So, you liked Downton Abbey?

I LOVED IT!  and I have been on a hunt for other BBC series in that same genre...

Can I share a few with you I have found and adored?
House of Elliot (adore this series about 1920's fashion house!)
Forstye Saga
Upstairs Downstairs (2010... I want to watch the 70's version next!)
Mansfield Park (ok, this is movie, but I LOVED IT!)
Pride and Prejudice (with Colin Firth)- this is on my list to re-watch!
I have to say, I am completely hooked, and with all the knitting I have to do it's the perfect entertainment!  Do you have other shows you think we should add to this list?  Please share in the comments below... we'd all LOVE to hear about them!

Comments

  1. You should also watch: North and South, as well as Land Girls. Plus, I highly recommend watching Kingdom even though it's modern. I think it appeals to a similar audience. BTW, all my suggestions are on Netflix instant watch.

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  2. Yes! Now I don't have to stress that I lost your list! Glad you posted this.

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  3. Jo from google+ suggests:
    One series that was really popular was Lark Rise To Candleford, it ran for a good few years and may still be running now!

    Some ITV offerings that you may find interesting are Lost in Austen and The Darling Buds of May (this is a good few years old and features a young Catherine Zeta-Jones!)

    So excited to be building a "watch" list for my upcoming projects!

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  4. Was just going to tell you to watch North and South, too! SWOON!

    I also agree that Kingdom is a super good show! Another modern one I found entertaining was Doc Martin.

    But you HAVE GOT to watch North and South!!!!

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    1. The mini-series that ran in the US with Nick Nolte?? I'm hoping it's not that one and there is an English North and South :)

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    2. Kate- there is an English North and South, watching it now and LOVING it!

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  5. Have you seen the 2005 Persuasion? It's really, really, good. The 70s upstairs downstairs is fun; it's interesting how they blend the 70s aesthetic/current events with the early 20th century.
    Also, Duchess of Duke Street. Awesome.

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  6. Sharing from my Twitter Peeps!

    @jenarita- check out the movie Gosford Park! Maggie Smith is in it!

    @leekpicker You might like Manor House too--it's "reality TV", but PBS style. Basically, modern people thrown into Downton-like circumstances.

    @inasilver there are Grand and Upstairs Downstairs. Also from UK. The first one is not as good in acting, but decent.

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  7. Oh - it is years since I have seen House of Elliot - I remember really enjoying it - must see if it is repeated anywhere over here (UK). One of the other commentors mentioned North and South, another great series. Enjoy all the knitting and the TV watching.

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  8. I ditto North and South - make sure you watch the British one and not the American TV miniseries with Patrick Swayze, about the civil war.
    Also watch the series Island at War. Some Downton Abbey cross-over actors and it is GOOD. Then you have to read and/or listen to The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.
    Sara

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  9. OOOOOO!!! You have to see Ms Pettigrew Lives For a Day and The Jane Austen Book Club... perfect for knitting on cold/rainy/snowy days!

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  10. This was great. The wealthy american girls going to marry the impoverished Brits

    The Buccaneers

    Based On
    Unfinished novel by Edith Wharton

    Adapted By
    Maggie Wadey

    Episodes:
    1 2 3

    Description
    A presentation of Edith Wharton's unfinished final novel set in America and England in the 1870's. The Buccaneers tells the story of a group of spirited American girls from a background of "new money," who, ostracized by New York society, launch themselves into the English aristocracy with unforeseen consequences...

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  11. More from the British imports: Middlemarch (1994, a BBC series based on George Eliot's novel, with the dashing Rufus Sewell); Brideshead Revisited (1981, based on Evelyn Waugh's novel, with a very young Jeremy Irons); Emma (2010 BBC, based on Jane Austen's novel, with Romola Garai); Our Mutual Friend (1998, based on Charles Dickens' novel, with Steven Mackintosh, Keeley Hawes, and Paul McGann). And in the movies, Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen novel, with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet); Howard's End (E.M. Forster novel, with Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave, and Helena Bonham Carter); The Age of Innocence (Edith Wharton novel, with Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer). There are so many!

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  12. Oops. The Age of Innocence was an American production, not a British import. It was directed by Martin Scorsese. But it is a sumptuous period drama, with rich cinematography.

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  13. I just finished a BBC called Bleak House. It really had me going until the end, I had no idea how it would turn out. Warning you will get sucked in! I think you would really like it. Amen to some of the above listings. North and South is a beautiful classic that makes your heart pitter pat. My mother loves Cranford. It's more about small town gossip and how funny it can be rather than romance.

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  14. This is a movie also--Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, and Alan Rickman. Not from the same WWI era, but still lovely.

    Years ago, there was a Masterpiece Theatre production called Jennie, which was about the life of Winston Churchill's mother.

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  15. Oh, excellent post! Plus on Netflix is a bbc adaptation of the Trollip novel "the way we live now." David Suchet ( who also plays poirot in NBC agatha Christie adaptations) is delightfully evil! I found it to be an excellent follow up to Downton Abbey.

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  16. Lark Rise to Candleford is my ONE weakness;) I had to reserve it through my local library on DVD. Good luck!!

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  17. There is ' room with a view.' late Victorian time film with Helena Bonham Carter. set in England and Italy.' Enchanted April'Edwardian time film with Christopher Kitchen.Who also plays a second World war chief police-man. In Foyles war. Which is a very good TV drama that makes you think.Great 1940 clothes too. Jeeves and Wooster with Hugh Lorrie and Stephen Fry. Which is back to the 1920's Clothes are great and script is so funny, This was one of my favoured TV dramas.
    Enjoy them while you knit,May all your holes be lace and not dropped stitches!
    Jill FROM THE U.K.

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  18. Do not forget Wives and daughters! It´s based on a novel by Elisabeth Gaskell, the writer of Cranford and North and south.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Gaskell

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  19. Love all these!

    Also Woman of Substance miniseries. It has a young Liam Neeson. It is older(1984), but a timeless story. Love love love.
    Karen

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  20. Wonderful list of shows to watch. Thanks to all!

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