North and South (Seasons 1–3)

North and South (1985) is the sweeping Civil War miniseries you can watch online on iFILM. Adapted from John Jakes' bestselling novels, it follows two young men who meet as cadets at West Point in 1842: Orry Main, the son of a South Carolina plantation owner, and George Hazard, heir to a Pennsylvania ironworks family.

Their bond is forged in the war with Mexico and tested across the years that pull the country toward rupture. Everything that sets the regions apart — the slave-worked estates of the Mains, the factories of the Hazards, clashing ideas of freedom and duty — slowly wedges its way between the friends. Once the guns of the Civil War open up, Orry and George stand on opposing sides, while their families ride a tide of romance, betrayal and loss. Patrick Swayze plays Orry and James Read plays George, with Lesley-Anne Down, David Carradine, Jonathan Frakes and a very young Forest Whitaker filling out the enormous cast.

ABC poured a then-record budget into the production: thousands of costumes, rebuilt plantation houses and large-scale battle sequences that 1980s television rarely attempted. It's an old-fashioned family saga cut from the same cloth as Gone with the Wind, weaving private heartbreak into the tragedy of a nation tearing itself apart. Perfect for anyone who likes a long historical melodrama to sink into over many nights. Stream every episode of North and South (1985) online on iFILM.