docudrama

/ˌdɑkjəˌˈdrɑmə/

Other forms: docudramas

A fictional movie or TV show that's closely based on a true story can be called a docudrama. All The President's Men is a docudrama about the Watergate scandal.

The term docudrama was first used in American English during the 1950s, from documentary and drama. It's most often used for television programs that strive for some accuracy in representing historical events, sometimes reenacting situations using real details and dialogue. Docudramas inevitably also fill in unknown details and ramp up the dramatic interest of the story using creative license.

Definitions of docudrama

1. noun

   a film or TV program presenting the facts about a person or event
   synonyms: documentary, documentary film, infotainment

   type of:

   film, flick, motion picture, motion-picture show, movie, moving picture, moving-picture show, pic, picture, picture show

   a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement