Five British period dramas to revisit

You've watched Downton Abbey and lapped up Peaky Blinders? You're gotten hooked on British period dramas! Here are five great ones you should take a look at.

Call the Midwife

Call the Midwife is a BBC period drama series about a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s and 1960s. 

The series was created by Heidi Thomas, originally based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth who worked with the Community of St. John the Divine, an Anglican religious order, at their convent in the East End in London. The order was founded as a nursing order in 1849. The show has extended beyond the memoirs to include new, historically sourced material. For the most part, it depicts the day-to-day lives of the midwives and those in their local neighbourhood of Poplar, with certain historical events of the era having a direct or indirect effect on the characters and storylines.

Lark Rise to Candleford

Lark Rise to Candleford was adapted by the BBC from Flora Thompson's trilogy of semi-autobiographical novels about the English countryside, published between 1939 and 1943. 

The series is set in the small Oxfordshire hamlet of Lark Rise and the wealthier neighbouring market town of Candleford towards the end of the 19th century. The series chronicles the daily lives of farmworkers, craftsmen, and gentry, observing the characters in loving, boisterous, and competing communities of families, rivals, friends, and neighbours.

The story is seen through the eyes of a young girl, Laura Timmins, as she leaves Lark Rise to start a new life under the wing of her mother's cousin, the independent and effervescent Dorcas Lane, who is Post Mistress at the local Post Office, in Candleford. 

Pride and Prejudice

The particular production of Pride and Prejudice is one of the best. This 1995, six-episode series, stars Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth starred as Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy respectively. 

Critically acclaimed and popular success, Pride and Prejudice was honored with several awards, including a BAFTA Television Award for Jennifer Ehle for "Best Actress" and an Emmy for "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special".

Upstairs, Downstairs

Upstairs, Downstairs ran for 68 episodes divided into five series on ITV from 1971 to 1975. Set in a large townhouse in Belgravia in central London, the series depicts the servants—"downstairs"—and their masters, the family—"upstairs"—between the years 1903 and 1930, and shows the slow decline of the British aristocracy.

Great events feature prominently in each episode but minor or gradual changes are also noted. The show stands as a document of the social and technological changes that occurred between those 27 years, including the Edwardian period, women's suffrage, the First World War, the Roaring Twenties, and the Wall Street Crash.

Mr Selfridge

Mr Selfridge is a British period drama television series about Harry Gordon Selfridge and his department store, Selfridge & Co, in London, set from 1908 to 1928.

During a time period when women were enjoying an ever-increasing amount of freedom, it tells the story of Harry Gordon Selfridge, the founder of Selfridges department store, and includes members of his family, particularly his wife Rose Selfridge.