Three brilliant BBC period dramas now on iPlayer
Poldark Series Four has come to an end! If you’re dreading being without your Sunday evening fix of historical fiction then be not afeared, the BBC have just released three of their beloved period dramas on iPlayer in the ‘box sets’ section (which is free to watch in the UK if you have a TV licence). If you can resist binging and ration it out each week you could have your period drama viewing sorted until Sunday 25th November (and before then ITV’s Victoria should have returned alongside a host of other historical fiction adaptations which I shall blog about forthwith).
1. Pride and Prejudice – this six part adaptation of Jane Austen’s second novel is the apogee of period drama. The beloved 1995 BBC miniseries stars Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. The story satirises the interactions within the narrow social confines of Jane Austen’s world (think landed gentry and some nobility) and is faithfully encapsulated in Andrew Davies’ version. Beautifully shot, each episode is full of English countryside, muddy walks, lace, regency dresses, tailcoats, piano playing (varying in skill), lingering looks, merriment, silliness, arrogance, poor judgement, tranquility, nerves, cads, gentlemen andd (the horror) aunts and uncles who live in Cheapside.
2. North and South – Although I was late to the game on this one (having watched it for the first time last year) I fell completely and irrevocably in love with it. Set around 1851, It is a four part miniseries starring Daniela Denby-Ashe as Margaret Hale and Richard Armitage (he of most attractive dwarf fame in the Hobbit) as Mr Thornton. This brilliant adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell’s novel is mainly set in the grimey, industrial Milton (generic North) with brief, bright glimpses of the pastoral Helston (The South). It has a smidge of Austen (romance and prejudice!!), elements of Dickens (the poor, working hard and coughing a lot and even death) but it is very much its own story. There is an abundance of strong women, there are self-made men, hopeless men, brilliant minds on both sides of a strike (hello Nicholas Higgins AKA Mr Bates from Downton), social missteps, pride, prejudice, romance, death and heaps of history.
3. War and Peace – In 2016 the BBC gave everyone who has ever attempted (or wished to attempt) to battle through the 1,225 pages of War and Peace a real boon: a compelling six part miniseries starring Lily James, Paul Dano and James Norton (among many others in this star-studded cast). This is a bit of a gallop through the epic story but it is beautifully shot, tragic, sexy and fascinating. It follows several aristocratic Russian families during the Napoleonic wars chronicling their rise, fall, intrigues, seductions, marriages and even incest. Another wonderful Andrew Davies’ adaptation, this series is a fur-draped, bejeweled, snow-covered, sleigh-riding, battle-laden, waltzing, duelling, romantic classic which received critical and popular acclaim.