The Duchess of Upstairs Downstairs, Revisited

[Miss Mapp]

Originally Posted by Savannah

...and those clothes look pretty costume-y now!

I did watch the US series (the lead actor was so very yummy) but I suspect the original series is superior.

Any more recommendations for British costume drama? Although it will have to be on a rainy evening--I'd feel too guilty being inside watching the telly when it's gloriously sunshiny outside...

If "Duchess" and "Upstairs, Downstairs" have given you a taste for early BBC dramas, you might also try the original 1960s miniseries of "The Forsyte Saga" or "The Pallisers." I got them both cheap on DVD not too long ago and they take up a lot of rainy days.

"The Forsyte Saga" is done very cheaply--in black and white and with the sort of flimsy sets you'd find in a soap opera of that era--but the writing and performances are good. It does more with the characters than the 2000s remake and gives some of the minor characters... well, not subplots of their own, but something to do besides stand in the background. The black and white filming also lets them integrate actual archival footage; when the Forsyte family watches Queen Victoria's funeral procession go by, that's really it.