8 Must-Watch Shows if You Love Netflix's 'My Brilliant Career'

Image via Netflix Published Sep 7, 2026, 5:36 PM EDT Jessica is a journalist, editor, TCA critic, and multimedia storyteller with a decade of experience covering pop culture, film, TV, women's sports, lifestyle, and more. She earned her degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington with a focus in creative writing before moving to N.Y.C. and getting her start at The Huffington Post. (She still misses those nap pods.) She's covered multiple film festivals, recapped some of your favorite series, worked too many red carpets to count, and even yapped on a podcast or two. When she’s not interviewing your favorite showrunner or ranking Ryan Gosling's best roles for places like UPROXX, Teen Vogue, Marie Claire, The Daily Beast, and Cosmopolitan, she’s busy being a full-time hype woman to her cat, Finn. You can find her on Bluesky and, sadly, Twitter. Sign in to your Collider account Netflix's My Brilliant Career arrived in August with six episodes and a heroine who would very much like everyone to stop proposing to her. Philippa Northeast's Sybylla is prickly and dead-set on becoming a writer in early-1900s rural Australia, an era and a place that would really, really prefer she marries well and stop making a fuss. The show wraps that stubbornness in enough romantic tension to keep you second-guessing her ultimate choice all the way through the finale. If you've already burned through the whole thing and need more period heroines making decisions their families will never forgive them for, there's plenty on TV to work with. Here are shows about women behaving very badly (for their times, at least). 'Dickinson' (2019–2021) Image via Apple TV Hailee Steinfeld plays Emily Dickinson, and not the somber recluse from your 10th grade English textbook. Creator Alena Smith's Apple TV series ran for three seasons and 30 episodes between 2019 and 2021, reimagining the poet as a young woman sneaking out at night and falling for her brother's fiancée, Ella Hunt's Sue Gilbert, while locked in an ongoing war with her father (Toby Huss) over whether her writing has any business existing outside her bedroom drawer. The show is deliberately anachronistic, set to modern pop music and peppered with contemporary slang. Wiz Khalifa plays Death in a top hat and carriage, and John Mulaney shows up as a hilariously vain Thoreau, and somehow all of it makes Emily's frustration feel completely present rather than safely historical. Emily and Sybylla share the same core problem: they want to write, and the people closest to them wish they'd stop. My Brilliant Career plays that tension with warmth and a romantic slow burn, and Dickinson takes it somewhere far stranger, building into near-magical realism by its final season. The tonal gap between the two shows is huge, but if Sybylla's stubbornness got to you, Emily's will too. 'The Buccaneers' (2023–Present) Image via Apple TV Five wealthy young American women descend on 1870s London looking for husbands with titles, and what starts as a giddy fish-out-of-water comedy of manners gradually turns into a story about what happens when the marriages you chased turn out to be cages. Apple TV's The Buccaneers, created by Katherine Jakeways from Edith Wharton's unfinished novel, has aired two seasons of eight episodes each with a third renewed. It's anchored by Kristine Froseth's Nan St. George and Christina Hendricks as her scene-stealing mother. The Gilded Age setting is gorgeous, but the show earns its keep with the friendships between these women and how they protect each other when their lives start pulling in different directions. Like My Brilliant Career, The Buccaneers is interested in young women realizing that the life they were raised to want may not be the one they actually want. Sybylla's story is intimate, one woman and her notebook in a small corner of the Outback, and The Buccaneers blows that scale wide open, scattering its heroines across London ballrooms and country estates. The show is soapier than My Brilliant Career, but that's not a bad thing. 'The Great' (2020–2023) Image via Hulu Elle Fanning plays Catherine the Great as a bright-eyed idealist who arrives in 18th-century Russia expecting a love story and gets a husband, Peter III (Nicholas Hoult), who is, to put it gently, a nightmare. Creator Tony McNamara's Hulu series ran for three seasons and 30 episodes, and it wore the subtitle "an occasionally true story" as a badge of honor. The show borrows history's broad strokes and turns them into a pitch-black comedy about power, and Catherine's solution to her miserable marriage is to stage a coup, which is the kind of ambition that makes Sybylla's literary dreams look pretty polite by comparison. Sybylla's rebellion is quiet and personal; Catherine's involves at least one beheading and several poisonings. The Great is funnier and significantly bloodier than anything else on this list, and it's the pick for anyone who watched Sybylla refuse a proposal and thought, "OK, but what if she just killed her suitor instead?" 'Little Women' (2017) Image via BBC Jo March is the original "I'd rather write than get married" heroine, and this three-part 2017 BBC miniseries, adapted by Heidi Thomas, gives her a version worth seeking out alongside the better-known Greta Gerwig film. Maya Hawke plays Jo, with Emily Watson as Marmee and Angela Lansbury as Aunt March. The miniseries aired on PBS Masterpiece in 2018, and at only three episodes it moves briskly through Alcott's novel, covering the March sisters from wartime poverty through Jo's early writing career with a directness that bigger adaptations lose in the shuffle. The connection to My Brilliant Career is the most straightforward one here: Alcott's novel came out in 1868, and Miles Franklin's in 1901. Both center on a young woman choosing writing over the comfortable route everyone wants her to accept. Collider Exclusive · The Sorting Hat Awaits Which Hogwarts House Are You? Gryffindor · Slytherin · Hufflepuff · Ravenclaw Four houses. One destiny. The Sorting Hat has considered thousands of students — now it's your turn. Answer honestly and discover where you truly belong at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 🦁Gryffindor 🐍Slytherin 🦡Hufflepuff 🦅Ravenclaw PLACE THE HAT → 01 What quality do you value most in yourself? Answer as honestly as you can — the Hat always knows. ACourage — I act even when I'm afraid, because what's right matters more than what's safe. BAmbition — I know what I want and I have the drive and cunning to get there. CLoyalty — I show up for the people I love, no matter what it costs me. DWisdom — I think before I act and I'm always hungry to understand more. NEXT QUESTION → 02 A friend is being treated unfairly. What do you do? How you protect others says everything about who you are. AStep in immediately and confront whoever is responsible — I won't stand by. BWork out the best strategy to address it — a smart move beats a rash one. CBe by their side, support them, and help them through it however they need. DAnalyse what's actually happening and find the most reasoned, fair solution. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What does success look like to you? What you're working toward defines who you're becoming. ABeing remembered as someone who fought for what was right, whatever the odds. BAchieving the goals I set for myself — influence, status, and earned respect. CA life where the people I care about know I was there for them, always. DMastering my field, contributing something meaningful, and never stopping learning. NEXT QUESTION → 04 What is your greatest fear? Fear is the most honest thing about a person. ABeing a coward when it mattered — looking back and knowing I did nothing. BMediocrity — fading into obscurity without making my mark on the world. CLosing the people I love or letting them down when they needed me most. DIgnorance — being wrong and not knowing it, or never reaching my potential. NEXT QUESTION → 05 The rules say no. Your gut says go. What do you do? Every institution has rules. What you do with them is a choice. ABreak the rules — if it's the right thing to do, no rule should stop me. BFind a way to get what I want without getting caught. Rules are guidelines. CProbably follow the rules — but I'd find a way to help within them if I could. DThink it through carefully — is the rule unjust, or is my gut just impatient? NEXT QUESTION → 06 What kind of friend are you? Who you are to the people you love is who you really are. AThe protector — I will go to the ends of the earth for the people I care about. BThe strategist — I give sharp advice and I'm the one who figures out how to fix things. CThe constant — I'm always there, always reliable, and I never make it about me. DThe guide — I help people think things through and see perspectives they've missed. NEXT QUESTION → 07 You look into the Mirror of Erised. What do you see? The mirror shows the deepest desire of your heart. AYourself standing victorious, having faced the greatest challenge and won. BYourself at the height of your power — respected, successful, and in control. CYourself surrounded by everyone you love, whole and happy and together. DYourself with all the answers — every book read, every mystery solved. NEXT QUESTION → 08 The Sorting Hat pauses. It whispers: "You could do well in any house. But what matters most to you — truly?" This is your tiebreaker. The Hat always listens. ABravery. I want to be the kind of person who acts when others won't. BGreatness. I want to leave my mark and be more than ordinary. CBelonging. I want to be part of something good and never let my people down. DUnderstanding. I want to know the truth of things and keep growing forever. REVEAL MY HOUSE → The Sorting Hat Speaks Your House Has Been ChosenAfter careful deliberation, the Sorting Hat has made its decision. This is the house your values, your instincts, and your particular way of being in the world were made for. 🦁 GryffindorYou have nerve. Not the reckless kind, but the deep, quiet courage that shows up even when you're terrified — especially then. Gryffindors don't act because they're fearless — they act because they understand that some things are worth being afraid for. You stand up for people when it would be easier to look away. You charge toward what's right even when the odds are terrible. Harry, Hermione, Ron — the heroes of Hogwarts's greatest chapter — all called the tower with the scarlet and gold home. And now, so do you. 🐍 SlytherinYou are driven, sharp, and utterly clear-eyed about what you want and how to get there. Slytherin has long been misunderstood — painted as the house of villains when it is, at its best, the house of those who refuse to accept limits placed on them by others. You are resourceful, strategic, and you play the long game. You know your worth. You protect your own fiercely. The dungeon common room with its view of the Black Lake is yours — and the ambitions that will take you further than anyone expects are yours too. 🦡 HufflepuffYou are the kind of person that makes the world genuinely better just by being in it. Hufflepuff is not the "safe" house or the "leftover" house — it is the house of those with the greatest heart and the most unwavering integrity. You show up. You work hard. You don't need glory or recognition — you do what's right because it's right. Your loyalty never wavers, even when tested. Nymphadora Tonks, Cedric Diggory, Newt Scamander — some of the wizarding world's finest. And now you join them. 🦅 RavenclawYour mind is your greatest gift, and you've always known it. Ravenclaws are the thinkers, the questioners, the ones who find a puzzle irresistible and a good book better company than most people. Ravenclaw is not merely about intelligence — it's about the love of learning, the pursuit of truth, and the rare courage to admit you don't know something yet. You see the world with unusual clarity and depth. Luna Lovegood, Filius Flitwick, Rowena Ravenclaw herself — all extraordinary, all original. And so are you. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Anne with an E' (2017–2019) Image via CBC Amybeth McNulty's Anne Shirley is one of the great TV performances of the last decade, and if you've only ever thought of Anne of Green Gables as a cozy childhood story, this CBC/Netflix adaptation is going to reset your expectations. Created by Moira Walley-Beckett (who won an Emmy for writing Breaking Bad's "Ozymandias"), the series ran for three seasons, and it takes L.M. Montgomery's novel into darker territory. Anne's years in orphanages and abusive foster homes have left real damage, and the show doesn't look away from what that does to a girl who channels everything she has into imagination and sheer force of will. The overlap with My Brilliant Career is the portrait of a young woman whose ambition is constantly at odds with a world that finds her too much. Anne is desperate to matter, to be educated and heard. Anne with an E is set in the green fields of 1890s Prince Edward Island rather than the Australian bush, but it shares My Brilliant Career's willingness to let its heroine be difficult, to let her want things that make everyone around her uncomfortable. 'Sanditon' (2019–2023) Image via PBS Andrew Davies adapted this series from Jane Austen's unfinished final novel, and the result is a show that had to do something very few period dramas attempt: finish a story that Austen herself never got to. Rose Williams stars as Charlotte Heywood, a young woman who arrives at the seaside resort town of Sanditon and starts forming opinions about everyone in it. ITV canceled the show after one season, a fan campaign and PBS backing brought it back for two more. Charlotte and Sybylla would get along: both are outsiders with strong views who walk into a social world they didn't grow up in and immediately start disrupting it. Sanditon is more of a traditional romance than My Brilliant Career, with love triangles and a generous supply of meaningful glances on clifftops. However, Charlotte's refusal to perform deference has the same energy as Sybylla's refusal to play nice. 'Bridgerton' (2020–Present) You've probably already seen Bridgerton. Chris Van Dusen created the series for Netflix and Shonda Rhimes' Shondaland, and four seasons of eight episodes each have aired since 2020, with a fifth on the way. Based on Julia Quinn's romance novels and set in an alternate-history Regency London, the show rotates its leads each season, following a different Bridgerton sibling's love story. Regé-Jean Page and Phoebe Dynevor kicked things off in the first season, and by the third it was Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton's turn, but the world stays the same. The My Brilliant Career connection is sharpest in Season 3, when Penelope Featherington's double life as Lady Whistledown, the anonymous gossip columnist half of London is obsessed with, finally crashes into her personal life. A woman whose real talent has to stay hidden because her world won't accept it from her? Sybylla knows that one. 'The Other Bennet Sister' (2026–Present) Image via BritBox Mary Bennet, the middle sister who gets about four lines and no love interest in Austen's original Pride and Prejudice, finally gets her own show. This ten-episode BBC series, adapted by Sarah Quintrell from Janice Hadlow's 2020 novel, stars Ella Bruccoleri as Mary, with Richard E. Grant and Ruth Jones as her parents. Indira Varma plays Mrs. Gardiner, the aunt who eventually brings Mary into her household and opens up a life beyond Longbourn. The setup is hard to resist: the story retells the events of Pride and Prejudice from Mary's perspective, then follows her out into her own story in London and the Lake District. The My Brilliant Career connection here is reinvention. Sybylla needs to become a writer; Mary needs to become someone, anyone at all, since she starts the show defined entirely by what she isn't, compared to her sisters. Both shows are about women who don't fit the lives mapped out for them. If you've ever finished Pride and Prejudice and thought Mary got a raw deal, this is the show that agrees with you. 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