Period Dramas
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- StarsColin FirthJennifer EhleSusannah HarkerWhile the arrival of wealthy gentlemen sends her marriage-minded mother into a frenzy, willful and opinionated Elizabeth Bennet matches wits with haughty Mr. Darcy.
- StarsRomola GaraiChris O'DowdAmanda HaleSet in 1870s London, a young prostitute finds potential power and status after becoming the mistress of a powerful patriarch.
- StarsElaine CassidySally HawkinsImelda StauntonIn Victorian England, Sue, a young thief, participates in a scam to defraud a rich heiress by becoming her maid. Things take an unexpected turn and Sue's plan goes horribly wrong.
- StarsRachael StirlingKeeley HawesJodhi MayThe story of Nan Astley who falls in love with three different women on her journey to stardom and happiness in 1887 Victorian England.
- StarsDouglas HodgeJuliet AubreyTrevyn McDowellMiddlemarch is a story of provincial life on the brink of momentous change and a deeply moving saga about a group of people striving to give meaning and value to their lives during the Industrial Revolution.
- StarsMatthew MacfadyenClaire FoyTom CourtenayThe Dorrits are a family whose life revolves around the Marshalsea, a debtor's prison. Amy Dorrit's kind nature brings the family into contact with a wide swath of English society, from the poorest to the richest, and back again.
- StarsDominic CooperCharity WakefieldHattie MorahanThe sisters Eleanor and Marianne Dashwood try to find love and security in the 1800's. These two sisters coudn't be more different. Where Eleanor is calm and always acts proper Marianne is passionate and usally forgets herself.
- DirectorAng LeeStarsEmma ThompsonKate WinsletJames FleetRich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her three daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. The two eldest daughters are the title opposites.
- DirectorAdrian ShergoldStarsSally HawkinsAlice KrigeAnthony HeadAnne was in love with Frederick, who was rejected by her snobby parents 8 years ago. They've now hit hard times and rent out their mansion to his brother-in-law. He returns a Royal Navy captain. Will he remember Anne?
- DirectorCary Joji FukunagaStarsMia WasikowskaMichael FassbenderJamie BellA mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he's hiding a terrible secret.
- StarsRuth WilsonToby StephensLorraine AshbourneA young governess falls in love with her brooding and complex master. However, his dark past may destroy their relationship forever.
- DirectorFranco ZeffirelliStarsWilliam HurtCharlotte GainsbourgAnna PaquinJane Eyre is an orphan cast out as a young girl by her aunt, Mrs. Reed, and sent to be raised in a harsh charity school for girls. There she learns to become a teacher and eventually seeks employment outside of the school. Her advertisement is answered by the housekeeper of Thornfield Hall, Mrs. Fairfax.
- StarsToby StephensTara FitzgeraldRupert GravesAn adaptation of Anne Bronte's novel; a young widow takes her son and moves to Yorkshire.
- CreatorJulian FellowesStarsHugh BonnevillePhyllis LoganElizabeth McGovernA chronicle of the lives of the British aristocratic Crawley family and their servants in the early twentieth century.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisSam NeillWendy HughesA proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
- DirectorJames KentStarsMaxine PeakeAnna MadeleySusan LynchA look at the life of 19th-century Yorkshire landowner Anne Lister (1791-1840), who lived openly as a lesbian and kept diaries chronicling the details of her daily life.
- StarsPaul DanoJames NortonLily JamesAs the Russian conflict with Napoleon reaches its peak, five aristocratic families face the possibility of their lives being changed forever.
- DirectorJack ClaytonStarsDeborah KerrPeter WyngardeMegs JenkinsA young governess for two children becomes convinced that the house and grounds are haunted.
- StarsDaniela Denby-AsheRichard ArmitageTim Pigott-SmithNorth and South is a four-part adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's love story of Margaret Hale, a middle-class southerner who is forced to move to the northern town of Milton.
- StarsAnna Maxwell MartinCarey MulliganDenis LawsonA suspenseful tale about the injustices of the 19th Century English legal system.
- StarsFrancesca AnnisJustine WaddellBill PatersonThe daughter of a country doctor copes with an unwanted stepmother, an impetuous stepsister, burdensome secrets, the town gossips, and the tug on her own heartstrings for a man who thinks of her only as a friend.
- CreatorSue BirtwistleSusie ConklinStarsJudi DenchImelda StauntonJulia McKenzieIn the 1840s, Cranford is ruled by the ladies. They adore good gossip, and romance and change is in the air, as the unwelcome grasp of the Industrial Revolution rapidly approaches their beloved rural market-town.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyMatthew MacfadyenBrenda BlethynSparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennet meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?
- StarsJodhi MayEdward FoxAmanda RootSet in Victorian London, Gwendolen Harleth is drawn to Daniel Deronda, a selfless and intelligent gentleman of unknown parentage, but her own desperate need for financial security may destroy her chance at happiness.
- StarsCarla GuginoAlison ElliottMira SorvinoFour American girls go to England to find husbands.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsDaniel Day-LewisMichelle PfeifferWinona RyderA tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
- DirectorJoel SchumacherStarsGerard ButlerEmmy RossumPatrick WilsonA young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opéra House.
- 2011–20141h 35mTV-146.8 (2.5K)TV EpisodeDirectorJames HawesStarsPaddy ConsidinePeter CapaldiTom GeorgesonBased on true events. Scotland Yard Detective Inspector Jack Whicher is sent to rural Wiltshire to investigate the horrific murder of a three-year-old boy.
- DirectorNicholas LaughlandStarsKeeley HawesJames MurrayTerry MortimerIn this lighthearted romance from Victorian novelist Thomas Hardy, the beautiful new village school teacher is pursued by three suitors: a working-class man, a landowner, and the vicar.
- StarsMark RylanceDamian LewisClaire FoyAfter the downfall of Cardinal Wolsey, his secretary, Thomas Cromwell, finds himself amongst the treachery and intrigue of King Henry VIII's court and soon becomes a close advisor to the King, a role fraught with danger.
- DirectorJon JonesStarsAnna MadeleyJJ FeildJim CarterIn 19th century Victorian England, Mrs. Isabella Beeton produced what became an essential book for housewives of the day. She was married at a relatively young age to Sam Beeton, a publisher of books and magazines on a variety of subjects. Not someone to sit at home in the traditional role of a housewife, Mrs. Beeton started work in her husband's business, initially as an editor correcting English but then writing some of the columns herself. It as at this point that she developed an idea for a cookbook and Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management was born. Her life was not an easy one however. The publishing business went bankrupt, she lost two children at a young age and had several miscarriages. She died at the age of 28.
- CreatorDeborah CookSuzanne van de VeldeStarsVictoria SmurfitClare WilkieTabitha WadyThree young women from very different backgrounds meet, become friends and share experiences when they all gain positions as nannies in the wealthy households of London's exclusive Berkeley Square.
- StarsRomola GaraiMichael GambonJonny Lee MillerEmma Woodhouse, a wealthy young woman living in the early 19th century, whose misplaced confidence in her matchmaking abilities occasions several romantic misadventures, which leads her into deeper meanings of love and life
- DirectorDiarmuid LawrenceStarsKate BeckinsaleBernard HeptonMark StrongFaithful, enchanting adaptation of Jane Austen's nineteenth-century tale of Emma Woodhouse--a clever young woman whose mischievous matchmaking schemes nearly end up jeopardizing her own shot at romance.
- DirectorDouglas McGrathStarsGwyneth PaltrowJames CosmoGreta ScacchiWhile matchmaking for friends and neighbours, a young 19th Century Englishwoman nearly misses her own chance at love.
- StarsOliver DimsdaleChristina ColeLaura FraserLouis Trevelyan's refusal to trust his wife Emily destroys their marriage.
- StarsPaul McGannKeeley HawesDominic MafhamIntertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's 1860s London.
- StarsDavid SuchetMatthew MacfadyenCillian MurphyAugustus Melmotte is a European-born city financier whose background is as mysterious as his business. Only weeks after his arrival in London, he announced a new venture and promises instant fortune.
- DirectorNick MurphyStarsRebecca HallDominic WestImelda StauntonIn 1921, England is overwhelmed by the loss and grief of World War I. Hoax exposer Florence Cathcart visits a boarding school to explain sightings of a child ghost. Everything she believes unravels as the 'missing' begin to show themselves.
- CreatorBill GallagherStarsOlivia HallinanSarah LancashireJulia SawalhaAn adaptation of Flora Thompson's autobiographical novel "Lark Rise To Candleford", set in 19 century Oxfordshire, in which a young girl moves to the local market town to begin an apprenticeship as a postmistress.
- CreatorHeidi ThomasStarsKeeley HawesEd StoppardAdrian ScarboroughA new family and their servants live at the London townhouse at 165 Eaton Place in 1936.
- DirectorTim FywellStarsTara FitzgeraldJustine WaddellAndrew LincolnThe gothic tale of a pair of half-sisters whose lives end up caught in a grand conspiracy revolving around a mentally ill woman dressed in white.
- DirectorTim FywellStarsZoë TapperAnna MadeleyDomini BlytheA grieving upper class woman becomes a "Lady Visitor" at Millbank prison, hoping to escape her troubles and be a guiding figure in the lives of the female prisoners. Of all her friendships with prisoners, she is most fascinated by Selina - a medium. Set in the 1870s.
- DirectorDavid ThackerStarsCiarán HindsJuliet AubreyJodhi MayA drunken farm worker sells his wife and child at a market and begins a new life of wealth and respect as the Mayor of Casterbridge. However, his past returns to haunt him when he is reunited with his family, with unexpected consequences.
- StarsMatthew RhysFreddie FoxTamzin MerchantAn exploration of Charles Dicken's unfinished work in which the mystery of the murder of Edwin Drood is examined.
- CreatorJack AmielMichael BeglerStarsClive OwenAndré HollandJeremy BobbA look at the professional and personal lives of the staff at New York's Knickerbocker Hospital during the early part of the twentieth century.
- StarsMaeve DermodyCharles DanceToby StephensTen strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious host, and start to get killed one by one. Could one of them be the killer?
- StarsAneurin BarnardRebecca FergusonAmanda HaleThree different, yet equally relentless women vie for the throne in 15th-century England.
- StarsHarry RichardsonTom HollanderStefanie MartiniPenniless Mary Thorne grows up with her uncle, Doctor Thorne, and develops a friendship with the family at the nearby Greshamsbury Park estate.
- DirectorThomas VinterbergStarsCarey MulliganMatthias SchoenaertsMichael SheenIn Victorian England, the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene attracts three very different suitors: Gabriel Oak, a sheep farmer; Frank Troy, a reckless Sergeant; and William Boldwood, a prosperous and mature bachelor.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsNastassja KinskiPeter FirthLeigh LawsonA strong-willed young peasant girl attracts the affection of two men.
- DirectorIan SharpStarsJustine WaddellJason FlemyngOliver MilburnA free-spirited yet naive country girl is caught between her wealthy, manipulative "cousin" Alec and the handsome, educated farmer Angel Clare in this Victorian tragedy from novelist Thomas Hardy.
- StarsGemma ArtertonEddie RedmayneRuth JonesThe story of Tess Durbeyfield, a low-born country girl whose family find they have noble connections.
- CreatorBeth SullivanStarsJane SeymourJoe LandoShawn TooveyThe trials and adventures of a female doctor in a small Wild West town.
- DirectorJames WatkinsStarsDaniel RadcliffeJanet McTeerCiarán HindsA young solicitor travels to a remote village where he discovers that the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.
- DirectorJon JonesStarsGeraldine JamesMichael JuddJulia DeardenA young woman's penchant for sensational Gothic novels leads to misunderstandings in the matters of the heart.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsMaggie SmithRyan PhillippeMichael GambonSet in the 1930s, a group of pretentious rich and famous get together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsMaggie SmithHelena Bonham CarterDenholm ElliottLucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) shares a brief romance with George Emerson in Florence. Yet as she tries to move on with her life and look for marriage elsewhere, can she truly forget the events of that summer?
- DirectorJulian JarroldStarsMatthew GoodePatrick MalahideHayley AtwellA poignant story of forbidden love and the loss of innocence set in England prior to World War II.
- StarsJeremy IronsDiana QuickRoger MilnerThe life, friendships and romances of the protagonist Charles Ryder-including his friendship with the Flytes, a family of wealthy English Catholics who live in a palatial mansion called Brideshead Castle.
- DirectorSandra GoldbacherStarsEmma WatsonYasmin PaigeLucy BoyntonIn 1930s London, three orphan girls are adopted by their great uncle, who is an eccentric paleontologist, and his niece.
- DirectorMichael Landon Jr.StarsKatherine HeiglDale MidkiffCorbin BernsenA young woman on her way to a new life in the 1800's suddenly finds herself a widow. Now she must live with a recently widowed young man and his daughter. Can any of them find love again?
- DirectorMichael Landon Jr.StarsJanuary JonesLogan BartholomewDale MidkiffThe Davis family saga continues as Missie's romance with a wealthy surveyor is interrupted by her father's life-threatening accident. However, the mysterious stranger who begins helping them makes Missie second-guess her true feelings.
- DirectorMichael Landon Jr.StarsErin CottrellLogan BartholomewWilliam Morgan SheppardNewlywed settlers (Erin Cottrell, Logan Bartholomew) face hardship as they build new lives.
- DirectorMichael Landon Jr.StarsErin CottrellDale MidkiffLogan BartholomewTragedy tests the faith and love of a family of pioneers as they carve out a life on the frontier.
- DirectorJulian JarroldStarsIoan GruffuddJustine WaddellCharlotte RamplingA humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.
- DirectorGraham TheakstonStarsEmily WatsonCheryl CampbellJames FrainLawyer Wakem takes away the mill on the river Floss from Edward Tulliver, whose ancestors owned it for 300 years, and becomes the worst enemy of Tulliver's family. When Edward's daughter, Maggie, grows up, she falls in love with Wakem's son Philip, but her brother Tom, true to the memory of their father, forbids her to meet him again. When she visits her cousin, Lucy Deane, Lucy's fiance Stephen Guest falls in love with Maggie at first sight, further complicating matters.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsKate MaberlyMaggie SmithHeydon ProwseA young, recently-orphaned girl is sent to England after living in India all of her life. Once there, she begins to explore her new, seemingly-isolated surroundings, and its secrets.
- DirectorAmma AsanteStarsGugu Mbatha-RawMatthew GoodeEmily WatsonThe biracial daughter, Dido Elizabeth Belle (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), of Royal Navy Captain Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) is raised by aristocratic Great-uncle Lord William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson) in 18th century England.
- StarsRomola GaraiJack DavenportAlex O'LoughlinA young woman is transported to the New South Wales penal colony in 1788.
- DirectorPeter AndrikidisStarsLeeanna WalsmanLisa HarrowSam NeillYoung Jessica is sent to a mental asylum by her rotten family on a false pretense. Her only chance is a down-on-his-luck boozing lawyer.
- StarsHermione NorrisOona ChaplinRichard RankinDuring the First World War, Kitty Trevelyan tries to put the past troubles behind her as she joins two other girls to volunteer at one of the busy war hospitals in northern France.
- DirectorSheree FolksonStarsJessica GunningNatalie DormerAneurin BarnardAn 18th-century drama details the scandalous life of Lady Seymour Worsley.
- StarsSusan HampshirePhilip LathamBarbara MurrayBeginning with the forced marriage of Glencora (Susan Hampshire), the lives of the friends and children of this couple are the subject of study. The backdrop is the House of Commons in England as we watch the comings and goings and loves and tragedies of the powerful and not-so-powerful.
- DirectorJohn AlexanderStarsJared HarrisDoña CrollDavid HarewoodSally Lockhart and friends investigate the disappearance of a steamship, a magician who is threatened by thugs, a psychic with dark visions, and a heartless industrialist.
- DirectorBrian PercivalStarsBillie PiperMatt SmithSian ThomasIn Victorian England, a young woman searches for a priceless ruby and uncovers even greater mysteries.
- DirectorBetsan Morris EvansStarsNeve McIntoshJuliette CatonMelanie Clark PullenWealthy estate owner sir Michael Audley willingly marries a gold-digger, his only daughter Alicia's governess Lucy née Gray. Sir Michael's dashing, in-living orphaned nephew Robert 'Bob' returns from an Australia gold rush adventure with his new best friend George Talboys, a young father who finds his wife died in their absence. Robert is instantly attracted to Lucy, who buries her past with George by leaving him drowning in a well. Maid Phoebe's boyfriend finds out Lucy's secret and blackmails her. Later Robert comes on the trace of the truth, while accepting to marry Alicia as Michael seems infertile. But after Robert tells Michael, the consequences and the extent of deception exceed their imagination.
- DirectorIain B. MacDonaldStarsJulia JoyceDouglas HodgeMaggie O'NeillThe classic tale by Jane Austen of family scandal, social graces, and the unrequited love between cousins.
- DirectorPatricia RozemaStarsFrances O'ConnorJonny Lee MillerAlessandro NivolaFanny, born into a poor family, is sent away to live with wealthy uncle Sir Thomas, his wife and their four children, where she'll be brought up for a proper introduction to society.
- DirectorTim FywellStarsRomola GaraiRose ByrneBill NighyA love story set in 1930s England that follows 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain and the fortunes of her eccentric family struggling to survive in a decaying English castle.
- DirectorJoe WrightStarsKeira KnightleyJames McAvoyBrenda BlethynThirteen-year-old fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister's lover of a crime he did not commit.
- CreatorDebbie HorsfieldStarsAidan TurnerEleanor TomlinsonJack FarthingRoss Poldark returns home after the American Revolutionary War and rebuilds his life with a new business venture, making new enemies and finding a new love where he least expects it.
- DirectorJed MercurioStarsHolliday GraingerRichard MaddenJames NortonIn 1913 Connie Reid marries wealthy Nottingham colliery owner Sir Clifford Chatterley but he returns from the Great War disabled and in a wheelchair. Connie is loyal but begins to feel alienated as he engages a nurse, Mrs Bolton, and excludes her from pit business. Despite his desire for an heir his impotency results in a lack of sexual activity and Connie is drawn to handsome Oliver Mellors, the plain-spoken former miner her husband has engaged as his game-keeper and who represents the passion she craves. They embark upon a physical affair in Oliver's cottage but are discovered and betrayed by Mrs Bolton. Connie, now carrying Oliver's child, must choose between a pampered but joyless existence with her husband or an uncertain future with the man she has come to love.
- DirectorStephen WhittakerStarsJohn DallimoreJames D'ArcySophia MylesA young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-hearted, grasping uncle.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsLaurence OlivierJoan FontaineGeorge SandersA self-conscious woman juggles adjusting to her new role as an aristocrat's wife and avoiding being intimidated by his first wife's spectral presence.
- StarsCharles DanceDiana RiggGeraldine JamesA British gentleman's innocent bride grapples with intrusive reminders of his deceased wife.
- StarsDamian LewisRupert GravesGina McKeeChronicles the lives of three generations of the upper-middle-class British family, the Forsytes, from the 1870s to 1920.
- DirectorJohn SchlesingerStarsEileen AtkinsKate BeckinsaleSheila BurrellA recently orphaned young woman goes to live with eccentric relatives in Sussex, where she sets about improving their gloomy lives.
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsGlenn CloseJohn MalkovichMichelle PfeifferA scheming widow and her manipulative ex-lover make a bet regarding the corruption of a recently married woman.
- DirectorStephen DaldryStarsMeryl StreepNicole KidmanJulianne MooreThe story of how the novel "Mrs. Dalloway" affects three generations of women, all of whom, in one way or another, have had to deal with suicide in their lives.
- DirectorPete TravisStarsJim BroadbentJack HollingtonSamuel JoslinAn elderly man pieces together his childhood memories after finding his diary from 1900, which he wrote when he was 13 years old.
- DirectorAlejandro AmenábarStarsNicole KidmanChristopher EcclestonFionnula FlanaganIn 1945, immediately following the end of Second World War, a woman who lives with her two photosensitive children on her darkened old family estate in the Channel Islands becomes convinced that the home is haunted.
- DirectorDouglas McGrathStarsCharlie HunnamJamie BellChristopher PlummerA young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-heartedly grasping uncle.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsGwyneth PaltrowJoseph FiennesGeoffrey RushThe world's greatest ever playwright, William Shakespeare, is young, out of ideas and short of cash, but meets his ideal woman and is inspired to write one of his most famous plays.
- StarsAlan BatesAnna PopplewellJemima RooperIn 1930s Britain, three young aristocratic women find love as the world around them slowly descends into war.
- DirectorPeter WebberStarsScarlett JohanssonColin FirthTom WilkinsonA young peasant maid working in the house of painter Johannes Vermeer becomes his talented assistant and the model for one of his most famous works.
- DirectorMegan SilerStarsStacey HavenerGayle CohenCarla MilfordThe daughter of a lesbian couple seeks a tale about a "knightess". One of her mothers tells her a story of a Lady and a midwife who fall in love.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsSusan SarandonWinona RyderKirsten DunstThe March sisters live and grow in post-Civil War America.
- DirectorBrian PercivalStarsDerek JacobiToby JonesSophie VavasseurA kindly shop owner whose overwhelming gambling debts allow a greedy landlord to seize his shop of dusty treasures. Evicted and with no way to pay his debts, he and his granddaughter flee.
- DirectorTim FywellStarsMichelle DockeryEva SayerJosef LindsayA naive and sexually repressed young governess is haunted by the ghosts of previous occupants of a mansion.