British Period Drama Series Worth Watching
Yes, that one is on here, though there are other good ones also!
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I love British television and movies. I have studied film and scriptwriting and have difficulty with the current accepted Hollywood formula for cinematic productions. In the US there is a fascination with making scenes “more action-oriented” which is a challenge to my central nervous system!
I like British shows and movies because they are quiet and generally lean toward realism. (Of course, this is a generalization but it accurately describes the content I choose to view.) While Hollywood writers currently shy away from writing scenes featuring eating at a dinner table or talking on the telephone (because they are “lazy writing” and “boring” unless you are Amy Sherman-Palladino), I love to watch these types of scenes in British shows — especially conversations over tea. In my opinion, a lot of UK television shows feel like they could be self-contained stage plays. I also love UK-period pieces, especially those that feature beautiful pastoral views.
Based on my viewing preferences described above, here are a few of my recommended favorites.
All Creatures Great and Small (BBC)
This series is based on the books by James Herriot, Alf Wight’s pen name. Herriot is a Yorkshire veterinarian practicing in the 1930s to 1970s. The show’s writers adapted Wight’s semi-autobiographical novels and the series ran for a total of seven seasons, including a lengthy break between seasons three and four. (Seasons four through seven also include new content as the books were covered by the end of season three.)
When we first meet Harriott, he is fresh out of school and becomes a partner to the kind, if somewhat formidable, Siegfried Farnon (based on real-life Donald Sinclair.) It is the late 1930s and live-in help was still commonplace. In addition to giving a view of home life, the series depicts Harriott as he visits local farmers and tends to their livestock. Harriott is played by the now-famous Christopher Timothy, who is often shown with his arm up the backside of a cow. (In interviews, Timothy has confirmed that all scenes were real and that he got quite used to the animals and they to him.) As the series continues, it faithfully reflects the cultural changes that resulted from WWII, including a shift to more self-sufficiency within the home as live-in servants phased out after the war.
One of my favorite characters in the series is Tricky Woo, the ostensibly telepathic dog of a wealthy client. Tricky has an uncanny ability to pick winners at the track. He also has a Dalmatian pen pal and is fond of sending gift baskets to his favorite people. Harriott is sure to send Tricky a letter close to Christmas time, lest Ticky forget to send a hamper to his favorite vet!
The dramas of a small veterinary practice are delightful, as are the actors who bring them to life.
Season 1 originally aired in 1978. You can view the first three seasons on Amazon Prime with a BritBox subscription. I ordered the DVDs for seasons four through seven as I was not able to find them on a streaming service.
There is a brand new version of this classic series airing in 2021, and it is also available on Amazon Prime with a PBS Masterpiece subscription.
Larkrise to Candleford (BBC)
For all of you John Bates lovers, you might want to check this one out. A younger Brendan Coyle plays a fiery and endearing father to the main character Laura. This series is based on the semi-autobiographical books by Flora Thompson and details Laura’s life growing up in a hamlet in rural England in the late 1800s.
We meet Laura when she is 17 and she moves from her small hamlet of Larkrise to the town of Candleford. (These fictional towns are representative of Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, England.) Laura goes to work at a post office which is owned by an influential single woman who inherited the post office and a forge upon her father’s death. The show covers issues such as socio-economic disparity, gender inequality, and the coming changes related to the industrial revolution. We see the town get a clock, its first bicycle, and later, a train station not far away.
The episodes have an endearing quality and are a pleasure to watch.
The series ran for four seasons from 2008 to 2011. You can view all four on Amazon Prime with a BritBox subscription.
The Darling Buds of May (ITV)
David Jason plays Sydney Larkin, a “mixed farmer,” and is a wildly energetic star of this fun series. The first time I saw the credits I did a double-take: a young Catherine Zeta-Jones stars as the eldest daughter of the Larkin family!
This 1960s look at rural Kent shows beautiful scenery and deals artfully with cultural issues such as the British attitude towards German residents in the post-war era and the “lighter” issue of French versus English cooking. In one episode, Florence “Ma” Larkin cooks lunch for a group of French sailors and they compliment her saying it is the best food they have ever tasted. On another occasion, the Larkins travel to Brittany for a holiday and teach a French chef how to make Yorkshire pudding. So funny!
The show ran for three seasons from 1991 to 1993 with a total of 20 episodes. You can find them on Amazon Prime, no supplemental subscription required.
Merlin (BBC)
This is an outlier on this list as it is a fantasy series based on the legends of King Arthur. This is 100% better than the US version of this show. Colin Morgan stars as Merlin and is more than believable. Paired with the convincing jock vibe of Bradley James as Arthur, the duo is one of the best pairs ever put together on the screen.
The series begins when Merlin arrives in Camelot to stay with the court physician, Gaius. Gaius, played by Richard Wilson, becomes a father figure to young Merlin as he learns throughout the series what it means to use his magical gifts wisely. The show creators wisely positioned Merlin and Arthur as contemporaries which diverges from the more popular storyline of Merlin being the older tutor to a young Arthur. This allows the characters to have more of an equal footing, even though in this version Merlin is Arthur’s manservant.
The show is witty and engaging. Although it was meant to be family-friendly, there is a good bit of dark side material and I would caution viewing for children. The portrayal of women is also quite problematic and I expect this is ripe for reinterpretation in future adaptations.
Regardless of the noted issues, this is one of my favorite shows ever and worth watching. The series also happens to have a major fandom — the Merlin Wiki site has had over 24M visitors as of September 2020. There is a lot of fan discussion about the end of the series, but don’t read ahead — watch it first!
This show ran for five seasons from 2008 through 2012 with a total of 65 episodes. You can view all seasons on Amazon Prime with no additional subscription required or purchase a full DVD set if preferred.
Downton Abbey (ITV)
Of course, this one is on the list! Downton Abbey is one of the most enjoyable shows I have ever watched. The Crawley family lives in the “big house” on the Downton estate in Yorkshire and the show depicts their lives as they move through a time of great change.
The show begins in 1912, right after the sinking of the Titanic. Robert Crawley and his wife Cora have three daughters but no male heir. Mary Crawley is the eldest daughter and is betrothed to the heir-apparent, Patrick Crawley. Patrick goes down with the Titanic and the chaos that ensues is a storyline that runs throughout the entire series.
The characters “upstairs” and “downstairs” are well developed and depict a rich view of the life of English gentry and servants alike. The time of the landed gentry is quickly coming to an end. The Crawley family navigates their changing landscape as the great families around them sell their estates and downsize — essentially defuncting a long-standing way of life. Servants relinquish jobs in great houses to work in shops or start small business concerns of their own. Estate owners contemplate proposals such as selling land and working with developers and begin to take on jobs of their own — something unthinkable for previous generations.
The acting is great, the scenery is beautiful and the costumes are on point. And with the great Maggie Smith playing the Crawley matriarch, this piece of art is sure to endure the test of time.
The show ran in the US on PBS for six seasons from 2010 through 2015. You can watch all seasons on Amazon Prime with no additional subscription required.
Creator Julian Fellows also penned a movie script for a Downton Abbey film that was released in 2019. There is a second film scheduled for release on December 22, 2021.
I am always on the lookout for high-quality shows similar to the ones listed above. If there are others you recommend, please comment and let me know!
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