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Locked Up poster

Shows that feel likeLocked Up (2015–2019)

Set up to take the blame for corporate fraud, young Macarena Ferreiro is locked up in a high-security women's prison surrounded by tough, ruthless criminals in this tense, provocative Spanish thriller.

If you loved Locked Up, the closest series we have are Black Bird (2022), Surviving Escobar - Alias JJ (2017) and Narcos: Mexico (2018). All three share Locked Up's contemplative and gritty feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Time (2021).

★ 7.8 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗4 seasons · FOX Españacreated by Álex Pinacontemplativegritty
11 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu
Stream it:Netflix ↗

If Locked Up hit the spot, these will too

Black Bird poster
Black Bird
2022 · 1 season · Apple TV
★ 8.1drama · crimeApple TV+

An outsider dropped into prison must outwit the predators inside

The difference: A tight true-crime miniseries — meticulous, male, and done in six hours

As Jimmy Keene begins a 10-year prison sentence, he gets an incredible offer: If he can elicit a confession from suspected killer Larry Hall, Jimmy will be freed. Completing this mission becomes the challenge of a lifetime.

Surviving Escobar - Alias JJ poster
Surviving Escobar - Alias JJ
2017 · 1 season · Caracol TV
★ 7.8drama · crime

Survival inside prison walls where hierarchy decides everything

The difference: Told from the cartel's side — there is no innocent to root for

As the Medellín Cartel crumbles, Pablo Escobar's No. 1 hit man struggles to stay alive and gain respect in the prison hierarchy.

Narcos: Mexico poster
Narcos: Mexico
2018–2021 · 3 seasons · Netflix
★ 8.3drama · crimeNetflix

Corruption so total that the institutions are the real villains

The difference: A sweeping docu-style epic — no prison walls, no pulp

See the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel as an American DEA agent learns the danger of targeting narcos in 1980s Mexico.

MINDHUNTER poster
MINDHUNTER
2017–2019 · 2 seasons · Netflix
★ 8.6drama · crimeNetflix

Sitting across from dangerous people and learning how they think

The difference: Cold and methodical where Locked Up runs feverish

An agent in the FBI's Elite Serial Crime Unit develops profiling techniques as he pursues notorious serial killers and rapists.

Money Heist poster
Money Heist
2017–2021 · 3 seasons · Netflix
★ 8.2crime · dramaNetflix

Álex Pina's pressure-cooker plotting — captors, captives, and big twists

The difference: A caper's fun replaces the cell block's claustrophobia

To carry out the biggest heist in history, a mysterious man called The Professor recruits a band of eight robbers who have a single characteristic: none of them has anything to lose. Five months of seclusion - memorizing every step, every detail, every probability - culminate in eleven days locked up in the National Coinage and Stamp Factory of Spain, surrounded by police forces and with dozens of hostages in their power, to find out whether their suicide wager will lead to everything or nothing.

El Chapo poster
El Chapo
2017–2018 · 3 seasons · Univision
★ 7.8drama · crimeNetflix

The machinery of crime ground through one ruthless rise and fall

The difference: Biography beats — the tension is history, not survival

A look at the life of notorious drug kingpin, El Chapo, from his early days in the 1980s working for the Guadalajara Cartel, to his rise to power of during the '90s and his ultimate downfall in 2016.

Power poster
Power
2014–2020 · 6 seasons · STARZ
★ 8.1crime · dramaHuluStarz

A double life held together by nerve, lies, and appetite

The difference: Glossy nightclub crime — nobody here is trapped behind bars

A successful New York entrepreneur lives a double life as the head of a drug empire that serves only the rich and influential, all while wanting to escape the underworld and keep his family safe.

Time poster
Time
2021– · 3 seasons · BBC One
★ 8.1drama · crime

The same two preoccupations: prison, and prison guard

Guilt, violence and impossible choices – what does it take to survive? Tense, gritty and heartbreaking – Jimmy McGovern's award-winning prison drama, with an all-star cast.

Chicago P.D. poster
Chicago P.D.
2014– · 14 seasons · NBC
★ 8.1crime · dramaPrime VideoPeacock

The moral gray zone where the law and violence keep blurring

The difference: Cops' perspective and weekly cases — no long serialized captivity

A riveting police drama about the men and women of the Chicago Police Department's District 21 who put it all on the line to serve and protect their community. District 21 is made up of two distinctly different groups: the uniformed cops who patrol the beat and go head-to-head with the city's street crimes and the Intelligence Unit that combats the city's major offenses - organized crime, drug trafficking, high profile murders and beyond.

La Reina del Sur poster
La Reina del Sur
2011– · 3 seasons · Telemundo
★ 7.8drama · crimeNetflix

A woman with no options clawing power from a man's criminal world

The difference: Telenovela sprawl — more episodes, broader strokes

After years of blood, sweat and tears, a woman of humble origin ends up becoming a drug trafficking legend, with all that that means...

American Crime Story poster
American Crime Story
2016–2021 · 3 seasons · FX
★ 8.4crime · dramaHulu

True crimes replayed with tension you feel even knowing the ending

The difference: Restrained prestige treatment — no invented pulpy thrills

An anthology series centered around some of history's most famous criminal investigations.

Mayans M.C. poster
Mayans M.C.
2018–2023 · 5 seasons · FX
★ 7.5crime · dramaHulu

Fresh out of prison and straight into another kind of cage

The difference: Biker-brotherhood machismo — the women stay at the margins

Set in the aftermath of Jax Teller’s death, Ezekiel "EZ" Reyes is fresh out of prison and a prospect in the Mayans M.C. charter on the Cali/Mexi border. Now, EZ must carve out his new identity in a town where he was once the golden boy with the American Dream in his grasp.

In the mood for more contemplative?

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The best-reviewed series that share Locked Up’s defining feeling.