In the mood for a drama delivered in a British accent on the lavish set of an English estate? We know the feeling. That’s why we’re salivating over the prospect of a Downton Abbey film and mourning the months (years?) we’ll have to wait to see it. In the meantime, we’re in search of books, films, and TV shows to cure our cravings for beautifully lit British period dramas, and we’ve gathered some here (plus a romantic comedy and a mystery) to inspire to-watch lists this month. These films and miniseries are filled with plenty of bustles and bonnets, as well as sweeping landscapes and complicated love stories galore. When that Downton craving hits, queue up one of these period pieces.
A Room with a View (1986)
To buy: $14.99, amazon.com
Based on the novel of the same name by E.M. Forester, this Merchant Ivory production is a feast for the eyes. In it, a young woman on a trip to Italy (The architecture! The landscapes!) encounters new perspectives and burgeoning love. Back in England, she must choose between convention and creativity, inhibition and love.
Effie Gray (2015)
To buy: $14.99, amazon.com
This film, a drama written by Emma Thompson and based on the life of Euphemia “Effie” Gray, follows Gray’s marriage to Victorian-era art critic John Ruskin, the eventual annulment of that marriage, and her relationship with Pre-Raphaelite painter John Everett Millais.
Gosford Park (2001)
To buy: $13.99, amazon.com
Directed by Robert Altman and written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes, Gosford Park is a whodunit set in an English manor house. Its ensemble includes Michael Gambon, Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Helen Mirren and explores what happens when a dinner party leads to a murder, prompting an investigation into the lives of the guests and the staff.
Howards End (1992)
To buy: $12.99, amazon.com
Howards End is a Merchant Ivory production starring Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins. It’s a story about tensions of class and convention between three families—the Wilcoxes, the Schleges, and the Basts—and it holds up a mirror to a country in the midst of social change in Britain at the turn of the century. (Also be sure to check out the Howards End miniseries!)
Jane Eyre (2011)
To buy: $9.99, amazon.com
There have been plenty of film adaptations of Charlotte Bronte’s novel about love, class, and haunting histories, but we’re partial to this one directed by Cary Fukunaga and starring Mia Wasikowska as Jane Eyre and Michael Fassbender as Edward Rochester.
Madame Bovary (2015)
To buy: $12.99, amazon.com
If you’re looking for drama, you’ll need look no further than Sophie Barthes’ 2015 adaptation of Flaubert’s now classic novel. It unfolds the life of Emma Bovary (Mia Wasikowska), a young woman languishing an arranged marriage whose boredom leads her into love affairs and deepening debt.
North & South (2004)
To buy: $29.98, amazon.com
This four-part miniseries is based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1855 novel North and South, and it tells the story of a woman named Margaret Hale who relocates from southern England to Milton, an industrial town in the north of the country. In doing so, she is exposed to the social and economic changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution.
Parade’s End (2013)
To buy: $14.95, amazon.com
Parade’s End is a period drama based on a series of novels by Ford Madox Ford. It’s set before and during World War I and stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Rebecca Hall, and Adelaide Clemens as people whose comfortable lives are forever altered by the workings of war.
The Remains of the Day (1993)
To buy: $12.99, amazon.com
The Remains of the Day is based on the 1989 novel of the same name by writer Kazuo Ishiguro. It’s brought to life in this adaptation by the directing-producing-writing team of James Ivory, Ismail Merchant, and Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and it stars Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson as the butler and housekeeper of Darlington Hall, an estate that's sold when its owner is disgraced in the aftermath of World War II.
Sense and Sensibility (1995)
To buy: $12.99, amazon.com
Jane Austen’s beloved novel about the Dashwood sisters and their troubles and triumphs in love, finance, and friendship comes to life in this wonderful adaptation directed by Ang Lee and penned by Emma Thompson.
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