Lovers of costume drama...

[TomDudgeon]

What are your top five favourites?

I'm expecting lots of North and Souths and the Firth P&P
Hoping I might find something new that's not so well known like bright star

[Frawli]

For me, the problem with Persuasion is that Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds look too old. She is only a bit too old, but he is about 15 years older than he should be. If they had been through a time machine and were younger that version would be perfect.

I've not seen the Jonny Lee Miller version of Emma, but he's more of an Edward Ferrars than a Knightley in my head. Have you seen the Kate Beckinsale version of Emma? Mark Strong is Knightley and he is perfect in the role. I really liked this version, I have a feeling it was the P&P Firth version writer Andrew Davies who wrote the script for it.

I know you don't want to hear it but my favourites are the 1995 BBC Pride and Prejudice and North and South :-)

There is another Austen adaptation with JJ Feild in it that was good. Northanger Abbey I think. Had Casey whatsherface in too. Will google...
Here it is: www.amazon.co.uk/Northanger-Abbey-DVD-Felicity-Jones/dp/B000NDETLK/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1363998245&sr=1-1-catcorr&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

I haven't seen a version of Jane Eyre that I've really liked, unhelpful, I know.

[Frawli]

www.amazon.co.uk/Northanger-Abbey-DVD-Felicity-Jones/dp/B000NDETLK/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1363998245&sr=1-1-catcorr&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Sorry, broken link

[cerealqueen]

P&P with Firth / Ehle
Persuasion with Root/Hinds. Quite like Johnny Lee Miller one too.
North and South
Jane Eyre with Toby Stephens (best Rochester ever)
Tenant of Wildfell Hall with Toby Stephens again
Sense and Sensibility with Dan Stevens
Anne of Green Gables (not really a costume drama but I loved it)
Middlemarch

That is it for now!

[cerealqueen]

Sorry, more than 5 there....

[Alibabaandthe40nappies]

Frawali - JLM is a good Knightly, although I do like Jeremy Northam in Gwynnie's Emma.

[DeepRedBetty]

Bleak House
Cranford
Call The Midwife (because most of us weren't yet alive at the time it's set, or were very small, so it counts as costume imho)
Downton

And Rome, corny, but remarkably accurate on the small scale even if spectacularly cavalier with history on the larger scale.

[TomDudgeon]

I don't like the Hinds version. He makes me feel creeped out

I've seen a lot of versions of different things. Agree Mark Strong makes a good knightly.
I think someone needs to take all the versions of each one and combine the best bits.

I haven't seen one either frawli but I suspect its the story (abusive) that makes me not like it rather than any acting. The same with wuthering heights

Today we will be watching coot club. Even got dh interested as he grew up in Sheringham where the station shots are filmed

[ppeatfruit]

Oh yes Deep Red I LOVE Cranford the book is fab. in fact I love Elizabeth Gaskell (I especially love that she stood up to the dictatorial Dickens when she was writing in his Magazine) Sorry too many "loves' I know .

I've just reread Little Dorrit and it reminded me of the T.V. series with the huge "Stenders actress in the lead as "little" sorry, however good the acting (and she wasn't bad in it) she just wasn't "little"

YYY to Call The Midwife so very beautifully directed and acted also it showed that the Beeb can get it right sometimes.

Agree about Downton its good to see ITV throwing money at something that didn't have explicit sex and violence to recommend it.

[DeepRedBetty]

Just looking back on my list, the first four I'd have been happy to watch with my nan sitting beside me, or dds - in fact I think dds love CTM even more than I do, and dd2 is a hopeless Downton Addict as well.

And then Rome... starts with sex, then some violence and keeps it up really for the entire two series

[ppeatfruit]

Is Rome made by HBO? If it is I must claim some personal interest because DH works for them, I tried to get into the Borgias but it got me down!

[ppeatfruit]

I must tell you that I just asked DH if HBO made Rome and they did with the Beeb he said it was a pile of shxx

[DeepRedBetty]

Yes, a pile of shite... but hugely entertaining shite all the same! A guilty pleasure

[BranchingOut]

Ah yes, Rome, with its army of...er, TWO soldiers.

[TomDudgeon]

Started desperate romantics
Goodness it's shit
But quite fun too
now wondering how much more sex they can get in and have a vague plot

[Lurleene]

That was my suggestion - definitely not recommending it for historical accuracy but I think it 'is a jolly good romp'! ( Not how I talk in RL!)

[EmpressMaud]

Pride and Prejudice (Ehle/Firth)
North and South
The Way We Live Now
War and Peace (Anthony Hopkins). It's slightly dated now, but I like it all the same.
The Tudors

And one more would be Wuthering Heights (the Tom Hardy version). I didn't care for it on first viewing, but warmed to it.

[tigerdriverII]

I really loathe costume drama. With a big passion.

So really should not be on this thread. I have entertained myself too much, I fear.

[ppeatfruit]

I always find it weird to loathe costume drama.;because it's just drama written in or about the past (IMO it's just like modern drama, there's plenty of crap about nowadays as well) its either good or bad.

Do you hate Shakespeare tigerdriver?

[ppeatfruit]

What do any of you reckon about Lost in Austen?

[TomDudgeon]

Yes I don't like dramas just because they're dressed up in old style clothes. I also love things like poliakoff, some of which are modern.

Anyone else watched bomb girls?

[uncongenial]

I know a lot of suspending of disbelief was required, but I didn't like Lost in Austen. She wouldn't have been accepted in their society with that hair and make-up, not to mention manner.

[Still18atheart]

TV
Any Jane Austin Adaptation
Jane Eyre
The Tudors - Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Downton Abbey - Maggie Smith

Film
Little Women
The Duchess

[ppeatfruit]

uncongenial Yes I wondered why the Ms Price character didn't put up her hair and scrub off the make up to blend in better. Though I noticed the other girls had obvious make up on.

I wonder if its going to be repeated 'cos I missed how she got to the past in the first place. ITV didn't trail it did they? (well I didn't see it if they did).

[TunipTheVegedude]

Oh I loved Lost In Austen. Quite happy to suspend my disbelief about her otter hunting outfit, etc, because it was so warm-hearted and silly.
Elizabeth Bennett getting a job as a nanny in 21st century London was just fab.

[dazzlingdeborahrose]

North and south
Pride and prejudice (firth/ehle)
Persuasion (root/hinds)
The lost prince, can't believe It's not been mentioned yet
Emma the Paltrow film. Thought romola garai was too old and johnny lee miller was way to young. I think they were trying to mitigate the slightly disturbing aspects of the Emma/knightly relationship