‘Belgravia’ recap: What happened in Episode 1?

ITV’s new period drama Belgravia began in the UK tonight.

The highly-anticipated six-part series is based on Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes’ New York Times bestselling novel.

Starring Tamsin Greig (Episodes), Philip Glenister (Life on Mars), Harriet Walter (Downton Abbey), and Tom Wilkinson (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), Belgravia is a story of secrets and scandals amongst the upper echelons of London society in the 19th Century.

Here’s a plot recap for the first episode, which aired at 9pm on Sunday 15th March 2020:

At the now legendary Duchess of Richmond’s ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, young lovers Sophia Trenchard and Edmund Bellasis forge an ill-fated legacy that will create scandal for generations to come.

Some years later when Sophia’s parents, the upwardly mobile Trenchards, move to the fashionable Belgravia, they find themselves rubbing shoulders with the venerated Brockenhursts.

The two families share a history that threatens the inheritance and reputation of many.

There are those who would prefer the secrets of the past to remain forgotten, but as longburied events resurface the truth behind the families’ connection becomes hard to conceal from the great and the good of British society.

Soon an expectant heir, beleaguered household staff and avaricious adulterers conspire together to reap the benefits of this familial scandal.

Prejudice and potential ruin must be overcome, and faced head on, if these family dynasties are to remain secured.

Julian Fellowes’s Belgravia novel is available on Amazon.