A Place to Call Home–Australian period drama (mid-1950s) that is basically a soap with a lot of plot twists and turns but with good acting and production values–my now 80-year-old mom got me into this. 4 seasons in the can and another one on the way.
Home Fires: British series centered around a number of female characters living in a rural village during the Battle of Britain. Unfortunately only two seasons done and now apparently cancelled by ITV, but follow up novels by the series writers are on the way.
Anyone got others besides big names like Downton Abbey and such?
Brideshead Revisited with young jeremy irons, anthony andrews, olivier, gielgud - it was the downton abbey of 1981. 10th on the BFI top 100, which is a great place to look for quality tv from years past.
Call the Midwife. Based on an actual midwife’s experience in Britain after WWII. In its 4th season. I’ve enjoyed all of them. I’m surprised I never heard of A Place to Call Home. If your 80 year old mom liked it, I probably will too. Will check it out.
It’s a little cheesy, but I really love Grantchester, with James Norton and Robson Green as a priest/amateur sleuth and a detective inspector, respectively, solving crimes and being super-charming in what must be the most dangerous town per capita in Britain. Series 3 is just airing now in the UK and doesn’t hit PBS til June but the first two series are available on Amazon Prime.
About the only thing I watch on PBS these days are the endless reruns of the sitcom Moone Boy with Chris O’Dowd, which will make you nostalgic for growing up in 1990s Northern Ireland even if you didn’t.
Other than that Wolf Hall is excellent. It’s about the marriages of Henry VIII … yeah, I know, but it’s not a Tudors-style bodice-ripping soap. Think of it as a 16th century slow-burn, history-based mix of House of Cards and the Sopranos.
I’ll second this. We also like the Father Brown mysteries, though they are pretty cheesy. Still, they are one-hour cozy mysteries and there’s no real ongoing storyline of consequence so it’s sort of like watching Law and Order. Each episode stands on its own.
Bletchly Circle was very good too. I’m sorry it was cancelled. Oh, Doc Martin can be fun, though I’ve only watched it sporadically.
It goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway – Sherlock.
I’ve watched all of Grantchester so far and love it-glad to hear that there’s a season 3 on the way–and I’ve watched the new Poldark as well (also has a Season 3 coming). I’m old enough to remember watching the old 1970’s Poldark as a young teen.
Wolf Hall I think I caught the first episode of–pretty good but bleak–makes one so happy to live now vs then for so many reasons.
I’ve got to make a point of watching The Bletchley Circle and Call the Midwife.
Agreed. The story and characters are compelling, and the cast is crazy good. Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis are the standouts, but also Jonathan Pryce and Claire Foy, and even Mark “Sherlock’s smarter older brother” Gatiss in a small role.
I enjoyed the Bletchly Circle, too. Sorry to hear it didn’t get picked up for a third season. Did PBS ever broadcast the second one?
Grantchester is sudsy, but features the manliest, shirt-taking-off-iest priest in all of Europe. Apparently, the original books were inspired by Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury, who, before he decided to be an Archbishop, was busy being a tank commander and blowing up Nazis in World War 2.
I was surprised by how much I liked Victoria, admittedly largely because of Jenna Coleman. Nothing like the drama in Wolf Hall, though.
Frontline is a given. So good. Its topics are often discussed in Politics and Religion, whereas some of the fiction shows mentioned here never get a mention for some reason, because they’re not about superheroes I guess. ;p I kid, I kid! I watch the Gothams and Daredevils and Supergirls along with all the rest.
Another shout-out to Victoria here, BTW. I’ve never been a big Dr. Who watcher so I didn’t know her from there but Coleman pulled it off well. I wonder how many seasons are planned and when/whether they’ll be going to a different actress for the role.
You’re welcome. It is pretty good, apart from the total absence of Australian aboriginal characters (something that The Doctor Blake Mysteries–another series set in the 1950s–handles a bit better).
