7 Period Dramas So Swoonworthy You May Need Smelling Salts
Period drama girlies love a good Keira Knightly movie marathon, but when it’s time to really lose ourselves in another era, we turn to television for it’s ability to cover more ground across a series of episodes, or simply allow us to stay longer in a historic or aesthetic fictional world. If you’re the type who’d readily swap their blue jeans for a petty coat, these shows are for you.
1. Downton Abbey
Julian Fellowes’ epic drama was the Upstairs, Downstairs for an entirely new generation, and became a global phenomenon for PBS. It immediately captured our attention with characters both loveable and ruthless, like Lady Mary Crawley, who lived up to all of our literary baddie fantasies alongside Becky Sharp and Scarlett O’Hara. Dame Maggie Smith brought epic snark to her role as the Dowager Countess Grantham, flawlessly delivering unforgettable one-liners like, “What is a weekend?” And Thomas Barrow, our favorite queer footman-turned-valet-turned-under-butler, could out-plot the worst villains on Game of Thrones any day. While we do wonder how they’d all fair in the present with modern technology (and access to therapy), we can’t help revisiting them and all six seasons of Downton time and time again.
2. Victoria
If you loved the drama and history of The Crown, but hated 20th century fashion, this series is for you. Jenna Coleman plays a young Queen Victoria beginning with her coronation at the age of 18, into her epically romantic marriage to Prince Albert and beyond. There is plenty of historical and familial drama to spare, from Victoria’s relationship with advisor Lord Melbourne, to the arrival of her half-sister Feodora, but the fan favorite storyline is Albert’s older brother, Prince Ernest’s battle with syphilis amidst his passionate affair with one of Victoria’s ladies in waiting.
The third season was cancelled after a two-year hiatus in the midst of COVID-19, with the ITV team releasing a cryptic statement that “there are no plans presently to film Victoria, but that’s not to say we won’t revisit the series with the production team at a later date.” Maybe they’re leaving things open to recast and time hop like The Crown, or maybe stopping short was as blessing in disguise since showrunners couldn’t stave off Albert’s death from typhoid fever forever.
3. The Lady’s Companion
Spain’s version of Bridgerton, felt like a light-hearted, pastel-toned Mary Poppins meets Jane Austin. Nadia de Santiago plays Elena Bianda, a professional lady’s chaperone with a mysterious past of her own. She uses her guiles and charm to secure the coveted position in the home of a widow with three daughters, but soon realizes she has her hands full when one of her charges, Cristina, becomes pregnant out of wedlock. Life gets even more complicated when she starts falling for her employer’s god-son, Santiago, who also just happens to be the ideal suitor for Cristina to marry before her reputation is ruined for good. It’s a fun, quirky, quitch watch that breaks the fourth-wall with an Amelie-style narrator.
4. Outlander
Adapted from Diana Gabaldon’s 30-years-in-the-making book series, Outlander has been bringing time-travel and period drama to our televisions for over a decade. Following the tumultuous romance between British WWII nurse, Claire Randall, and Scottish Jacobite rebel, Jamie Fraser, after the former accidentally travels two centuries back in time by touching a magic stone, the series made waves for it’s steamy scenes, as well as it’s portrayal of male victims of sexual assault.
Drama comes in from every angle as historical tensions rise while Claire struggles to navigate being married to two very different men living in very different times, and this is one instance where the costumes are just as gorgeous as the acting.
5. The Law According To Lidia Poët
An amazing reimagining of Italy’s first female lawyer as a Holmes-esque sleuth, Lidia Poët is the feminist period drama heroine you’ve been waiting for. Using her brother’s practice as a shield to continue her work in secret, and torn between romantic relationships with three different men, Lidia’s never-give-up spirit, quick wit, and empathetic heart inject each episode with emotional depth and high-suspense stakes. Matilda De Angelis gives an amazing performance as a woman who yearns for a more modern and egalitarian future, just as we long for and romanticize her past. With a third season on the way, this is one series we can’t recommend enough.
6. Bridgerton
Shonda Rhimes can do no wrong, and her inclusive adaptation of Julia Quinn’s romance series is just, chef’s kiss. Following the eight Bridgerton siblings as they navigate the 19th century marriage market in a not-so-historically accurate Regency London, we get the perfect blend of old meets new with gorgeous costumes, string-quartet remixes of our favorite modern songs, and occasionally humorous examinations of romantic intimacy. Each season focuses on a different set of couples and continues throughlines such as the Bridgerton’s relationship with the Queen, neighboring Featherington family, and Gossip Girl-esque anonymous columnist ‘Lady Whistledown’.
7. The Time In Between
Adapted from María Dueñas’ eponymous novel, this series follows dressmaker Sira Quiroga as she abandons her comfortable life in Madrid to follow a man she barely knows to Morocco. When he abandons her, pregnant and penniless in a foreign land, and unable to return to her native Spain because of Civil War and legal troubles, she must pick up the pieces of her life and learn to survive. As sewing is the only marketable skill she has, Sira opens a workshop, and finds herself enmeshed in the foreign politics of World War II, where British, American, and German players draw her deeper and deeper into their web of espionage and intrigue. It’s a powerful tale of reclaiming autonomy and self-confidence that will stick with you long after the final credits have rolled.