History-based TV shows are often judged based on their accuracy, and the best shows can stay faithful to the truth without dipping in quality. Making a TV show about real history requires a trade-off, because writers are forced to fill in certain gaps. Also, it's often better to cut certain events or subtly change characters to enhance the drama for the format of TV. However, some exceptional shows highlight the fact that historical accuracy doesn't have to come at the cost of quality.

There has been a recent trend of historical TV shows which don't claim to be accurate, like Bridgerton and The Great. These shows claim that all scripted TV is a fantasy, and that any attempt to represent eras from centuries ago must resort to guess work. While this is true, there's still a big audience for shows which can portray history as accurately as possible, according to...