I Heart BBC

If April showers bring May flowers, May is going to sadly lacking in floral abundance.  I know that I've fully recovered from my rain-phobia that developed while living in Washington.  I still love my sunshine, but I've gotten to the point where I get a little excited about thunderstorms again, and we were supposed to have a whopper of one yesterday.  Things started off well with deep, rumbly thunder in the distance, but it just never really panned out.  The morning was pretty grey and rainy, but by afternoon, the sun was beaming down again.  Not a single streak of lightning!

I felt robbed.

But still, with the promise of a rainy day and Colby out of town on another trip, I had already given myself permission to have a lazy dreary day with some of my old friends from Victorian England.  You see, I have become utterly obsessed with BBC costume dramas.  I've always loved them, but over the past year I've expanded my horizons beyond the commonly watched Jane Austen adaptations, and I've found so many more wonderful productions from that little island across the pond.

They're just so much better than anything made in Hollywood.  Don't get me wrong, I love pretty much any period piece I can get my hands on, but most everything in Hollywood has that shiny, hardness to it that is pure American.  In the BBC productions, the men are still handsome and the women are lovely, but they look like real people.  They wear the same dresses throughout the movie, the sets are all actual mansions or bustling English streets.  Obviously, the accents are much more authentic (unless they're trying to be American) and the writers tend to stick to the original stories so much more closely.  I also love that the same actors tend to pop up again and again, and I enjoy spending my time playing "Spot the Character Actor".

If you're a fan of Pride & Prejudice, here are some other BBC productions I think you'll love just as much--or, dare I say it, even more!

North & South

I love this movie SO MUCH.  As soon as I finished it, I instantly bough my own copy.  It has a lot in common with Pride & Prejudice, but the subject matter feels a bit more serious and I think the two leads have even more chemistry and spark that Lizzie and Darcy.  Oh, I want to watch this again right now!

Wives & Daughters

This has one of the sweetest love stories I've ever watched, and I fell a little bit in love with "Molly" (played by Justine Waddell) myself.

Lost in Austen

This is the perfect movie for the Austen freak in all of us.  It follows the adventures of Amanda, who after a break-up with her boyfriend finds herself lost in the world of Elizabeth Bennet's life and times.  It's hilarious watchng her muddle up Austen's story left and right and struggling not to fall in love with Darcy so that Lizzie can still end up with him.

Our Mutual Friend

This is the movie that brought me back to Dickens after a particularly nasty break up in college.  It's a fast moving story about how the death of one man affects a number of different people of varying levels of income and respectability.  Plus it has Chuck from Pushing Daisies--bonus!

Bleak House

Full disclosure, I'm only a few episodes into this one, but I'm already completely riveted, and I'm pretty sure it's going to rank right up there with North & South by the time I'm done with it.  I love that it has Gillian Anderson in a role that is the polar opposite of my beloved Dana Scully, and Carey Mulligan also plays a main character in her "pre-It Girl" days.

So, there you go, that should keep you busy for many hours of rainy day viewing!  There are of course a number of other great productions, these are just my favorites of what I've seen so far.  Have you seen any of these and loved them or hated them?  Any suggestions for me?

Comments

[Brittany E.]

I love period dramas! And I also love reading historical fiction. I've seen Lost in Austen which I thought was really good. But I haven't seen many of ther others, so I have to add those to Netflix!

[anonymous prep]

I love BBC films but I haven't heard of North and South. It sounds like I would adore it though. I'm also having a major PBS moment - Patrick Stewart is in Hamlet on PBS this week which is pretty much the highlight of my Wednesday.

[Jessica]

Wow I have BBC America and I never see these shows! I need to be better about my Austen-inspired shows. I love those! BBC is genius.

[Amy]

Hi!!! Thanks for the comment on my blog! :) Funny you asked about burning the paper because I thought the exact same thing!! I have no idea!! I mean it seems like most candles burn in the middle and the outer layer always kind of stays there but I'm not entirely sure... I'll have to see if my mom plans on burning them or not. I guess you'd have to really watch them if you chose to.

[Miriam]

So...yeah...I may have just added all of these (save Lost in Austen, b/c I've watched it, loved it, and then watched it again) to my Netflix Instant queue :)

[erin]

i love "lark rise to candleford", a BBC series...it has great characters and i'm addicted! i'm going to london soon and looking forward to buying some more! thanks for the ideas