No one does period drama quite like the British. With centuries of history to draw upon, access to magnificent stately homes and castles, and a seemingly endless supply of talented actors who can wear a cravat or bustle with complete conviction, British period dramas have become a genre unto themselves—and a major cultural export.
From the bonnets and balls of Jane Austen adaptations to the mud and blood of historical epics, British period drama encompasses an extraordinary range of stories. What unites them is meticulous attention to historical detail, gorgeous production design, and performances that bring the past vividly to life.
The golden age of British period drama began in the 1970s with landmark BBC productions, but the genre has continually reinvented itself. Today’s period dramas are more diverse in their storytelling, more willing to examine history’s uncomfortable truths, and more visually stunning than ever before.
Here are 25 British period dramas that represent the very best the genre has to offer.
1. Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 6
Starring: Colin Firth, Jennifer Ehle, Alison Steadman, Benjamin Whitrow
Period: Regency England (1810s)
Andrew Davies’s adaptation set the standard against which all Austen adaptations are measured. Colin Firth’s Mr. Darcy became an icon, particularly after that scene emerging from the lake in a wet shirt. But beyond the memorable moments, this production captured Austen’s wit, social observation, and romantic tension perfectly. Jennifer Ehle’s Elizabeth Bennet matched Firth beat for beat, creating a love story that feels fresh nearly three decades later. The series launched a Regency obsession that continues unabated.
2. Downton Abbey (2010-2015)
Network: ITV
Seasons: 6
Starring: Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Michelle Dockery, Jim Carter
Period: 1912-1926
Julian Fellowes’s saga of the Crawley family and their servants became a worldwide phenomenon, introducing millions to the intricacies of Edwardian and interwar British society. From the sinking of the Titanic through World War I to the dawn of the Jazz Age, Downton tracked seismic social changes through the lens of one Yorkshire estate. Maggie Smith’s scene-stealing Dowager Countess earned multiple awards, while the show’s balance of upstairs glamour and downstairs intrigue proved irresistible.
3. North and South (2004)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 4
Starring: Daniela Denby-Ashe, Richard Armitage, Sinéad Cusack, Brendan Coyle
Period: Victorian England (1850s)
Elizabeth Gaskell’s industrial romance received a sumptuous adaptation that made Richard Armitage a star. Daniela Denby-Ashe played Margaret Hale, a southern clergyman’s daughter transplanted to the grimy mill town of Milton, where she clashes with—and eventually falls for—brooding mill owner John Thornton. The show explored class conflict, labor relations, and the industrial revolution while delivering a romance as satisfying as any Austen adaptation. That train station kiss rivals the lake scene for period drama immortality.
4. The Crown (2016-2023)
Network: Netflix
Seasons: 6
Starring: Claire Foy, Olivia Colman, Imelda Staunton, Matt Smith
Period: 1947-2000s
Peter Morgan’s epic dramatization of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign was perhaps the most ambitious period drama ever attempted. Recasting leads every two seasons allowed the show to trace the monarch’s entire adult life, from young princess to elderly queen. With budgets rivaling feature films, The Crown recreated historical events with stunning accuracy while delving into the human emotions behind the palace walls. The show became a cultural phenomenon and introduced complex royal history to new generations.
5. Wolf Hall (2015)
Network: BBC Two
Episodes: 6
Starring: Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Claire Foy, Jonathan Pryce
Period: Tudor England (1520s-1530s)
Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize-winning novels received a faithful, candlelit adaptation that reimagined Thomas Cromwell as a complex political genius rather than a mere villain. Mark Rylance’s understated, watchful performance anchored a drama that used natural lighting and intimate camerawork to create an atmosphere of authentic period immersion. Damian Lewis’s mercurial Henry VIII and Claire Foy’s doomed Anne Boleyn completed a portrait of the Tudor court as a place of constant danger.
6. Brideshead Revisited (1981)
Network: ITV
Episodes: 11
Starring: Jeremy Irons, Anthony Andrews, Diana Quick, Laurence Olivier
Period: 1920s-1940s
This legendary adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel defined British period drama for a generation. Jeremy Irons’s Charles Ryder falls under the spell of the aristocratic Flyte family and their magnificent estate, Brideshead. The series explored faith, class, and doomed love against the backdrop of a vanishing world, while Castle Howard provided the perfect real-life Brideshead. Its elegiac tone and ravishing visuals created a template that period drama has followed ever since.
7. Poldark (2015-2019)
Network: BBC One
Seasons: 5
Starring: Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, Jack Farthing, Heida Reed
Period: Georgian England (1780s-1800s)
This remake of the 1970s classic made Aidan Turner a heartthrob as Ross Poldark, a soldier returning from the American Revolutionary War to find his Cornish estate in ruins. Against the dramatic clifftop landscape, Ross battles corrupt mine owners, navigates complicated romantic entanglements, and becomes a champion of the poor. The show delivered sweeping romance, class conflict, and gorgeous scenery in equal measure, with Turner’s shirtless scything becoming as iconic as Firth’s wet shirt.
8. Cranford (2007-2009)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 7
Starring: Judi Dench, Eileen Atkins, Imelda Staunton, Michael Gambon
Period: Victorian England (1840s)
Based on Elizabeth Gaskell’s stories, Cranford offered a gentle portrait of life in a small English town on the cusp of change. A murderer’s row of British acting talent—including Dench, Atkins, Staunton, and Gambon—portrayed the eccentric residents navigating railways, economic hardship, and matters of the heart. The show balanced comedy and tragedy with a delicate touch, celebrating the bonds of community while acknowledging the era’s constraints.
9. Bleak House (2005)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 15
Starring: Gillian Anderson, Anna Maxwell Martin, Charles Dance, Carey Mulligan
Period: Victorian England (1850s)
Andrew Davies’s adaptation of Dickens’s labyrinthine masterpiece proved that even the most complex Victorian novels could work on television. Gillian Anderson’s cold Lady Dedlock and Charles Dance’s terrifying lawyer Tulkinghorn anchored a sprawling narrative about the corrupting power of the Chancery court system. The half-hour episode format kept the pace relentless, and the exceptional cast brought Dickens’s vast gallery of characters to vivid life.
10. The Forsyte Saga (2002-2003)
Network: ITV
Episodes: 13
Starring: Damian Lewis, Gina McKee, Rupert Graves, Corin Redgrave
Period: Victorian/Edwardian England (1870s-1920s)
This remake of the legendary 1967 series followed the wealthy Forsyte family across three generations. Damian Lewis gave a complex performance as Soames Forsyte, a man whose possessiveness destroys his marriage to the beautiful Irene, played by Gina McKee. The show tracked changing social mores through the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, exploring how the rigidity of property-obsessed culture gave way to more modern values.
11. Victoria (2016-2019)
Network: ITV
Seasons: 3
Starring: Jenna Coleman, Tom Hughes, Rufus Sewell, Peter Bowles
Period: Victorian England (1837-1850s)
Jenna Coleman brought youthful energy to her portrayal of Queen Victoria, from her ascension as an 18-year-old to her passionate marriage to Prince Albert. Created by Daisy Goodwin, the show balanced political drama with romantic tension, particularly in the early seasons covering Victoria’s tempestuous relationship with Lord Melbourne and her initially rocky courtship with Albert. The show made history accessible while delivering satisfying period romance.
12. Sanditon (2019-2023)
Network: ITV
Seasons: 3
Starring: Rose Williams, Theo James, Crystal Clarke, Anne Reid
Period: Regency England (1810s)
Andrew Davies completed Jane Austen’s unfinished final novel with this spirited adaptation set in a seaside resort town. Rose Williams’s Charlotte Heywood arrives in Sanditon and encounters the brooding Sidney Parker, played by Theo James. Though the show faced cancellation and fan campaigns for revival, it eventually delivered a satisfying conclusion while exploring race, class, and female independence with more frankness than Austen herself could have published.
13. Gentleman Jack (2019-2022)
Network: BBC One/HBO
Seasons: 2
Starring: Suranne Jones, Sophie Rundle, Gemma Whelan, Timothy West
Period: Georgian England (1830s)
Sally Wainwright told the remarkable true story of Anne Lister, a Yorkshire landowner whose coded diaries revealed her life as an openly lesbian woman in early 19th century England. Suranne Jones was magnetic as the charismatic, unconventional Lister, who dressed in black, ran her own estate, and pursued romantic relationships with women. The show celebrated Lister’s boldness while honestly depicting the limitations and dangers she faced.
14. Upstairs, Downstairs (1971-1975)
Network: ITV
Seasons: 5
Starring: Jean Marsh, Gordon Jackson, David Langton, Angela Baddeley
Period: Edwardian England (1903-1930)
The original upstairs-downstairs drama set the template that Downton Abbey would later follow. Set at 165 Eaton Place, the show traced the Bellamy family and their servants through the tumultuous early 20th century. Jean Marsh’s Rose—a role she also co-created—became an icon, and the show won Emmy and BAFTA awards while introducing American audiences to British period drama’s possibilities.
15. Parade’s End (2012)
Network: BBC Two
Episodes: 5
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Rebecca Hall, Adelaide Clemens, Roger Allam
Period: Edwardian England and WWI (1908-1918)
Tom Stoppard adapted Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy into a devastating examination of a society destroying itself. Benedict Cumberbatch played Christopher Tietjens, a man of old-fashioned honor trapped in a loveless marriage while World War I shatters everything he believed in. The show moved from Edwardian drawing rooms to the horror of the trenches, creating a portrait of a world in collapse. Rebecca Hall’s Sylvia was one of television’s great complex antagonists.
16. The Village (2013-2014)
Network: BBC One
Seasons: 2
Starring: John Simm, Maxine Peake, Rupert Evans, Joe Armstrong
Period: Early 20th Century (1914-1920s)
Peter Moffat’s ambitious drama traced life in a Derbyshire village across the 20th century through the memories of an elderly man recalling his youth. The first series focused on World War I’s impact on the community, while the second explored the war’s aftermath. John Simm and Maxine Peake led a strong ensemble in a show that didn’t romanticize rural life but examined its hardships and inequalities.
17. Great Expectations (2011)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 3
Starring: Douglas Booth, Gillian Anderson, Ray Winstone, David Suchet
Period: Victorian England (1810s-1840s)
Sarah Phelps’s adaptation of Dickens’s classic proved a worthy companion to Davies’s Bleak House. Douglas Booth played Pip, the orphan whose expectations of gentility are upended by shocking revelations. Gillian Anderson’s Miss Havisham was magnificently unhinged, while Ray Winstone brought menace and pathos to the convict Magwitch. The production’s dark visual palette matched the novel’s exploration of class, guilt, and the corruption of Victorian values.
18. Little Dorrit (2008)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 14
Starring: Claire Foy, Matthew Macfadyen, Andy Serkis, Tom Courtenay
Period: Victorian England (1820s-1850s)
Andrew Davies returned to Dickens for this adaptation about the Dorrit family, imprisoned for debt in Marshalsea Prison. Claire Foy’s luminous performance as Amy Dorrit anchored a sprawling narrative about wealth, poverty, and the debtors’ prison system. The show balanced Dickens’s anger at social injustice with his gift for memorable characters and romantic plotting, featuring an early breakthrough role for the future Queen Elizabeth.
19. Tess of the D’Urbervilles (2008)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 4
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Eddie Redmayne, Hans Matheson, Anna Massey
Period: Victorian England (1880s)
Thomas Hardy’s tragic novel received a sumptuous adaptation with Gemma Arterton heartbreaking as Tess, a young woman destroyed by the hypocrisy of Victorian society. Eddie Redmayne played the idealistic Angel Clare, whose professed liberalism crumbles when tested, while Hans Matheson was chillingly predatory as Alec D’Urberville. The Dorset locations provided authentic beauty, and the show didn’t shy from Hardy’s critique of how society punishes women.
20. Poldark (1975-1977)
Network: BBC One
Seasons: 2
Starring: Robin Ellis, Angharad Rees, Ralph Bates, Jill Townsend
Period: Georgian England (1780s-1790s)
The original Poldark adaptation made Robin Ellis a star and established the template the 2015 remake would follow. Following Ross Poldark’s return from the American Revolutionary War to his crumbling Cornish estate, the show combined romance, class conflict, and coastal drama. Angharad Rees’s Demelza became an icon, and the show’s success helped establish period drama as a BBC specialty.
21. A Room with a View (1987)
Network: Channel 4/A&E
Episodes: 3
Starring: Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench
Note: Television film
[Replaced with series]
21. The Buccaneers (1995/2023)
Network: BBC One/Apple TV+
Episodes: 6/8
Starring: Carla Gugino, Mira Sorvino / Kristine Froseth, Alisha Boe
Period: Gilded Age (1870s)
Edith Wharton’s unfinished novel about American heiresses invading British aristocracy has been adapted twice. The 1995 version starred Carla Gugino and Mira Sorvino as young Americans navigating the marriage market, while Apple TV+’s 2023 version brought a modern sensibility to the tale. Both captured the clash between American vitality and British tradition, exploring how money and titles made for complicated marriages.
22. War and Peace (2016)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 6
Starring: Paul Dano, Lily James, James Norton, Jim Broadbent
Period: Napoleonic Era (1805-1812)
Andrew Davies tackled Tolstoy’s masterpiece, condensing the sprawling novel into six sumptuous episodes. Paul Dano’s philosophical Pierre, Lily James’s spirited Natasha, and James Norton’s noble Andrei brought the central characters to life against the backdrop of Napoleon’s Russian campaign. The production’s sweep—from Moscow’s burning to glittering ballrooms—demonstrated that British period drama could achieve epic scale.
23. Vanity Fair (2018)
Network: ITV
Episodes: 7
Starring: Olivia Cooke, Claudia Jessie, Tom Bateman, Johnny Flynn
Period: Regency England (1810s-1820s)
Gwyneth Hughes’s adaptation of Thackeray’s satirical novel starred Olivia Cooke as the scheming Becky Sharp, determined to climb society’s ladder by any means necessary. Michael Palin provided wry narration while the production used a modern sensibility to highlight the novel’s critique of class and hypocrisy. Cooke’s charismatic performance made Becky an antihero to root for despite her machinations.
24. The Miniaturist (2017)
Network: BBC One
Episodes: 2
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Romola Garai, Alex Hassell, Hayley Squires
Period: Dutch Golden Age (1686-1687)
Jessie Burton’s bestselling novel became an atmospheric mystery starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Petronella, a young bride in Amsterdam who receives a miniature dollhouse that seems to predict her future. The show explored secrets, sexuality, and the constraints on women’s lives in 17th century Holland. While not technically British in setting, this British production delivered all the period drama pleasures with an unusual location.
25. Belgravia (2020)
Network: ITV
Episodes: 6
Starring: Philip Glenister, Tamsin Greig, Harriet Walter, Alice Eve
Period: Victorian England (1840s)
Julian Fellowes returned to period drama with this tale of secrets stemming from the eve of the Battle of Waterloo. When the newly wealthy Trenchards move to fashionable Belgravia, long-buried connections to the aristocratic Brockenhursts surface with dramatic consequences. The show traced how class, legitimacy, and inheritance shaped Victorian lives while delivering the upstairs-downstairs dynamics Fellowes perfected with Downton Abbey.
Conclusion
British period drama continues to flourish, with new productions finding fresh angles on familiar eras while technical advances make historical recreation ever more impressive. From the intimate character studies of Cranford to the sweeping ambition of War and Peace, from the romantic escapism of Poldark to the rigorous historical inquiry of Wolf Hall, the genre offers remarkable range.
What makes British period drama special is not just access to real castles and centuries of costume-making expertise, but a genuine engagement with history’s complexity. The best period dramas don’t simply dress contemporary characters in old clothes—they explore how people of the past thought differently while finding the universal emotions that connect us across centuries.
For viewers seeking escape to other times and places, for history enthusiasts wanting their learning wrapped in entertainment, and for anyone who appreciates beautiful craftsmanship in television, British period drama delivers incomparable pleasures. These 25 productions represent the finest examples of a genre the British have made distinctly their own.
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