Do You Love 'Bridgerton'? Or 'Heartstopper'? Here's the Perfect Recommendation

It feels a little absurd to call one of Prime Video’s most successful global launches an “undiscovered gem,” but here we are: a year after it premiered, Maxton Hall - The World Between Us is still a show that 99.5 out of 100 Americans have never heard of. I hadn’t either until this week, and I’m a television critic. But when I saw that it had already been renewed for a third season five months before the second had even premiered, I figured I at least had to check it out.

I had no idea I’d be swept away so fast by one of those rare shows that nails that heartsplat, everything-hurts-in-the-best-way feeling of falling stupidly, uncontrollably in love. The last time I felt this way about a series was the first season of Heartstopper. Before that, the debut season of Bridgerton. Maxton Hall is the real goddamn deal: fluttery, heart-in-your-throat television about two people from opposite sides of the socioeconomic spectrum falling wildly, inconveniently in love.

A German series set in an English boarding school (it’s German-language with English subtitles), Maxton Hall centers on Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten), a scholarship student from a close-knit, working-class family who dreams of going to Oxford. Then there’s James Beaufort (Damian Hardung), a lacrosse-playing, wildly rich pretty-boy stereotype.

Things kick off when Ruby accidentally walks in on her favorite teacher making out with James’ sister, Lydia Beaufort (Sonja Weißer). Lydia panics and begs James to handle it before the teacher gets fired. James tries to buy Ruby’s silence with a wad of cash, but she’s horrified. Then he makes an even grosser offer: sex in exchange for her silence. Ruby shuts that down hard.

But there’s a flicker.

James can’t stop thinking about her. He sabotages a school gala Ruby organized by hiring strippers, which gets him suspended from lacrosse. The headmaster forces them to work together on the next gala if Ruby wants that Oxford recommendation letter.

And that’s how it begins. They hate each other intensely, the kind of hate that only exists when something deeper is brewing. James isn’t a monster; he’s just trapped in a life he doesn’t want. His father is a cruel, image-obsessed tyrant who wants James to take over the family’s fashion empire, even though Lydia is better at it and actually interested. Ruby is just collateral damage to him.

The premise isn’t groundbreaking, but the chemistry? Blazing. He looks like a young, blond Matt Smith. She’s got the grounded warmth of a young Katja Herbers. And when they fall, they fall hard. But class divides and family expectations make their romance feel almost impossible.

It’s technically a YA series, but it’s European, so it’s more daring and risqué than most American adult dramas. And it’s really good: sweet, addictive, and brimming with feeling. I completely understand why it got a third-season pickup before the second even wrapped. It’s just so good - messy, swoony, emotional, and full of heart. If you loved the first season of Bridgerton, anything by Emily Henry, or The Wedding People, Maxton Hall will knock you on your ass. I can’t recommend it hard enough.

Season 1 of Maxton Hall is now streaming on Prime Video.