![]() This is a family (and romantic) drama on major steroids. (Another British show of similar nature, The Grand, depicts the many exploits of a family-owned Manchester hotel.) In between the sleuthing, you follow the daily lives of the hotel’s spirited servants, the ruthless familial owners (the matriarch has a huge penchant for violence), and the colorful grandees who visit. He soon falls in love with the owner’s daughter, who agrees to help him find out the truth about her disappearance. The premise is simple: A young man passes himself off as a waiter at the luxurious Grand Hotel in Spain to investigate the mysterious disappearance of his maid sister. Grand Hotel is often referred to as “the Spanish Downton Abbey” and it’s easy to see why. (Not to mention, the blossoming yet taboo romance that ensues between her and the widowered store owner.) Don’t let the beautiful costumes fool you, though - the retail world often gets nastily cutthroat. Set in the late 19th century, The Paradise follows a young Scottish woman who decamps to northern England to work at the country’s first high-class department store, and the interactions she faces with the various employees and often stuffy customers. (For those looking for something more updated, a much more glamorous version was rebooted in 2011 and lasted two seasons.) ![]() Everything, from the titles to the time period to the parlance, will inevitably have you nostalgic for the Crawleys. Aired in the 1970s, this was arguably the first drama that specifically focused on the class dynamics between the “upstairs” masters and their dutiful “downstairs” servants - but instead of a country estate, the setting is a posh metropolitan townhouse in the Belgravia section of London, owned by the wealthy Bellamy family. If you want something as narratively and spiritually close to Downton as possible, Upstairs, Downstairs is by far your best bet. Sit back, ring a bell for some tea, and enjoy. To assist in smoothly transitioning to a post-Crawley life, we’ve highlighted 11 Downtonesque shows that are excellent contenders to be your next favorite period drama. ![]() And after six seasons, we’re going to need something to fill that upstairs-downstairs void in our lives. We’ll miss your soapy shenanigans, class dynamics, romance, and yes, even your most miserable moments. In the bonnet stakes, the Pratt sisters' matching millinery has set the bar very high indeed.Damian Lewis as the tormented lead in The Forsyte Saga. Lark Rise! Candleford! You've given us so much! Maybe the party shouldn't stop after all? Or have we had our fill of scythes, escaped livestock and hushed talk of The Railway? One thing is certain. And Olivia Hallinan (postmistress' protégée, Laura Timmins) makes her film debut this year in Jack Falls, a British film noir in the style of Sin City. Ruby Bentall (the loveably daffy kitchen maid Minnie) has just been cast in Mike Leigh's new stage production. The show's legacy? Two actresses to watch. Well done that man! The sibling rivalry between the two dress-making Pratt sisters, played with infectious relish by Matilda Ziegler (Pearl) and Victoria Hamilton (Ruby), especially when Ruby was illicitly corresponding with her suitor from Pontefract. Highlights? The whole business with Daniel the Evil Journalist stitching up both town and country with his Evil Journalist Ways only to repent of his trickery and eventually champion an unexpectedly successful poetry competition. "Save me a piece of crackling!" cried Pearl Pratt. While viewers lapped up the lack of sex, violence and bad language, by this fourth series Lark Rise risked becoming a parody of itself as everyone came to blows over Queenie's pig, which Twister managed to sell off several times over to fund a lengthy trip to the ale house. It's very difficult however, for a period piece to sustain that level of story-telling. A rural Victorian EastEnders with telegram deliveries instead of murders. From its launch the following year, Lark Rise morphed into something unexpected: a costume drama soap-opera. Lark Rise has had an unprecedented run of good fortune, riding high on the petticoat tails of Cranford's two-series reign in 2007.
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