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

[thisbluespirit]

My sister adored it & collected the videos, so I got to rewatch it again that way & eventually decided I needed the DVDs myself!

[thisbluespirit]

(and watching/reading interpretations of the past from eras that are now the past themselves is always interesting.)

Yes, sometimes they can be pretty strange! I find, though, that a lot of our current historical dramas seem scared of the past - if they have the correct costumes or facts, it'll somehow drive away the viewers, whereas oldtime BBC things are much more interested in chewing over the issues and aren't afraid of accurate costuming. Even if it's all very theatrical. I don't mind that if you give me something that isn't just trying to be candyfloss, or cool, edgy and dark or whatever it is. (I hope we get over this phase soon - classic lit adaptations are generally way better at representing the past than many of our historical series seem to be.) I mean, there's nothing wrong with pretty! I just want a bit of substance as well that preferably isn't added violence or something.

(Now I sound grumpy. I love stuff with good writers, like Abi Morgan with The Hour and Ripper Street was doing interesting stuff with men-as-monsters, so those were great and I watched DowntonVictoria because everyone needs candyfloss sometimes.) There was To Walk Invisible last(?) year, too, which was great (on the Brontes) - but it's one off or short serial things that seem to do that.

(I'm probably still just grumpy from having sat through The White Princess earlier this year which didn't even manage to be entertainingly bad, which something so ahistorical and terrible on that level really ought to have been!)

[scripsi]

I loved it too! And the love interest to the blond sister; the photograph, looked so much like my Ex, who wasn't an Ex then, it was uncanny. :)

[thisbluespirit]

"Jack!!!!"

[scripsi]

Yes, that was his name. :)

[duskpeterson]

Hurrah! I'm glad this thread was started, since I was late getting onto my laptop.

Here's my contributions (which overlap with some suggestions above, because I wrote this a couple of days ago):

"China Beach" (1988-1991). American drama about the Vietnam War, with lots of women in the cast: nurses, Red Cross workers, entertainers, journalists, career soldiers, you name it. Heartbreaking, humorous, romantic, filled with tons of period music, and quite innovative for its time, with some episodes that had nontraditional storytelling.

"Brideshead Revisited" (1981). Stars Jeremy Irons and Anthony Andrews; set between the 1920 and the 1940s. A classic about a student at the University of Oxford, his love for another student, and the latter student's dysfunctional family. Catholicism plays an important role in the series; warnings for subtle homophobia. What I love about this adaptation of the Evelyn Waugh novel was that it gave the lie to the old canard that you have to rip a book apart in order to turn it into a show/film. The script kept nearly everything in the novel, including the narrative.

"Flambards" (1979). An excellent adaptation of a young adult novel by K. M. Peyton about an Edwardian girl who ends up living with her tyrannical uncle, her unscrupulous, horse-mad cousin, and her other, airplane-mad cousin. She finds herself drawn to both cousins; then a servant complicates matters. The series extends into World War I. If you watch the series, you'll also want to read Peyton's fourth novel in the series, which was published after the TV series aired, and which proceeds to thumb its nose at the ending of the TV series. (Even though the TV series's ending is the same as Peyton's ending to the third novel.)

"The Waltons" (1972-1981). Inspired by a true story, this is a somewhat romanticized portrayal of the life of a poor family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression. To my mind, the best episodes are in the first season, in which Richard Thomas gives a stunning performance as the oldest boy, who aspires to be a writer. The series lasted long enough for some of the child actors to grow up and portray parents.

"All Creatures Great and Small" (1978-1990). Based on the autobiography of a Yorkshire veterinarian, starting in the 1930s. Christopher Timothy is James Herriot, Robert Hardy is the head of the vet surgery, and Peter Davison (i.e. the Fifth Doctor) is the head's younger brother. This was the show that made Peter Davison's reputation.

"I, Claudius" (1976). Adaptation of the novel by Robert Graves, set in Ancient Rome. Lots of deaths and conspiracies, but with performances that make it worth it to sit through all the trauma. Doctor Who fans: Look out for John Hurt (the War Doctor) in his younger days. He plays Caligula.

"Outlander" (currently on Starz and on DVD). Time travel series in which a World War II nurse ends up in sticky situations in eighteenth-century Scotland and America. An oddly satisfying mixture of period drama, science fiction, romance, adventure, and domestic drama. I've only seen a portion of the first season, but it was amazingly faithful to the novel series by Diana Gabaldon, which I love.

Two adaptations of the Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey series, one featuring Ian Charmichael (1972-1975) and the other featuring Edward Petheridge (1987). Both were terrific. The series (based on the novels by Dorothy L. Sayers, set in the 1920s and 1930s) featured an English aristocrat detective who can do a deceptively good imitation of being a rich idiot. Romance enters into the later novels, which Petheridge acted out.

"The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" (currently running on Amazon). I'll probably end up writing a review of this series, set in 1950s New York City, once I've watched the second season. Till then: Jewish couples. Jewish families. Jewish comedians (male and female). And a leather-clad butch lesbian. What else could you ask for?

o--o--o

Four series produced by the late, great John Hawkesworth:

"Upstairs, Downstairs" (1971-1975). This was the "Downton Abbey" of its time. For four years, viewers on both sides of the Atlantic (including me and my parents) watched with bated breath the changing fortunes of an English family and its servants. The story spanned three decades, so the characters aged considerably.

"The Duchess of Duke Street" (1976-1977). Set in London between 1900 and 1925. A servant gets her life messed up by the rich. She then proceeds to become a businesswoman, in demand with the rich. Inspired by a true story. Doctor Who fans will be interested to see that a girl in the series is played by the actress (Lalla Ward) who also played Time Lady Ramona.

"Danger UXB" (1979). Stars Anthony Andrews. The adventures of a WWII squad whose job it is to defuse unexploded bombs in Britain. "Suspenseful" is an inadequate word for a series premise like this.

"Sherlock Holmes" (1984-1994). The version with Jeremy Brett. If you haven't seen it, and you're a fan of "Sherlock," you should know that Benedict Cumberbatch was inspired by Brett's performance. Nearly all of Conan Doyle's original stories were filmed.

o--o--o

Not to forget comedy:

"Peabody's Improbable History," part of the quirky cartoon satire called "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" (1959-1964). A scientist dog, along with the boy he has adopted, goes back in time in every episode and . . . Um. As indescribable as a "Simpsons" episode.

o--o--o

* * * * *

Those asterisks are memorials for all the wonderful children's dramas, airing in Britain during the 1970s and 1980s, that got wiped out because nobody bothered to preserve them. I was privileged to see some of them as a teen visiting Britain during those years; I totally lost interest in American children's television after that.

Here's some clips from a couple of series I loved which did survive:

Midnight is a Place, based on Joan Aiken's 19th-century alternate history novel.

(Somewhat off-topic): Raven, a contemporary Arthurian drama.

o--o--o

And finally, a subscription online video service:

BritBox, where you can see a few of the above.

[sea_changed]

Thanks for this list! And I appreciate that you pointed out the inaccuracies of literally every Jane Eyre adaptation, that bugs me as well. I haven’t yet seen the 1980s film version, though it sounds like I should—my personal favorite adaptation is the early 2000s musical, but I do like the Ruth Wilson/Toby Stephens miniseries as well.

[sea_changed]

I know, the seeming fear of historical accuracy is so bizarre to me. (Especially when it comes to costumes—you can plenty of beautiful stuff that’s appealing to a modern eye without blatant anachronism.)

To Walk Invisible! I loved that, it was really wonderful. All three of the sisters were excellent.

[sea_changed]

Thank you so much for this rec post—most of these I haven’t seen. Some have been on my list for a while, though, such as the Jeremy Brett Holmes and the Peter Wimsey adaptations—I love the books so much I have a slight fear that the adaptations won’t live up to the versions of the characters in my head, but I still do want to see them.

Unfortunately I watched I, Claudius when I was significantly too young for it and was slightly scarred, but I should probably try it again. And I’ve only seen the newer film version of Brideshead Revisited, which despite a stellar cast was really not very good. I have mixed feelings about the book, but I’ve heard from multiple places that the version you mentioned is good, so I’ll have to check it out.

[sailorkitty]

The recent Brideshead revisited film is not very good. It is an abomination set to film. It manages to be less romantic than the TV series, despite the boys actually kissing. Further, it misses the point of the novel, and makes it look as if the story is a love triangle.

In the TV-series, Irons and Andrews have amazing chemistry. The two are always touching or looking into each other's eyes, and Julia is left out of the picture until it is her turn to shine. And shine, she does- The story goes on, and it is heartbreaking. If you like tragic love affairs and slow-burn, individual-focused drama, the TV-series is highly recommended. The story is very catholic, but catholic in a way that even non-catholics can appreciate, if that makes sense. Faith is a running theme in the book, but it doesn't seem to be making anyone happy.

(The book is also absolutely lovely.)

[duskpeterson]

Quite honestly, I couldn't watch "I, Claudius" a second time. It's one of those "Glad I saw it once but never again" viewings for me. It's true to its source materials, as I recall, which is part of the problem.

The "Brideshead Revisited" movie was an interesting interpretation of the original, but yeah, not very memorable. I've seen the TV series three times and would gladly watch it again.

Re Holmes and Wimsey: I always go on the assumption that no film/TV adaptation will be as good as the book; then I'm pleasantly surprised when a select few are. They're never like what I imagine in my head, though.

[scripsi]

It was my introduction to Jane Eyre, so it will always be very dear to me. I haven't seen the musical, though.

[scripsi]

"Flambards" (1979). An excellent adaptation of a young adult novel by K. M. Peyton

I loved the original trilogy and liked the TV series. But I really didn't enjoy the fourth book at all.

I enjoy both Peter Wimsey series, but what I really want are all the books filmed with the same attention to details as the Poirot adaptions with David Suchet.

[duskpeterson]

I haven't seen the Poirot adaptations - thanks for the rec!

[scripsi]

There are a lot of them filmed over two decades, but the quality is high. There are a few, especially the later ones, which takes some odd liberties with the source material, but most are very good. Great casting too!

[auroracloud]

I'm mostly using this thread to look up recommendations - for quite a while I didn't watch any TV shows, then I got super into Doctor Who, and er, there's a lot of Doctor Who. I'm not done yet. But it's showed me I do want to watch other TV shows as well, so I'm taking notes here. :-) But I am quite fond of Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, a cheerful murder mystery series taking place in 1920s Australia, and making occasional references to events during WWI in Europe (where the heroine was during the war). I do find the time period fascinating, and also, Miss Fisher's wardrobes are to die for, and there are awesome female characters who support one another.

Also in the 1920s vein, I recently started watching a new Spanish series called La otra mirada, I think translated as The Other View, which takes place in 1920s Sevilla in Spain, in a prestigious private girls' school where a new young director wants to change things after taking over the school from her traditionalist mother, and a scandalous new teacher (she even wears trousers!) arriving and basically turning everything upside down, while also being implicated in political intrigue... I've only watched the first couple of episodes, but I'm utterly hooked - I'm really fascinated by boarding school settings, and 1920s Europe is such a delicious time for everything being in turmoil, and it's full of awesome female characters, and it looks utterly gorgeous, and I basically suspect I'm going to watch all of it during the next two or three weeks.

Way, way long back I used to be really into Hornblower. I've also generally enjoyed various BBC miniseries of classics, e.g. Jane Austen's works.

[sea_changed]

I've had Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries on my to-watch list for ages, it looks wonderful and right up my alley. The Spanish series sounds interesting as well--I'm terrible at watching non-English language series, so it's always good to get recs for them.