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Great Expectations

Period Dramas

  1. Bleak House
    The complicated plot of this series centers on the legal matter known as Jarndyce and Jarndyce.  This brings Richard Carstone and Ada Clare to Bleak House as wards of John Jarndyce.  With Ada is a companion, Esther Summerson, whose fate is tied to that of the two young wards. This award-winning series has a stellar cast with Anna Maxwell Martin, Denis Lawson, Carey Mulligan, Gillian Anderson, Tom Georgeson, Charles Dance and more.

  2. Cranford
    Judi Dench, Philip Glenister, Francesca Annis and Michael Gambon star in this five-part period drama based on the work of Elizabeth Gaskell.  It follows the small absurdities and not so small heartbreaks in the lives of the people of Cranford.

  3. Daniel Deronda
    Daniel Deronda is a thoughtful young man raised by a man he assumes is his father.  Gwendolen Harleth is a beautiful gambler short on cash.  When the two meet, sparks fly, in this BBC adaptation of George Eliot's novel.

  4. Downton Abbey
    Set in an Edwardian country house in 1912, Downton Abbey portrays the lives of the Crawley family and the servants who work for them.

  5. He Knew He Was Right
    Andrew Davies has skillfully adapted Anthony Trollope's novel for this BBC film.  Louis Trevelyan (Oliver Dimsdale) marries Emily (Laura Fraser) and the couple is contented for a time.  The plot darkens though as Colonel Osborne (Bill Nighy) begins to interfere in the marriage.

  6. Lark Rise to Candleford: the complete season one
    This series depicts the end of the 1800s and the changes this brings to young Laura Timmins (Olivia Hallinan), as she leaves Lark Rise to start a new life under the wing of her cousin, Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalka), whi is post mistress at the local post office in Candleford.  This series isbased on the works by Flora Thompson who wrote of her life in these changing times.  This series continue in seasons two, three, and four.

  7. Little Dorrit
    Charles Dickens' work of fiction is brought to screen with Matthew Macfadyen playing the part of Arthur Clennam.  Clennam returns from abroad searching for the meaning of his father's dying words. The search brings hard truths about debt and deceit in the 1820's and entwines him in the life of seamstress, Amy Dorrit (Claire Foy). 

  8. Northanger Abbey
    This is an amusing film adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. Catherine Moreland (Felicity Jones) is a hopeless romantic who has been reading too much romantic fiction.  She meets Henry Tillney (J. J. Field) and hopes for her own ramonatic ending but reality comes crashing in and the romance ends before it was able to begin.

  9. Pride and Prejudice
    This is the BBC production of Jane Austen's classic as adapted for screen by Andrew Davies.  Colin Firth is cast as Fitzwilliam Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet.  This is the definitive romantic period film.

  10. Sense and Sensibility
    The death of her father forces the sensible Elinor (Emma Thompson) to follow her head and not her heart in matters of love but her romantic sister, Marianne (Kate Winslet), is determined to follow her heart in this award-winning film adaptation of Austen's novel.