Heading into the fall, Peacock will soon be the exclusive streaming home for all of NBC’s new dramas, comedies, and reality programing. But Peacock is also the place where you can find some series that might have been otherwise lost among the streamer’s network programing. Not even streaming giants like Netflix and Hulu have these programs to draw upon. So it’s time to dive into the three underrated shows on Peacock you need to watch in September.
This month’s picks include a classic TV miniseries about one of the most beloved U.S. presidents, as well as a mystery series from down under, and a British crime show that’s rising in popularity in the United Kingdom.
Kennedy (1983)
Martin Sheen may be best known for playing a fictional president, Jed Bartlet, on The West Wing. But that series is not available on Peacock. Instead, there’s a 1983 miniseries called Kennedy that features Sheen as President John F. Kennedy that was released on the 20th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination in Dallas.
This was originally a three-part miniseries, but it’s been split into seven episodes that explore Kennedy’s life and his all-too-brief stint in the White House during the fabled Camelot era of American politics. Kennedy’s legacy is more than just the circumstances of his murder, even 61 years later. In the current presidential race, it’s worth looking back at this era even if it’s been endlessly romanticized and embellished.
Watch Kennedy on Peacock.
The Doctor Blake Mysteries (2013-2017)
Even Australia has its own prestige period mystery drama series. The Doctor Blake Mysteries features Craig McLachlan in the leading role as Dr. Lucien Blake. In the 1950s, he moves back home to Australia to take over his late father’s medical practice. Dr. Blake isn’t a police detective, but he has uncanny instincts when it comes to determining how people died and who or what may have killed them.
While Dr. Blake solves mysteries, he’s haunted by the one case he can’t resolve: the disappearance of his wife and child during the fall of Saigon. Dr. Blake also forms a long-term emotional bond with Jean Beazley (Nadine Garner), a widowed woman who was his father’s assistant before she stayed on for Lucien’s practice. The five-season run of the series is on Peacock, but if you want to see what happened beyond the show then you’ll have to track down the TV movies that followed.
Watch The Doctor Blake Mysteries on Peacock.
Brassic (2019-present)
Brassic hasn’t fully caught on in America yet, but this British crime series is already renewed through its seventh season, even though only five seasons are on Peacock. Joe Gilgun stars as Vinnie O’Neill, a bipolar criminal who has never quite escaped the gravitational pull of his small town, Hawley. Vinnie and his closest pals are always pulling some minor league crimes just to get by.
The problem with Vinnie is that he has a particular knack for getting himself in deep trouble and making enemies who rank a lot higher in the criminal underworld than he does. Sometimes the consequences for Vinnie’s actions come back to haunt him, but the fun part is watching him and his friends figure some way out of the jam without losing their lives.
Watch Brassic on Peacock.