As someone who watched a lot of tv when I was a teenager it can sometimes feel like I’ve watched every single teen drama that has ever been made, so here are 7 underrated TV show recommendations that I don’t hear about very often and that you might not have watched.
The Carrie Diaries
The Carrie Diaries aired for 2 seasons on The CW and serves as a prequel to Sex and the City.
We follow 16-year-old Carrie. Her mother has recently died, her sister is being increasingly rebellious, and there’s a new at school that she’s very attracted to. Carrie takes an internship at a New York law firm that will allow her to miss one day a week of high school. Soon after arriving in New York she quits and takes a position at Interview magazine (without telling her dad, of course).
As the show goes on we’re introduced to more familiar characters like Samantha but the show was, unfortunately, cancelled before anyone else was introduced. And, it stars Austin Butler in one of his early roles!
Genre: Comedy Drama, Period Drama (80s)
Starring: AnnaSophia Robb (Carrie Bradshaw), Austin Butler (Sebastian Kydd), Ellen Wong (Jill ‘Mouse’ Chen), Katie Findlay (Maggie Landers), Stefania LaVie Owen (Dorrit Bradshaw), Brendan Dooling (Walt Reynolds), Chloe Bridges (Donna LaDonna), Freema Agyeman (Larissa Loughlin), Matt Letscher (Tom Bradshaw), Lindsey Gort (Samantha Jones).
House of Anubis
House of Anubis was a teen mystery show that ran on Nickolodeon that aired from 2011-2013.
It follows Nina Martin, a young American girl, who moves to England to attend boarding school where she is placed in Anubis House. As she arrives, another girl leaves and everyone in the house is shocked and saddened by Joy’s sudden disappearance, especially since none of them are able to contact her.
Nina meets an elderly woman who claims to have lived in Anubis House and gifts her a locket that becomes a key to secret rooms all over Anubis House. Nina slowly begins to realise that this isn’t any ordinary house and it has deadly secrets relating back to the discovery of Tutunkhamun’s tomb in 1922.
Genre: Mystery Drama, Comedy Drama
Starring: Nathalia Ramos (Nina Martin), Brad Kavanagh (Fabian Rutter), Jade Ramsay (Patricia Williamson), Ana Mulvoy Ten (Amber Millington), Bobby Lockwood (Mick Campbell), Tasie Lawrence (Mara Jaffray), Eugene Simon (Jerome Clark), Alex Sawyer (Alfie Lewis), Burkely Duffield (Eddie Miller), Klariza Clayton (Joy Mercer), Alexandra Shipp (KT Rush), Louisa Connolly-Burnham (Willow Jenks), Francis Magee (Victor Rodenmaar Jr.), Mina Anwar (Trudy Rehman), Paul Antony-Barber (Eric Sweet).
My Mad Fat Diary
My Mad Fat Diary is an E4 show that aired from 2013 to 2015.
Set in the mid-1990s, it follows Rae Earl, a girl that has just left a psychiatric hospital where she has spent the past 4 months due to mental health and body image problems. She reconnects with her best friend Chloe, who is beautiful and perfect and has no idea where Rae has been for the past 4 months. But now Chloe has a whole new group of friends that Rae feels like she needs to impress.
Genre: Comedy Drama, Period Drama (90s)
Starring: Sharon Rooney (Rae Earl), Claire Rushbrook (Linda Earl-Bouchtat), Ian Hart (Kester Gill), Dan Cohen (Archie), Jodie Comer (Chloe Gemell), Nico Mirallegro (Finn Nelson), Jordan Murphy (Arnold ‘Chop’ Peters), Ciara Baxendale (Izzy), Sophie Wright (Tix).
The End of the F*cking the World
The End of the F*cking World is a British show made by Channel 4 that aired from 2017 to 2019.
This show follows James who is 17-years-old believes that he is a psychopath. He has recently grown bored of killing animals so has decided to move onto humans and he settles on his first victim – a classmate called Alyssa. She suggests that they run away together and James agrees hoping that he will be able to find an opportunity to kill her.
Genre: black comedy
Starring: Alex Lawther (James), Jessica Barden (Alyssa)
Finding Carter
Finding Carter was a show made by MTV that aired from 2014-2015.
This show follows teenager, Carter, who has a pretty perfect life with her single mother Lori, until a prank lands her in jail and it’s soon revealed that Lori abducted Carter when she was a baby. Carter is now forced to return to her biological family but is determined to eventually reunite with Lori.
Genre: Teen Drama, Family Drama
Starring: Kathryn Prescott (Carter Stevens), Cynthia Watros (Elizabeth Wilson), Alexis Denisof (David Wilson), Anna Jacoby-Heron (Taylor Wilson), Zac Pullman (Grant Wilson), Alex Saxon (Max Wagner), Milena Govich (Lori Stevens).
Life Unexpected
Life Unexpected was created by The CW and aired from 2010 to 2011.
It follows Lux Cassidy who has been through the foster care system for almost her entire life. Just before her 16th birthday, Lux petitions to become an emancipated minor but discovers she’ll need the signatures of her birth parents. When she finds them, a judge decides she’s not ready to live on her own so grants temporary custody to her birth parents, Baze and Kate.
Genre: Teen Drama
Starring: Britt Robertson (Lux Cassidy), Shiri Abbleby (Cate Cassidy), Kristoffer Polaha (Nathaniel ‘Baze’ Bazile), Kerr Smith (Ryan Thomas), Austin Basis (Matthew Rogers), Ksenia Solo (Tash Siviac), Emma Caulfield (Emma Bradshaw), Austin Butler (Jones Mager)
The Lying Game
From the author of Pretty Little Liars, The Lying Game was a book adapted for ABC Family in 2011 and it ran for 2 seasons.
It follows Emma Becker, a foster child who has recently found out that she has an identical twin sister, Sutton Mercer, that was adopted by a wealthy family. Sutton talks Emma into stepping into her life for a few days so Sutton can disappear to search for clues for their birth mother. But when Sutton fails to return, Emma is forced into pretending to be Sutton in the long term.
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Drama, Romance
Starring: Alexandra Chando (Sutton Mercer, Emma Becker), Allie Gonino (Laurel Mercer), Blair Redford (Ethan Whitehouse), Andy Buckley (Ted Mercer), Helen Slater (Kristin Mercer), Kirsten Prout (Char Chamberlain), Alice Greczyn (Mads Rybak), Christian Alexander (Thayer Rybak).
