Period Dramas

I loved Larkrise to Candleford, such easy watching, no swearing, no murders just gentle stories and great acting.
Have you tried Cranford? some great names in that too.

I enjoyed the updated Upstairs Downstairs, which I think is showing on U.

It is set in the 1930s, with Rose (the maid) who has retired from service and running a bureau for staff. She is asked to find servants for the house at Eton Place, which has passed to a new generation. There are two series, but I wish they'd made more. It stars Keeley Hawkes and is a lot more 'modern' in production etc than the old series with Gordon Jackson.

Cranford was excellent- but I also loved Dickensian and wish they would do another series!

Thank you for your suggestions.

I'll watch Cranford, hopefully I can find it somewhere. An updated version of Upstairs Downstairs sounds interesting, I remember being able to watch that in the 70s, in my nightie, ready for bed! Then I'll give Dickensian a look. There's very little modern TV that interests me. I think I was born in the wrong era!!

I think you would like Sanditon, an adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel, it is on ITV X.

Must check out the updated Upstairs Downstairs. Sounds like ideal Sunday afternoon viewing.

Duchess of Duke street is another good one, on U I believe.

The Gilded Age. Written by Julian Fellows who wrote Downton. It is a sort of American Downton. Similar era and it is very compelling with fabulous costumes.
On Now or Amazon Prime I think.
I really enjoyed it a while back.

I too enjoyed the Gilded Age. I also watched all of Upstairs Downstairs on ITV 2. I really missed it when it finished! What about Bridgerton? It’s a bit different as it’s ’colour blind’ (their description) There are all different races in it and Queen Charlotte is black. It’s a bit surreal at times (as the chamber orchestra plays modem tunes!)but the story is gripping and it’s beautiful to look at. On Netflix.

The Gilded Age is a real treat. I hope the next series is coming soon. I couldn't bear Bridgerton and gave up on it immediately. Completely unauthentic soft porn.

There are loads of period dramas tucked away in the various channels, far too many to name!

I went back to the very start of Upstairs Downstairs and it's still wonderful though takes a while to get going during the first few episodes. It starts with Pauline Collins arriving as a new housemaid.

Bramwell is wonderful, also the many Catherine Cookson dramas, which have always been on U&Drama or you may have to search.

I agree with Aveline about Bridgerton. I gave up after the sex on the stairs. Something for the servants to talk about and perfectly ridiculous.

Thanks so much for all the recommendations, I will watch them all in time. At the moment I'm on the fifth episode of series 1 of Cranford, there are several familiar faces from the other period dramas which is slightly confusing, but I'm enjoying it so far.

If you like adaptations of books, the BBC version of Bleak House with Gillian Anderson was very good, I'm planning to re-watch it. It's on BBC iPlayer.

That's great if Bleak House is still around as many Dickens dramas are no longer available. One of the best is David Copperfield (1999) with the most amazing cast, Daniel Ratcliffe (very young), Bob Hoskins, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Maggie Smith, Trevor Eve, Alan Armstrong, Michael Elphick and Pauline Quirke. It's on Amazon Prime and Apple for a modest fee.

Nobody has mentioned P&P with Colin Firth .

I’m currently watching Little Dorrit on IPlayer.

There’s a collection of Jane Austen films on BBC IPlayer, from different decades to commemorate her birth. Well worth watching, you night have to use the search facility to find them.

If you enter&, "where to watch such and such " *into your search engine

Then it will come up with which platform it is on, I player, ITV player, Netflix, Prime, Sky etc etc

Lark rise to Candleford is sweet, I like it better even than Cranford. Free on Channel 4, small cost other platforms.

Just remembered the Forsyte Saga. Both the old version from the 60’s with Nyree Dawn Porter and 2002 version with Damian Lewis as Soames. The books by John Galsworthy are also one of my favourite reads.

I loved re-watching The House of Eliott on U TV. It's a shame it ended rather abruptly, but still very much worth watching.

I recently rewatched the original Poldark with Robin Ellis and Anthea’s Rees, a very different watch to the newer version, enjoyed both

Angharad….

The Way We Live Now - a dramatisation of Trollope’s Victorian novel. IMO (as someone who’s red it more than once) excellently done, and featuring David Suchet (brilliantly!) as the supposedly super-rich fraudster Melmotte. A character so different from Poirot, it shows his superb ability as an actor.

It was a series on the BBC some years ago - well worth a watch.
Shirley Henderson is also brilliant as Melmotte’s daughter Marie.