There’s something innately alluring about a period romance – perhaps it’s down to the wistful love stories or the corset-busting desire inspired by the secret trysts. Maybe it’s simply because these unknowable eras are so ubiquitous on our screens that such series feel strangely familiar and comforting. 

And, as the success of Netflix mega-hit Bridgerton proves, the more frivolous the better. Combining the well-to-do splendour of 1800s Mayfair with the modern sensibilities of superstar TV boss Shonda Rhimes – whether that’s classical versions of current pop songs or rampant shagging (there’s lots of shagging) – the sexed up, frothy series is only the latest in a long line of tantalising, gossip-fuelled period dramas.  

Period dramas allow us to forget our own modern day lives and the problems that the 21^st century has brought us. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy never had to worry about matching on Hinge, did they? 

So, what to watch next? Here are 12 of the best romantic period dramas to stream now. 

The Buccaneers (2023) 

Apple TV+ 

Imagine a gang of raucous American girls bursting on to Bridgerton’s marriage market and you’re somewhere close to The Buccaneers. In this more modern take on Edith Wharton’s 1938 novel, it-girl Nan (Kristine Froseth) is leader of the pack, trailed by her more reserved older sister Jinny (Imogen Waterhouse). They’ve been invited to spend the season in England by their old friend Conchita (Alisha Boe), who has already found an English gent – Lord Richard Marable (Josh Dylan) – to wed. Girlish romantic antics ensue and Bridgerton fans surely won’t mind the laissez-faire attitude to historical accuracy (those violin quartet covers of pop songs that TV producers have fallen in love with crop up again here). This gem didn’t get the audience it deserved when it premiered last year – though I am pleased to report that it has been renewed for a second series.  

Click here to watch.

The Great (2020 – 2023) 

Channel 4 

The Great is decidedly not your typical period drama. It follows a young Catherine the Great (Elle Fanning) to Tsarist Russia where she has been sent to marry Emperor Peter III (Nicholas Hoult). It certainly looks the part, with its ballgowns and pale make-up and grand palaces – but it’s a sweary, anachronistic hotbed of shagging, dirty jokes and plotting. Hulu, the streaming service on which The Great streams in America, calls it “anti-historical”. In other words, it’s a period drama for those who claim to detest the genre. Fanning is hypnotising as the scheming Catherine, laying plans for her eventual takeover of Russia and turning herself into one of history’s most famous leaders in the process. 

Click here to watch.

Gentleman Jack (2019-2022) 

BBC iPlayer 

Bridgerton writer Jess Brownell recently confirmed, to much excitement, that future series will feature same-sex love stories – but gay storylines are hardly new when it comes to period dramas. In Sally Wainwright’s rollicking drama, Suranne Jones plays Anne Lister, a powerful, industrialist landowner and “the first modern lesbian” as revealed by her famous coded diaries. When she returns to her hometown of Halifax to restore her late father’s estate, Anne discovers that the family coal mine has been stolen. As she uses her unmatched wit to reclaim the Lister legacy, she develops a clandestine and incredibly risky relationship with local heiress Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle). Like most period dramas made with a modern audience in mind, Gentleman Jack is funny and intelligent – but Anne and Ann’s truly loving relationship brings real heart to the story too. 

Click here to watch.

The Empress (2022) 

Netflix 

Messy romantic drama abounds in this German royal series based on the life of Empress Elisabeth “Sisi” of Austria (played by Devrim Lingnau). At just 16 years old and still just a duchess, Sisi falls in love with the Emperor of Austria, Franz Joseph (Philip Froissant) – who happens to already be betrothed to her older sister Helene (Elisa Schlott). Never mind! They marry anyway and the bad karma of stealing her sister’s man quickly catches up with Sisi. Franz’s family – particularly his mother, Sophie (Melika Foroutan) – are a scheming, power-hungry bunch who do their best to make the new Empress’s life as difficult as possible. There are just six episodes to binge for now, but filming has already wrapped on the second series. 

Click here to watch.

Pride and Prejudice (1995) 

BBC iPlayer 

Still a treasure, no matter how many times you’ve seen it, there’s so much more to the BBC’s 1995 version of Jane Austen’s most famous novel than Colin Firth’s billowy wet shirt (no really, there is). Adapted by veteran writer Andrew Davies – whose work also includes the BBC’s takes on Middlemarch, Bleak House and War & Peace – this is his crowning triumph thanks to its thoroughly modern, relatable sensibilities. Love stories don’t come much more hopelessly romantic than the will-they-won’t-they relationship between the surly Mr Darcy (Firth) and forward-thinking Elizabeth Bennett (Jennifer Ehle, who won a Bafta for the role). This Pride and Prejudice was an immediate hit when it was broadcast in 1995, thanks to its fresh, contemporary take on a genre previously thought of as fuddy-duddy (though fans of the source material will have to make peace with the liberties Davies’s version takes with the story – including that iconic lake scene). 

Click here to watch.

The Gilded Age (2022-) 

Now 

Is this the American Downton Abbey? It’s made by the same writer, Julian Fellowes, so it’s off to a good start. It’s set in New York’s so-called “Gilded Age” of the 1880s, when the industrial revolution hit the Big Apple and made a lot of Manhattan residents filthy rich. Among them in this fictional imagining of the time are railway tycoon George Russell (Morgan Spector) and his social climbing wife, Bertha (Carrie Coon). They’re newcomers to New York’s elite and find themselves shunned by their old money counterparts desperate to defend their way of life against the newly rich upstarts worming their way into high society. Just like Bridgerton, it’s silly fun, and looks gorgeous. 

Click here to watch.

Poldark (2015-2019) 

BBC iPlayer and Netflix 

If it’s Bridgerton’s love stories that sweep you off your feet, then the romance between Captain Ross Poldark (Aidan Turner) and Demelza Carne (Eleanor Tomlinson) will knock you over a cliff. There’s something very Wuthering Heights about this adaptation of Winston Graham’s decade-spanning novels, as Poldark – a British soldier recently returned from the American War of Independence only to find that his lover, Elizabeth (Heida Reed) has shacked up with someone else – and Demelza – a rough-around-the-edges street urchin – fall in love against the wild backdrop of Cornwall’s windy beaches and coves. Of course, it’s not all as simple as it sounds: Poldark is confronted with the shock death of his beloved father on his arrival home, and he can’t help but be pulled back into Elizabeth’s orbit. 

Click here to watch on BBC iPlayer and click here to watch on Netflix.

Victoria (2016-2019) 

ITVX 

She might have started her career as Emmerdale’s resident journalist Jasmine Thomas and accompanied Peter Capaldi’s Doctor through time and space, but it was Jenna Coleman’s turn as Queen Victoria in 2016 that made her a star. Played as a girlish 18-year-old in the early series and a powerful, restrained woman in later life, Coleman’s Victoria flits between monarch-like stoicism and fresh-faced innocence and poise. And her famous love story with Prince Albert (Tom Hughes) gives Victoria a beautifully romantic undertone. If it’s historical accuracy you’re after, you might not be too pleased with creator Daisy Goodwin’s bending of the truth (there is no evidence, for example, that Robert Peel’s Private Secretary Edward Drummond was gay), but the inventive storylines make for much better TV than a straightforward factual reimagining.  

Sanditon (2019-2023) 

ITVX

Another series from the master of the period drama, Andrew Davies, this adaptation of Jane Austen’s unfinished 1817 novel is set at the same time as Bridgerton – the Regency era – so expect the same empire line dresses, top hats and ferocious gossip of the Ton. Named after the quaint, fictional seaside town in which its based, Sanditon follows the exploits of Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams), a young woman who – in the great Austen tradition – doesn’t quite agree with the buttoned-up time she happens to live in. A new arrival in Sanditon, Charlotte wastes no time getting stuck into the action, whether that’s accidentally seducing more than one potential suitor or sticking her nose into other peoples’ business (namely, the dysfunctional Denham family’s affairs). There’s far less tearing of nightgowns in Sanditon, but the tongue-wagging of the townspeople would surely put the Ton to shame. 

Click here to watch.

Vanity Fair (2018) 

Prime Video

You might have missed ITV’s adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel when it was broadcast in 2018 – it was rather overshadowed by the altogether more popular Bodyguard (at the time, the BBC’s most watched drama in a decade) which was in the rival Sunday night slot over on BBC One. Olivia Cook’s pitch perfect performance as Becky Sharp, a plucky orphan who pulls herself out of poverty with nothing but her innate tenacity and an ability to make friends in high places. Set against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars, it’s got historical chops but also manages to feel thoroughly stylish with plenty of laughs, stunning costumes and a contemporary focus on the importance of female friendship over romance. Plus, you might recognise Becky’s fast friend Amelia – she’s played by Claudia Jessie, who went on to become Eloise Bridgerton.  

Click here to watch.

Lady Chatterley (1993) 

BBC iPlayer 

DH Lawrence’s original novel was the subject of a landmark obscenity trial when it was finally published in England in 1960, 32 years after it was first released (albeit privately) in Italy. With its sordid content highly publicised by the case, it naturally became a sensation selling three million copies, and the hype hasn’t died down since. There have been plenty of screen iterations over the years – from the 2022 film starring Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell to the 2015 one-off led by Holliday Grainger and Richard Madden (streaming on Netflix and UKTV Play respectively). But the first time the erotic love story between Lady Chatterley and her handsome gamekeeper Mellors made its way to British screens was in 1993, when the BBC paired Joely Richardson and Sean Bean for a four-episode romp. Soapy and delightfully frivolous, it was panned by critics at the time, but in our Bridgerton era of playful, lighthearted period dramas, this version of Lady Chatterley’s Lover deserves a new audience.  

Click here to watch.

Downton Abbey (2010 – 2015) 

ITVX Premium 

There is no Bridgerton without Downton. Julian Fellowes’s upstairs-downstairs saga was dismissed by critics as dull and melodramatic, but over 400 million people around the world fell in love with the residents of the Yorkshire stately home over five series and two films (with another one on the way) for its emotional, slow-burn story of aristocrats forced to move with the times. Starring some of the UK’s biggest acting talent – Hugh Bonneville, Maggie Smith, Lily James, Penelope Wilton and Michelle Dockery to name a few – Downton puts the Crawley family’s sprawling dramas centre stage from 1912 all the way through to 1926. Downton embodies classic period drama – without its stiff upper lip take, Bridgerton would have nothing to subvert.