- Primary Subject: Shows to watch like Anne with an E
- Key Update: From period dramas to growing up in small-town communities, this article summarizes 10 similar shows to Anne with an E and where to stream them online.
- Status: Confirmed (List includes active, completed, and recently renewed series).
- Last Update: January 20, 2026
- Quick Answer: Fans of Anne with an E should watch Dickinson, When Calls the Heart, or Little House on the Prairie for similar themes of independence and community.
Anne with an E is one of the most transformative coming-of-age stories that was adapted from Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel series.
As unique as the series made Avonlea and Anne Shirley-Cuthbert's journey, here are 10 shows that have similar themes and storylines, and where to watch them all online.
Call the Midwife (2012-Present)
Instead of following an orphan like Anne, Call the Midwife centers on nurses, midwives, and nuns from the Nonnatus House. This British period drama follows these women as they provide midwifery and healthcare to expecting mothers in the late 1950s.
Streaming Platforms: PBS, Netflix
All Creatures Great and Small (1978-1990), Reboot (2020-Present)
Based on the novel written by James Herriot (aka James Alfred "Alf" Wright), All Creatures Great and Small centers the storyline in the rural Yorkshire Dales of England in the late 1930s. Similar to the farmhouse the Cuthberts grew up tending to, this series blends found family stories and humor as the young vet James Herriot navigates his life alongside animals and pets, detailing real-life cases and experiences from the author's veterinary career.
Streaming Platforms: PBS
Purchase or Rent: Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV
My Lady Jane (2024)
If you're looking for a more mature show driven by politics, magic, and shapeshifters, the way Anne Shirley-Cuthbert has always dreamed of, My Lady Jane tells an alternative tragic history of Lady Jane Grey as she navigates the real world with a romantic adventure with her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, who can actually shapeshift into a horse.
Streaming Platforms: Amazon Prime Video
Dickinson (2019-2021)
Much like Anne's dream to become a writer, Dickinson is a coming-of-age dark comedy as a reimagined life of the poet Emily Dickinson as a rebellious and witty young woman in 19th-century Amherst, Massachusetts. The reimagined life is that the poet uses modern language and sensibilities as she navigates a world limited by societal constraints while pursuing her artistic ambition, female identity, and her secret love for her best friend, Sue Gilbert.
Streaming Platforms: Apple TV+
Gentleman Jack (2019-2022)
Gentleman Jack is another historical drama set in the 19th century in Yorkshire, England. But don't mistake the title as a show being led by a man. Rather, it tells the real-life story of a landowner and industrialist, Anne Lister, who is known for her masculine dress and extensive diaries detailing her lesbian relationships.
Considering that Anne dreamed of an independent life and breaking societal stereotypes, Gentleman Jack might just be the place to be.
Streaming Platforms: HBO Max
Lark Rise to Candleford (2008-2011)
The ever-charming, cozy, and emotional storytelling of Lark Rise to Candleford follows the opposite lives of a small, poor farming hamlet (Lark Rise) and a wealthier market town (Candleford), through the very eyes of young Laura Timmins, who moves from her village to work in the town's post office.
Streaming Platforms: BritBox, The Roku Channel
Little House on the Prairie (1974-1983)
If it's watching a fictional lead like Anne grow and get her life together that you seek, Little House on the Prairie essentially centers on Laura Ingalls Wilder's childhood as her stories chronicle her family's moves, from Wisconsin to Kansas, building homes, a farm, and facing the same challenges the Cuthberts had to survive in their community.
Streaming Platforms: Peacock, Amazon Prime Video
When Calls the Heart (2014-Present)
When Calls the Heart is a Hallmark drama focused on the young teacher, Elizabeth Thatcher, in the early 20th-century Canadian coal-mining town called Hope Valley. Think of it as the episode where Miss Muriel Stacy, a progressive and innovative teacher, came to Avonlea to teach children about the wonders of the outside world.
In the case of When Calls the Heart, Miss Thatcher left the city for a simpler life in Hope Valley in hopes of finding love and building bonds with townsfolk, amongst women going through widowhood and single motherhood.
Streaming Platforms: The Roku Channel, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video
A Good Girl's Guide to Murder (2024-Present)
Apart from small-town communities and dramas, Anne with an E shone bright because of its interesting and flawed lead character. A Good Girl's Guide to Murder offers Pippa "Pip" Fitz-Amobi, who investigates a five-year-old murder case in her small town of Little Kilton.
Take it like how Anne solved the mystery behind the Gold Mine Scheme that tried to trick townspeople into investing their savings in a hoax.
Streaming Platforms: Netflix
Derry Girls (2018-2022)
But if it's the female empowerment and friendship you sought from Anne with an E, then Netflix has another series in store: Derry Girls. The only difference is that it's faster-paced, more outspoken, and emphasizes humor and found family above all else.
Set in Derry in Northern Ireland, Derry Girls follows five teenagers, Erin, her cousin Orla, friends Clare and Michelle, and Michelle's English cousin James, as they explore the normal dramas of adolescence while living in the middle of their typical small-town community.
Streaming Platforms: Netflix
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