Saturday, February 16, 2008

Edwardian TV Series

Upstairs,Downstairs This was probably the best and most popular Edwardian series of all. The story of the wealthy, upper-class Bellamy family, some of the stories were a bit cliched. These included the ubiquitious episodes where the son of the house fell in love with the maid and got her pregnant. However, its focus on the life of the servants added great interest and was different at the time.

I have read that some Americans found the English accents annoying, which surprised me!

Fall of Eagles<: This classic BBC production about the fall of some of the great houses of Europe has luminous stars, including Gayle Hunnicut, Charles Kay and Patrick Stewart. The history is fairly dense so it helps to be fairly aware of much of the background to this story of the build-up to the First World War. The series mostly concerns the Romanovs and it is full of interesting by-ways to explore if you are interested in Russian history.

Edward VII: Another BBC production which stars the wonderful Timothy West as the King.
Annette Crosbie as Queen Victoria is also very good although her bad temper seemed rather forced.

Jennie: This starred the beautiful Lee Remmick as Churchill's fascinating American mother, a real woman of her time.

The Edwardian Country House : This reality TV show was a look at how modern people coped with living in the Edwardian age. I enjoyed this and the book is on my wish-list!

This is my favourite, of course. The heart-warming story of a clever red-haired orphan on PEI, Canada, who gets into scrapes and eventually must choose between friendship and love, this series was perfectly cast and very well-acted. It truly captured the spirit of the beloved books.

To be Continued