17 Excellent British Period Dramas You Can Binge Right Now
By Lacy Baugher
Tom Hollander as Doctor Thorne and Allison Brie as Miss Dunstable. (Photo: Photo: Courtesy of ITV/The Weinstein Company)
Doctor Thorne
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes followed up his first megahit costume drama by doing what he does best: creating another one. Fellowes’ first post-Downton project was a sumptuous period drama by the name of Doctor Thorne. And, unsurprisingly, the show hits on a lot of the same themes of class, social standing and love.
The three-part drama is adapted from the Anthony Trollope novel of the same name. The story centers around the titular Doctor Thorne (Tom Hollander), who lives with his penniless niece Mary (Stefanie Martini). She is beautiful and blessed with every possible gift, except the most important one in these sorts of stories: money. Mary has grown up alongside the wealthy Gresham family – Augusta, Beatrice and Alexandrina and their handsome brother Frank – whose home is the great estate at Greshamsbury Park nearby. (Man, this family sure likes to name things after themselves.)
Anyway, of course Mary falls in love with young heir Frank. Given her financially challenged status, this upsets his mother, Lady Arabella (Rebecca Front). Because as it turns out, her husband has actually frittered away the family fortune, and the Greshams are only being kept afloat thanks to very favorable loans. Lady Arabella believes that it’s her son’s duty to make a rich marriage in order to save the family estate. As a result, she launches a campaign to secure him a wealthy American heiress (Alison Brie) for a bride. Who will Frank end up with?
You totally already know the answer, but the journey to get there is pretty fun.
Number of Seasons: 1
Where to watch: Amazon Prime