person who treats a season like a personality trait. Nothing here is cool and that is the point, which is why it has aged better than almost anything around it. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Heartstopper' (2022–2024) Image via Netflix Heartstopper is proof that a love story doesn't need heartbreak or emotional trauma to make viewers cry. The series, based on Alice Oseman's graphic novels, follows Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), a shy, openly gay student at an all-boys British school. When he's seated next to rugby team star Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), Charlie develops a massive crush, which he knows will never go anywhere. As the two become close friends, though, Nick begins to realize that his feelings for Charlie run much deeper than he expected. Heartstopper is a show about the small moments. Every awkward "hi" between Charlie and Nick perfectly captures the feeling of a young love and the hand-drawn visual elements in the show make the audience feel like Oseman's novels have come to life. The show is refreshingly kind to its characters, but doesn't shy away from harder topics like bullying and mental health. One of its most moving scenes comes when Nick comes out to his mother, played by Olivia Colman, and it's impossible to get through that without tearing up. Heartstopper is the comforting, joyful queer love story so many viewers wish they had growing up, and it deserves all the appreciation it gets for that. 'Crash Landing on You' (2019–2020) Image via tvN A South Korean heiress falling for a North Korean soldier sounds like the setup for a joke, but Crash Landing on You makes it work without feeling gimmicky. Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) is a wealthy, fiercely independent businesswoman who gets swept off course during a paragliding accident and crash-lands on the wrong side of the border. Stern but honorable army officer, Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin), finds Se-ri and decides to hide her in his village until she figures out a way home. From there, the story works both as a sweeping romance and a tense thriller, while also being one of the funniest K-dramas out there. Crash Landing on You has something for everyone. Even viewers who have never watched a K-drama will find Se-ri and Jeong-hyeok's dynamic endearing because of how well-written it is. The two have lived completely different lives, but they slowly realize they understand each other better than anyone else ever has. The border itself is what gives the romance its ache, since the two come from countries that can never truly let them be together. Every loving moment they share feels borrowed, and the audience spends the whole series dreading the day all this ends. Crash Landing on You is the perfect gateway into K-dramas, and it's easily one of the most beloved romances of the decade. 'The Other Bennet Sister' (2026) Image via BritBox In Pride and Prejudice, Mary Bennet is mostly remembered for embarrassing herself at the piano while the rest of the room cringes. The Other Bennet Sister, based on Janice Hadlow's novel, finally gives her a story of her own. Mary (Ella Bruccoleri) is the bookish, awkward middle child who has spent her life being compared to her prettier and livelier sisters. When she gets the chance to start fresh in London with her kind aunt and uncle, the Gardiners (Indira Varma and Richard Coyle), Mary finally gets to discover who she is outside of her family's shadow. In London, she finds herself caught between two very different suitors, the reserved Mr. Hayward (Dónal Finn) and the charming Mr. Ryder (Laurie Davidson). Now, for a woman who has never been anyone's first choice, being noticed is thrilling and terrifying at once. The love triangle isn't really about which man wins her over, though. It's about Mary learning what she actually wants, rather than settling for whoever will have her. The series turns one of Austen's punchlines into a heroine worth rooting for, and that's exactly why it's so satisfying. Mary is prickly and earnest, and she's funnier than anyone ever gave her credit for. Her love story doesn't arrive in one sweeping moment. Instead, it grows alongside her confidence, which makes every step toward happiness feel truly earned. Anyone who has ever felt like the overlooked one in their family will see a little of themselves in her. The Other Bennet Sister is a sweet, clever twist on Austen, and it's the kind of underdog romance that's impossible not to love. The Other Bennet Sister Release Date May 6, 2026 Network BBC One Cast Ella Bruccoleri Mary Bennet Richard E. Grant Mr. Bennet Directors Jennifer Sheridan Writers Sarah Quintrell, Maddie Dai Main Genre Drama Seasons 1 Producers John Pocock Creator(s) Janice Hadlow Executive Producer(s) Becca Kinder, Jane Tranter, Janice Hadlow, Kate Crowther, Rebecca Ferguson, Sarah Quintrell, Dan McCulloch, Jess O'Riordan