The Best Based On True Story TV Shows on Prime Video

What it's about: The stranger-than-fiction account of a prison break in upstate New York in the summer of 2015, which spawned a massive manhunt for two convicted murderers who were aided in their escape by a married female prison employee with whom they both became sexually entangled.

Where to Watch: 7 episodes (70%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, fuboTV & Showtime). 7 episodes (70%) are available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (Showtime). 9 episodes (90%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (Google Play, Prime Video & 2 others).

What it's about: In 1935, financially strapped widow Louisa Durrell, whose life has fallen apart, decides to move from England, with her four children (three sons, one daughter), to the island of Corfu, Greece. Once there, the family moves into a dilapidated old house that has no electricity and that is crumbling apart. But life on Corfu is cheap, it's an earthly paradise, and the Durrells proceed to forge their new existence, with all its challenges, adventures, and forming relationships.

Where to Watch: 20 episodes (77%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 26 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: It's the late 1960s, homosexuality has only just been legalised and Jeremy Thorpe, the leader of the Liberal party, has a secret he's desperate to hide.

Where to Watch: 3 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The story of Queen Victoria, who came to the throne at a time of great economic turbulence and resurgent republicanism – and died 64 years later the head of the largest empire the world had ever seen, having revitalised the throne’s public image and become “grandmother of Europe”.

Where to Watch: 10 episodes (40%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 25 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

Where to Watch: 21 episodes (2%) are available to watch free online (PBS). 29 episodes (3%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla). 287 episodes (33%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Charting the life of Isabella I of Castile, one of the most important women in Spain’s history, Isabel follows her passionate story from childhood to being crowned Queen. From her political struggles within King Henry IV's court to her wedding to Ferdinand of Aragon, the drama encapsulates the passions, emotions and sacrifices of a woman who refused to just be a figurehead and whose outlook was ahead of her time.

Where to Watch: 39 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Influential builders, dreamers and believers whose feats transformed the United States, a nation decaying from the inside after the Civil War, into the greatest economic and technological superpower the world had ever seen. The Men Who Built America is the story of a nation at the crossroads and of the people who catapulted it to prosperity.

Where to Watch: 11 episodes (73%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, fuboTV, Hoopla & 1 other). 8 episodes (53%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: TV's most-watched history series brings to life the compelling stories from our past that inform our understanding of the world today.

Where to Watch: 33 episodes (8%) are available to watch free online (PBS). 52 episodes (13%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla). 76 episodes (19%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A biography series based on the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the brilliant, beautiful and talented Southern Belle who becomes the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant Jazz Age in the 20s. Z starts before Zelda Fitzgerald meets the unpublished writer F. Scott Fitzgerald and moves through their passionate, turbulent love affair and their marriage-made in heaven, lived out in hell as the celebrity couple of their time.

Where to Watch: 10 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The extraordinary story of Gloucester housewife Janet Leach who played a key role in the uncovering of the crimes of Fred and Rosemary West.

Where to Watch: 3 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The show features accounts of individuals and groups caught in dangerous scenarios, presented both through interviews and dramatic reenactments. The main focus is how the survivors survived and the decisions they made that kept them alive.

Where to Watch: 20 episodes (33%) are available to watch free online (Tubi). 11 episodes (18%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 20 episodes (33%) are available to stream on a TV everywhere service (Animal Planet). 13 episodes (21%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 3 services (iTunes, Google Play & YouTube).

What it's about: Rick Steves, America's leading authority on European travel, returns to transport viewers to the continent's bustling cities, quaint villages and picturesque countryside.

Where to Watch: 12 episodes (9%) are available to watch free online (Tubi & PBS). 88 episodes (62%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, Hulu, Docurama & 1 other). 121 episodes (86%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A fascinating docuseries chronicling Playboy magazine’s charismatic founder, Hugh Hefner, and his impact on global culture. Told from his unique perspective with never-before-seen footage from his private archive, discover the captivating story about the man behind the bunny.

Where to Watch: 10 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Charles II: The Power and the Passion is an award-winning British television mini-series, broadcast on BBC One in 2003, and produced by the BBC in association with the A&E Network in the United States depicting the reign of Charles II.

Where to Watch: 4 episodes (67%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, BritBox & Hoopla). 4 episodes (67%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: The story of the legendary martial arts icon Bruce Lee following him from Hong Kong to America and back again, leading up to his tragic death at the age of 32.

Where to Watch: 50 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Netflix, Prime Video & Hiyah).

What it's about: The head of a small Chilean football club becomes a key player in the 2015 FIFA corruption scandal.

Where to Watch: 8 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). Episodes coming soon to Prime Video on November 5th, 2020 (PST).

What it's about: The Rise and Fall of a Professional Beauty. It was the affair that shook Victorian society to its core. He was the Prince of Wales, the future monarch; she was a professional beauty, who became a royal bedmate. Follow the fascinating life of the Dean of Jersey's daughter from her modest childhood to her emergence as one of the most celebrated beauties of her time. Lillie's liaison with the heir to the throne marked only the beginning of a remarkable, scandalous and daring series of adventures in open defiance of accepted morality imposed by Victorian and Edwardian society.

Where to Watch: 13 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: The Last Place on Earth is a 1985 Central Television seven part serial, written by Trevor Griffiths based on the book Scott and Amundsen by Roland Huntford. The book is an exploration of the expeditions of Captain Robert F. Scott and his Norwegian rival in polar exploration, Roald Amundsen in their attempts to reach the South Pole. The series ran for seven episodes and starred a wide range of UK and Norwegian character actors as well as featuring some famous names, such as Max von Sydow, Richard Wilson, Sylvester McCoy and Pat Roach. It also featured performances early in their careers by Bill Nighy and Hugh Grant.Subsequently Huntford's book was republished under the same name. The book put forth the point of view that Amundsen's success in reaching the South Pole was abetted by much superior planning, whereas errors by Scott ultimately resulted in the death of him and his companions.

Where to Watch: 7 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: We've all heard them ... the Mafia killed JFK, the government had a hand in 9/11 and the existence of aliens is the world's best-kept secret. Conspiracy theories are as old as mankind itself, and for just as long people have been taking sides. The advent of the internet provides a unique opportunity to level the playing field and give all men equal access to the facts. In April 2011, the FBI finally relented and established an online repository of files, documents and reports called "The Vault". Unsealed: Conspiracy Files is a ground breaking new show that shines a light on many of these archived case files.

Where to Watch: 22 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (Tubi & Plex). 20 episodes (91%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: Zero Hour dramatizes the hour leading up to some of the most memorable historical events as they unfold minute by minute. Using a real-time clock and a split screen to follow key players, the series reveals the compelling and exciting minutes leading up to events that changed the world.

Where to Watch: 16 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 16 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A Woman Named Jackie is a 1991 American made for television miniseries chronicling the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. It was based on C. David Heymann's 1989 book of the same title.

Where to Watch: 3 episodes (100%) are available to watch free online (Tubi). 3 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 3 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: At eight years old, an impoverished Bert Facey was forced to start the backbreaking, dawn-to-dusk life of a farm labourer. Unschooled, his father dead, abandoned by his mother, by the age of twenty he had survived the rigours of pioneering the harsh Australian bush and the slaughter of the bloody WWI campaign at Gallipoli.

Where to Watch: 4 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 4 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $0.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: A huge panorama of Wagner's life and work, from before the 1848 Revolution, through his exile in Switzerland, his rescue by the besotted King Ludwig II of Bavaria to the final triumph at Bayreuth.

Where to Watch: 3 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video). 3 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).

What it's about: After rapidly ascending the ranks of the Socialist Party, Benito Mussolini created a Fascist state in 1920s Italy through his use of propaganda and diplomacy and led his people in a bloody war that would ultimately result in his downfall.

Where to Watch: 3 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video).

What it's about: This exciting documentary series takes you on the incredible journey of the past, present and future of NASA that shaped the 20th Century and will boldly go further in the 21st Century and beyond!

Where to Watch: 7 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video & Hoopla). 7 episodes (100%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 1 service (Prime Video).