Best Period Series or Miniseries

[Anonymous]

The Knick

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen almost all of the above recs and I have to say something about North and South (not the civil war cheese fest from the 80s - but the Brit production from 2004 with Richard Armitage) was really spectacular. The love story was beautiful and the sets are gorgeous.

Yes, great story, costumes, scenery.

[Anonymous]

In addition to the ones already mentioned, John Adams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 6 part series of Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth as Darcy produced in 1995. Best adaptation by far IMHO!

Sanditon, based on Austen's last unfinished novel, recently on PBS was fun.

I've also enjoyed the Gilded Age on HBO. Julian Fellows (Downton Abbey) wrote it.

If you like these you will also like Belgravia.

[Anonymous]

Downton Abbey had the most stunning gowns and interiors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've seen almost all of the above recs and I have to say something about North and South (not the civil war cheese fest from the 80s - but the Brit production from 2004 with Richard Armitage) was really spectacular. The love story was beautiful and the sets are gorgeous.

Agree, North and South is so good!

[Anonymous]

Gentleman Jack
PBS’ Les Mis non musical series
Bridgerton
The long song
Mildred pierce
Tudors
My brilliant friend
Power of the dog
The Knick
Marie Antoinette (pbs)
White queen/white princess/ Spanish princess

[Anonymous]

I enjoyed Jane Eyre (2006 BBC version).

[Anonymous]

The Way We Live Now.

You might need to resort to DVD to find it but I'll check--if it streams anywhere I'll come back.

It's not a romance though it definitely has romance in it. It's based on the Anthony Trollope novel and is a scathing social and economic critique that still rings horribly true now. We have learned nothing, it seems, and "the way we live now" hasn't really changed much!

That might not make it sound like swoony period-costume-drama fun, but it is definitely tart and acidic fun, and brilliantly written and acted. Cast includes the incomparable David Suchet (from Poirot), Matthew MacFadyen (Succession and so many more), Shirley Henderson (if you've watched British dramas or Harry Potter films, you know her) and this very young actor with cheekbones for miles, Cillian Murphy, before he was Cillian Murphy.

[Anonymous]

Re -- post above about "The Way We Live Now" -- Ah, I couldn't recall just then, but Matthew MacFadyen was also in the period drama Little Dorrit (based on the Dickens novel, with Claire Foy as the title character, and it's a very good version), and for you Austen-philes, he was Darcy in the Keira Knightley-as-Elizabeth feature film version of P&P. Just so you can place him in the period series world. In The Way We Live now he plays a sponger, a cad, a user and a whinger, and he is just awful and so watchable, in equal measure. Terrific actor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gentleman Jack
PBS’ Les Mis non musical series
Bridgerton
The long song
Mildred pierce
Tudors
My brilliant friend
Power of the dog
The Knick
Marie Antoinette (pbs)
White queen/white princess/ Spanish princess

The costumes and hairstyles in Gentleman Jack are to die for. Incredibly accurate and beautiful.

[Anonymous]

“Versailles” has beautiful costumes and sets/scenery. It was shot on location. The story itself is decent, nothing amazing, but the visuals are outstanding.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for reminding me about The Way We Live Now - I recall loving it when I saw it first run years ago, I will have to find it streaming and revisit it.

Over the holidays I watched the 2016 BBC production of War and Peace - excellent cast, lush costume and set design, really well written adaptation given the scope of the novel. Very highly recommend; I enjoyed it so much I watched it over again a week after the first time. It also inspired me to finally read the novel in full.

[Anonymous]

Mr. Selfridge

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Gentleman Jack
PBS’ Les Mis non musical series
Bridgerton
The long song
Mildred pierce
Tudors
My brilliant friend
Power of the dog
The Knick
Marie Antoinette (pbs)
White queen/white princess/ Spanish princess

Thanks I was just about to write the same list.