rec me period dramas

[meganbmoore]

By which I mostly mean English language dramas, though other languages are fine. Preferably legally available, and preferably on Netflix.

I've finished Foyle's War, House of Elliot, and Upstairs, Downstairs (with the first disc of the sequel spinoff, Thomas and Sarah, arriving tomorrow), leaving me somewhat bereft of historical dramas, as those were long enough to keep me happy for ages.  I still have the rest of Marple, but, while I enjoyed the first series and look forward to watching the rest, it didn't grab me the way other period mystery series have.  Also, I am irritated far more than I should be that it's "Marple," and not "Miss Marple."

So, rec me some period dramas?  Anything from a TV (or theatrical, I'm just mostly thinking of TV  dramas now) movie to five seasons and 60+ episodes is fine, and I'm not worried about whether its 40 years old, or brand new.

Standard Me guidelines: Male or female protagonists are fine, but it isn't likely to hold my attention without major female characters.  A romance I'd like is a nice bonus, but optional.  Great Tales of Men are probably out, especially if it's many men talking and/or being heroic while women patiently wait for them on the sides. Action and battles are spiffy (especially if swords are involved) but so are politics and day-to-day life.

I'm fine with adaptations, remakes, original stories/characters, and dramas based on historical figures.

I either have seen or plan to see most Jane Austen adaptations (despite having yet to actually read one of her books) and the original Forsyte Saga is on my list, but I plan to save it for after I've read the book, which might be a while.

 

I'm sure (positive) that some are missing, and this doesn't include period movies I've seen:

All Miss Marple adaptations with Joan Hickson.
All (as far as I know, this is as of early 2008, let me know if there's a more recent one) David Suchet Poirot adaptations.
Clarissa
Cranford
Devil's Whore
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth: The Virgin Queen
Forsyte Saga (both series of the more recent version with Damian Lewis)
Foyle's War (all 5/6 seasons)
Horatio Hornblower
House of Elliot (all 3 seasons)
Lorna Doone (recent version)
Marple (season 1)
The Moonstone
Nero Wolfe (both seasons)
North and South (Gaskell version, not US Civil War)
Robin Hood (first 2 seasons, not likely to watch more, at this point)
Robin of Sherwood (first 2 seasons)
Scarlet Pimpernel
True Women
Under the Greenwood Tree
Upstairs, Downstairs (all 5 seasons)
Wives and Daughters
The Woman in White
 

Off the top of my head, the only period dramas I've seen and completely bounced off of were The Blackheath Poisonings and the recent version of The Mill on the Floss.

ETA:  More things I've seeen added as I remember them. 

Comments

[charmian]

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

This series is pretty amusing. The books are good too.

[meganbmoore]

Totally just added to Netflix.