PERIOD & MORE PERIOD: NEW SHOWS & OLD ACQUAINTANCES

The White Princess

Have you seen episode 1 of new Starz The White Princess? I saw and liked The White Queen when it was on, so I have been eagerly waiting for this new series which was announced as a sequel. However, I'm sure it can be seen as an indepent chapter of the tragic Cousins' War, so don't worry if you haven't seen the previous series.
I didn't expect to like The White Princess, though.  Being a Ricardian, I am supposed to watch it with a scowl, despising King Henry VII (Jacob Collins-Levy),  probably as much as Prince Elizabeth of York (Jodie Comer),  who hated him for killing her beloved uncle (and lover?), King Richard III. But just like her,  I unwillingly accepted  to grant him the chance to prove himself the rightful king of England  and I let him be just the hero of a new TV show.  Beware Henry/Jacob, you'll have a very hard task to make Elizabeth and me change our minds!
Jokes apart, I liked what I saw in the first episode: lavish, intriguing, introspective. Little history, much fiction, but good period drama. Right balance of sex & violence, intrigue & politics. Hence, green lights, Starz! (N.B. Those who are in search of historical accuracy as well as perfect 15th clothing and hair style had better look for academic essays and documentaries).

    Interview with Jodie Comer and Jacob Collins-Levy        Preview episode 2

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD - DOCTOR THORNE, TROLLOPE & FELLOWES ARE A WINNING PAIR

“Conduct! Is conduct everything? One may conduct oneself excellently, and yet break one's heart.”

I've been watching quite a bit of present-day drama series lately,  but not completely neglecting my search for good period drama. I haven't seen anything in a 19th century costume since War & Peace, actually, but being quite taken by my unmissable Wednesday nights' dates with Rev. Sidney Chambers.  I love Grantchester series 2 even more than the series 1 and, mind you, I was deeply fond of that. I have had to convert, ehm, surrender to the charms of the ginger after Outlander and Grantchester. 

We've had plenty of good series to watch, especially on Sunday nights, so you may have missed this lovely adaptation of Anthony Trollope's Doctor Thorne (book 3 in the Barsetshire Chronicles, 1858). Book 1 and 2 were adapted by BBC as The Barchester Chronicles in 1982 with a stellar cast including the late Alan Rickman.

If you were distracted by the Hiddleston/Colman vs Laurie/Hollander battle of talents in BBC One adaptation of John Le Carrè's The Night Manager and you lost Tom Hollander as the lead in Julian Fellowes's adaptation of Doctor Thorne, don't worry, you can catch up thanks to ITV online player or add the DVD to your costume drama collection. 

PERIOD & MORE PERIOD - A VERY PERIOD CHRISTMAS TIME

I'm so happy this holiday season will be pretty special.  It'll be a very period Christmas time, you know? Period as in period drama, great costume series, unforgettable emotions. Here's my holiday period calendar, which I'm glad to share with all of you. Are you ready? Bookmark this post or take notes, if you are a period drama freak like me! (for more info about the shows, click on the links below the pictures)

25th December 2015 - Call the Midwife Christmas Special 7.30 p.m. on BBC1

25th December  2015 - Downton Abbey Christmas Special and final episode ... for good! Tissues ready. ITV 1 9 p.m.

DRESS LIKE A CRAWLEY - STYLE INSPIRATION FROM THE LADIES OF DOWNTON ABBEY

If you’re anything like me, you sometimes get a little distracted while watching Downton Abbey.

It’ll be the middle of an important scene, full of subtle dramatic tension and all of a sudden, you realize that you’ve completely tuned out the dialogue because you’re studying one of the character’s outfit so closely. 

You get lost in a sea of dropped waist dresses, intricate beading and gorgeous hats.  And you’re also probably thinking, “Is there some way I can get away with dressing like I just stepped off of a sprawling Edwardian estate?” 

The answer, thankfully, is yes.  Well, sort of. 

You may not want to go whole hog period fashion, or you might risk looking costumey, but there are certainly ways you can incorporate the style into what you wear every day.

Color Me Softly

When it comes to a color palette, if you want to fit in at Downton, you should stick to soft shades.  Think colors like dusty rose, pale mint, creams, grays, lavender, and light blues.  The overall effect you’re going for is delicately feminine, so stick to muted tones as opposed to vibrant ones.  You do sometimes see the Crawley ladies in more saturated colors, but that’s only for formal occasions, and only once in a while.

Art Deco Details

The Art Deco design movement can clearly be seen in the fashion of Downton Abbey.  Everything from the jewelry to the details on dresses is inspired by the symmetrical, geometric elements seen in things like the stained glass, furniture and architecture of the time period. 

READY FOR THE DUEL? THE MUSKETEERS VS MR SELFRIDGE

Dear classic and period drama lovers,

Have you enjoyed Downton Abbey latest season? And what about Death Comes to Pemberley? I really loved them both. Don't you feel a little bit orphaned after the smartest  Sherlock series ever on screen ended last Sunday?  Brilliant,  wasn't it?

Well, this is a blessed time for us. I don't know if we are allowed to hope it'll last long, since period and costume drama series cost quite a lot and even brilliant productions have been cut off  recently. Anyhow, let's seize the moment and stop worrying for what may come.

Just today a new costume series set in 17th century premieres on BBC One. D'Artagnan and his dashing musketteers are back, ready to refresh their roguish fame in the memory of old nostalgic fans as well as to capture the enthusiasm of young new adventure lovers. BBC One's  The Musketeers has been planned as a 10-episode series, was shot in Prague and is co-produced by BBC America.

Fancy a closer look to the new, charming, Sunday night heroes?

HAPPY (PERIOD) CHRISTMAS! DOWNTON ABBEY SPECIAL & DEATH COMES TO PEMBERLEY

Happy Christmas Time, everyone and all! It'll be a happy time, I'm sure, especially for  my fellow period drama fan friends. 

Aren't you as excited as I am to know we'll find these very precious gifts under our Christmas trees?

I'm thinking of Downton Abbey Christmas Special which airs on ITV 1 tonight, 25 December,  in the U.K.  (season 4 premieres in the U.S. Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014). Are you ready for the  two- hour special episode? 

Shirley MacLaine will be back as Cora's mother and Paul Giamatti will join the cast as her brother. The episode will also feature James Fox as Lord Aysgarth, Guy Williams as King George V (the grandfather to reigning Queen Elizabeth II) and Oliver Dimsdale as the Prince of Wales (Edward VIII, Queen Elizabeth's uncle).

WATCHING TV DRAMA BETWEEN PAST AND PRESENT

I've been watching different stuff, belonging to very different genres . The recent Christmas  holidays have been the occasion to catch up on things I wanted to see but didn't have time to while working or to have a look at movies and series recommended by my blogger/facebook buddies. I'm not writing about all of them and especially not in just one post. Hence, let's see what can be relevant or recommendable. Why not to start with ...

WHAT I'VE BEEN WATCHING - THE SCAPEGOAT & WORLD WITHOUT END

I've been watching quite a bit of great period drama recently nothwistanding my very little spare time. Downton Abbey series 3 and The Paradise ended, what we've got left is ... DVDs and satellite TV. My first recommendation is a brilliant TV movie you now find on DVD, The Scapegoat (2012), first broadcast in September on ITV. Based of Daphne Du Maurier novel, this is a great adaptation, thrilling suspence from beginning to end, dark humour, unexpected twists, stellar cast, amazing performances, awesome locations and costumes.

In 1952 schoolmaster John Standing meets the aristocratic Johnny Spence,his exact double. After a night of drinking John wakes with a hang-over to find that Spence has disappeared,leaving him to substitute for him. John finds he has 'inherited' a country house with a bed-ridden,drug-addicted mother,put-upon wife Frances,scornful sister Blanche,little daughter Mary Lou and two mistresses,one married to his brother Paul. After unsuccessfully trying to explain the situation and make his escape John settles into his new identity,surprising himself with his capability

THE BATTLE OF COSTUME DRAMAS? THE BLISS OF A COSTUME DRAMA FAN!

I've been in heaven these last few weeks with two weekly dates with my beloved period dramas: The Paradise on Tuesday and Downtown Abbey on Sunday. Double pure delight! 

ITV hugely successful drama, at its third season, will be over tonight at 9 p.m. What do we have to expect? Will we see a series 4? Will the prequel we heard about take its place instead? Let's wait and see: ITV has found a gold mine in this successful   show, I'm sure they won't let it down so soon.

BBC1 The Paradise, on the other hand, is totally new and will go on for two weeks more. It has been recently announced that a second season has been commissioned after the rewarding viewing figures (average audience of 5.9 million viewers) for the first one. And I'm terribly happy to hear that. 

What has happened to me is that I've been won by the new BBC1 series loosely based on Zola 's "Au Bonheur des Dames" , by its different setting (a 19th century department store in an unnamed town in the North of England) and by its new characters. So,  I  started waiting for Tuesdays more eagerly  than for Sundays. Mr Moray and his little champion Denise , Miss Audrey and Edmund Lovett, Pauline and Sam, Clara and Mr Dudley, Young Arthur and Mr Jonas have definitely conquered my heart. Did I forget anyone? Oh, yes, Miss Glendenning and her father. Maybe, it is not casual, since they are not exactly my best favourite characters, as you may have guessed. 

NEW (COSTUME) DRAMA SERIES ON TV: PARADE'S END, THE PARADISE, DOWNTON ABBEY THREE AND AN AMERICAN SHERLOCK, ELEMENTARY.

Parade's End

It's been I while since I last posted about period drama or TV series. I hope you haven't been thinking that I have been neglecting one of my passions,  because I haven't. I have been watching several new series in fact, only I didn't have time to write about them. For example,  I watched all the five episodes of BBC2 Parade's End starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Adelaide Clemens, Rebecca Hall, Rufus Sewell and Rupert Everett among other great actors and actresses.

Adelaide Clemens as Miss Wannop

Tom Stoppard's adaptation of Ford Madox Ford's tetralogy,  Parade's End,  was broadcast on BB2 in September. The 5-episode series is intelligent, refined TV drama that I hope you'll come to see and appreciate sooner or later. I am not a huge fan of Mr Cumberbatch 's male charms but I do recognize his talent as an actor. I love his voice and his cerebral performances, especially as Sherlock, but I didn't watch this drama especially for him.  While I liked the series very much for its themes and its brilliant script (not an easy task to adapt modernist prose), and loved the costumes and beautiful locations as well, I couldn't sympathize with its hero. Not Mr Cumberbatch's fault, mind you,  but ChristopherTietjens's uprightness, stiffness and stubborness didn't let me feel any tenderness nor sympathy for the martyr of society he wanted to become. 

BAFTA TV AWARDS TONIGHT - WILL MY FAVOURITES WIN THIS TIME?

Richard Armitage & Miranda Raison (Baftas 2009)

The Bafta  TV Awards Ceremony is tonight at the Southbank Centre in London. It will be broadcast on BBC1 from 8.00 p.m. Here are all  the nominees in the different categories.

I've always followed this event with curiosity and great expectations in the last few years hoping my favourite series and actors won. Though has never actually happened. it was worth it all the same since,  at least,  I got new pictures, videos and some times interviews of Richard Armitage taking part in the ceremony, though only to give the prize to someone else (on the left)

I'll have a look at the show on BBC1 tonight to support Dame Maggie Smith and Benedict Cumberbatch, hoping they get the recognition they deserve.

They've been nominated as Best Leading Actress and Best Leading Actor respectively for their roles as Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham in Downton Abbey (ITV 1) and Sherlock Holmes in BBC1 Sherlock. 

Sherlock series 2 has been already honoured with three BAFTA TV Craft Awards: Sherlock won awards for best sound: fiction, best editing  fiction and best writer (Steven Moffat  for the wonderful A Scandal in Belgravia). 

LOVE, SEX AND FAIRY-TALES

Mirror, Mirror

Hysteria

Can love, sex and fairy-tales be featured all together in one post? Yes, why not? If that's the movies I've watched at the cinema or on TV recently are about, it is just inevitable and obvious. Let's start with love in a contemporary fairy-tale (with sex but only hinted at ) I saw on ITV. Love Life is a modern-day fairy-tale broadcast few weeks ago. Why did I watch it? Do you recognize this young Brit bloke?

Rob James-Collier as Joe in Love Life

Not a clue? Maybe you remember him with slicked back hair, a bow tie and tails.

FRIDAY NIGHT MISCELLANEOUS POSTING - ON LOVE LETTERS, ANGELS, POETRY AND MORE

It's been a while since my last miscellaneous post. But, today has been such a full day, so intense and tiring that ...I can't simply stop now, nor close my eyes and sleep yet,  though it's nearly midnight. So, maybe to share some of my thoughts and emotions of the last 24 hours can help me to relax. 

Let's start from ... last night, more or less this time last night.

I'd been quite unwell yesterday, a virus's conspiracy against my poor digestive system has knocked me down for a while and being in bed all day but not fit enough to read or write, I re-watched some old stuff (ehm... not saying what, try to guess) and watched the latest episode of a new ITV1 series. I turned off my husband's iPad just at midnight, after the episode finished in fact. 

I started watching this new series because it was set  in York and I was curious to see the beautiful city I visited in July filmed on TV. Then,  I went on watching it trying to understand whether I liked it or not. 

Eternal Law is the title of the series, have you seen it? Sam West, Orla Brady, Tobias Menzies, Hattie Morahan are the other reasons why I got to see last night's episode too. However, I'm still undecisive on my response after 4 episodes. York is stunning, the cast is of first quality but ... the storyline hasn't convinced me, hasn't won me. Written by the same writers as Ashes to Ashes, though it features extraordinary winged beings like angels ... it doesn't fly. I'll watch the next two episodes and then ... the verdict, your Honour.  

I'VE SEEN DOWNTON ABBEY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Downton Abbey - Christmas Special

No spoilers, I'll resist the strong  temptation to tell you everything. And to do it, I won't write much, don't worry. I really don't want to spoil the pleasure for you to discover how this second season of Downton Abbey will end. It was a very good episode, full of emotions and great moments. I liked it very much. Brilliant finale! You will laugh, be moved and ... caught in the snowy, magical, festive atmosphere at Downton. A wonderful Christmas gift!  If you loved the first two series you won't be disappointed by this Christmas special. May I say just one little, little thing? No major spoiler promise: I missed the newly married couple. I hoped they were joining the family at least at the end of the episode. 

However, get ready to more scathing lines from Dame Maggie Smith, to be on the edge of your seat for Mr Bates facing trial for murder, to see an incredible Servants' Ball, to smile at Matthew dancing with Miss O'Brien and Mrs Patmore, to admire Lord Grantham more and more, to see someone throw a punch on someone else's face, to enjoy a dreamy finale under the snow.

Matthew and Mary's fate, you ask? I promise no spoilers, do you remember? Mr Bates and Ann? Wait and see.  There's a third series coming, you know? 

They'll start shooting it in February. Until next year then, for series 3!  And , by the way, at the end of the episode, they presented the trailer of the new costume drama written by  Julian Fellowes coming soon (in spring, they said) on ITV: Titanic. Are you going to watch it? 

SPOOKS vs DOWNTON ABBEY - WHO WON THE MATCH IN THE END?

Everybody knows the answer now: Just look at the figures... Anyway, I promised in one of my previous posts (HERE) that after watching both series, I'd tell you which MY winner between Spooks 10 and Downton Abbey 2 was . Before they started broadcasting the new series, if asked to choose between them,  I would answer ... like someone else (HERE): that it was a real dilemma to me. Now Spooks has finished and we won't be asked to choose any longer. Only, am I really eager to see the  next season of Downton Abbey? *****Full of doubts. *****

Spooks has been one of my best favourite TV shows for so long and it remained such till its very end,  a couple of weeks ago.
Downton Abbey attracted my attention last year in November while I was in London because the Christmas DVD box or its publicity was almost everywhere. My fondness for period drama didn't let me resist. I had to see it! And it was a very pleasant discovery: amusing, light, well-acted, beautiful faces, beautiful costumes and locations.

Now, first of all I think it was tremendously unfair and unjust to broadcast the two series on the same day and at the same time,  so this resulting rivalry is the absurd consequence of that big mistake.
Secondly, I know that  it  may sound  incorrect  to compare such different produtcts since they actually were/are basically different in so many aspects. But BBC and ITV wanted,  if not a duel, a match. So, let's give them one.

WHAT I'VE BEEN WATCHING - SONS & LOVERS (2003)

"From his mother he drew the life warmth, the strength to produce; Miriam urged this warmth into intensity like a white light" (from chapt. 7)

I've finally watched this two-part series I have had on my TBW list for a while. To remind me of it,  my watching "A Dangerous Method" in Rome last week.  It is 2003 ITV adaptation of D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers, an autobiographical novel based on his own early life, in particular his close relationship with his middle-class  mother in comparison with his father, a mineworker. At the time of writing the book, Lawrence was probably reading/studying Freud though he always denied the influence. Indeed the book is often regarded as a meditation on the workings of the Oedipus complex, but it is in its own right an accomplished novel which goes beyond its specific biographical and theoretical references. Lawrence himself defined it as a tragedy, "the tragedy of thousands of young men in England".

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.