favorite historical tv shows

[sea_changed]

There was discussion about making a post where people could share their favorite historical TV shows, so I thought I would go ahead and do that: I'd love to hear people's favorites, and I'm always looking for recs.

A few of my own favorites, to start us off--I'm undoubtedly forgetting many, but here are a few off the top of my head that I love:

Black Sails - Early 18th century pirates. The first season starts out somewhat trashy, but the show quickly matures into a fascinating and beautifully-done meditation on the stories we tell--about history, about others, about ourselves--and what stories get preserved and remembered and what stories are forgotten or destroyed. Excellent LGBT rep. Four seasons.

The Hour - 1950s BBC news reporters. The cast here is stellar--Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, Dominic West--and the production and writing utterly stunning. This isn't an era or a subject I would be naturally drawn to, but everything about this show is just so extraordinarily well done. Two very short (six-episode) seasons.

Deadwood - 1870s gold-mining town in South Dakota. The one, the only. A cult show for a reason--you either love it or you, well, don't--this show is incredibly well-acted and written like nothing you're likely to hear on television before or since. Three seasons.

North and South - Victorian England. The most goddamn romantic thing you'll ever see in your life. Based on the Elizabeth Gaskell novel, this follows a woman from the south of England and a man from the north, and deals with social and class issues in the mid-Victorian era while telling a nuanced and compelling love story. Also contains the best refusal of a marriage proposal scene ever. Miniseries.

ETA: I knew I was forgetting something important--the HBO John Adams miniseries. It's absolutely wonderful--the acting is incredible (almost everyone's perfect, but their Jefferson is especially perfect), the production is stellar, and it's for the most part quite remarkably historically accurate. A definite recommendation.

Comments

[lettered]

I love North and South and Deadwood.

I also love Black Sails S2 really, really hard, and like parts of S3, but had trouble staying with it. I was so INTO the idea of Silver's slow arc from self-absorbed ne'er-do-well into epic hero, and they seemed to really jump from one to the other somewhere. Like, I still like him (and Flint, Madi, Jack, Anne, and Max) but I've watched it twice and stopped in the same place both times because I just wished it took more time with it. Oh well.

The Hour sounds great; I'll watch anything with Garai.

[fucktheg0ds]

I didn't know there was a 1998 one, but yeah, it came out this year! I haven't read the book yet but my mum's got it on her bookshelf so I probably will give it a go. I wonder how the show compares?

[lettered]

I'd be interested to know what you thought of the book and how the recent adaptation works, but I'm really eager to see the recent one because of what you said about the 4th wall. I feel like Vanity Fair is a a hard book to adapt because you're not necessarily meant to get caught up in the characters and their plots--the book stands back and pokes holes in them throughout the entire thing, though I would not say it's unsympathetic.

I feel it is quite thoughtful and compassionate at many points, but like...more about people's situation in society and human nature than these particular characters themselves. Like, you're not supposed to like Becky, but you're also supposed to understand the many, many ways in which she is victimized; no one comes out the other end looking good, which was Thackeray's point, of course.

I think the 1998 one does a good job maintaining the farcical tone, though it certainly drags in places. I love the Dobbin so so much though that I get irrational about it.

There are several other adaptations but most of them are terrible.

[sea_changed]

Those are really interesting Black Sails thoughts--for me, while I'm interested in Silver, he's definitely one of my back-burner characters in terms of emotional priorities, so his arc's continuity is of less import to me. So what I tend to love about s3 and s4 is Madi (Madi!!) and Flint and the whole build-up to their alliance. That said, I've only watched the last two seasons once through, because I stop rewatching every time just before Miranda dies. I have my priorities, and I stick to them to a sometimes-ridiculous degree.

Garai is so utterly lovely; I still have never watched her Emma, which I eagerly look forward to doing someday. The Hour is really wonderful all around, and you just can't go wrong with that cast.

[fucktheg0ds]

Hmm. I think this adaptation does do - or attempts to do - all of what you've said about the book. While watching it, most of the time I was yelling, "Why did you do that?" or "You're so stupid!" at the screen. But I'm keen to know what people who've read the book think of this version.

Anyway, you've convinced me to read the book (I'm pretty weird in this way but usually I watch a movie or TV show and THEN read the book). I'm reading Crime and Punishment at the moment though so... it might be a while!

[foreverdawning]

I tried getting into Black Sails earlier, but I forgot about it and didn't have the time. I'm going to try it out again since it's getting such high praises.

My favorites are Poldark which, everyone has a love-hate relationship with.

But there was Juana Ines which is a Netflix original and it was amazing. It's in Spanish, but the whole (mostly true!) story is *muah* perfect.

[lettered]

Honestly, Silver isn't really my type of character, I was just so fascinated by his slow evolution through S1-2 that it was probably the thing I was most into besides Flint's backstory and relationship with Miranda. I am spoiled for a thing at the end, and really want to keep watching to get to that, so I know I'll go back at some point.

ughhhhhh I feel so bad because I love Garai so much, but I was not really a fan of her Emma. I liked the production, but I felt like she was miscast. I'm a huge outlier though in that the Kate Beckinsale Emma is my favorite Emma. I agree that Mark Strong is too harsh for Knightley, but I love Mark Strong, and Beckinsale Emma was exactly harsh enough while the other Emmas aren't. But I'd be interested to know what you think of that Emma; I'm interested in all Emmas.

Have you ever seen the Daniel Deronda with Garai? I DO recommend that, but then again I think Daniel Deronda might be like, my favorite novel, so perhaps I'm biased. It's interesting because Gwendolyn Harleth and Emma Woodhouse on the surface aren't that different, so it seems weird I loved Garai as the former and not the latter, but I think Emma is tons more self aware than Gwendolyn, and that ability to self critique is so important to Emma and I didn't see it in Garai.

...that is probably way more of my opinions than you needed to know.

[lettered]

Man Vanity Fair after C&P is such a good choice because C&P is so relentless. VF made me laugh quite a bit, though it's still heavy subject matter.

I love Dostoevsky but I think adapting him is hard. I've never seen an adaptation of C&P I like. (Kurosawa did an updated Japanese version of The Idiot, though, which is my favorite Dostoevsky book, and it's pretty good.)

[fucktheg0ds]

I've seen Juana Ines! That was a cool show.

[fucktheg0ds]

Huh, interesting. This is my introduction to Dostoevsky so... we'll see.

(Funnily enough, the other night I was watching this other show and a character said, "The only guy I'm interested in right now is Dostoevsky," and I was like DAMN, what are the chances of that.)

[lettered]

Unfortunately, C&P is my least favorite Dostoevsky. I still love it, though, so I feel like if it's not your cup of tea you probably won't like the rest.

...now I kinda wanna know what show you were watching. Dostoevsky is one of my favorite authors so I get interested in many things only remotely related to him. (...Though I have to confess never having finished The Brothers Karamazov. I LOVE it. But...it's very long.)

[fucktheg0ds]

I think I've heard before that C&P isn't the best Dostoevsky book, so that's interesting.

Lol, the show was Elite on Netflix. It's a teen drama, which is SO not what I usually watch. But it was Spanish (nice) and was labelled "thriller" (awesome) so I gave it a go. And I actually really enjoyed it and binged all 8 episodes in 12 hours.

And I don't know anything about The Brothers Karamazov (except that it's got a high rating on Goodreads) but I have read War and Peace and THAT is a bloody long book!

[sea_changed]

I would definitely recommend re-trying Black Sails, though I will say that the first season is slow and not overly interesting. If you stick it out to season 2, it becomes very much worth it.

I watched I think an episode of Poldark once, and I'd like to get back to it at some point--I'm such an 18th-century person, it seems like I should.

And I'll have to check out Juana Ines!

[sea_changed]

Flint's backstory/the flashbacks and his relationship with Miranda are my two highest priorities on this show as well, though I am fascinated by nearly everyone. I would highly recommend watching through to the end--the end of season 4 does a lot with storytelling and the fact that BS is in fact a Treasure Island prequel, though I'll admit I tend to loose track of that in the middle seasons. It's really great.

Oh, that's interesting about Garai's Emma--I'll admit that I haven't seen any Emma, so I'm only going off of what I've heard other people say. (I was never an Austen person as a kid, after strongly disliking Pride and Prejudice the first time I read it, so I only recently have begun dipping my toes back into the Austen world.) I'll definitely put the Beckinsale Emma on my list as well.

I haven't seen Garai's Daniel Deronda, though I've seen gifsets that have put it on my list already--it's good to hear that it has things recommending it besides Garai's face (though that tends to be recommendation enough).

[isis]

Hee, when I posted about watching the second season I got that same reaction from another friend. There are a few of us who loved it!

[isis]

There is canon f/f in later episodes of Vikings! And also some implied m/m. It gets to be an odd show in the later seasons and is probably only interesting if you have some historical grounding and therefore care about the second generation of characters (or if, like me, you adore Lagertha).

[thisbluespirit]

I love a lot of historical TV shows! Unfortunately, they're mainly also historical themselves, being from the 70s/80s.

In modern times, I also love North & South (and many other classic lit adaptations), The Hour, Ripper Street, and for candyfloss value (they're both very pretty) Victoria and Downton Abbey.

I also enjoyed HBO's Rome when I finally watched it a couple of years ago.

Otherwise I really do love the old-style BBC stuff that's theatrical and unafraid of being historically accurate or ambiguous and ironic and am hugely fond of:

Enemy at the Door (ITV 1978-80 serial on the occupation of the Channel Islands in WWII)

Duchess of Duke Street (1970s BBC drama with Gemma Jones running an Edwardian hotel)

The House of Eliott (1990s BBC drama about two sisters setting up a fashion house that was on when I was a teen and I still love)

Poldark (1970s version, as I fell grudgingly but badly in love with Robin Ellis and Angharad Rees; I watch the new one but have extremely mixed feelings about some of its decisions, although it wins on the Best Aunt Agatha front at least)

The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Elizabeth R (landmark BBC Tudor dramas; Eliz R features Glenda Jackson being amazing)

and also The Shadow of the Tower which was technically the BBC prequel to the above, about Henry VII, but is far cheaper, weirder and random, and so is of course my favourite.

Oh, and The Onedin Line, which I watched half of on TV lately (BBC 1970s Shipping line shenanigans, it's great because it's set in Liverpool but filmed somewhere quiet in Devon which also doubles up for everywhere else in the world, but it has a brilliant marriage-of-convenience couple at the centre of the first 2 series).

And more, like WWII dramas, Wish me Luck, Tenko and Manhunt and probably others. Also the BBC Shakespeare.

[fucktheg0ds]

And by "few" you really mean few, lol! Me and ConvenientAlias are pretty much the only ones writing fic for this show. It really sucks that Netflix didn't promote it enough; it deserves a dedicated fandom.

[isis]

Well, I like the show, but I don't feel the drive to write fic for it.  Back when I watched the first season, the fic that existed was mostly not about the characters and pairings I was most interested in, but I ought to recheck the archive and see what's there...

[fucktheg0ds]

Ha, for me it's a case of having to write the fic you want to read.

[dickinsons]

I've heard about the canon f/f, and that made me happy. Maybe I'll give it a try again and continue watching the other seasons one day. And I did love Lagertha when I watched the show, of course!

[sea_changed]

This is such an interesting list, thanks for putting it together—I’ll definitely have to check some of these out. I’ll admit I tend towards newer dramas, so it’s good to be reminded of earlier ones (and watching/reading interpretations of the past from eras that are now the past themselves is always interesting.)

[scripsi]

I’m sure I will forget some, but in no particular order:

Deadwood I’m not a big fan of Westerns, and I find violence hard to stomach, but I love this series anyway. The sets and costumes are stellar, and so is the writing and the acting. It’s one of those shows I return to again and again.

Versailles Intigies in Louis XIV court in the 17th century. I loved the first season, really liked the second, and sadly found the third season dismal. The sets are gorgeous, and so are the costumes. Lots of good acting too.

Jane Eyre The early 1980s adaption with Timothy Dalton and Zelah Clarke. Probably the most faithful adaptation of the book and Dalton and Clarke has lovely chemistry. Nice costumes too, but as usual, when it comes to Jane Eyre it’s set in the 1840s when the book actually takes place 20 years earlier.

The Borgias Gorgeous, gorgeous costumes and Jeremy Irons chews scenery with gusto. My main complaint with this series is that it is one season too short.

Jeeves & Wooster I had read Woodhouse before this early 90s adaption, but Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are so perfect I now see them when I re-read. And I want to live in Bertie’s flat.

Sherlock Holmes The ultimate, for me, version, with Jeremy Brett as the famous detective.

[scripsi]

Deadwood is amazing! Not particularly easy to watch, but so good!

[scripsi]

I loved House of Eliot when it came! But I never watched it again.