Top Ten Period Dramas
Dec. 13th, 2014 01:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
With shows like Desperate Romantics, Copper and Penny Dreadful on my watchlist, I knew the next step was to make a countdown of my 10 favourite television shows till date. Here they are in descending order:
10. Mildred Pierce
Kate Winslet does an outstanding job in this 2011 four-part HBO miniseries, based on the book by the same name. I was drawn to this show because I had seen the 1945 version with Joan Crawford on TCM. The show has been changed quite a bit, to adapt it more for modern audience, but the shockingly mean and vicious greed of Mildred’s daughter, Vida, still evokes the same repulsion as it did then.
9. North and South
Class struggles abound as the industrial revolution zooms through England, as do labourer strikes and lockouts. North and South is a truly exceptional adaption of a truly exceptional 1855 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. But what is really unforgettable is Richard Armitrage, about whom the less said is more.
Also recommended on similar lines: South Riding, Anne of Green Gables series, Catherine Cookson shows, and Lark Rise to Candleford
8. The Buccaneers
This 1995 show is based on a book by Edith Wharton, which lays out the story of four American girls’ fortunes in England, particularly that of the tomboyish Nan’s unfortunate marriage to a duke. A well-made show, though the ending has been much criticized.
Also recommended on similar lines: Downton Abbey, The Paradise and The Forsyte Saga

7. Jane Eyre (BBC)
Gothic in its truest sense, Jane Eyre is a novel that’s been dramatised several times, and I have seen most of them (read: 1943, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2011 versions). The story, although written in 1847, still draws both readers and producers alike to its brooding mystery and idealism. My personal favourite is the 2006 BBC version with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson.
Also recommended on similar lines: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, all past versions of Wuthering Heights (especially the 2012 version), Rebecca (1940) and Lady Audley’s Secret
6. Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple/ Hercule Poirot
Alright, so Poirot’s dramatic style of calling all suspects to a brunch and disclosing the real murderer at the end gets irritating after a while. Miss Marple can be equally cute and equally annoying. But you have to give it to Dame Christie – murder, she could write. My own personal favourites are Five Little Pigs and The Pale Horse.
Also recommended on similar lines: Miss Phryne Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and Sherlock Holmes (1984)
5. Outlander
Hmm, I still can’t make up my mind about this one; some episodes were so-so, and some were simply great. I am a huge fan of Gabaldon’s books, which mix up time travel and the history of the Scottish clans. The music by Bear McCreary is an awesome treat, but it has not been released yet. The locales from Scotland are scenic and the acting is great, but the plot moves slowly – like the books, the show is centred majorly on character/ relationship-development, so it may prove to be not-fast-enough for newcomers. Any comparisons to Game of Thrones are also not fair; they are both very different subgenres, like apples and oranges.

4. Becoming Jane
… Because this one was a tribute to Jane Austen, the reason why Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park exist. Assuming you have already seen all the televised versions of all of Austen’s books already, watch this next. You will love Anne Hathaway as Austen, and you will love James McAvoy too.
Also recommended on similar lines: Miss Potter, Death Comes to Pemberley and Bright Star
3. Joseon X-Files
This one’s a rogue element – a 2010 Korean drama – and a genius melding of science fiction and history. A city constable goes tracking evidence that his teacher had not lied when he had spotted a UFO... and a series of interlinked and inexplicable events lead him to hunting down aliens, zombies, soothsayers, corrupt courtiers and resurrected occultists. My personal favourite is when the hero gets entangled in a non-terminating, repeating dream sequence in a psychedelic village. Just 10 episodes long, this is a show that is not to be missed.
2. The Master and the Margarita
There’s a reason the title book by Mikhail Bulgakov is supposed to be one of Russia’s and the world’s best novels ever written. The devil (with his cigar-smoking cat) comes down to visit an atheist Moscow, and wreaks havoc among the citizens. Intertwined are scenes from the life of Pontius Pilate and Jesus of Nazareth. Simply amazing, this show, although it does stretch the imagination by a bit towards the end.
Also recommended on similar lines: Crime and Punishment (2002)

1. Bleak House (BBC)
Till date, this remains the best televised version of all of Dickens’ works for me, though Little Dorrit comes close too. Forget Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield and Daniel Deronda, the superb mystery, the masterful screenplay by Andrew Davies and the unrelenting bleakness of the impending legal crisis in this story makes this piece a winner.
Also recommended on similar lines: Garrow’s Law, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (2008) and The Invisible Woman
So what are your favourites -- any recommendations?
10. Mildred Pierce
Kate Winslet does an outstanding job in this 2011 four-part HBO miniseries, based on the book by the same name. I was drawn to this show because I had seen the 1945 version with Joan Crawford on TCM. The show has been changed quite a bit, to adapt it more for modern audience, but the shockingly mean and vicious greed of Mildred’s daughter, Vida, still evokes the same repulsion as it did then.
9. North and South
Class struggles abound as the industrial revolution zooms through England, as do labourer strikes and lockouts. North and South is a truly exceptional adaption of a truly exceptional 1855 novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. But what is really unforgettable is Richard Armitrage, about whom the less said is more.
Also recommended on similar lines: South Riding, Anne of Green Gables series, Catherine Cookson shows, and Lark Rise to Candleford
8. The Buccaneers
This 1995 show is based on a book by Edith Wharton, which lays out the story of four American girls’ fortunes in England, particularly that of the tomboyish Nan’s unfortunate marriage to a duke. A well-made show, though the ending has been much criticized.
Also recommended on similar lines: Downton Abbey, The Paradise and The Forsyte Saga



7. Jane Eyre (BBC)
Gothic in its truest sense, Jane Eyre is a novel that’s been dramatised several times, and I have seen most of them (read: 1943, 1983, 1996, 1997, 2006, 2011 versions). The story, although written in 1847, still draws both readers and producers alike to its brooding mystery and idealism. My personal favourite is the 2006 BBC version with Toby Stephens and Ruth Wilson.
Also recommended on similar lines: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, all past versions of Wuthering Heights (especially the 2012 version), Rebecca (1940) and Lady Audley’s Secret
6. Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple/ Hercule Poirot
Alright, so Poirot’s dramatic style of calling all suspects to a brunch and disclosing the real murderer at the end gets irritating after a while. Miss Marple can be equally cute and equally annoying. But you have to give it to Dame Christie – murder, she could write. My own personal favourites are Five Little Pigs and The Pale Horse.
Also recommended on similar lines: Miss Phryne Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, and Sherlock Holmes (1984)
5. Outlander
Hmm, I still can’t make up my mind about this one; some episodes were so-so, and some were simply great. I am a huge fan of Gabaldon’s books, which mix up time travel and the history of the Scottish clans. The music by Bear McCreary is an awesome treat, but it has not been released yet. The locales from Scotland are scenic and the acting is great, but the plot moves slowly – like the books, the show is centred majorly on character/ relationship-development, so it may prove to be not-fast-enough for newcomers. Any comparisons to Game of Thrones are also not fair; they are both very different subgenres, like apples and oranges.




4. Becoming Jane
… Because this one was a tribute to Jane Austen, the reason why Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park exist. Assuming you have already seen all the televised versions of all of Austen’s books already, watch this next. You will love Anne Hathaway as Austen, and you will love James McAvoy too.
Also recommended on similar lines: Miss Potter, Death Comes to Pemberley and Bright Star
3. Joseon X-Files
This one’s a rogue element – a 2010 Korean drama – and a genius melding of science fiction and history. A city constable goes tracking evidence that his teacher had not lied when he had spotted a UFO... and a series of interlinked and inexplicable events lead him to hunting down aliens, zombies, soothsayers, corrupt courtiers and resurrected occultists. My personal favourite is when the hero gets entangled in a non-terminating, repeating dream sequence in a psychedelic village. Just 10 episodes long, this is a show that is not to be missed.
2. The Master and the Margarita
There’s a reason the title book by Mikhail Bulgakov is supposed to be one of Russia’s and the world’s best novels ever written. The devil (with his cigar-smoking cat) comes down to visit an atheist Moscow, and wreaks havoc among the citizens. Intertwined are scenes from the life of Pontius Pilate and Jesus of Nazareth. Simply amazing, this show, although it does stretch the imagination by a bit towards the end.
Also recommended on similar lines: Crime and Punishment (2002)



1. Bleak House (BBC)
Till date, this remains the best televised version of all of Dickens’ works for me, though Little Dorrit comes close too. Forget Great Expectations, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield and Daniel Deronda, the superb mystery, the masterful screenplay by Andrew Davies and the unrelenting bleakness of the impending legal crisis in this story makes this piece a winner.
Also recommended on similar lines: Garrow’s Law, Tess of the D’Urbervilles (2008) and The Invisible Woman
So what are your favourites -- any recommendations?