This article highlights several underrated war-themed television programmes that have been largely forgotten despite their quality. The piece showcases a selection of war dramas spanning different historical periods and regions, from American conflicts to African and Asian history.

The featured shows include Combat!, possibly the first war-themed TV series broadcast to American audiences, which followed a WWII infantry squad on Europe's Western Front with some veteran actors; Shaka Zulu, a South African miniseries about King Shaka's rise and expansion of the Zulu Kingdom in the early nineteenth century; Turn: Washington's Spies, which focuses on the Culper Ring espionage network during the American Revolutionary War rather than combat itself; and Shōgun, an 1980 miniseries based on James Clavell's novel set during Japan's Edo Period, which has been overshadowed by the recent 2024 Hulu and FX adaptation.