Enjoyed Oppenheimer? Try the BBC's BAFTA-winning drama now on iPlayer

Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer
Cillian Murphy in Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. (Image credit: Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures)

With Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer raking in rave reviews and enjoying great success at the box office, viewers can also enjoy another take on the titular scientist as the BBC has just added a classic box set to BBC iPlayer that turns the camera on the father of the atomic bomb.

The seven-part series (also called Oppenheimer) sees Sam Waterson taking on the title role of the conflicted but brilliant physicist which charts his time working on The Manhattan Project. 

Waterson is known for playing Jack McCoy in Law & Order and for appearing in projects like  Jack Clayton's 1974 adaptation of The Great Gatsby, The Killing Fields, Grace and Frankie, and The Newsroom. 

All seven episodes of Oppenheimer are available to watch right now on BBC iPlayer, and the series will also be shown weekly on Saturday nights on BBC Four from August 12. And if you're looking to learn more about the true story behind both dramas, check out how to watch the Oppenheimer documentary The Day After Trinity right now.

The description for the Oppenheimer series reads: "The Bafta-winning seven-part series originally aired on the BBC in 1980. 

"Waterson plays the titular scientist as he leads the weapons laboratory of the Manhattan Project, all the while under constant surveillance by the FBI because of his left-wing politics and association with communists, It follows his role in developing the world’s first nuclear weapons, his rivalry with Edward Teller, through to being stripped of his security clearance by the US Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950s."

The series was nominated for a total of seven BAFTA TV awards and won three (Best Drama Series or Serial, Best Film Editor for Tariq Anwar, and Best Original Television Music for Carl Davis). It also received two Emmy nominations and earned Sam Waterson a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.

If you're interested in digging further into the BBC's back catalog, the network also recently made the six-episode 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice available on the platform as a box set. Anyone who has seen Barbie, the other half of the Barbenheimer double feature, will know that the series starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle crops up in a hilarious fake ad promoting a brand new type of Barbie doll — though we won't spoil the scene any further here!

Martin Shore
Staff Writer at WhatToWatch.com

Martin is a Staff Writer with WhatToWatch.com, where he produces a variety of articles focused on the latest and greatest films and TV shows. 

Some of his favorite shows are What We Do In The Shadows, Bridgerton, Gangs of London, The Witcher, Doctor Who, and Ghosts. When he’s not watching TV or at the movies, Martin’s probably still in front of a screen playing the latest video games, reading, or watching the NFL.