SpaceShows Like Wentworth
Looking for shows like Wentworth? Here are 10 series with the same gripping prison drama intensity.
Last updated Oct 1, 2026
Best Shows Like Wentworth
The best shows like Wentworth are Orange is the New Black, Bad Girls, and Vis a Vis. Each delivers gripping women's prison drama.
Looking for shows like Wentworth? Here are 10 series with the same gripping prison drama intensity. We picked each title based on shared tone, themes, and emotional feel.
1. Orange Is the New Black
2013DramaWhere to watch Orange Is the New BlackOrange Is the New Black follows a privileged New Yorker sentenced to a federal women's prison for an old crime, and the many inmates she meets inside. It is the closest American counterpart to Wentworth, with its focus on hierarchy, survival, and the backstories of women behind bars. Jenji Kohan's series mixes comedy into its drama and uses flashbacks to explore each inmate, so it is lighter in places than Wentworth's relentless tension.
2. Bad Girls
1999DramaWhere to watch Bad GirlsBad Girls is a British drama set on a wing of a women's prison, following inmates and officers as they deal with power struggles, corrupt staff, and friendships. Like Wentworth, it explores how women survive inside and the shifting balance of power between prisoners and guards. It is a more earnest, sometimes soapy late-90s drama, with a lighter touch than Wentworth's gritty violence, and it gives more time to the staff.
3. Vis a Vis
2015DramaWhere to watch Vis a VisVis a Vis follows a young Spanish woman who is sent to prison after being drawn into her boss and lover's financial crimes, and who must learn to survive among dangerous inmates. It shares Wentworth's dark, violent portrait of a women's prison and its newcomer who has to toughen up fast. The Spanish series is more of a twisty thriller, with a heist subplot outside the walls and plenty of soapy cliffhangers.
4. Prison Break
2005DramaWhere to watch Prison BreakPrison Break follows a structural engineer who deliberately gets himself locked up so he can break out his brother, who is facing execution for a murder he says he did not commit. It shares Wentworth's prison politics, dangerous inmates, and corrupt guards. The tone is very different, a fast, puzzle-driven thriller built around an escape plan, and it is set in a men's prison with a more action-oriented focus.
5. Mindhunter
2017CrimeWhere to watch MindhunterMindhunter follows two FBI agents in the late 1970s who interview imprisoned serial killers to understand how they think and to help solve active cases. It pairs with Wentworth for its dark psychological intensity and many tense conversations inside prison walls. It is a slow, cerebral crime drama from David Fincher, centered on investigators rather than inmates, so it is quieter and more clinical.
6. How to Get Away with Murder
2014DramaWhere to watch How to Get Away with MurderHow to Get Away with Murder follows Annalise Keating, a law professor and defense attorney played by Viola Davis, and the students who become entangled with her in a murder. It shares Wentworth's appetite for shocking twists, manipulation, and a commanding woman willing to do anything to stay in control. It takes place in courtrooms and lecture halls rather than a prison, and it is more of a glossy, fast-moving network thriller.
7. Scandal
2012DramaWhere to watch ScandalScandal follows Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington, a Washington crisis manager who protects powerful clients and is caught up in a secret relationship with the president. Like Wentworth, it is a high-stakes drama about power, loyalty, and the lengths people go to protect themselves. It is set in political Washington, with polished, rapid-fire dialogue and conspiracies, so it is slicker and more melodramatic than Wentworth.
8. Broadchurch
2013DramaWhere to watch BroadchurchBroadchurch follows two detectives, played by David Tennant and Olivia Colman, investigating the murder of a young boy in a small English seaside town where everyone has secrets. It shares Wentworth's sustained intensity and its close attention to how violence ripples through a community. It is a slow-paced crime mystery without the prison setting, more about grief and guilt than survival and power.
9. Sharp Objects
2018DramaWhere to watch Sharp ObjectsSharp Objects follows a troubled journalist, played by Amy Adams, who returns to her Missouri hometown to report on the murders of two young girls, while confronting her own painful past and her mother. Adapted from Gillian Flynn's novel, it shares Wentworth's dark, psychologically intense portrait of women shaped by trauma. It is a slow, haunting limited series focused on memory and family, rather than a fight for power behind bars.
10. Unbelievable
2019DramaWhere to watch UnbelievableUnbelievable is based on a true story about a teenager who reports being raped and is pressured into recanting, and two female detectives, played by Toni Collette and Merritt Wever, who later connect her case to a series of attacks. It shares Wentworth's focus on women failed by the justice system and its emotional intensity. It is a restrained, realistic limited series about investigation and recovery, and it feels hopeful in the end.
Why These Shows Are Similar to Wentworth
Wentworth, the Australian drama set in a women's prison, follows inmates fighting for survival and power behind bars, with brutal rivalries, shifting alliances, and the constant question of who rules the yard. Fans love its intensity, its complex women, and how far it is willing to go. Orange Is the New Black and Vis a Vis are the closest picks, both following women behind bars, and Bad Girls is the British women's prison drama. Prison Break swaps in male inmates and escape plans, while Sharp Objects and Unbelievable bring the same dark, female-centered focus outside prison walls.