A compelling show is often made up of compelling characters. For PBS, this involves narratives that delve into the lives of women who defy expectations, challenge norms and navigate the complexities of the world. PBS explores dramas that highlight the struggles and triumphs of everyday heroines, mysteries uncovered by the fiercest women and stories of romance, betrayal and everything in between.

Join us as we dive into the stories, experiences and extraordinary journeys of women featured on PBS.

Inspired by the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, Call the Midwife follows the nurses, midwives and nuns from Nonnatus House, who visit the expectant mothers of Poplar, providing the poorest women with the best possible care. 

Call the Midwife was created and written by Heidi Thomas. Executive Producers: Pippa Harris and Heidi Thomas. Learn how to watch or stream Call the Midwife.

Miss Scarlet and The Duke follows Eliza Scarlet, Victorian London’s first-ever female detective, who spars (and sparks!) with Scotland Yard Detective Inspector William Wellington, a.k.a., The Duke.

Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders) is the headstrong Miss Scarlet. Stuart Martin (Jamestown) is The Duke, her handsome childhood friend and professional colleague/competition. The cast also includes Cathy Belton (Philomena) as Ivy, housekeeper and mother figure to Eliza, and Felix Scott (The Crown, Grantchester) as Patrick Nash, another private eye whom Eliza crosses paths with, among others.

Watch Miss Scarlet & The Duke with PBS Passport.

Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy — there are few more iconic names in American literature. They are the March sisters of Concord, Massachusetts during the Civil War, created by Louisa May Alcott in her timeless novel Little Women brought to life in a Masterpiece/BBC coproduction.

Heading the cast are Academy Award® nominee Emily Watson (The Theory of Everything, Hilary and Jackie) as Marmee, the devoted mother of the four adolescent March girls; Michael Gambon (Churchill’s Secret, Page Eight) as Mr. Laurence; and Academy Award® winner Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote, The Manchurian Candidate) as the March family matriarch, Aunt March.

Set against the backdrop of a country divided, the story follows the four March sisters on their journey from childhood to adulthood while their father is away at war. Under the guidance of their mother Marmee, the girls navigate what it means to be a young woman: from gender roles to sibling rivalry, first love, loss and marriage.

You can watch all episodes of Little Women with PBS Passport.

Marie Antoinette (Emilia Schüle, "Berlin Dance School") is just a teenager when she leaves Austria to marry the dauphin of France (Louis Cunningham, "Bridgerton"). With pressure to continue the Bourbon line and secure the Franco-Austrian alliance, she must follow the complex rules of the French court while attempting to charm her reluctant king-to-be, Louis XVI.

Transforming into the Queen of Style and a true fashion icon, Marie Antoinette tries to recreate Versailles in her image: free, independent, and feminist. But defamatory pamphlets and persistent rumors about her private life undermine her status, and her opponents within the Royal Family will do everything they can to bring her down. 

Watch the full Marie Antionette series with PBS Passport. 

It’s the height of the swinging 60s and Barbara Parker has just been crowned Miss Blackpool – but she’s certain there has to be more to life than being a beauty queen in a seaside town. With the bright lights of London calling, Barbara packs her bags and heads off to the city where she looks to take on the male-dominated world of comedy by storm.

The London Barbara Parker encounters is not as quite as swinging as the one she’d read about and seen on TV. However, after a series of setbacks Barbara finds herself in unfamiliar territory - an audition for a TV comedy show.

Barbara’s uncompromising northern wit proves to be the X factor that the show has been missing. She gets the part and becomes part of a ground-breaking new sitcom. Being a woman in a largely male environment has its own challenges, but as Barbara "finds her funny" she re-defines the prevailing attitude to funny women and in the process, reinvents herself.

Magpie Murders is a beguiling mystery-within-a-mystery adapted from Anthony Horowitz’s bestselling book by the author himself. With a solution that will both astonish and shock viewers, the plot of Magpie Murders revolves around the character Susan Ryeland, an editor who is given an unfinished manuscript of author Alan Conway’s latest novel, with little idea of how it will change her life.

Magpie Murders stars Lesley Manville (World on Fire, Phantom Thread, Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris) as editor turned amateur sleuth Susan Ryeland and Tim McMullan (Patrick Melrose, Foyle’s War) as world-famous fictional detective Atticus Pünd.

Stream all six episodes ofMagpie Murders and more great shows from Masterpiece with PBS Passport. Watch online and on the free PBS App.

Set in 1920s Toronto, the series follows the adventures of Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) and her partner Trudy Clarke (Chantel Riley) at Drake Private Detectives, the city’s only all-female detective agency, as they find themselves fighting crime in the age of flyboys, gangsters, rum-runners and speakeasies.

Watch all Frankie Drake Mysteries episodes with PBS Passport. 

Nicola Walker (Unforgotten, Last Tango in Halifax) stars as DI Annika Strandhed, the wry, speedboat-driving head of Glasgow’s Marine Homicide Unit, who juggles baffling cases and a rebellious teenage daughter. A police procedural with wit, Annika has delighted critics. “The dialogue is so droll and the performances so charming I’m in for what fisherfolk call the long haul,” enthused The Guardian (UK) about Season 1.

In Season 2, the investigative team solves ever more complex murders that wash up in Scotland’s waters. Meanwhile, Annika balances a family dynamic that grows complicated as long-held secrets begin to impact her relationships.

Walker is joined by Jamie Sives (Guilt) as DS Michael McAndrews, Annika’s former colleague and police diver; Katie Leung (Harry Potter, Roadkill) as DC Blair Ferguson, the forensic brains in the unit; and Ukweli Roach (Grantchester) as DS Tyrone Clarke, the newest cop on the team.

Stream Annika Season 1 and more with PBS Passport. 

Set in the breathtakingly beautiful Italian seaside town of Portofino during the "Roaring 20s," Season 2 begins in the summer of 1927 as Bella Ainsworth is still devoting all her energy into making Hotel Portofino a success.

Sanditon tells the story of Charlotte Heywood, a spirited and somewhat impulsive young woman who travels from her rural English home to the up-and-coming seaside resort town of Sanditon to reinvent herself. The show is a lavish Regency era drama with gorgeous period detail and packed with considerable romance and intrigue.

For period drama fans, Sanditon became must-see TV, with Salon calling it “a balmy retreat” and Indiewire dubbing it “perfect escapist fare.

Sanditon is based on Jane Austen’s final and unfinished novel and its television debut was created by Emmy® award-winning screenwriter Andrew Davies. Watch the full Masterpiece series with PBS Passport.

When a rural English town finds itself on the verge of WWII, two powerful women struggle to put aside their differences in The Women’s Institute and join forces amidst the chaos and uncertainty of wartime. Samantha Bond (Downton Abbey) and Francesca Annis (Flesh and Blood, Cranford) star in this heartwarming story of courage, friendship, and holding onto the light in our darkest moments.

Watch the full series with PBS Passport.

In 1837, a diminutive, neglected teenager is crowned Queen Victoria, navigates the scandal, corruption, and political intrigues of the Court, and soon rises to become the most powerful woman in the world. Victoria stars Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who) as Queen Victoria in this miniseries following the drama of the candid, spirited monarch.

In this spin-off to the wildly popular Australian mystery series, Phryne Fisher's long-lost niece, Peregrine (Geraldine Hakewill, Wanted), decides to follow in her stylish footsteps as a lady detective for a new era. With the help of the handsome, straitlaced Detective James Steed (Joel Jackson, Peter Allen) and a group of accomplished women, Peregrine investigates murders in 1960s Melbourne.

Watch the series with PBS Passport.