PERIOD DRAMA WEEK - QUESTIONS PART II

Welcome to the closing of the Period Drama Week! From September 4 - 10, Elegance of Fashion has celebrated period dramas. For each day of the week, there was a special post related to Period Dramas. There were games to participate in and interesting posts for you to read! 

I decided to take part in the fun and answer the questions in the Period Drama Week Tag. Have you read  Part I of my answers? (HERE)  Are you ready  for Part II now? 

Which period drama which you haven't seen yet do you most want to watch?

Aristocrats , The Forsyte Saga, The Scarlet Pimpernel

Which period drama has the prettiest soundtrack or background music?

I think the soundtrack of North & South is the best I’ve ever heard in a TV series. It is just perfect comment to unforgettable scenes. Actually there’s a movie soundtrack I really love. It is from a The Legend of 1900 (1998) by Ennio Morricone.

Tim Roth in The Legend of 1900 

Which period drama has your favourite screenplay/script? Why? 

I really can't choose one. I appreciate Andrew Davies’s  and Sandy Welch’s re-writings of classics very much. I haven’t been that demanding any longer - but I was -  since I came to the conclusion that adaptations are another person’s interpretation of the text I read or studied and they are meant to fit  a completely different form of communication (modern media, like TV or cinema) and contemporary audiences. I like Andrew Davies’s “Sense and Sensibility” (2008) and Pride and Prejudice (1995) among the many classics he re-wrote, as well as  Sandy Welch’s  Jane Eyre (2006) , Our Mutual Friend (1998), Emma (2009)  and, of course, North & South (2004). Both writers respect the texts they adapt adding their own original view , which usually contibutes to make those stories more appealing to the audience.

Toby Stephen and Ruth Wilson in Jane Eyre (2006)

The Dashwoods in Sense and Sensibility (2008) 

Do you like having multiple versions of some period dramas? Do some period dramas need a newer version? Or are the older versions better?

I collect the different adaptations of my favourite classics. I do not particularly like old stuff. I don’t know why but re-watching what I loved as a child or a teenager often disappoints me. I can’t bear dramas from 70s, I find them hilarious. I try to watch the different adaptations from different periods of the same work because it is interesting to compare them, but usually I like the newest ones better than the oldest.

 "What is the longest period drama you've seen?"

Little Dorrit (14 episodes)  and Bleak House (15 episodes) are the longest I can remember. I loved them both.

Who are your favourite actors/actresses from period drama?

Richard Armitage, Ralph Fiennes, Toby Stephens, Matthew MacFadyen, Rufus Sewell, Rupert Penry-Jones. As for actresses, just two names:  Judy Dench and Helen Mirren.

Do you prefer watching a regular-length movie or a more in-depth mini-series? Why?

I like watching both films, TV movies and series. If they are well-done, with  good cast, beautiful costumes and locations, and the right atmosphere I make no difference.

What period drama has one of your favorite actors/actresses in it?

I think you might know the answer 

Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe

 Which heroine from which movie was your least favorite? Why?

I can’t sympathize with Fanny Price from Mansfield Park, either reading the book or watching its adaptations. Too perfect, too good, too patient, too grateful. Unbelievable and unbearable. Except we decide to consider her a parody of the heroine of the 18th century sentimental novel. She’s perfect, then!

Which three period dramas are your least favorite?

I really can’t say. I always find something I like in a period film or drama but … the ones I liked the least…Let’s try to find at least 3.

 As I have recently written in one of my latest post, the one about Bridshead Revisited 2008 , I couldn’t get to the end of Bridshead Revisited 1981 . I just saw the first 2 - 3 episodes and decided it was too boring to go on watching it. I’ve never accomplished the task nor tried to watch it again.

I really don’t like American costume series like The Tudors or The Borgias. Their style in turning history into a show is something I can do without. Sex and blood at all costs, I mean.  I just saw the first series of The Tudors out of curiosity few years ago,  and recently  10-15 minutes of the pilot episode of The Borgias. It was enough to decide I’m not going to see the rest of it. It will be on Italian Sky TV in October.  They told me they are going to mention my little old town in that series as it was one of the Borgias’ homes - Pope Alexander, Cesare and Lucrezia used the top-hill fortress as their summer residence near Rome.  But this is not enough to make me change my mind. 

Thanks for reading.  And thanks to 

Elegance of Fashion for hosting this event.