If you ask anyone who knows me, they all know that I live in a dream worlds and one of those worlds I love to escape to is BBC period dramas. I have an entire case of mini series, movies and television shows all taking place a long time ago in England somewhere. They give me inspiration with lots of my work (styling, color palette, moodiness) and they are fun to watch. I thought since I found so many good ones lately that I would share some with you as well as my ratings on certain categories.
Good story, Clean watching, Visual beauty (my specialty of course), and Entertaining on a 1-5 scale
Starting with most recently released.
POLDARK: based on the book by Winston Graham
My hobbit crush turned to real life actor crush with this new show. Ross Poldark is a strong and determined man who has love lost and love found. This is a must see for anyone who loves the cinderella story and love triangles. It’s themes are hope, hard work and forgiveness in loads of bad luck.
Good Story:5 Clean Watching:4 Visual Beauty:5 Entertaining:4.5
FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD: based on the book by Thomas Hardy
This ones a little painful in the fact that the perfect guy gets tortured throughout the whole thing but it is a romantic movie and if you are looking for something close to Pride & Prejudice mixed with a little Jane Eyre, this is your movie.
Good Story:3.5 Clean Watching:4 Visual Beauty:4.5 Entertaining:4
THE PARADISE: based on book by Emile Zola
This is a light-hearted story with more love and much less hardships. It has a female lead who is far ahead of her time in business and advertising while she works at the first department store in England called the Paradise. She is also very innocent and young which gives her room for mistakes in those departments. I loved this 2 season show for its easy watching and girly details. The first season is much better than the second. There are only two seasons because a more popular, similar drama called Mr. Selfridge which has the same story line just much more scandelous and not family friendly was released at the same time. I did like it as well if you want a deeper story.
Good Story:4 Clean Watching:5 Visual Beauty:3 Entertaining:5
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Both versions written by Charles Dickens
There are things I like better about each version than the other so I think it is worth watching both. Looking at Douglas Booth in the mini-series is always a good time and the full length film more recently has some really big name actors in it. They are both very well done and the acting and set design is beautiful so really take your pic and you will enjoy watching the classic. The only warning I would say is the full complexity of the story doesn’t come through clearly in either one so I had to do a little research afterward.
Good Story:5 Clean Watching:5 Visual Beauty:5 Entertaining:4
JANE EYRE: based on the book by the Bronte sisters
This is by far the most beautifully designed cinematography I have seen in a long time. The colors are so beautiful and each scene is a work of art. The story is rather dark because of the time period where authors were getting into the unseen world of ghosts and mental diseases. Lots of mystery and subtle beauty in every word. I loved this movie.
Good Story:5 Clean Watching:5 Visual Beauty:5 Entertaining:4
Of course Downton is amazing and it is the last season so you have got to watch it. I admit I faded out through a few seasons but I am back and ready for the series to bring me some more stress in my life! Haahaha
Good Story:4 Clean Watching:4 Visual Beauty:4 Entertaining:5
PRIDE & PREJUDICE: Based on the book by Jane Austen
Kiera Knightly stars as Elizabeth Bennett alongside a great cast making this my all-time favourite british film of the period. It is such a beautiful love story and keeps you wanting with every minute.
Good Story:5 Clean Watching:5 Visual Beauty:5 Entertaining:5
This is a bit older but very good. It came out as a mini-series and got amazing ratings on IMDB. I loved the love story and the fact that the actor from the Hobbit is the main character.
Good Story:4 Clean Watching:5 Visual Beauty:3 Entertaining:4.5
Others that I have heard about are:
THE OUTLANDER | REIGN | VIKINGS | GAME OF THRONES | THE BOOK OF NEGROS
Coming soon:
MUSIC INPIRATION: My Movies & Shows Playlist on Spotify
