Period Dramas List (TV)

Best Period Movies and Series (TV)

Period Movies are in vogue and you can’t deny the fact that series like Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife have kept masses glued to the television screens for a while. The thing is, we still want to see more of culture, courtship, bows and bonnets.

I have put together a list of my favourite period dramas on TV (these dramas have been the top television dramas of their times) and I hope you will find it useful.

Feel free to add your favourites too, I love comments!

1. Downton Abbey

Downton Abbey

2. North and South

North & South

3. Call the Midwife

Call the Midwife

4. Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice

5. Lost in Austen

Lost in Austen

6. The Diary of Anne Frank

The Diary of Anne Frank

7. Mildred Pierce

Mildred Pierce

8. Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit

9. Cranford

Cranford

10. Wives and Daughters

Wives & Daughters

11. Tess of Dubervilles

Tess of D'Ubervilles

12. Upstairs Downstairs

Upstairs Downstairs

Please do leave a word if you enjoyed the list or even if you didn't. I would love to know your favorite period dramas on TV.

Darcy through the Ages

Mr. Darcy remains to be the single most popular and charming character to us and has been so for generations now, most of us would agree on that, at the same time, Pride and Prejudice remains to be the most frequently adapted story for the screen (TV or movies).

Please tell who among these handsome men fulfills your portray of Mr. Darcy.

Darcy through the Ages

Anna Karenina (2012)

Finally, the long awaited trailer of Joe Wright's ANNA KARENINA is here. I am sure the movie is going to be grand, the music will be great and there will be more drama than what we are anticipating, that is the case with all his movies, they turn out to be some visual treats. Now, what I am apprehensive about, some originality of the story is going to go missing and I absolutely loathe Aaron Johnson as Count Vronsky (I like him otherwise).

Anyway, it will be enjoyable and I think, Keira will do justice with the role of the tragic heroine. 

Bel Ami (2012)

Bel Ami - A Review

Bel Ami

I saw Bel Ami only last night and I thought maybe it’s high time for Robert Pattinson to start his acting career (you know what I mean). Anyway, seems like our dear Robert has done some progress after all.

Bel Ami is a movie about the rise of an ordinary and penniless young, George Duroy (Pattinson) by means of manipulation of wealthy and influential women, in 1890 Paris.

Robert Pattinson as George Duroy - Bel Ami

George Duroy is shown to be a failed soldier and very poor. He is literally good for nothing but one day a man invites him to dinner and things start to look bright for him. Duroy is helped by Madeleine (Uma Thurman) in his writing assignments for a newspaper (she actually dictates him the whole thing because he is not very literate either) which makes him earn his livelihood and a square meal (and perhaps a lot more).

(L-R) Uma Thurman as Madeleine, Christina Ricci as Clotilde de Marille and
Kristin Scott Thomas as Virgine Walters, Bel Ami

 Duroy then meets two other ladies, Clotilde de Marille (Christina Ricci) and Virgine Walters (Kristin Scott Thomas), who also happen to be very rich, influential and having a liking towards Duroy (probably because they’re frustrated in their own lives and Duroy is a handsome young man).  The story goes on, George Duroy climbs the ladder and manipulates more and more at every step. I won’t give away the complete story.

Now, I would so like to comment upon Robert Pattinson’s performance, he has done something which can be tagged as ACTING, yes, believe me he has more than two-and-a-half expressions this time (very unlike the Twilight movies), though most of his hard earned expressions are irritating.

The leading ladies of the movies have all done a good job although I was very disappointed with Kristin Scott Thomas, she has a reputation to maintain, I mean come on, all those scenes with somebody as wooden as Robert Pattinson! Apart from that, both, Uma Thurman and Christina Ricci have acted well.

The movie could have been made with a little more decency, I think, but they have put in a lot of X-scenes. There’s nothing special about the direction and script, but making Robert Pattinson act is a great achievement in itself.

Overall, you can watch this movie if you have nothing else to watch and I must say, by the end of the movie, you sort of, start hating Robert Pattinson, may be because of his character or may be because of his lack of acting skills, well, I think both.

Photo Source

Pride and Prejudice Filming Locations

Period Movies' Most Beautiful Locations

Apart from being my all time favourite Austen novel, Pride and Prejudice (2005) is also, I believe, wonderfully shot movie. I love the locations and the grand country houses featured in here, they make the story more real to me.

I have these three favourite places from the movie, all of which are old country houses, beautiful and stately.

     Groombridge Palace, Kent as LONGBOURN

Longbourn, The Bennet family place (or palace). Groombridge Palace was built in 1662 and it has beautiful gardens (as we already know).

Groombridge Palace, Kent as LONGBOURN

LONGBOURN

• It’s a moated (a fortified building surrounded by trenches which are usually filled with water, just in case you didn’t know) Manor House.
• Its famous for its gardens, vineyards and bird of prey sanctuary.
• It’s open to public (most parts) and it has been featured in many films.
• It was featured as ‘Birlstone Manor’ in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes mystery-The Valley of Fear.
• It also has ghost stories linked with it.

      Burghley House as ROSINGS PARK

 Rosings Park, the palace of the ultra fearsome, Lady Catherine de Bourg. Burghley House is an extremely big and palatial building of the Elizabethan age.

 Burghley House as ROSINGS PARK

 Burghley House 

• It has been featured in many movies, like, The Da Vinci Code, Elizabeth the Golden Age (though cut down during editing) and many others.
• One of is distinguishing feature is it’s unaltered Elizabethan facades and the historic interiors.

       Chatsworth Castle as PEMBERLEY

 I am sure every girl who has watched the movie remembers this one, of course, its Mr. Darcy’s handsome palace (if only we could order the package – Darcy + Pemberley!). Pemberley is just as beautiful as shown in the movie, perhaps more.

Chatsworth Castle as PEMBERLEY

 PEMBERLEY

• Presently, it’s the place of Duke and Duchess of Devonshire and has been home to the Cavendish family since 1549.
• Again, this beauty has been featured in many movies, including, The Duchess and The Wolfman.
• It has many beautiful gardens, many made at the order of the different Dukes.

 I hope you liked this post. Please let me know which locations you love the most.

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