The best British period dramas, from Pride and Prejudice to Bridgerton

Bonnets, big houses and brooding heroes: a good period drama is the ultimate comfort watch, a lovely balm for our “poor nerves” – as Mrs Bennet from Pride and Prejudice would probably put it. And as we wait for the third season of Netflix’s Bridgerton, which is landing on the platform on May 16, they have never been more on edge.

So why not watch another excellent period drama to pass the time? From compulsive Sunday night viewing like Downton Abbey and Poldark, to Oscar-baiting classics like Sense and Sensibility and A Room With a View, these some of are our all-time favourites, listed in no particular order.

Bridgerton, 2020 – ongoing

With its second season pulling in a whopping 620 million viewing hours in under a month back in spring 2022, Bridgerton has long since taken the title of the world’s most popular period drama. On its way to the top the Shonda Rhimes production piled the drama on thick, too: think extraordinarily handsome gentleman (sideburns forgiven), tense romances, back-stabbing, polo matches, an all-seeing gossip-columnist, a Queen, and even a we-know-where-you-got-that-idea-from wet-shirt moment. The Netflix show has a far bigger budget than any of our beloved British shows, and what a treat it is to indulge in all the HQ glitz, glamour and scandal of Regency-era London’s high society (aka the ton). EG

Netflix

Persuasion, 2022

, some people loved it. This Netflix adaption of Persuasion had a dreamy cast with Dakota Johnson playing Anne Elliot, playing Captain Frederick Wentworth, Henry Golding playing Mr. William Elliot and had acclaimed stage director Carrie Cracknell behind the camera. In that age-old predicament of whether to stick to the material or go off and do your own thing, Cracknell absolutely chose the latter. The result? A funny, sassy, très modern (she swigs from a