Aged to Perfection or Curdled Completely? ITV's 90s Drama Vault Put Under the Microscope
There's a particular kind of courage required to revisit your favourite telly from three decades ago without the protective cushion of rose-tinted nostalgia. The 1990s were, in many ways, ITV's golden era — a stretch of gritty, ambitious drama that gave the BBC a proper run for its licence fee. But how much of it actually holds up when you sit down with a modern brain, a streaming subscription, and zero tolerance for casual sexism disguised as 'edgy'?
We've done the dirty work so you don't have to. Here's our definitive, merciless ranking of ITV's 90s drama catalogue — scored not on how fondly you remember it, but on how well it survives contact with 2025.
The Gold Standard: Prime Suspect (1991–2006)
Verdict: Practically Bulletproof
Let's start at the top, because there is genuinely no other place to start. Helen Mirren's DCI Jane Tennison remains one of the most fully realised characters in British television history — not just female characters, not just crime drama characters, but full stop. What's remarkable rewatching Prime Suspect today is how deliberately uncomfortable it makes you feel about the institutional sexism Tennison faces. It doesn't wink at the camera. It doesn't soften the edges. The men are awful in ways that feel horrifyingly familiar, and Tennison is flawed in ways that feel bracingly honest.
Production values are occasionally ropey — there's a particular shade of beige that appears to have been legally mandatory in 1991 — but the writing is so ferociously tight that you simply stop noticing. If anything, the stripped-back aesthetic gives it a documentary rawness that makes modern police procedurals look like they've been shot through a Instagram filter.
Ageing score: 9.5/10
The Complicated Classic: Cracker (1993–1996)
Verdict: Brilliant, Bumpy, and Occasionally Baffling
Robbie Coltrane as Fitz — the gambling, chain-smoking, whisky-soaked criminal psychologist — is one of ITV's genuinely great creations. The writing, courtesy of Jimmy McGovern at his most ferociously talented, crackles with intelligence and moral ambiguity. The crime plots are inventive, the character work is exceptional, and Coltrane commands every scene he's in with the kind of gravitational pull that modern drama would kill for.
Here's the 'but', though: Cracker has not entirely escaped the 90s unscathed. Fitz's treatment of women — particularly his wife — is framed with a nudging 'well, he's a genius, what do you expect?' tolerance that sits considerably less comfortably today. The show is aware of his flaws, certainly, but there are moments where the camera seems rather too fond of his boorish behaviour. Rewatch it, absolutely — but prepare to have the occasional argument with your television.
Ageing score: 7.5/10
The Accidental Prophet: The Bill (1984–2010, peak 90s)
Verdict: Surprisingly Prescient, Occasionally Hilarious
Yes, The Bill technically began in 1984, but its 90s incarnation — when it shifted to twice-weekly episodes and started tackling storylines about police corruption, institutional racism, and community breakdown — is where it genuinely found its teeth. Rewatch those mid-90s episodes and you'll be struck by how directly they speak to contemporary debates about policing that we're still having now.
The production values are, shall we say, 'of their time'. There's a lot of very enthusiastic synthesiser music and some editing choices that suggest the director was in a tremendous hurry. But the social conscience baked into the best episodes is remarkable — and the ensemble cast work is often superb. Lose yourself in a nostalgia spiral and you'll emerge three hours later genuinely impressed.
Ageing score: 7/10
The Warm Bath: Heartbeat (1992–2010)
Verdict: Comfort Telly That Knows Exactly What It Is
Look, nobody is claiming Heartbeat was ever edgy. Set in the North Yorkshire Moors in the 1960s, it was essentially a moving postcard with a crime subplot and a Nick Berry soundtrack. What's interesting about revisiting it now is how unapologetically it committed to being cosy. In an era of prestige trauma and relentless narrative darkness, there's something almost radical about a show that just wanted you to feel nice.
It hasn't aged in any particularly dramatic direction — it was never trying to be The Wire, and it isn't trying to be The Wire now. What you will notice is some rather broad characterisation and the occasional plot that resolves itself with suspicious ease. But if you need something to watch while you're ill on the sofa, Heartbeat remains absolutely the correct prescription.
Ageing score: 6/10 (adjusted upward for pure comfort value)
The One That Needs a Warning Label: Soldier Soldier (1991–1997)
Verdict: Historically Fascinating, Tonally Chaotic
Famous — or infamous — for launching the careers of Robson & Jerome and inflicting 'Unchained Melody' upon the 1995 charts, Soldier Soldier is a genuinely strange artefact to revisit. At its best, it engaged seriously with the psychological toll of military service and the strain it placed on families. At its worst, it was a vehicle for exactly the kind of unreconstructed laddishness that the 90s considered perfectly acceptable television.
The tonal whiplash is astonishing. One episode will handle PTSD with genuine sensitivity; the next will feature a comedic subplot about someone's wife buying the wrong brand of lager. Approach it as a time capsule rather than a drama, and it becomes fascinating. Approach it expecting consistency, and you'll need to lie down.
Ageing score: 5/10
The One That Hasn't Survived the Journey: Emmerdale's 90s Storylines
Verdict: Historically Important, Frequently Unwatchable
Emmderdale in the 90s was doing genuinely ambitious things for a soap — the 1993 plane crash remains one of British television's most audacious stunts — but rewatching extended runs of the period drama reveals just how much the show's social attitudes were products of their moment. Storylines that were considered boundary-pushing at the time now require considerable contextual generosity to engage with charitably.
That's not a dismissal — it's actually an argument for watching some of it, because understanding how far soap opera has travelled in thirty years is genuinely illuminating. But as pure entertainment? Proceed with awareness.
Ageing score: 4/10
The Verdict
The ITV 90s drama vault is not a museum of failures — far from it. Prime Suspect alone is reason enough to celebrate the entire decade. But revisiting this era honestly means accepting that some of it was brilliant, some of it was of its time, and some of it was both simultaneously.
The shows that have aged best share a common quality: they were interested in their characters as full human beings, not as vehicles for plot mechanics. The ones that creak most loudly tended to use 'gritty realism' as cover for attitudes that were never as progressive as they imagined.
Flip the screen back thirty years by all means. Just keep one eye firmly in the present.
