The Crème de La Crème of Period Dramas ? ? ?

FannyCornforth

Sparklefizz

Where can I find Larkrise Fanny ?

It’s on BritBox Sparkle
If you don’t already have it, it’s got lots of great stuff, try it and then cancel if need be

Thanks Fanny. I don't have Britbox (yet) but will look into it.

Has to be the original Forsyth Saga; Barchester Towers; I Claudius; and I enjoyed The Far Pavilions, having loved the book. The Onedin Line too.

Callistemon wow, you are related to Dorcas Lane!
That’s amazing.
Can you tell us more? Please!

Thanks everyone, this is a lovely thread ?

Our Mutual Friend, Little Dorrit from the early 2000’s maybe.
Also the Aristocrats about the Lennox sisters daughters of the Duke of Richmond 18th century.
Frenchman’s Creek from the 90’s with Tara Fitzgerald.
Daniel Deronda also from the early 2000’s
I quite like the slower pace and storylines of the older series.
I think I will have to make a list of them all.

I have Elizabeth R (Glenda Jackson) on DVD and it's very slow and plodding but very realistic (unlike the trivial cartoonish stuff they make today). Also The Six Wives of Henry VIII with Keith Michell. both perfect if you like realism in your costume drama.

The two best period dramas ever made were Upstairs and Downstairs (lots of episodes) and Downton Abbey. Another delightful series I absolutely adored was Mr Selfridge. Great characters, great sets and great costumes.

There have been a great many Dickens and Thomas Hardy so take your pick!

If you can't find any of them on TV then the DVDs are very cheap to buy from Amazon or E-Bay.

Another thumbs up for Middlemarch, really good.

Elizabeth R (Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth l), from 1971.

Parsley 3.

When the Boat Comes In is our ultimate favourite. We have the whole set of DVDs and have watched the whole thing many times. We know much of the dialogue and occasionally quote e.g. I’m going to fettle that ironing.

I would also recommend Brideshead Revisited (1981), loved every minute of it (and the music accompanying it is beautiful). A brilliant series that is recent but you may have missed it is The Handmaid's Tale, season 5 is about to be televised - but in my opinion, season 1 is the best. Happy Valley is another recent series that is very good.

Middlemarch. P & P with Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul.
Brideshead with Anthony Andrews and Jeremy Irons.
Bleak House - 2005.

Cranford War and Peace with Edward Norton also Pride and Prejudice very enjoyable. I have box a set of Catherine Cooksons dramas I never get tired watching them. All the stories from the wonderful North East are brilliant.

Grandma70s

I enjoyed Brideshead Revisited, and at the moment I’m watching Lark Rise to Candleford on DVD. So lovely to look at, if a bit idealistic about rural life, and some great characters. I love Claudie Blakley as Emma Timmins, and Matilda Ziegler as Ruby Pratt. I find Twister is irritating, though, and so is Miss Lane after a while. All the same, good comfort viewing.

Matilda Ziegler played Pearl Pratt not Ruby

Parsley3

I blush to say that I have binge watched Pride and Prejudice more times than is decent. I loved Lark Rise too.
If I get the chance I would like to watch When The Boat Comes In from the beginning. Young James Bolan was quite a charmer.

Dds and I have watched P&P so many times, we’ve said (only half joking!) that we could go on Mastermind with Who Said What To Whom And When, as our Special Subject.

Might add that the original set of videos was a Christmas present from dh shortly after the series finished - we all watched the whole thing on the evening of that Christmas Day - including dh, who’d never read or seen any of it, but was soon equally hooked!

Witzend

Ditto to Middlemarch! As a lover of the book I thought it very well done.

I resolved to read the book but never got round to it.

Cold comfort Hall with Rufus Sewell.
The Jewel in the Crown.
When the Boat comes in, for me will always mean a move from the North East to the Midlands. They all wanted to know if I was from "Where the boat comes in". I had picked up a Geordie accent.
The Return of the Native with Catherine Zeta-Jones as the heroine,
The original Poldark with Angharad Reese.
Kes, I saw it as a film as a student,I think it was subtitled when it was shown in the south.

I like BritBox , British programmes

Sparklefizz

Where can I find Larkrise Fanny ?

It’s on BritBox Sparkle
If you don’t already have it, it’s got lots of great stuff, try it and then cancel if need be

Where can I find Larkrise Fanny ?

I might add that despite having had to read Cranford at school at about 14, it’s still one of my favourite comfort-reads.

Ditto to Middlemarch! As a lover of the book I thought it very well done.

A lot of the old ones are available on YouTube. Not HD though!
To serve them all my days, Onedin line, Barchester chronicles etc etc

'Sanditon' and 'Poldark'.

easzybee I loved An Age Of Kings and it's still the bench mark for other Shakespeare productions for me. Our Mutual Friend with Jane Seymour was a lovely atmospheric production, 1970s or 80s? Mustn't forget I Claudius with so many outstanding performances, and more recently Wolf Hall which I thought was as near perfect as you could get.

Many of those already mentioned I'd watch over again-also 'Jennie- Lady Randolph Churchill' broadcast around 1974 with Lee Remick in the starring role. I remember being totally glued to the TV when it was on, I'd be about 14 at the time, and even got the book of the TV series as a Christmas present that year.

Love for Lydia with Mel Martin ( I think).