Best movies & TV Shows like Growing Up

Raising Bertie is a longitudinal documentary feature following three young African American boys over the course of six years as they grow into adulthood in Bertie County, a rural African American-led community in Eastern North Carolina. Through the intimate portrayal of these boys, this powerful vérité film offers a rare in-depth look at the issues facing America's rural youth and the complex relationships between generational poverty, educational equity, and race. The evocative result is an experience that encourages us to recognize the value and complexity in lives all too often ignored.

Based on true events, The Lena Baker Story recounts one African-American womans struggle to rise above the challenges of her life, to face the choices she makes, and to ultimately triumph over her...Lena Baker was the first and only woman to be sentenced to death by the electric chair in the state of Georgia and was executed in 1945. She was pardoned posthumously in 2005.

Mixes documentary interviews of memories of lesbian adolescence with the story of the 12-year-old girl Lou discovering her sexuality in 1960s America.

Two playwrights, George and Charlie, are tasked with the challenge of creating the next "avant-garde, surrealistic, mind-bending neo-noire thriller". As they write, the story comes to life in real time. However, their own emotions and arguments also begin to manifest on film, creating sharp twists and turns that affect the entire movie. Filled with hilarity and chaos, Murder, Anyone? is a comedic play-within-a-play-within-a-movie that contemplates the complexities of language, art, theater, film and more.

Zodiac Crush is a captivating reality TV movie that explores the fascinating world of astrology and numerology in the context of dating. The movie centers around a star bachelorette who is on a quest to find her soulmate, and she does so by dating five guys, each representing a unique star sign and life path number. Throughout the movie, the bachelorette goes on a series of dates and engaging challenges with her suitors, and viewers get to witness the highs and lows of each encounter. Along the way, the bachelorette receives expert guidance and predictions from astrology and numerology experts, Mike Anthony and Rachel Black, who help her navigate the complexities of compatibility based on star signs and numerology.

Sheku Kanneh-Mason made history in 2016 when he became the first black winner of the BBC Young Musician competition. Sheku has six musically gifted siblings and this film explores their extraordinary talents and issues of diversity in classical music. We follow Sheku and his brothers and sisters and examine the sacrifices that parents Stuart and Kadie make in order to support their children in pursuing their musical dreams. Told through the prism of family life we get an understanding of what it is that drives this family to be the best musicians they can be. At the heart of the story is 17-year-old Sheku, and we see him coming to terms with his Young Musician win and the pressures and opportunities it brings. His life is changing dramatically as he now has to learn to deal with the challenges of becoming a world-renowned cellist.

South of the Moon is the story of a young boy and his uncle, one dealing with the complexity and confusion of adolescence, the other with the pain and torment of regret.

In Game of LIfe, a children's soccer team is the common link for a multi-layered story giving a candid look into the intersecting lives of five families living in Los Angeles. Game of LIfe examines the complexities of racial and class divisions, and reveals that despite the fragile volatility of human relationships, family is what holds us together and unites us all.

Four Spanish-language shorts about the importance and complexity of people's perception from award winning directors. Stories of identity, misconceptions, regrets, dreams and love are told in this diverse collection. Includes: Tenants [Inquilinos] (2018); My Brother [Mi hermano] (2015); Guillermo on the Roof [Guillermo en el tejado] (2018); You Are Not a Woman [Usted no es mujer] (2018).

For decades the criminal underworlds of the North and South bumped along begrudgingly. Like the Cold War, territories were respected out of the necessity to avoid apocalypse, with each side keeping tabs on the other’s capability. Such a precarious false harmony could not last forever. Now someone has crossed the line, and there’s no going back. An illicit love affair smolders, breaking taboo and threatening catastrophe at the smallest mistake. It is a romance of purest, unadulterated love, yet so forbidden that its discovery would wreak total carnage. The story is told through vignettes of strikingly original characters, with intertwining subplots that echo the complexity of life in the dog-eat-dog criminal underworld.

This inventive animated comedy series, set inside a giant fish tank in Bud's Pet Shop, presents high school life as seen through the eyes of three BFFs (best fish friends), Bea, Milo and Oscar. Together they experience the typical life challenges and triumphs, including friendship, dating and sports, along with more atypical situations such as giant lobster attacks and, with the use of special land suits, school field trips to the hamster cages. The series was created by children's book illustrator Noah Z. Jones and features a notable voice cast. It's produced using an innovative mixture of digital animation and photo collage

The assorted humiliations, disasters and rare triumphs of four very different twenty-something girls: Hannah, an aspiring writer; Marnie, an art gallery assistant and cousins Jessa and Shoshanna.

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

Dr Adam Rutherford tells the extraordinary story of the scientific quest to discover the secrets of the cell and of life itself. Every living thing is made of cells, microscopic building blocks of almost unimaginable power and complexity.

Naomi Campbell and two other supermodel mentors will choose four hopeful models to mentor and guide as members of their exclusive team. Over eight weeks the three teams will have to compete in a series of real life fashion industry challenges. In the end only one supermodel mentor will triumph and see one of their handpicked girls become The Face.

The series will feature Jack McBrayer playing a version of himself who was the child star of a Lassie-like series and Triumph, the dog who went into the world of decadence and took Jack with him. 15 years later, Jack managed to put his life together until Triumph came back into his life. The live-action series will be created by Robert S. Smigel, Michael Koman and David Feldman.

Revealing terrifying accidents, fights for survival, and stories of close calls and near misses by the astronauts who survived them. This series offers chilling accounts of the challenges of space exploration as told only by the explorers who lived them and the men and women in mission control who helped each team avert disaster.

Elliot and his best friend Ian set off on a personal journey to explore LGBTQ cultures around the world. From Japan to Brazil, Jamaica to America, they discover the multiplicity of LGBTQ experiences, meeting amazing people and hearing their deeply moving stories of struggle and triumph. Gaycation celebrates the state of LGBTQ identities across the globe.

Jennifer Welch, Josh Welch, Lee Murphy, and Angie “Pumps” Sullivan challenge the conventions of conservative society, while their unique friendships hilariously reveal that the daily triumphs and struggles of small-city life are more wild, fun and memorable than meets the eye.

Adolescents with Tourette's syndrome experience challenges and triumphs as they and their families navigate life with the often misunderstood disorder.

A four-part documentary about the South African Paralympic and Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who shot and killed his girlfriend in the early hours of Valentine's Day 2013. The story of a man and a nation both born to great disadvantage, the film follows the challenges, hopes and triumphs of both and the demise of their dreams under the glare of the world media.

The untold story behind cult leader Charles Manson and his followers' heinous crimes as told through interviews with former members, archival footage, and newly-unearthed images.

Told through the eyes of over 100 kids across the globe, this docuseries chronicles how children learn to think, speak, move, and love from birth to age five.

Love it or hate it, the government plays a huge role in our lives. Adam Conover explores its triumphs, failures and how we might be able to change it.

An intimate look into the lives of our couples, told from their perspective. Without producers or crew, the cast members film themselves in their day-to-day lives as they continue to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic and all of the new challenges it brings to their relationships.

Explore the origins, rise and social impact of QAnon, whose story has been told to the public one outrageous headline at a time. A comprehensive investigation into the who, what, and why of the viral movement.

The tumultuous marriage and subsequent legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard will have both sides of the story told in Johnny vs Amber.

This BBC series offers a fresh look at an amazing organization and mankind's quest to understand the universe. Blending stunningly restored footage with revealing, insightful and engaging interviews with the people who were there - the astronauts, family members and journalists - this is an epic story of the heroes, the triumphs and the tragedies of space exploration. Starting with NASA's beginnings in the Cold War, the series follows the iconic moments of space exploration from the race to get the first man in space to the first steps on the moon. And with triumph and achievement comes risk and disaster, as the series follows the white-knuckle suspense of Apollo 13 and the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. Intelligent, inspiring and accessible, The Space Age is a complete history of mankind's journey into space.

Docuseries told from the point of view of those left behind after a loved one vanishes without a trace.

The pulse-pounding true story of charismatic vigilante Faye Yager, who built a vast underground network that hid hundreds of mothers and children, saving them from the alleged abuse of husbands and fathers when a broken court system would not.

There are bizarre, very unusual and extremely shocking activities that, despite the risk and associated dangers, are just legal in South American countries. Sue Perkins is eager to take advantage of this, and enjoys experiencing these adventurous yet dangerous challenges. In this way she hopes to defy and hopefully cover up her middle age.

Stories of women who challenged armed conflicts around the world. Brave and extraordinary women that made history. Most of them have remained in the dark and now their stories will be told.

Super Turbo Story Time is about legendary cars and the crazy stories surrounding them. Anything goes, from races and wrecks to triumphs and tragedies, along with corporate automaking gone wrong. Stories are told from one special guest to another, like car tales over a campfire, while they're reenacted with historical photos, found footage and animation.

Movie critic Ian Nathan goes in search of the cinematically sublime and explores the ingredients that went into making a classic. With each episode devoted to a single film, their story will be told with detail, affection, looking for the truth behind the myth, and all the trials and triumphs that went into forging the classic.

A look into the lives of the movers and shakers who have shaped the story of modern Mumbai, with privileged access to people who have been instrumental in turning the city into a global powerhouse. Through personal stories set against the unfolding story of the past 30 years, this episode looks at the challenges and triumphs of a city and a country in the midst of extraordinary transformation.