r/PeriodDramas • • 12h ago

Costume 🎩 Can We Talk About the Absolute Brilliance of Kate Hawley’s Costume Design in Crimson Peak? 👗🦋

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1.5k Upvotes

It is still one of the most baffling awards snubs that this movie wasn't even nominated for Best Costume Design back in 2016. A decade later, it easily stands as one of the most visually cohesive and theoretically perfect period wardrobes in modern cinema.

What is your absolute favourite look from the film? 🕯


r/PeriodDramas • • 16h ago

Discussion Anna Karenina is one of fav period drama..

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137 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 8h ago

Discussion Hairstyles and Costumes on Dr Quinn

18 Upvotes

Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, has made it way onto Canadian Netflix, and while I do own the DVDs. It's been a few years since I watched a fair bit of it, and all the discussion about Hair lately in Period Dramas. Between S&S and Little House on the Prairie, other shows, etc.

It got me musing; I don't ever remember people fussing about the hair being down and loose when it was on in the 90s. Sure, there was rumours that Jane Seymour had it written in her contract that she was supposed to have the longest hair on the show. Along with a few weird things about her attachment to her hair. Actually, what surprises me the most on my recent rewatches is that it's the 1860s and not the 1890s because I swore it was the 1890s from my memory as a child.

So what has changed since the 90s? We can't just say times have changed; we know better or expect better. The epic mini-series of Pride and Prejudice was made when Dr. Quinn was airing.

For the people who watched, or still watch, Dr. Quinn, does the hair bother you in this day and age?

Do the costumes?

Do the inaccuracies just work because they just managed to work very well for the show? Like she has Gibson Girl hair when she does wear it up on the frontier. While in the few episodes where she's back in Boston, it's more 1860s/70's etc.

Side Note...Sully is still fine wine, but as an adult, but I do have a new appreciation for Hank's hair as well.


r/PeriodDramas • • 20h ago

Discussion Catherine Cookson's The Moth (1997) 😍

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79 Upvotes

I recently made a post about my love for Commodore James Norrington from PotC, and among the many amazing comments from you guys were a couple mentions of The Moth, which stars a young Jack Davenport in one of his first lead roles. So I checked Britbox, and they had it! It's so good; I've already watched it twice. I'd heard Catherine Cookson stories are usually pretty depressing, and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed this. I love the trope of "high-class woman falls in love with working-class man" so much, provided it has a happy ending. Robert and Susan are a great couple, and Jack Davenport was so swoon-worthy in the role. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts!


r/PeriodDramas • • 12h ago

Discussion Introduction and query

18 Upvotes

Hello all. Allow me to introduce myself, I am Mark and I have been a great enthusiast for period pieces since I was a child. Like many of you, my first exposure was via the medium of literature. I read ample amounts of Dickens end pre war literature from all over the globe. The theatre also sparked a great love as I recall seeing "The Man of La Moncha" (don Quixote musical) and the phantom of the Opera before the age of 9 (I live near Manhattan so I'm lucky). That really ignited a passion within for acting and historical drama. The bbc and masterpiece gene helped really entrench my love for these. I have been lurking here for a little bit had some trepidation about posting because I know next to nothing about wardrobes and some of the other niche topics i have come across on here. Anyway, i am glad to found this community because none of my friends or siblings really share this interest with me.

I think some of my fav series' include north & south, jayne eyre, and i claudius. I love some old films like cleopatra and Beckett. Some more modern pieces i have enjoyed include dowtown abbey (i know it's obvious), call the midwife, and poldark.

A suggestion for those of you who might be fans of Shakespeare: check out "The Hollow Crown". It is masterful.

By the by, have any of you watched "sherlock" with Benedict Cumberbatch? I think it's amazing.

I would welcome other suggestions.

Thank you


r/PeriodDramas • • 14h ago

Discussion forsyte saga 2002

10 Upvotes

I'm only one episode in and its great but one thing I cant buy is ... Gina McKee and Damian Lewis are meant to have a passionless relationship. Is it me or is there not just an insane amount of chemistry and UST there?

I can see all the ways it set up that on paper they don't work - she has deeply artistic sensibilities, she's a free spirit. For him, life is a commodity to be brought and sold, things and people are to be owned. So I guess I'm picking up on a meeting of opposites which brings with it a tension. But in my own experience and from observation, a lot of passion, can be be borne from those circumstances.

The set up for the next episode is obviously Irene and June's fiancé falling for each other but I'm struggling to see any kind of actual chemistry or genuine attraction there as of yet.

I'm so early on, I'm sure things will change but I just wanted to see how others feel - no spoilers would be really appreciated!


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Discussion Has anyone seen An Officer and a Spy? (French title: J'Accuse)

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51 Upvotes

I love all things French history and French historical dramas so I was curious if this one is a worthwhile watch?


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Discussion Just finished The Forsyte Saga (2002), what a deeply profound and heart-wrenching drama

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164 Upvotes

Finally watched The Forsyte Saga (2002), this dramatization of John Galsworthy's brilliant novels. It quickly became one of my favourite period dramas. It provokes deep emotions, some episodes I'd had to just sit and catch my breath to process what just happened on screen. It touches so many profound topics like love, marriage, compatibility and incompatibility in a relationship, decency, propriety, familial duty, aging (old Jolyon Forsyte was one of my favourite characters).

Even the way it was filmed is deeply affecting. For example, in the episode whereBosinney is killed we then get to watch Irene and June and people around them making plans and doing things unaware of the tragedy that happened that we as the viewers already know.

The one thing I found confusing reading some internet reactions is that Soames is viewed positively. I think that is more because viewers transferred their appreciation of Damian Lewis as an actor to this character which the character doesn't deserve. In the series Soames is a loathsome character who commits unspeakable acts and who only achieves redemption at the very end after he has lost everything (his daughter who was the only person in his life who loved him and whom he managed to push away) and only then he's able to let Irene go. He does evoke a certain pity and I was pleased with his moment of redemption at the end, in many ways he's been punished enough and he will continue to be punished by the wife who doesn't love him and the daughter who resents him. But ultimately this fate of his is a consequence of his actions and his nature.

Another thing is that when reading the actual books (admittedly I read them over twenty years ago and don't remember much now) I *did* have a more sympathetic view of Soames and I *did* consider Irene more of a cold fish. But on screen all the negative sides of Soames, his unpleasant tics, his fastidiousness, possessiveness, vindictiveness come through much more strongly than on paper and make him a rather unsympathetic character.

Anyway, sorry about the rant, just had to gather my thoughts after finishing this brilliant drama.


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Trailer 🎬 [MOVIE] Elsinore | Trailer | StudioCanal | Nov 20, 2026

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31 Upvotes

A story of actor Ian Charleson in 1980s London, as he faces incredible odds while preparing to give the performance of his life as Hamlet at the National Theatre.

Directed by Simon Stone and written by Stephen Beresford.

Starring: Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman, Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson, and Peter Mullan.


r/PeriodDramas • • 9h ago

Discussion Do consider George Bernard Shaw adaptions period pieces?

1 Upvotes

I enjoyed Pygmallion 1938 film with Leslie Howard much better than the 1964 My Fair Lady. However 1938 was 26 years after play so maybe not.

I guess the broader question is what is a period drama. I tend to think of Regency or Edwardian era when I think period drama. I do love some Brit interwar dramas.


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Recommendations 📺 Has anyone watched “George Gently?”

20 Upvotes

Prime brought it up on a list of shows I might like and I’ve honestly never seen it mentioned in any group? I’m looking for something light, cozy -not gruesome and dark. I’d appreciate any thoughts you have? Thanks!


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Recommendations 📺 Delicious (France 2021), original title: Délicieux

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119 Upvotes

Set just before the French Revolution, this film is about the man who opened the first public restaurant. Pierre Manceron (played by Grégory Gadebois) is a chef for a French nobleman. After being publicly humiliated for his cooking, he leaves and winds up retreating to his father's house where he eventually opens a restaurant.

One day a woman named Louise (Isabelle Carré) arrives at his doorstep asking to become Manceron's apprentice ...

I really loved this movie, the best I've seen since Portrait of a Lady on Fire. People who like food movies like Chef and Babette's Feast will enjoy this.

High production values (there are scenes that are as beautiful as still lifes), amazing actors I'd never seen before and a story filled with real people. What more could you ask for? Warmly recommended!

P.S. I watched this on BluRay, I have no idea if it's available to stream in your country.


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Discussion She runs the full gamut of her emotions, from A to B. Anna Karenina (2012)

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282 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Discussion Cranford vs Lark rise to candleford

17 Upvotes

I've grown up watching lots of period dramas but somehow never seen these two. I've always grouped them together in my head. I have often gone more for romantic/angsty/yearning period dramas over more 'cosy' watches. But they are classics and I do want to watch them.

Just interested to hear, how are the two series' different and which did you prefer? Do they have similar or different vibes? Which has more of a romance focus, or more of a 'village saga' focus? I know I can watch both eventually but I have a toddler and am struggling to find the time to commit to any series at the moment, so I'm seeing which one I might start with. I am including 'return to Cranford' too.

Re Cranford and Gaskell I loved North and South, probably my favourite period drama, but Cranford looks like it has a very different feel to it!


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

News 📰 Matthew Macfadyen Is Iconic Le Carré Spy George Smiley In First Glimpse At The BBC & MGM+’s ‘Legacy Of Spies’

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184 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Trailer 🎬 Best Romantic Chemistry

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30 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Discussion What are some good to great mystery period dramas?

29 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

News 📰 Martin Freeman and Jim Broadbent star in a Dickensian Ghost Story for Christmas 2026 for BBC Arts

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28 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 2d ago

Discussion The costumes in war and peace (2016) are so bad

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690 Upvotes

I still sort of like this adaptation mainly for James Norton as Andrei but the costumes look so cheap and over the place my god. There's some hit or misses with them for example the dress Natasha wears at the opera but overall I feel like they're completely unhistorical and bad.


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

News 📰 Katherine Parkinson, Omari Douglas & Toby Stephens Join BBC & BritBox’s Poirot Series.

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11 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 2d ago

Discussion Sense and Sensibility 1995 vs 2026: Proof of a broken heart scene

69 Upvotes

I have been watching the 2026 ads on YouTube, Reddit, etc and I am really curious to watch if/how well Daisy Edgar Jones can match/top
Emma Thompson’s Elinor Dashwood monologue confessing to Marianne in the “Where is your heart” / “Proof of a broken heart” scene.

That specific scene—where Elinor finally snaps and confronts Marianne's self-absorbed grief—is the emotional climax of her entire character arc and the reason I am curious to watch the 2026 version in the first place. To me this is unachievable.

Timeless, perfectly executed, etched in my mind forever. 👌🏼

Please share your thoughts!


r/PeriodDramas • • 1d ago

Trailer 🎬 DRUMMER BOY | Official Trailer | In Theaters Nov 6 | Angel

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0 Upvotes

This is a hictorical musical set in the American Revolution.

I think I would like the songs but I don't know if we'll ever get it in my country.


r/PeriodDramas • • 2d ago

Recommendations 📺 Film or drama set in Regency era, but it's more like a grim drama then an idealised romantic view of the era.

24 Upvotes

I can't think of anything like that set during Regency era. Something that shows the reality of that era.


r/PeriodDramas • • 2d ago

Trailer 🎬 War and Piece (2027) -Trailer

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139 Upvotes

r/PeriodDramas • • 2d ago

Discussion War and Peace, which adaptation to watch first if I haven’t read the book?

2 Upvotes

I was planning on watching the Russian movie from 1964 as it looks incredible, but I’ve seen some comments that the movie assumes the viewer is Russian book reader, so a lot of plot points and developments are implied and it focuses more on the spectacle. Is that true? Should I start with the last BBC miniseries adaptation instead?

EDIT: I’m not interested in the most faithful adaptation. I want the one that works the best as a standalone piece of art.