A British trope in particular, these are quiet, inoffensive drama series, often of the Costume Drama variety, that The BBC or ITV sticks on Sunday evening (5:30 pm to 8:30 pm). They are designed for all the family to watch before the stress of Monday.
Sunday dramas are also well-established in the United States through the medium of cable. HBO, Showtime, and AMC reserve most (if not all) of their original programming for this night. In America, however, the Sunday Evening Drama Series is more likely to be racier and more violent. These shows also tend to be Award Bait.
Depending on the channel's scheduling and executive decisions, they can easily be a Dramatic Half-Hour or a Dramatic Hour Long. Compare and contrast with the Saturday Morning Kids’ Show, a Variety Show aimed at children. Contrast Watershed, the time when you can start showing uncensored content.
Examples:
- Ballykissangel
- The Brothers
- Casualty 1906: Although it arguably pushes the boundaries of this trope by being post-watershed and therefore slightly Harmful to Minors.
- Cranford
- Downton Abbey: It airs on Sundays in both the US and the UK.
- Heartbeat
- Howards' Way
- Kingdom (2007)
- The Lakes: It had to be screened very late for several very good reasons.
- Lark Rise to Candleford
- The Magicians House
- The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency
- Poldark
- Wild at Heart
- Where The Heart Is
- Boardwalk Empire
- Breaking Bad
- Deadwood
- Desperate Housewives
- Dexter
- Game of Thrones
- Girls: It's technically a comedy, but arguably falls into the confines of the trope for being an HBO show that's Award Bait and Hotter and Sexier, and for having a similar audience to the other US examples here.
- Hell on Wheels
- Homeland
- Mad Men
- Masterpiece Theatre: It has aired many of the British series.
- Six Feet Under
- The Sopranos
- The Walking Dead (2010)
- Westworld
- The Wire
- True Blood