HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND WITH GREAT PERIOD DRAMA SERIES: LABYRINTH AND THE VILLAGE

Labyrinth (Channel 4 )

Jessica Brown Findlay, John Hurt, Vanessa Kirby, Emun Elliott, Tom Felton, Sebastian Stan star in a two-part thilller adapted from Kate Mosse's bestselling novel, linking the lives of two women born centuries apart: Labyrinth. Already broadcast in different countries, Labyrinth will be on British Channel 4 on Saturday March 30th and Sunday March 31st, 9 pm.

Emun Elliott and Tom Felton

Jessica Brown Findlay is the protagonist of the moving romance subplot with Emun Elliott. You may remember them as the protagonists of two popular costume series, respectively Downton Abbey (Lady Sybil) and The Paradise (Mr Moray) . Romance is only one of the elements in this epic mini-series produced by Ridley Scott and shot between South Africa and France with an international cast. It is a historical thriller with a gripping plot based on real historical events like the Crusade against the Catars.

COMEDY AND COMEDIANS, TRYING TO MAKE LIFE LIGHTER. THREESOME + ME & MRS JONES

I've been watching comedy. Something definitely unusual for me. Fact is that my wish for escapism is growing fast and furious. I'm getting rather anxious lately. The passing of time can be fairly depressing by itself (remember Mrs Dalloway?), add people around you aging and being unwell and the situation can become quite distressing; add three men at home = no help, no sympathy;  friends? taken by thousands of big litlle problems just like yours,  they may seem really distant though near. Hence,  what can one do? Trying to escape. Where to?  Into a lighter world made up of  surreal situations and hilarious events, absurd characters and funny anecdotes. Laughing can be the cure. Sometimes.

SHAKESPEARE & MEDIEVAL HISTORY ON BBC . GREAT DRAMA ONLINE.

Ben Winshaw as Richard II

Stellar cast for four Shakespearean  Histories 

BBC's  2012 schedule sounds quite interesting, even intriguing  for someone who loves costume drama and ancient history. BBC2  commissioned 4 films for their Shakespeare season  as part of the BBC’s contribution to the London 2012 Festival and the Cultural Olympiad. The four Shakespeare films will encompass  Richard II, Henry IV (part I and II), Henry V.

GOOD TV DRAMA & BRITISH LITERARY TRADITION: SHERLOCK 2 AND TREASURE ISLAND

Collage from Enchanted Serenity of Period Films

It's not a secret I greatly appreciate British TV drama. Their productions are mostly very good, especially those revisiting the literary classics. Well, also modern drama is sometimes brilliant . I loved Spooks very much , for instance,  but I also liked the Moving On series,  The Hour, A Single Father. I started watching British TV or buying DVDs  for my interest in period drama, a genre in which they are masters,   especially when it comes to adaptations of  classics. And this is what they are amazing at : adapting their classics  respecting their literary tradition. Something we totally lack on our TV here in Italy. I've seen so many beautiful series in the last three years: Austen's novels adaptations were brilliant, but also Gaskell and Eliot, Dickens and Thomas Hardy among others. My best favourite quite recent classic series are The Buccaneers, Our Mutual Friend, Daniel Deronda, North and South, Wives and Daughter,  Middlemarch, Jane Eyre 2006, Bleak House,

MY SPOOKS 10 JOURNAL - DAY THREE: TENDER IS ... DIMITRI.

Max Brown as Dimitri

My task is not an easy one indeed! Saying and not saying to avoid spoiling the pleasure of discovering the details by yourself. Hence, again, go on reading only if you have already seen this episode of Spooks or if you don't mind spoilers.

MY SPOOKS 10 JOURNAL - DAY ONE

Monday Sept. 19  4.55 p.m. 

(Spoilers? Mmmm...maybe)
Just finished watching ep. 1 . How was it? But very good, of course. It’s Spooks!

I forced myself to avoid thinking it was the end of it. The last series ever. I forced myself not to be expecting a certain TDH presence to materialize  before my hopeful eyes sooner or later. No athletic , blue-eyed  spy  in tight jeans and dark shirts to admire this time.  

Now, new series, episode 1. Let’s start from … THE END!  Gosh , they’ll never finish with their shocks  and surprises! 

 Apart from the game  "Old enemies , new friends. Old friends,  new enemies",  Harry’s past . I suspected it, honestly. Before the final revelation. Harry and that young man in the same room, the young man  aiming a gun at him. More than suspected it, I got it immediately. Good! These ghosts haunting Harry from his past sound quite intriguing.

SPOOKS vs DOWNTON ABBEY - WHO WILL WIN THE MATCH?

What will you be watching on Sunday night, 9 p.m., in the UK? British audience is asked to choose between  the last series ever of BBC spy drama Spooks and the new episodes of hugely successful ITV period drama, Downton Abbey. A real duel between two popular shows, one at its epilogue, the other at its second season . I would be facing a serious dilemma if I had to choose. So, for once, I'm happy not to live in the UK and to be releaved from the burden. What will you do, instead? BBC1 or ITV1? 

I'm very sad for the end of Spooks. I've seen every single episode in all the series, some of them on Italian satellite pay-tv and the rest on DVD.

Due to my fondness for Brit actor Richard Armitage, you can imagine how incredibly happy I was when, in 2007,  he joined the cast as Lucas North. The last three series (7/8/9)  have been my favourite so far, with the unforgettable first one starring Matthew MacFadyen as Tom Quinn.

Now after a decade of killing off its cast members one by one,  Spooks is being killed off itself.

AT HOME WITH THE GEORGIANS - DISCOVERING LIFE BEYOND LITERATURE AND ARCHITECTURE

It 's been as gripping as a good period drama, as intriguing as a mystery story, as delightful as an Austen adaptation. A pleasant surprise. Living history, actually.

Watching this three-part series presented by Professor Amanda Vickery, based on her Behind Close Doors and fortunately available as a DVD, has been incredibly interesting. 

As a fond reader of historical fiction, as a student (I feel I still have so much to learn!)  and teacher of English literature, I watched it with extreme pleasure and curiosity. Professor Vickery's  descriptions of homes were mingled to the narration of real lives, through the reading of diaries and letters,  and that made everything  realistic and really involving. Professor Vickery is an entertaining, smart story - teller.
Furthermore, in my mind, the lives and experiences of real individuals found parallels in many fictional characters' lives. I  went on thinking of Jane Austen,  of course. Impossible not to think about her own real life or about the world she created in her work while watching.