![The best British period dramas, from Pride and Prejudice to Bridgerton The best British period dramas, from Pride and Prejudice to Bridgerton](https://news5alert.com/wp-content/uploads/https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/12/14/12/IP166705.jpg?width=1200&auto=webp&quality=75)
![Keeba Roy](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/12/14/12/IP166705.jpg?crop=8:5,smart&quality=75&auto=webp&width=1024)
Saint Colin of Firth, patron saint of period drama
PUBLICITY PICTURE
Bonnets, big houses and brooding heroes: a good period drama is the ultimate comfort watch, a lovely balm for our “poor nerves” – as Mrs Bennet from Pride and Prejudice would probably put it. And as we wait for the third season of Netflix’s Bridgerton, which is landing on the platform on May 16, they have never been more on edge.
So why not watch another excellent period drama to pass the time? From compulsive Sunday night viewing like Downton Abbey and Poldark, to Oscar-baiting classics like Sense and Sensibility and A Room With a View, these some of are our all-time favourites, listed in no particular order.
Bridgerton, 2020 – ongoing
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(Liam Daniel/Netflix/PA)
PA Media
With its second season pulling in a whopping 620 million viewing hours in under a month back in spring 2022, Bridgerton has long since taken the title of the world’s most popular period drama. On its way to the top the Shonda Rhimes production piled the drama on thick, too: think extraordinarily handsome gentleman (sideburns forgiven), tense romances, back-stabbing, polo matches, an all-seeing gossip-columnist, a Queen, and even a we-know-where-you-got-that-idea-from wet-shirt moment. The Netflix show has a far bigger budget than any of our beloved British shows, and what a treat it is to indulge in all the HQ glitz, glamour and scandal of Regency-era London’s high society (aka the ton). EG
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Nick Wall/Netflix
Some people hated it, some people loved it. This Netflix adaption of Persuasion had a dreamy cast with Dakota Johnson playing Anne Elliot, Cosmo Jarvis playing Captain Frederick Wentworth, Henry Golding playing Mr. William Elliot and had acclaimed stage director Carrie Cracknell behind the camera. In that age-old predicament of whether to stick to the material or go off and do your own thing, Cracknell absolutely chose the latter. The result? A funny, sassy, très modern (she swigs from a bottle of red wine in one scene) interpretation of Austen’s sixth novel. There’s a tonne of Fleabag-style looking at the camera shots (and even a wink), and it’s very much not one for purists. But it is perfect for a fun and easy Sunday afternoon romp through an alternative Regency-period England. EG
In 1893, freed from an abusive husband by his death, widow Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes) moves to a small village in Essex to look into reports of a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent. She makes close friends with the local vicar (Tom Hiddleston) and his wife Stella (Clémence Poésy) before a tonne of drama kicks off. The six-part series is set in 1893 and is fabulously atmospheric with shots of black horses pulling carriages along flooded pains, desolate cottages and tired-looking workmen in pubs. Plus, the Gothic element goes beyond the visual, with a sinister force causing havoc in the town, a possession, and death. Not quite as cosy as the rest of the dramas on the list, but just as engaging. EG
The Personal History of David Copperfield, 2019
The sweetest, brightest, happiest adaption of a Dickens that there ever was; nothing could be a better distraction from that fourth Unprecedented Times news bulletin you received this morning. Dev Patel is David Copperfield, Daisy May Cooper is Peggotty, Peter Capaldi is Mr. Micawber, and Hugh Laurie is the glorious Mr. Dick. Admittedly, perhaps watching any Dickens shouldn’t feel this good, but everyone’s so utterly charming that it’s impossible not to feel buoyed by the film. EG
Available to rent from all the usual places
This 2006 Sofia Coppola cult classic about the Queen consort of France’s antics in Versaille has become the go-to reference for all hot-girl Halloween outfits. It’s also a great film. Pastel-hued throughout, with a very young Kristen Dunst playing Marie Antoinette, it’s a breezy, aesthetically gorgeous prance following the Austrian’s early life in the Ancien Régime. There’s loads of cake and frills and debauchery, and Jason Schwartzman makes a super navel-gazing Louis XVI of France. EG
Available to rent from all the usual places
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Theodora Films Limited & Moonage Pictures Limited/Robert Viglasky
Anticipation was high for Emily Mortimer’s BBC TV adaption of Nancy Mitford’s best-loved novel, and happily, it did not disappoint (at least, it didn’t disappoint everyone). Following two cousins (played by Lily James and Emily Beecham) as they navigate very different lives, the adaption managed to honour Mitford’s irreverent tone, keep the themes relevant and hilarious and pull in nearly stellar reviews all around. With a happy supporting cast of Andrew Scott, Dominic West and Freddie Fox, The Standard said it was “the best period drama we’ve had in years”. It also made for perfect Sunday evening viewing, filling that Line of Duty hole back in May 2021. EG
Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Sky Store
Pride and Prejudice, 1995
![Pride & Prejudice (1995)](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/12/14/11/uktv_51421451272.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
The definitive adaptation of Austen’s classic
BBC
Send our apologies to Keira Knightley and Joe Wright: it’s a truth universally acknowledged that the 1995 adaptation of Jane Austen’s best-known work will never be surpassed. The six hour-long episodes give enough space for Austen’s comic creations to unfurl their idiosyncrasies at leisure (Mr Collins is a masterclass in skin-crawling awfulness; Alison Steadman is a brilliant Mrs Bennet) and enough time to ensure that Lizzie’s (Jennifer Ehle) slow-burn romance with Mr Darcy (Colin Firth) doesn’t feel rushed. And is there a more iconic scene in period drama than Firth emerging from the lake at Pemberley? We think not. KR
BBC iPlayer, BritBox, Sky
Sense and Sensibility, 1995
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Winslet and Thompson play two very different sisters
In a roundabout way, we have Stephen Fry to thank for this superlative adaptation. Emma Thompson spent five years trying to perfect the script for her version of Jane Austen’s novel – then disaster struck when her computer crashed, taking the fruits of her labours with it. Thompson grabbed the offending PC and jumped in a cab (no mean feat when you remember how massive computers were in the early Nineties) to Fry’s house, where the polymath managed to retrieve the file. Thank God he did – Thompson’s take on Sense and Sensibility, directed by Ang Lee and also starring Hugh Grant (as a floppy haired Edward Ferrars), Kate Winslet (flighty Marianne Dashwood) and Alan Rickman (steadfast and dependable Colonel Brandon), is a real delight. Not only did Thompson rightly pick up a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for her efforts, in a lovely twist worthy of Austen herself, she also met her future husband Greg Wise on set. KR
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A modern spin on Austen’s tale
Autumn de Wilde’s 2020 big screen adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma seems to have had its thunder stolen slightly by the fact it was in cinemas just before we first went into lockdown. There are immeasurable reasons to revisit it: Anya Taylor-Joy makes Emma Woodhouse cool rather than just a bit of a snob, Booker Prize winner Eleanor Catton’s script is deliciously droll, and a supporting cast including Josh O’Connor, Bill Nighy and Callum Turner deliver great comic performances. Oh, and Johnny Flynn as Mr Knightley. We hardly noticed, of course. JT
Available to rent from all the usual places
The Crown, 2016 – ongoing
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Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II
Netflix
It was an ambitious premise: a lavish drama charting the reign of Queen Elizabeth II from coronation to (almost) present day and spanning six series, with each season focusing on a decade or so of British history. Only Peter Morgan, the writer behind The Queen and The Audience, combined with the mega-budget afforded by a streaming platform like Netflix, could pull it off. The first two series, featuring career-making turns by Claire Foy as Her Majesty, Matt Smith as her consort and Vanessa Kirby as her sister Princess Margaret, set a very high standard indeed – one that the third season (which swapped Foy and co for a new bunch of more appropriately middle-aged faux royals) didn’t always live up to. Thankfully rounds four, five and six, with all the gossipy thrills and genuine heartbreak of the Diana years, seems to have corrected the course of Morgan’s saga. KR
Lark Rise to Candleford, 2008 – 2011
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A gentle period soap set in rural Oxfordshire
“A rural Victorian Eastenders”, one critic called this sunlit period soap that ran for four surprisingly successful series (audiences sat comfortably at around 7 million), though it was gentler and kinder than that. Based on Flora Thompson’s trilogy about a young woman growing up and apart from her rural Oxfordshire beginnings, it dealt sensitively with issues ranging from encroaching industrialisation to the effect on families of dementia. And it had Julia Sawalha as proto-feminist Postmistress Dorcas Lane, and Victoria Hamilton and Matilda Ziegler as the gloriously ridiculous Pratt sisters, the vicious bounce of whose tightly-wound ringlets could have powered any number of ingenious industrial contraptions. ND
Call the Midwife, 2012 – ongoing
![Call The Midwife](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/12/14/11/3436041-high-call-the-midwife.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
Call The Midwife has been a surprise hit, pulling in millions of viewers
Who would have thought that a series about prim midwives that packed in about three noisy labour scenes per episode would still be popping them out, 13 seasons on? Well, anyone who witnessed the success of One Born Every Minute, which didn’t even have the charm of changing period outfits to recommend it (yes I did watch every episode), but Call the Midwife still surprised everyone by winning over millions of viewers with its grumpy nuns, budding young career girls and token comedy men-slash-love interests all living and loving in a rapidly changing East End. Covering medical and social developments from adoption and the treatment of unmarried mothers to the Thalidomide scandal, it manages to be both comforting and challenging. ND
Gentleman Jack, 2019 – 2022
![Gentleman Jack](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/12/14/12/17430490-high-gentleman-jack.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
Jones shines as the mercurial landowner Anne Lister
Basically an excuse to watch Suranne Jones stalking about an unusually dry West Yorkshire in a top hat and frock coat, outwitting arrogant men and charming beautiful women, this is a highly enjoyable romp based on the real (coded) diaries of the proud 19th century lesbian landowner Anne Lister. Jones shines as the mercurial yet down-to-earth Lister, who just wants to be allowed to love freely and make a shedload of cash from the coal under her own land. ND
Downton Abbey, 2010 – 2015
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Soapy and scandalous, Downton had us hooked from the off
“What is a weekend?” In its heyday, Julian Fellowes’ upstairs-downstairs saga was essential Sunday night viewing, and not just because we got to see Maggie Smith dishing out razor-sharp one liners as the Dowager Countess. The storylines were unashamedly soapy and scandalous (RIP to the Turkish diplomat who inconveniently died of a heart attack after sleeping with Lady Mary in series one) and managed to make us weep too (poor Lady Sybil – how cruel to kill off the only nice Crawley sister in childbirth). The wheels came off the Downton juggernaut towards the end (though the 2019 spin-off film managed to make a killing at the box office, despite being hysterically bad) but at that point, we were too hooked to care. KR
Netflix, Prime Video, BritBox
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This performance made a star of Ruth Wilson
It was a real star is born moment: Ruth Wilson, at just 24 and fresh out of drama school, took on the title role of this flagship BBC adaptation as a relative unknown, and won the nation’s hearts. She portrays Jane as a strong-willed young woman full of complexity, and found a crackling chemistry with her Mr Rochester, played by Toby Stephens. The story may be spread over four hour-long episodes, but it always feels perfectly paced, full of moments of yearning. JT
The Darling Buds of May, 1991 – 1993
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A sunkissed comedy drama based on H. E. Bates’s novels
A smash hit for ITV in the Nineties (all six episodes of its first series hit number one in the ratings, this being the olden days of terrestrial telly), this sunkissed comedy-drama based on the once-popular novels of H.E Bates painted a nostalgic picture of post-war Britain, centred around the rackety, ramshackle family of Pop (David Jason, in a role seemingly tailor-made for one of Britain’s greatest character actors), his unmarried partner Ma (Pam Ferris) and their six children. It seems bizarre now but this adorable show provided the big break for the Welsh Hollywood star Catherine Zeta-Jones, as eldest daughter (and budding sexpot) Mariette, who falls for the man from the Inland Revenue (Philip Franks) in the first episode and never lets him go. ND
![Poldark](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/12/14/12/SHOWBIZ%20Poldak%20144918.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
Romance, scything and Cornish scenes – what more could we want?
Remember the halcyon days of spring 2015, when the nation lost its collective cool over that scene involving Aidan Turner scything with no shirt on? Simpler times (“Could Aidan Turner spark a resurgence in scything?” read one very enthusiastic headline). Poldark was the perfect Sunday night period drama, filling the gap in the schedule left by Downton’s departure. Based on Winston Graham’s novels and following in the footsteps of another wildly successful adaptation that aired in the Seventies, it followed dashing Captain Ross Poldark (Turner) as he returned from fighting in the American War of Independence to his childhood home in Cornwall – only to discover that his former sweetheart Elizabeth is engaged to his insipid cousin Francis, and that he’s in tonnes of debt. Buzz kill. Enter Eleanor Tomlinson’s Demelza, the spirited servant who he ends up romancing instead. Later instalments involved a bit too much interminable chatter about tin mining and not enough scything for our liking, but Poldark remained heaps of fun until it bowed out after five series in 2019. KR
Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Sky
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The best dress in costume drama history? Probably
Period dramas sometimes have a reputation for being a bit buttoned up, but not Atonement. In Joe Wright’s adaptation of Ian McEwan’s best novel, every encounter between doomed lovers Robbie and Cecilia is an opportunity for some kind of unbearable erotic frisson. From an antique vase breaking to a type-written letter going into the wrong envelope, it all eventually gets a bit much for the pair, played by James McAvoy and Keira Knightley, who end up spreadeagled into a library (which doesn’t look especially comfy for Keira, but she does get to wear a magnificent green dress.) Of course, their passion for one another goes awry for various reasons, including meddling brat Briony (a very young Saoirse Ronan), the Second World War and… the British class system, probably. JT
Available to rent from all the usual places
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Daniel Day Lewis plays snobby Cecil Vyse opposite Helena Bonham Carter
A young Helena Bonham Carter absolutely glows in this fabulously lavish E.M Forster adaptation from Merchant Ivory, though you can’t quite believe that her Lucy Honeychurch – a proper young woman whose passions are ignited by a rather Me Too-ish snog from Julian Sands’s freethinking George on an Italian hillside, throwing her life into disarray – was ever quite as prim as she made out. The cut glass accents, strangled pauses and Daniel Day Lewis as the harmless but appallingly pretentious snob Cecil Vyse (as well as an enjoyably irritating turn from Maggie Smith as Lucy’s fussy cousin and chaperone) make this gem sparkle. ND
Available to rent from all the usual places
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Gillian Anderson and Anna Maxwell Martin stand out in this star-studded adaptation
The genius of the BBC’s take on Dickens’ most ambitious novel lies in Andrew Davies’ decision to chop the series up into half-hour episodes, leaving viewers teetering on a cliffhanger just like Victorian readers, who were drip-fed Bleak House in serialised instalments. The cast list boasts so much star power, it risks spontaneous combustion: a pre-Hollywood Carey Mulligan plays Ada Clare, Anna Maxwell Martin manages to make sappy Esther Summerson interesting and Charles Dance does his dead-eyed villain routine as sinister lawyer Mr Tulkinghorn. Best of all, though, is Gillian Anderson as Lady Dedlock, the beautiful, icy aristo hiding a tragic secret. KR
Tess of the D’Urbervilles, 2008
![Tess Of The D'Urbervilles (Eddie Redmayne as Angel Clare, Gemma Arterton as Tess Derbeyfield)](https://static.standard.co.uk/2020/12/14/11/eddie-redmayne5.png?quality=75&auto=webp&width=960)
Nicholls’ adaptation captures moments of joyful young love amid the gloom
Oh, Tess. Oh, Angel Clare. No one has a nice time in a Thomas Hardy novel, where Tess Durbeyfield is sent to explore her family’s possible noble connections, but the outcome in Tess of the D’Urbervilles is very bleak. All the more impressive, then, that David Nicholl’s four-part adaptation for the BBC manages to capture so many moments of innocent, joyful young love between the pair. One of the most charming scenes sees Angel (played by a pre-Oscar winning Eddie Redmayne) chivalrously carry all of Tess’s friends across a lake, while Tess (Gemma Arterton) protests she can get across herself. Eventually, of course, she allows him – cue eye gazing galore. JT
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Little Dorrit was Claire Foy’s breakout role
The Crown may have propelled her career into the stratosphere, but us Claire Foy diehards have been rooting for her ever since she took the starring role in this sprawling Dickens adaptation back in 2008. Poor old Amy Dorrit has been brought up in the Marshalsea prison (where the author’s father was briefly incarcerated) after her dad (Tom Courtenay) was locked up for failing to pay off his debts. Enter the kind-hearted Arthur Clennam (Matthew Macfadyen), who believes the Dorrits might be tied up in a family mystery he is trying to unravel. Dickens being Dickens, there are countless random sub-plots (Illegitimate children! Andy Serkis as a villainous French bloke! Everyone decamps to Venice for some reason!) but Andrew Davies (him again) makes light work of knotting it all together. KR
The Forsyte Saga, 2002 – 2003
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Damien Lewis and Gina McKee play miserable married couple Soames and Irene
The BBC’s 1967 version of John Galsworthy’s weighty novel cycle set the bar for period drama on television; attempting to adapt it again might have seemed like a fool’s errand, but ITV managed to pull it off in 2002, buoyed by a brilliant cast. Damien Lewis is great as chilly, repressed posho Soames Forsyte, obsessed with his beautiful wife Irene (Gina McKee) who loathes the very sight of him, preferring to spend her days in the company of charming architect Philip Bosinney (Ioan Gruffudd). He’s designing Soames’ new country house, a Victorian Grand Design, and also happens to be engaged to June, the daughter of Irene’s cousin-in-law Jolyon Forsyte (who’s estranged from the snootier branches of the family after running off with the governess…) What could possibly go wrong? KR
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Colman is an absurd but sympathetic Queen Anne
Olivia Colman has long been a queen in the eyes of anyone who’s paid more than passing notice to British telly over the past two decades, but this pitch-black period piece cemented her status as acting royalty. As an absurd but deeply sympathetic Queen Anne, Colman gets to play up to her comic talents, while Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz are brilliant as the warring objects of her affections: Stone’s Abigail is a servant girl on the make, Weisz’s Lady Sarah is the monarch’s Machiavellian confidante. Costume dramas all too often present life in the past in swoony soft focus: The Favourite reminds us that the old days were smelly and sweary too. Brutal and brilliant fun. KR