Period Dramas
List activity
558 views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
160 titles
- StarsJonathan PryceKathy BurkeMinnie DriverBased on the novel novel by Jane Rogers, the series follows the stories of seven young women who came to live and serve in the household of 19th century cult leader John Wroe.
- DirectorSheree FolksonStarsEugene SimonImelda StauntonChris LanghamAn English family relocates to sunny Greece four years before WWII.
- StarsEddie RedmayneClémence PoésyMatthew GoodeAs an English soldier fights in the horrific trenches of northern France, he is haunted by the memories of his forbidden love affair with a French woman.
- StarsAnna Maxwell MartinDavid MorrisseyPenelope WiltonIn 1930s Yorkshire, a spirited new headmistress brings inspiration and modern ideas to an all girls' school and shakes up the more conservative-minded residents of South Riding.
- StarsBertie CarvelEddie MarsanMarc WarrenIn an alternate history, during the time of real life Napoleonic Wars, two men of destiny, the gifted recluse Mr. Norrell and daring spellcasting novice Jonathan Strange, use magic to help England.
- CreatorRonan BennettKit HaringtonDaniel WestStarsKit HaringtonLiv TylerEdward HolcroftRobert Catesby leads Guy Fawkes a group of English Catholic traitors plan to blow up the Palace Of Westminster and kill King James I in the infamous Gunpowder Plot.
- StarsRomola GaraiChris O'DowdAmanda HaleSet in 1870s London, a young prostitute finds potential power and status after becoming the mistress of a powerful patriarch.
- StarsHermione NorrisOona ChaplinRichard RankinDuring the First World War, Kitty Trevelyan tries to put the past troubles behind her as she joins two other girls to volunteer at one of the busy war hospitals in northern France.
- CreatorMoira BuffiniAlison NewmanStarsLesley ManvilleKate FleetwoodHolli DempseyBrothel owner Margaret Wells struggles to raise her daughters in London during the 18th century.
- StarsRufus SewellRupert GravesCharlie Creed-MilesThe chronicle of Charles II's time on the throne, his ten-year exile from Oliver Cromwell's England, and his triumphant return.
- In 1567, Mary, Queen of Scots, and lover Bothwell conspire to kill the king consort; in 1605, Catholic usurpers plot against Mary's son, King James I.
- StarsAnne-Marie DuffSienna GuilloryIan HartFrom teenage princess to accomplished queen, torn between duty and personal longing, the reign of Elizabeth I is exposed in this lavish drama filmed against a backdrop of some of Great Britain's most beautiful houses and landscapes.
- StarsBen ChaplinCharlotte RileyNora WaldstättenThe English town of Kingsbridge works to survive as the King leads the nation into the Hundred Years' War with France while Europe deals with the outbreak of the Black Death.
- DirectorPete TravisStarsRay WinstoneJoss AcklandSid MitchellTwo part mini-series documenting the stormy thirty-eight-year reign of King Henry VIII.
- StarsGlenda JacksonRonald HinesRobert HardyWhen Elizabeth Tudor comes to the throne, her (male) advisers know she has to marry. Doesn't she? Thus starts a decades-long political/matrimonial game, during an age of high passions and high achievement.
- DirectorCharles JarrottStarsVanessa RedgraveGlenda JacksonPatrick McGoohanDuring the sixteenth century, the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots engages in over two decades of religious and political conflict with her cousin, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England, amidst political intrigue in her native land.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsBrad PittMarion CotillardJared HarrisIn 1942, a Canadian intelligence officer in North Africa encounters a female French Resistance fighter on a deadly mission behind enemy lines. When they reunite in London, their relationship is tested by the pressures of war.
- DirectorAgnieszka HollandStarsEd HarrisDiane KrugerMatthew GoodeA fictionalized account of the last year of Beethoven's life.
- DirectorPatrice LeconteStarsRebecca HallAlan RickmanRichard MaddenA romantic drama set in Germany just before WWI and centered on a married woman who falls in love with her husband's protégé. Separated first by duties and then by the war, they pledge their devotion to one another.
- DirectorChristopher MorahanStarsPeter EganJennifer Caron HallHattie MorahanIt's 1959, and a widowed official with the United Nations in Delhi, India brings his two daughters from England to live with him. Tension between 15-year old Una and Alix, a Eurasian woman acting as governess soon erupts, as Una suspects her father's motives. Una turns to an Indian poet for solace and her involvement with him leads to complications that upset the household.
- StarsJamie DornanJeremy NorthamJoe DempsieThe 1680s bring a new King, Restoration, and more tyranny. In Massachusetts, a robber's son falls for an anti-monarchist. In England, a young lady falls for an outlaw.
- StarsGeorgia FloodAntonia PrebbleLaura BrentThe true stories of extraordinary young women who witness the brutality and heroism of war and rise to meet the challenge.
- StarsIan McShaneMatthew MacfadyenEddie RedmayneSet against a backdrop of war, religious strife and power struggles which tears lives and families apart.
- CreatorSteve ThompsonStarsJessica RaineSamuel BottomleyHans MathesonIn the Yorkshire Dales in the 1870s, the shantytown of Jericho is the home of a community that will live, thrive and die in the shadow of the viaduct they've been brought together to build.
- CreatorJimmy McGovernStarsOrla BradyEwen BremnerMyAnna BuringBritish convicts have been sent to Australia as punishment for their crimes. As they try to live their new lives, they have to live with the new rules. The soldiers also have to adjust.
- StarsNaomi BattrickMax BeesleyClaire CoxA drama about English settlers in America in 1617.
- DirectorPete TravisStarsJim BroadbentJack HollingtonSamuel JoslinAn elderly man pieces together his childhood memories after finding his diary from 1900, which he wrote when he was 13 years old.
- DirectorThomas ImbachStarsCamille RutherfordMehdi DehbiSean BiggerstaffA queen who lost three kingdoms. A wife who lost three husbands. A woman who lost her head.
- DirectorCharles JarrottStarsVanessa RedgraveGlenda JacksonPatrick McGoohanDuring the sixteenth century, the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots engages in over two decades of religious and political conflict with her cousin, the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England, amidst political intrigue in her native land.
- StarsJames MaxwellBruce HodgkinsNorma WestA series recording the key events in the reign of Henry Tudor and his founding of the Tudor Dynasty
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsKeith MichellDonald PleasenceCharlotte RamplingOn his deathbed, King Henry VIII looks back over his eventful life and his six marriages.
- StarsHelen MirrenToby JonesHugh DancyMini-series about the the public and private lives of the later years of Queen Elizabeth I.
- StarsVahina GiocanteAleksey GuskovViktoriya IsakovaA sex icon becomes a spy during one of the most important wars of the 20th century.
- StarsJosine van DalsumSiem VroomJan TeulingsExotic dancer Mata Hari is arrested on suspicion of treason. Before her trial she is questioned thoroughly reveals her life story from her childhood in Zeeland, her marriage in Indonesia and her success and espionage in France.
- StarsBill KerrDorothy AlisonDale RandallFour part biopic about classic Australian author A.B. Facey (1894-1982). Born in a large impoverished family, uneducated and illiterate, he had to fend for himself since he was eight, and as a recruit in WWI, he was sent to Gallipoli.
- StarsSam NeillMichael BryantNorman RodwayA dramatization of the missions and adventures of the greatest spy in British history.
- StarsTom MiltonMyles PollardAdam T PerkinsThe epic story of Australia and the First World War is revealed through the lives of five Australians and their transformative journeys through conflict on the battlefront and on the home front.
- StarsIdo DrentEsther StephensGareth WilliamsThe story follows a New Zealand family at the outbreak of WWI, from optimism to despair as war's toll mounts. It chronicles their experiences on the homefront and battlefields of Gallipoli and Egypt.
- StarsCiara BaxendaleBen-Ryan DaviesSophie WrightChildren's Drama set during the First World War in which a 14 year old girl forms an army of misfit kids to hunt for spies.
- StarsPatrick GibsonJack LowdenHubert BurtonAn epic historical drama spanning the five years of the First World War, as seen through the eyes of two ordinary young soldiers.
- StarsEva-Marie BeckerVarij EkelundDramdocumentary based on letters and journals, many of which have never been published before, this tells the story of 1914-18 solely through the eyes of those who lived through it. Bringing together 25 broadcasters from around the world, this is television's global event for the centennial of World War I.In 1914, most people's knowledge of war comes from schoolbooks and newspapers. But when the heir to the Austrian throne is killed in Sarajevo, the system of alliances runs its inevitable course. Featuring the stories of a Scottish auxiliary nurse who accompanies the British army to Belgium as a matter of national Honor, a young Cossack girl who follows her father into battle, a German mother who endures the untimely death of her only son, a French schoolboy who witnesses his country under occupation, a German schoolgirl who is forbidden to use French words in class, and an English journalist whose age is held against him. Their diaries focus on what archive and historical analysis cannot reveal: personal tragedy, love, happiness, pain and grief. Through glorious dramatic reconstruction viewers experience the greatest war mankind had ever seen, not from the perspective of what it was, but of what it was like from within. Great War Diaries reveals the simple human experience of 1914-18, unsullied by historical interpretation.
- DirectorJames KentStarsAlicia VikanderKit HaringtonTaron EgertonA British woman recalls coming of age during World War I - a story of young love, the futility of war, and how to make sense of the darkest times.
- StarsCheryl CampbellEmrys JamesJane WenhamVera Brittain's world falls to pieces around her as, one by one, the young men of her circle are caught up in the Great War.
- StarsAlex JenningsJoss AcklandIan BannenFour-part drama about a writer recruited into espionage work by British intelligence during the First World War. Based on the writings of Somerset Maugham.
- StarsColin FirthJohn CastleGillian BevanIn 1913, young Richard Herncastle joins his Uncle Nick's magic act and is introduced to the enchanted world of the British music hall. Travelling from one city to the next, assisting at conjuring acts and disappearing acts, Richard comes to know romance, politics, and high adventure. The next year, in a true and terrifying vanishing act, the guns of August blast away that world forever.
- DirectorMarius A. MarkeviciusStarsBel PowleyLisa Loven KongsliMartin WallströmIn 1941, a 16-year-old aspiring artist and her family are deported to Siberia amidst Stalin's brutal dismantling of the Baltic region. One girl's passion for art and her never-ending hope will break the silence of history.
- StarsNigel HaversGlyn HoustonPrunella RansomeHaving been invalided out of the Boer War, Paul Craddock buys Shallowford, a manor house and estate in Devon, with money from his late father's scrap-yard business. He soon becomes a much-respected "Squire" who is determined to treat all his tenant farmers fairly, unlike his predecessor.
- DirectorPat O'ConnorStarsChris O'DonnellMinnie DriverGeraldine O'RaweThree women, who've been friends since childhood, meet at university in Dublin in 1957. Student and boyfriend life begins.
- StarsTamara LawranceHayley AtwellAyesha AntoineAn adaptation of the award-winning novel by Andrea Levy. Set during the final days of slavery in 19th century Jamaica, following the trials, tribulations and survival of July and her odious mistress Caroline on a sugar plantation.
- DirectorMilos FormanStarsJames CagneyElizabeth McGovernHoward E. Rollins Jr.A young black pianist becomes embroiled in the lives of an upper-class white family set among the racial tensions, infidelity, violence and other nostalgic events in early 1900s New York City.
- DirectorIsabel CoixetStarsEmily MortimerBill NighyHunter TremayneEngland 1959. In a small East Anglian town, Florence Green decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop.
- DirectorLydia Dean PilcherGinny MohlerStarsJoey KingAbby QuinnCara SeymourIn the 1920s a group of factory workers advocate for safer work conditions after some of their colleagues become ill from radium exposure.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsJulia OrmondAngourie RiceRachael TaylorThe lives of a group of department store employees in 1959 Sydney.
- StarsNeil DudgeonGeorge AntonBoyd GainesStories of the men of the RAF Hornet Squadron during the early days of World War II.
- StarsNatasha LittleFrances GreyPhilip GlenisterAn adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray's classic story of parvenue Becky Sharp's rise from obscure and humble origins to her subsequent ignominious fall from Society; set against the backdrop of Regency England and continental Europe during the Napoleonic War.
- CreatorGwyneth HughesStarsMichael PalinOlivia CookeTom BatemanAn adaptation of the 1848 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray.
- StarsMatthew MacfadyenHayley AtwellPhilippa CoulthardThe social and class divisions in early 20th century England through the intersection of three families - the wealthy Wilcoxes, the gentle and idealistic Schlegels and the lower-middle class Basts.
- DirectorJames IvoryStarsAnthony HopkinsEmma ThompsonVanessa RedgraveSet in the early 20th century, class distinctions and troubled relations affect the relationship between two families and the ownership of a cherished British estate known as Howards End.
- StarsRomola GaraiMichael GambonJonny Lee MillerEmma Woodhouse, a wealthy young woman living in the early 19th century, whose misplaced confidence in her matchmaking abilities occasions several romantic misadventures, which leads her into deeper meanings of love and life
- DirectorJames HawesStarsHelena Bonham CarterMatthew MacfadyenDenis LawsonEdwardian child Enid Blyton begins to tell stories to her brothers as an escape from their parents' rows before the father deserts the family. While training as a teacher after the Great War she sends her stories to publishers; one of them, Hugh Pollock, takes her on and also marries her. They have two daughters, but Enid is a terrible mother, letting a nanny raise them while she, ironically, is bestowing treats on anonymous children who worship her for her stories. She is completely self-absorbed,driving Hugh to drink and then to another woman. Enid uses the children as emotional blackmail to get a divorce on her terms before marrying Kenneth Waters, a weak man similar to her father. After World War Two she is as popular as ever, despite accusations of using a syndicate to pen her books, and she carries on, adored by children who do not know her true nature, for another 20 years before her death in 1968.
- DirectorAdrian ShergoldStarsSally HawkinsAlice KrigeAnthony HeadAnne was in love with Frederick, who was rejected by her snobby parents 8 years ago. They've now hit hard times and rent out their mansion to his brother-in-law. He returns a Royal Navy captain. Will he remember Anne?
- DirectorReverge AnselmoStarsKirsten DunstJulie WaltersGeraldine JamesA younger boy falls in love with a tragic girl who flirts with, and manipulates, her older suitors in 1800s Russia.
- DirectorArmando IannucciStarsDev PatelHugh LaurieTilda SwintonA modern take on Charles Dickens's classic tale of a young orphan who is able to triumph over many obstacles.
- StarsPaul McGannKeeley HawesDominic MafhamIntertwining tales of love, greed, and secret identities in Charles Dickens's 1860s London.
- StarsEdward FoxAlice KrigeJohn Rhys-DaviesA dramatisation of two generations of the Strauss family of Vienna, whose dance music and operettas dominated much of Europe and beyond for most of the 19th century.
- DirectorGregory HoblitStarsChristien AnholtAndre BraugherDan FuttermanThree West Point 1861 generation cadets and friends go on opposite sides after the breakout of The Civil War, with tragic consequences. A subplot involves Lucius, a Shelby Peyton's slave, who kills a slave trader and goes on the run.
- DirectorStephen PoliakoffStarsCharles DanceClive OwenMiranda RichardsonPaul Reisner, a young doctor, becomes a researcher in a prestigious medical institute. He feels he has a chance to be part of a movement of unending progress in science and civilization. Then he begins to discover the dark side of the institute, which foreshadows the dark side of the 20th century.
- DirectorJohn-Paul DavidsonStarsAlan BatesTheresa RussellStingSir Hugo (Sir Alan Bates) is more interested in reconstructing dinosaur bones than in paying attention to his wife, Lady Harriet (Theresa Russell). He's not thrilled when daughter Cleo (Lena Headey) brings home her betrothed, Sidney (Steven Mackintosh), who aspires to be a poet. The new butler, Fledge (Sting), provides Lady Harriet with the attention she's been missing, and then seduces Sidney. Did he have a role in Sidney's disappearance as well?
- DirectorKirk BrowningStarsSally KellermanVictor GriffinHarris LaskawyBased on Dorothy Parker's short story, Big Blonde is about a free-spirited young woman in 1920s New York who marries a traveling salesman, only discover that she's made a terrible mistake.
- DirectorMichael Caton-JonesStarsMatthew ModineEric StoltzTate DonovanIn 1943, the crew of a B-17 based in the UK prepares for its 25th and final bombing mission over Germany before returning home to the USA.
- DirectorMichael AustinStarsPhoebe CatesJim BroadbentWendy HughesA mysterious young woman speaking a strange language shows up in an English village, where she is taken in by aristocrats who assume she is a foreign princess
- DirectorRobert MarkowitzStarsLaurence FishburneAllen PayneMalcolm-Jamal WarnerThe true story of how a group of African-American pilots overcame racist opposition to become one of the finest United States fighter groups in World War II.
- DirectorPeter YatesStarsJohn LithgowBob HoskinsIsabella RosselliniAdapted from the work of Miguel de Cervantes, this is the story of a hidalgo, fanatic for chivalry novels, who loses his sanity and believing to be a knight named Don Quixote de La Mancha, decides to go on imaginary adventures along with his friend, the simple farmer Sancho Panza, who becomes his squire. On their journeys, they rescue dames in distress in honorable acts and fight giants among other perils, with Don longing to be with the love of his life, lady Dulcinea, and Sancho waiting to be rewarded with an island where he's about to become a governor.
- DirectorWolfgang StorchStarsRichard E. GrantMarie BunelMarion Bunel"But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." Experiences in a kibbutz, it sets up a stage in describing the historical roots of the conflict between Arabs and Jewish settlers in the British ruled Palestine.
- DirectorBob RafelsonStarsPatrick BerginIain GlenRichard E. GrantThe legendary true-story of Capt. Richard Francis Burton and Lt. John Hanning Speke's tumultuous expedition to find the source of the Nile river.
- DirectorPhilip KaufmanStarsFred WardUma ThurmanMaria de MedeirosAnaïs Nin meets American writer Henry Miller in Paris in 1931. She keeps a diary of her sexual awakening, which includes Henry and his wife June.
- DirectorGareth DaviesStarsFrank FinlayRichard E. GrantCathryn HarrisonSir Arthur Conan Doyle goes to a medium who calls up the ghost of his fictional character Sherlock Holmes, who accuses him of betrayal.
- DirectorRichard EyreStarsMaggie SmithRob LoweGillian RaineThe only son of wealthy widow Violet Venable dies while on vacation with his cousin Catherine. What the girl saw was so horrible that she went insane; now Mrs. Venable wants Catherine lobotomized to cover up the truth.
- DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsDaniel Day-LewisMichelle PfeifferWinona RyderA tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is engaged to the woman's cousin.
- StarsHarriet WalterBill PatersonAlan BatesIn the first part of this adaptation by Peter Barnes, we are introduced to Tom and Louisa.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsNicole KidmanJohn MalkovichBarbara HersheyAn American girl inherits a fortune and falls into a misguided relationship with a gentleman confidence artist whose true nature, including a barbed and covetous disposition, turns her life into a nightmare.
- DirectorTrevor NunnStarsHelena Bonham CarterRichard E. GrantImogen StubbsShakespeare's comedy of gender confusion, in which a girl disguises herself as a man to be near the count she adores, only to be pursued by the woman he loves.
- DirectorPhilippe RousselotStarsEwan McGregorGreta ScacchiPete PostlethwaiteIn England, during the 17th-century, a Dutch garden architect (Ewan McGregor, "Moulin Rouge!") is drawn into a web of passion and treachery after being hired by a wealthy merchant.
- DirectorSheree FolksonStarsRichard E. GrantSusan LynchMichael KitchenDrama about the matrimonial disaster that took place 200 years ago between George, Prince of Wales and his wife Caroline of Brunswick.
- DirectorHarry HookStarsJean-Marc BarrMiranda RichardsonRichard E. GrantIn 1813, Capitaine Jacques St. Ives, a Hussar in the Napoleonic wars, is captured and sent to a Scottish prison camp. He's a swashbuckler, so the prison's commander, Major Farquar Bolingbroke Chevening, asks for lessons in communicating with women. Both men have their eyes on the lovely Flora, who resides with her aunt, the iconoclastic and well-traveled Miss Susan Emily Gilcrist. By chance, living close to the camp is Jacques's grandfather and brother, whom Jacques believes died years before. Jacques decides to escape, find his relatives, and win the hand of Flora; Major Chevening and an unforeseen enemy stand in his way. Can Miss Gilcrist contrive to make everything work out?
- StarsRichard E. GrantRonan VibertGerard MurphyDuring the turmoil of the French Revolution, English aristocrat Percy Blakeney, often aided by his League of friends, secretly undertakes various daring missions as the Scarlet Pimpernel.
- DirectorGraham TheakstonStarsJames D'ArcyRoger MorlidgeGabrielle AnwarEarly in his crime-solving career, Sherlock Holmes attempts to prevent Moriarty from cornering the heroin market.
- DirectorDavid AttwoodStarsRichard RoxburghIan HartRichard E. GrantSherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate after being told an heir's estate is plagued by a ghostly dog.
- DirectorAntoine de CaunesStarsPhilippe TorretonRichard E. GrantJay RodanHow could Napoleon, the man of war and pioneering military strategist, meekly accept being locked up on a storm-lashed rock in the middle of the Atlantic ocean? What system of defence, and thus of attack, can he dream up to loosen his jailers' grip? On Saint Helena, the far-flung island chosen by his enemies, Napoleon fights a mysterious battle, his last and most important, and one that history has kept secret all these years.
- StarsLiane BalabanAllan HawcoJonathan ScarfeTrue Story about the Atlantic Ferry Operation during World War II.
- StarsJeremy BrettGemma JonesGeorge InnesIn 1575, ambitious 1st Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley, decides to keep his marriage to the love of his life, Amy Robsart, secret in order to gain favor with Queen Elizabeth I. This leads to tragedy. Based on fact-based novel.
- DirectorClive DonnerStarsDavid HemmingsMichael YorkPrunella RansomeWhile Old England is being ransacked by roving Danes in the ninth century, Alfred is planning to join the priesthood. But observing the rape of his land, he puts away his religious vows, to take up arms against the invaders, leading the English Christians to fight for their country. Alfred soundly defeats the Danes and becomes a hero. Although Alfred still longs for the priesthood, he is torn between his passion for God and his lust for blood.
- StarsRichard PascoJohn ShrapnelGwen WatfordHeartfelt story of a father making sacrifices to help his son over the years. Remake of one of films great "lost films"
- StarsDerek FarrMadge RyanFiona GrayThis drama focuses on London lodging house in the early days of World War Two. Stories ranged from within the house to the drama of Dunkirk.
- StarsOliver TobiasMichael GothardJack WatsonCelts fighting among themselves and the Saxons in 5th century Briton after the Roman pullout.
- 1978–19852h 31mTV-147.1 (356)TV EpisodeDirectorBasil ColemanStarsHelen MirrenBrian StirnerRichard PascoAfter the overthrowing of Duke Senior by his tyrannical brother, Senior's daughter Rosalind disguises herself as a man and sets out to find her banished father while also counseling her clumsy suitor Orlando in the art of wooing.
- StarsMichael HordernJudy CornwellMike PrattThe life of a famous writer and his two wives is slowly revealed.
- StarsGillian BargeNicholas JonesSimon Russell BealeAnthony Powell's twelve volume novel sequence "A Dance to the Music of Time" has been dramatized for television.
- DirectorEric StylesStarsRupert GravesSamantha MortonNicholas WoodesonA young woman in rural 1950s England becomes involved in a scandalous love triangle that will inevitably leave someone behind to suffer the consequences.
- StarsSean BeanSaskia WickhamJonny PhillipsA virtuous young woman is oppressed by her ambitious family and a rake who's becomes obsessed with her.