Best Colonial Movies & TV Shows

The War that Made America is a PBS miniseries about the French and Indian War, which was first aired in two parts on January 18 & 25, 2006. The series features extensive reenactments of historical events, with on-screen narration provided by Canadian actor Graham Greene. Much of the story focuses on George Washington, connecting his role in the war with the later American Revolution. Pontiac's Rebellion, which followed the French and Indian War, is also covered in the series. The series was filmed in June, July, and August 2004 in and around the Western Pennsylvania region where many events actually took place during the war.

In December 1776, Benjamin Franklin is world-famous for his electrical experiments. But his passion and power are put to the test when he embarks on a secret mission to France—with the fate of American independence hanging in the balance.

A bisexual, mixed race, single bridal fashion designer maneuvers life and business in post colonial Africa.

Travel through the streets of Rochester and you’ll find some extraordinary architecture. From California bungalows to English Tudors, French colonials to Victorians, the Flour City is home to so many beautiful dwellings. WXXI takes you on a private tour inside some of these exquisite house in Great Homes of Rochester.

Dinner: Impossible is an American television program broadcast by the Food Network. The first episode aired on January 24, 2007 and the last episode aired in 2010. Food Network began airing the eighth season on March 3, 2010. Each episode, the host is given a challenge that must be completed within a given time. Challenges have included preparing a large dinner aboard a luxury train, an "authentic" 18th-century American colonial dinner, and a luxury meal on a small, isolated, New England island.

Gyeongseong, 1945. In Seoul's grim era under colonial rule, an entrepreneur and a sleuth fight for survival and face a monster born out of human greed.

The story of Claire Randall, a married combat nurse from 1945 who is mysteriously swept back in time to 1743, where she is immediately thrown into an unknown world where her life is threatened. When she is forced to marry Jamie, a chivalrous and romantic young Scottish warrior, a passionate affair is ignited that tears Claire's heart between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

When Ripley's lifepod is found by a salvage crew over 50 years later, she finds that terra-formers are on the very planet they found the alien species. When the company sends a family of colonists out to investigate her story—all contact is lost with the planet and colonists. They enlist Ripley and the colonial marines to return and search for answers.

Dramatic documentary about the birth of the American Republic and the struggle of a loosely connected group of states to become a nation.

Adapted from M.M. Kaye's best-selling novel, this dramatic HBO miniseries follows two star-crossed lovers -- the young British officer Ash (Ben Cross) and the betrothed princess Anjuli (Amy Irving) -- as they face daunting odds in their quest to be together. Set in India during the time of the British Raj, this haunting (and BAFTA-nominated) love story features spectacular scenery and an epic saga of battle, treachery and intrigue.

A charming but ruthless criminal holds the family of a bank manager hostage as part of a cold-blooded plan to steal 97,000 pounds.

A couple vacationing in Morocco with their young son accidentally stumble upon an assassination plot. When the child is kidnapped to ensure their silence, they have to take matters into their own hands to save him.

Middleton prepares for its bicentennial, and Grey House is to be the party venue. Good witch Cassie is remodeling it as B&B. her first and only guest, Nick Chasen, claims to be a distant relative. He produces papers to prove he's the heir of the builder, colonial era captain Hamblin, while the Grey lady was his mistress and stole it. Police chief and lover Jake Russell goes all the way to motivate her to fight and disprove the claim before she's effectively disowned. Brandon is dared to pass a rascals-initiation by local brat Steve and Duke. George's gardening skills lead to romance.

In 1838, Francois-Xavier Bouchard (Francis Reddy) fights beside his Quebec countrymen and the English minority.

In war-torn colonial America, in the midst of a bloody battle between British, the French and Native American allies, the aristocratic daughter of a British Colonel and her party are captured by a group of Huron warriors. Fortunately, a group of three Mohican trappers comes to their rescue.

We live in a world where the powerful deceive us. We know they lie. They know we know they lie. They do not care. We say we care, but we do nothing, and nothing ever changes. It is normal. Welcome to the post-truth world. How we got to where we are now…

In 1879, during the Anglo-Zulu War, man-of-the-people Lt. Chard and snooty Lt. Bromhead are in charge of defending the isolated and vastly outnumbered Natal outpost of Rorke's Drift from tribal hordes.

The early 17th Century story of three courageous, dynamic women who leave their dark pasts behind in England, and make the journey of a lifetime across the ocean for a new life in America.

The comic adventures of a group of misfits who form an extremely bad concert party touring the hot and steamy jungles of Burma entertaining the troops during World War II.

The story of New York farmer, Abe Woodhull, who bands together with a group of childhood friends to form The Culper Ring, an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America’s fight for independence.

This true, astonishing story describes how King Leopold II of Belgium turned Congo into its private colony between 1885 and 1908. Under his control, Congo became a gulag labor camp of shocking brutality. Leopold posed as the protector of Africans fleeing Arab slave-traders but, in reality, he carved out an empire based on terror to harvest rubber.

In Puritan Boston, seamstress Hester Prynne and kindly Reverend Arthur Dimmesdale fall in love. After Dimmesdale must go away for a time to England, he returns to discover that Hester has given birth to their child and is the focus of local censure.

After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.

In 1666, a colonial town is gripped by a hysterical witch-hunt that has deadly consequences for centuries to come, and it's up to teenagers in 1994 to finally put an end to their town's curse, before it's too late.

Out of Africa tells the story of the life of Danish author Karen Blixen, who at the beginning of the 20th century moved to Africa to build a new life for herself. The film is based on the autobiographical novel by Karen Blixen from 1937.

An exploration of the cinematic history of the folk horror, from its beginnings in the UK in the late sixties; through its proliferation on British television in the seventies and its many manifestations, culturally specific, in other countries; to its resurgence in the last decade.

An anachronistic martinet RSM on a remote Colonial African army caught in a local coup d'etat must use his experience to defend those in his care.

Three convicts escape from prison on Devil's Island just before Christmas and arrive at a nearby French colonial town. They go to the store of the Ducotels, the only store that gives supplies on credit. They initially intend to take advantage of them but have a change of heart after they find the family is in financial troubles.

A radical group of young men band together in secrecy to change the course of history and make America a nation.

A british colonel and his wife decide to remain in India after the departure of the British raj in the 1940s.

In 2007, the Braley Family decided to rescue an abandoned and dilapidated Civil War Era home in historic Saginaw, Michigan. Despite the overwhelming need for repair, the Braley's saw nothing but potential; a 6,000 square foot blank canvas to which the large family could pain a future of their own. Sparing no expense, contractors were deployed to the stately and iconic manor, with the mission to preserve its original 19th century colonial architecture. Almost immediately, strange occurrences began taking place within the home; tools coming up missing, disembodied voices and footsteps, and the shocking appearance of a semitranslucent apparition of a young child. Following several weeks of escalating activity, the bewildered family took it upon themselves to find out who or what was haunting their home. That is when they made the unfortunate mistake of turning to a spirit board for answers...

In Puerto Rico to investigate a glut of contraband diamonds that are flooding the world's jewel market, Mr. Moto and his sidekick, a wrestler, find themselves involved in murders by thrown daggers, the frame-up of an overstressed Army colonel, and a pirate gang led by an unknown boss who has inside knowledge of the ensuing investigation.

The film focuses on the representatives of the Thirteen original colonies who participated in the Second Continental Congress. 1776 depicts the three months of deliberation (and, oftentimes, acrimonious debate) that led up to the signing of one of the most important documents in the History of the United States, the Declaration of Independence.

A group of friends and family descend into the Everglades swamplands for their annual hunting trip only to discover that they are the ones being hunted. A malevolent entity is tracking them and they begin to realise one of their party may be possessed by something brought home from a tour of duty in the Middle East – a demon of war so horrible and deadly they are unaware of its devilish presence. Or are they facing something even more unspeakable, a legendary Native American curse about to unleash its dreadful legacy of thirsting for colonial revenge by claiming more souls?

Mary Ingles is pregnant when she and her two sons are captured from their homestead in Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains by Shawnee Indians. Her husband, Will, narrowly escapes death during the attack. Impressed by her grace under the pressure of captivity, Wildcat, the Shawnee chief, confers special privileges on Mary and her children, eventually proposing that Mary become his mate. Surprised by her attraction to the handsome brave, Mary nonetheless opts to remain faithful to Will and engineers a plan for her escape. Separated from her children, Mary joins another female settler, and together they embark on a harrowing homeward trek. Her odyssey comes full circle more than a decade later when she is finally reunited with her long-lost children.

In this mini-series in six parts from 1976 the Indian actor Kabir Bedi plays the lead role. Carol Andre plays Lady Marianna Guillonk and as Sandokans best friend Yanez de Gomera we see Phillipe Leroy. The noble prince Sandokan is a fighter of the first rank who are cruel to their enemies, but always loyal to his friends.

In the rebellious northern frontier province of colonial India, British Army Captain Scott, a young prince and the boy's governess escape by an obsolete train as they are relentlessly pursued by Muslim rebels intent on assassinating the prince.

In 1940 Kenya as their country prepares for war, the local aristocratic social set lives a decadent, self-indulgent lifestyle, that leads to murder. The same events were also dramatised in the feature film White Mischief, which was released seven months after the first transmission of The Happy Valley.

A young white man who spent his whole life raised by a Native American tribe is sent to live with his true family and must learn to fit in with the people he was taught to hate.

A TV adaptation of Washington Irving's classic ghost story. Humor is the drawing card in this version, with Jeff Goldblum a nerdish Ichabod Crane, Dick Butkus an appropriately nasty Brom Bones, and Meg Foster as spirited Katrina van Tassel. Angered that Katrina has grown fond of schoolmaster Crane, Brom Bones determines to scare off the interloper by filling his head with spooky tales of a Headless Horseman. Crane pooh-poohs the legends, until one fateful ride home in the dark of night.

In a remote South American colony in the late 18th century, officer Zama of the Spanish crown waits in vain for a transfer to a more prestigious location. He suffers small humiliations and petty politicking as he increasingly succumbs to lust and paranoia.

At a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy, care for three orphaned lion cubs. After the two larger lions are shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands, the smallest of the three, Elsa, stays with the couple. When Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede in the nearby village, head warden John Kendall demands the young lion either be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti or be sent to a zoo.

Stan and Ollie stow away to Scotland expecting to inherit the MacLaurel estate. When things don't quite turn out that way, they unwittingly enlist in the Scottish army and are posted to India.

A Polynesian sailor is separated from his wife when he's unjustly imprisoned for defending himself against a colonial bully. Members of the community petition the governor for clemency but all pretense of law and order are soon shattered by an incoming tropical storm.

A revisionist version of American history as a small mouse comes to live with Benjamin Franklin and turns out to be responsible for many of his ideas; including the beginning of the Declaration of Independance!

The first Cylon war has been raging for 10 years and a young Ensign William Adama joins the fleet. Disappointed not to be assigned to a fighter but to a freighter, his co-pilot also isn't too keen on having a rookie flying his aircraft as he has only a short time before he again becomes a civilian. Their cargo is a civilian scientist, but they no sooner leave than she has new orders for them and a new destination. Although she’s less than forthcoming about the details, Adama is keen—particularly as it involves going into Cylon controlled space. However, nothing is as it seems.

In 1947, Lord Mountbatten assumes the post of last Viceroy, charged with handing India back to its people, living upstairs at the house which was the home of British rulers, whilst 500 Hindu, Muslim and Sikh servants lived downstairs.

Set during the final days of slavery in 19th century Jamaica, we follow the trials, tribulations and survival of plantation slave July and her odious mistress Caroline.

The trials and tribulations of the Mayflower Pilgrims in the New World; men, women and children who sailed on a chartered ship for a place they had never seen.

Based on Graham Greene’s novel, a married colonial police chief struggles with his conscience when he has an affair with a younger woman.