A miniseries or mini-series, sometimes called a limited-run series, is a television program that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film in several parts. … A miniseries is distinguished from an ongoing television series; the latter does not usually have a predetermined number of episodes and may continue for several years.
The focus of that series was Foyle himself. The setting changed slightly, but the story was the same: Foyle doing police work in time of war, hot or cold.
I really liked Masada.
Foyle’s War was originally intended to span the years 1939 to 1945. It proved to be so popular the producers decided to extend it slightly into the start of the Cold War.
I loved Foyle’s War, and was thinking of mentioning it myself, but it was eight seasons of three or four 90-minute episodes. The last two were produced after several years’ hiatus, and set after the war, indicating they were not part of the original plan for the show.
British dramas typically have fewer episodes per season than US shows, but that does not make a series a miniseries.
ETA:
Exactly, which is a reason it can’t be called a miniseries.
Gulliver’s Travels with Ted Danson. One of the few adaption that to feature all four voyages.
The Tenth Kingdom
I Know My First Name Is Steven
V and V: The Final Battle
Fewer episodes per season in the UK, but not stretched over eight-plus years in the US. I may be mistaken, but I think I saw all of Foyle’s War during its initial run on PBS.
In contrast, it seems like All Creatures, Great and Small will go on forever.
Ah, you may be thinking of Foyle’s War as a miniseries because you were able to watch all or most of its 28 episodes without a break when they were broadcast in the US, but the first six were produced and released as separate series a year apart in the UK.
There have been two series of All Creatures. The 1978-1990 series had 90 episodes across seven series. The current one started in 2020 and has had 45 eps in 6 series to date. Wikipedia says there will be two more series.
If you can consider each season of True Detective a separate miniseries, the first one with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson was outstanding.
I also dislike much “historical fiction” or “based on true story.” Worst of both worlds: Fiction should emphasize interesting story, not “truth.” And true stories should emphasize truth, without embellishments to make the story more interesting.
But …
These two miniseries (along with Unbelievable) took much effort to adhere to the TRUE stories. Chernobyl is VERY accurate (Ulana Khomyuk being a composite character for narrative ease).
Stephen Ambrose spent dozens of hours interviewing members of Easy Company for his book. The movie company that turned the book into a miniseries studied other Easy memoirs, and conducted their own lengthy interviews of Easy veterans. Even if a camera crew had accompanied Easy, it would be hard for a “documentary” to give such a detailed and immersive perspective.
I agree and almost mentioned this in OP. I omitted it because it wasn’t quite good enough to make a Top Seven Favorites List.
Roger that. I looked forward to it every week. 
I really like All Creatures. PBS airs every season it buys as soon as they’re available, so there are months between them. On the other hand, there are occasional repeats, usually during pledge weeks.
I agree, but I’m surprised no one has mentioned Dopesick, which has 8 episodes and first ran in 2021. It’s the story of the development and ruthless deceptive marketing of Oxycontin by Purdue Pharma and the consequent opioid epidemic and the trail of deaths and ruined lives that resulted. It’s very well done and emotionally powerful. It was nominated for many awards and won 18 including two Prime Time Emmys. I would rate it as an equal to the other two and not sure how I would rank them.
Sorry for not defining miniseries in OP. Odyssey (1997, with Armand Assante) is considered a “miniseries” because it was presented in two parts despite a total duration slightly less than 3 hours. Take your pick on that one.
With True Detective, each Season is its own miniseries. There should be no quarrel there.
Big Little Lies Season 1 was originally called a miniseries(!) and should have remained such. If the cast wanted to work together again, they should have found a new creative story, instead of 7 episodes of anticlimax.
(Off-topic: The Diplomat with Keri Russell could have been a good miniseries of 10 or 12 episodes. Instead it keeps “jumping the shark” until the sharks are dizzy.)
It’s something of a blurred distinction. British series (not just dramas) tend to have far fewer episodes per season than US series (often just 5 or 6 episodes), so would be a kind of miniseries in US terms. Whether they were definitively intended to stop after a certain number of episodes isn’t a reliable indicator, either, because quite a few miniseries (Evil would be an example) were extended based on the outcome of negotiations.
The only reasonable definition of “miniseries” is in US-centric terms, because otherwise almost any television series produced in Britain would be a “miniseries”. How about Fawlty Towers? Six episodes in their first year, then another six the next year. Is that a miniseries?
The most useful definition of “miniseries” I can come up with is that it’s a series with a specific story to tell, and tells that story in a limited number of episodes. Thus Chernobyl and Dopesick are definitely miniseries, as are most of the others mentioned.
In Chernobyl, when the woman scientist burst into the room with the secretary outisde saying “hey, you can’t go in there!”, my eyes rolled so hard they almost fell out of my head. If that corny scene happened in real life, I’ll eat my hat.
You mean the creators of the drama Chernobyl dramatized a dramatic scene for dramatic effect? Say it ain’t so!
Chernobyl has a rating of 9.3 on IMDb, which is the highest rating I’ve ever seen for anything. On RT it’s 95% critics, 97% audience.
Much as I love to have 5,000 channels of crap to choose from, I sometimes miss the days when the crap was limited to three major networks and we all watched the same thing and talked about it the next day. They were almost “events”. And as mentioned, Roots was the first (that I can recall) and is my best remembered.
I know I watched all the major miniseries - my mom and I were tv hounds - yet my mind is a blank when trying to bring one to mind. Except Lace. If the title doesn’t ring a bell, maybe you’ll recall the ads for it which had Phoebe Cates saying “which one of you bitches is my mother?”. Shocking! Saucy!