A definitive list of good period dramas

And no, the 2005 version is not included

My last newsletter was fairly downbeat, so this is a palate cleanser of sorts. An amuse-bouche that you didn’t order and don’t even want, but you eat anyway because you’re polite (not me, I don’t trust those tiny plates). So today we’re talking TV! I am a basic but specific bitch when it comes to TV. You can keep your rom-coms, your Christmas movies, your reality shows. All I want is a constant stream of women in corsets taking brisk walks and looking faintly aggrieved at all times. And I can only get that from a good period drama. 

I suspect this is faintly problematic somehow. Maybe I’m making it too deep, but my love of period dramas makes me feel weird when I think about it for too long. Why do I long to watch fictional depictions of people from the past? They were dark times when white men triumphed over everyone, people died before thirty because even one middling cold could kill you stone dead in hours, and women couldn’t keep their own money when they married, let alone vote. Why then, does watching a genuinely harrowing story (but with big houses and men in britches), make me feel so much calmer? 

As is my wont, I’ve gone down a bleak fork in the road without meaning to. I’ll address this clear flaw in my psyche some other time and go back to what I intended to do here - provide you with a list (carefully ranked from best to nearly best) of period dramas you should watch over the holidays. A note about my ranking - I’ve used the most scientific method to do this, using tools you’ve never even heard of and if you find yourself disagreeing with this list just know you’re wrong. The list is in two parts, because there are a LOT. 

1) Sense and Sensibility 

Some of you thought the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice was going to top this list didn’t you? A valuable lesson in not getting complacent! No it’s Ang Lee’s S&S, with my favourite woman Emma Thompson taking the lead role as Elinor. Every single scene is basically perfect, from the initial death (and the brilliant Harriet Walter moment soon after when she suggests that her husband doesn’t need to give his sisters any money at all) which sets it all up, to the final romantic resolution. You spend your entire life lusting after a Willoughby only to hit 35 and realise you’re a fucking idiot and a Brandon is RIGHT there (Willoughby is literally this guy). Incidentally I once drunkenly whispered “the air is full of spices” to Alan Rickman and he took it reasonably well. Later, he was rude to my parents so I don’t feel so bad about this slightly (very) embarrassing moment. Me and my sister quote “well these are not from the hothouse!” at least twice a week. 

She is my fashion inspiration

2) Pride & Prejudice 

Ok now we get onto Pride & Prejudice. I know some of you will still be peeved I didn’t put this at number one, but remember the method and how you’re wrong ok? P&P was my gateway drug, my entry into a world of BBC period drama done right. Everyone who saw it wanted to be Lizzie Bennet (I'm a contrarian, I wanted to be Jane), nothing made linen sexy like this adaptation from Andrew Davies, and I swear it boosted the nations exercise intake after a long walk brightened Lizzie’s ‘fine eyes.’ But for me, the joy is really in the supporting cast of characters - Alison Steadman as Mrs Bennet, Anna Chancellor as Miss Bingley, and the best of all - MR COLLINS. Those sisters didn’t know what they were missing with a man that funny (I beg you watch this). I feel like I can finally admit that I wasn’t that into Darcy, I liked Mr Bingley and his curly hair more (the actor ended up being a teacher!). There’s a compelling theory that Mr Wet Shirt made his fortune from slavery, so maybe Lydia didn’t do so badly with Wickham after all.

A perfectly subtle wink