Period dramas are the ultimate comfort-watch, so here's your definitive guide to the genre's best TV shows and films if you loved Bridgerton
Who doesn't love a good period drama? The beautiful ballgowns, the grand sets, the bejewelled crowns, the dashing suitors in black tie – period pieces are basically the on-screen equivalent of a long, comforting soak in a bubble bath or being wrapped up in a cosy blanket.
Tbh that's exactly what we need on our TVs right now.
If you've already completed hit Fifty Shades-style costume drama Bridgerton then fear not. Coming soon to a screen near you is A Discovery of Witches season 2 (landing on 8th January) and The Dig on 15th January. Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes and Lily James star as a team of excavators who discover a wooden ship from the Dark Ages while digging up a burial ground on a woman's estate. This one's not to be missed.
And 2020 offered up some excellent period dramas too, including the six-part BBC adaptation of Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Luminaries, about the people who travelled to New Zealand's South Island in the boom years of the 1860s gold rush to make their fortunes.
Or there was latest adaption of Dame Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 literary classic Rebecca? Dropping on Netflix this week (Wednesday October 21st to be precise!), it's billed as a 'mesmerising and gorgeously rendered psychological thriller'. The plot follows newlyweds Mr and Mrs de Winter (played by Call Me By Your Name 's Armie Hammer and Downton Abbey's Lily James) and is told through flashbacks of the new Mrs de Winter. Upon arriving at Manderlay, her new husband's sprawling estate along the English coastline, she becomes haunted by his late wife, Rebecca.
And then of course no round-up of period dramas would be complete without a mention of The Crown; season four of which launches globally on Netflix on November 15th. The latest promotional poster shows Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and The Queen, so we're guessing the plot will focus heavily on these three female leads. We cannot wait.
After something else? Check out our lists of the best TV series to binge-watch, the best films on Netflix and the best new TV shows and movies dropping on Netflix.
Dickinson
Starring GLAMOUR cover star Hailee Steinfeld, season 2 of award-winning Dickinson will be available on Apple TV+ from 8th January, so best catch up on season 1 now ICYMI! It's a modern fictionalisation of writer Emily Dickinson's life as she struggles to achieve her dreams under the societal expectations of women in the 1800s.
The Great
Another fun fictionalised period drama, The Great is a 'comedic drama about the rise of Catherine the Great from outsider to the longest-reigning female ruler in Russia's history'. This binge-worthy dark comedy, available to stream on Hulu, stars Elle Fanning as young Catherine and Nicholas Hoult as her husband, Emperor Peter III.
Bridgerton
If you haven't yet completed Netflix's Bridgerton, then what's keeping you? Set in 1813, it follows Daphne Bridgerton (played by GLAMOUR cover star Phoebe Dynevor) as she makes her debut onto Regency London's competitive marriage market. Here's everything we know about season 2.
The Dig
This upcoming film is not to be missed. With a stellar cast including Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes and Lily James, it follows a team of excavators who discover a wooden ship from the Dark Ages while digging up a burial ground on a woman's estate.
The Serpent
New BBC drama The Serpent is based on the true story of a French serial killer in the 1970s named Charles Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim) and his Quebecois girlfriend and follower Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman). They travelled across the Asian 'hippie trail' through Thailand, Nepal and India in 1975 and 1976, carrying out a spree of crimes on backpackers. We came for the drama, we stayed for the '70s fashion.
A Discovery Of Witches
Season 2 of this witchy Sky series drops soon and we can't wait! Season 1 introduced us to historian Diana Bishop who discovers a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the library she works in, forcing her to face her witchy past and introduce magic back into her otherwise ordinary life.
Rebecca
The latest adaption of Dame Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 literary classic Rebecca lands on Netflix on Wednesday 21st October! A young newlywed (Lily James) moves to her husband's sprawling estate on the English coast, where she begins to find herself haunted by her husband's late wife, Rebecca.
Watch on Netflix
Enola Holmes
While searching for her missing mother, Sherlock's little sister Enola Holmes uses her sleuthing skills to help a lord on the run.
Black Narcissus
BBC One’s three-part adaptation of Rumer Godden’s classic novel stars Gemma Arterton as Sister Clodagh, who leads a group of Anglican nuns to a remote spot high in the Himalayan mountains, where they set up a branch of their order in a palace.
Watch on BBC in December
Belgravia
A historical drama based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Julian Fellowes and from the Downton Abbey team, Belgravia tells the story of scandalous secrets amongst the upper echelon of London society in the early 19th century.
Ratched
Starring Sarah Paulson, Ratched follows Mildred Ratched who begins working as a nurse at a leading psychiatric hospital – but her reasons for working there are far darker and more personal than she lets on.
All Creatures Great and Small
This heartwarming series follows James Herriot's dreams of becoming a vet in Yorkshire.
The Crown
The new season of The Crown drops on Netflix soon and we can't wait. The latest promotional poster shows Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana and The Queen, so we're guessing the plot will focus heavily on these three female leads.
Watch S4 on Netflix from November 15th
The Luminaries
Based on the Booker Prize-winning novel, The Luminaries is an adventure-mystery following men and women who travelled across the world to make their fortunes during the 1860s gold rush.
The Secret Garden
The latest adaption of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s book from 1911 tells the story of a young girl who is sent to live with her uncle. There, she discovers a beautiful garden which she soon learns holds many mysteries.
Watch via Now TV or Sky from October 23rd
Little Drummer Girl
Starring Florence Pugh, an English actress is recruited by the Israelis to infiltrate a Palestinian assassin's terrorist cell. This is a brilliant, beautiful show that has a killer script - literally.
Harlots
Brothel owner Margaret Wells struggles to raise her daughters in London during the 18th century. Aside from the excellent plot lines and dreamy costumes, this wildly successful drama is created by all-female creative team. J'adore!
ITVVictoria
Sumptuous costume drama covering the diminutive teen Queen Victoria’s (Jenna Coleman) ascension to the throne in 1837, and her early years as the head of state. Writer Daisy Godwin has based the show on Victoria’s diaries and letters and the young queen is a lot racier than her dour elder years imply. Plus, it’s reported that the Queen is a fan.
Downton Abbey
The continually-changing lives, loves and losses of the upper class Crawley family, and their downstairs staff, beginning with the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and finishing in 1925.
Peaky Blinders
Set post WWI in Birmingham, it concentrates on a criminal family – led by the tortured Tommy (Murphy) – as they rise through the ranks as gangsters. Gritty and violent, the title comes from the gang’s chosen method of menace – concealing razor blades in the peak of their caps.
Pride And Prejudice
The BBC’s adaptation of Austen’s novel may just be the best. Elizabeth Bennet (Ehle) and her unmarried sisters are encouraged to find husbands by their interfering mother. Independent Lizzie wants to marry for love and isn’t impressed by snooty Mr Darcy (Firth). The feeling is mutual.
Call The Midwife
This beloved BBC’s drama follows a team of midwives attached to a convent (some nuns, some lay nurses) as they deliver babies in 50s and 60s East London. Based on the memoir of a real life midwife of the time.
Mr Selfridge
Charismatic American businessman Harry Selfridge (Piven) sets up London’s iconic store in the 1900s. Initially he fails to find success but then becomes a master of promotion. The four seasons span the next 30 years.
Boardwalk Empire
Nucky Thompson (Buscemi) runs Prohibition-era Atlantic City (semi-legally and semi-not) as bootleggers and mobsters try for a piece of the pie. Based on an actual criminal boss from the 20s and 30s, various real life characters also drift through the show, such as Al Capone.
Tess Of The D'Urbevilles
With Eddie Redmayne and Gemma Arterton. The impoverished but spirited Tess (Arterton) goes to work for evil Alec D’Urberville at his family estate, and undergoes horrific treatment at his hands. Tess then marries Angel (Redmayne), her true love, but he abandons her when he discovers her past. Despair, poverty and murder follow (as if it wasn’t bad enough already). Light stuff this is not.
Wolf Hall
Based on Hilary Mantel’s two Booker prize-winning novels, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, it’s a portrait of Henry VIII’s (Lewis) right-hand-man, Thomas Cromwell (Rylance), as he does the king’s dirty work in navigating parliament and ‘dispensing’ with Anne Boleyn (Foy). Cromwell is played brilliantly by Mark Rylance, who is pretty much every actor’s favourite actor; even if most non-actors would struggle to name another role they’ve seen him in.
Jane Eyre
Charlotte Bronte’s novel about a plain, poor governess (Wilson) who comes to work for the fearsome Mr Rochester (Stephens). But her adopted home of Thornfield – and its inhabitants – are hiding some sinister secrets.
Bleak House
It’s Dickens again, so the cast is sprawling and there are multiple story threads, but in essence it’s the tale of a complicated inheritance battle and the lives of its potential heirs. At its centre are the humble Esther Summerson (Maxwell Martin), the orphaned cousins Esther works for (Mulligan, Kennedy), and the wealthy but unhappy Lady Dedlock (Anderson).
Land Girls
Four women – Nancy (Strallen), Joyce (Gemmell), Bea (Woodcock) and Annie (Bottomley) – join the Women’s Land Army during World War II and are set to work at a manor house and country farm. Be warned: historical inaccuracies abound (mistakes with army uniforms; car headlights that contravene blackout rules), but its motives were good. It commemorates women’s contributions to the war effort, which is often overlooked in dramas about this era.
Blackadder
Horrible Histories for grown-ups. Four seasons of classic comedy covering four epochs in British history, with the same core cast playing different characters in each. The Middle Ages, the Tudors, the Regency era and World War I all get skewered. It has the honour of making you laugh until it hurts, right up until the final scene of the season 4 finale, when you will be utterly devastated.
The Bletchley Circle
Four women who worked as top secret codebreakers at Bletchley Park during WW2 (where Alan Turing cracked the Enigma code) have returned to their civilian lives as wives and mothers but reunite in the 50s to solve a murder case than is bamboozling police.
Brideshead Revisited
An eleven-episode adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel about a painter, Charles Ryder (Irons), who meets the charming Sebastian Flyte (Andrews) at Oxford University. He’s drawn into his outwardly desirable, but ultimately troubled, upper-class world.
Parade's End
Tom Stoppard’s adaptation of Ford Maddox Ford’s four books. Spanning the periods before and after the Great War, it sees Benedict Cumberbatch playing Christopher Tietjens, the stuffy younger son in a line of Yorkshire gentry. He ends up in a love triangle between his beautiful, promiscuous wife Sylvia (Hall) – who tbh is far too free-spirited for him – and a suffragette called Valentine (Clemens).
Agatha Christie's Poirot
The charming, eccentric and perfectly-moustached Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (Suchet) reveals whodunit in this series of stories based on Agatha Christie’s crime books.
David Suchet is by no means the only actor to play Poirot, but he’s probably the best. He made 70 appearances as literature’s much-loved investigator.
