30 great British period drama box sets to watch on BBC iPlayer this spring
Spring is here, but we’re always up for a night on the sofa with a British period drama series any time of the year!
If you’re looking for your next show to binge-watch, there’s a brilliant selection on BBC iPlayer right now.
UK viewers who have a TV licence can watch the BBC’s streaming service on a wide range of devices, including tablets, mobile phones, computers and smart televisions – all with no adverts!
In addition to featuring recently aired shows for catch-up, BBC iPlayer also showcases a huge array of classic series from the corporation’s archive.
To coincide with the new version of Great Expectations, several previous Dickens adaptations have been added recently, including Oliver Twist, Bleak House, and Little Dorrit, as well as 2011’s wonderful Great Expectations series.
There’s also another chance to catch the first season of World on Fire, ahead of the Second World War drama’s return later this year.
(While BBC iPlayer is only available in the UK, many of these TV shows can also be found internationally on BritBox.)
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We’ve put together this list of suggestions for British period drama fans to check out on BBC iPlayer in the spring of 2023:
A Christmas Carol (3 episodes)
Peaky Blinders writer Steven Knight adapts Charles Dickens’ classic Christmas story, with an all-star cast including Guy Pearce (Mary Queen of Scots) as Ebenezer Scrooge, Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings) as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and Stephen Graham (Line of Duty) as Jacob Marley.
Available for 11 months.
Around the World in 80 Days (8 episodes)
Based on Jules Verne’s classic 1873 novel, this period drama adventure series stars David Tennant (Broadchurch, Doctor Who) as intrepid explorer Phileas Fogg.
Available for over a year.
A Suitable Boy (6 episodes)
Set in India during the 1950s, Vikram Seth’s modern classic has been adapted by Sanditon writer Andrew Davies.
In newly independent India, passionate literature student Lata Mehra is torn between family duty and the promise of romance as three very different men try to win her heart.
Available for over a year.
A Very English Scandal (3 episodes)
Based on the true story and written by Russell T Davies (Doctor Who, The Grand), this darkly comic three-part mini-series tells the true story of an illegal love affair that threatened the life of one man and the entire British establishment in 1960s England.
Available for over a year.
A Very British Scandal (3 episodes)
The follow-up to 2018’s A Very English Scandal focuses on one of the most notorious, extraordinary and brutal legal cases of the 20th century: the divorce of the Duke and Duchess of Argyll. Leading the cast are Claire Foy (The Crown) and Paul Bettany (The Da Vinci Code).
Available for over a year.
Bleak House (15 episodes)
Andrew Davies (Pride & Prejudice) wrote the BBC’s 2005 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, starring Denis Lawson (New Tricks), Anna Maxwell Martin (Motherland), Carey Mulligan (Suffragette), and Gillian Anderson (The Crown).
Available for over a year.
Call the Midwife (105 episodes)
Based on the memoirs of Jennifer Worth, the BBC’s hit period drama series follows a group of nurse midwives working in the East End of London in the 1950s and 1960s.
Available for over a year.
Dodger (13 episodes)
Set in the world of Oliver Twist before the events of Charles Dickens’ classic novel, the CBBC comedy-drama follows the Artful Dodger and his gang as they find ingenious ways to survive early Victorian London in the 1830s.
Available for over a year.
The English (6 episodes)
Emily Blunt (The Young Victoria) leads the cast of Hugo Blick’s high-octane epic western as an aristocratic Englishwoman in late 19th century America.
Available for 6 months.
Father Brown (10 episodes)
Based on the stories by GK Chesterton, BBC One’s period crime drama follows the titular clerical sleuth’s mystery-solving skills in the Cotswolds during the early 1950s.
Available for 8 months.
Gentleman Jack (16 episodes)
Based on the diaries of remarkable Regency landowner Anne Lister, this drama is set in Halifax, 1832. Rejected by aristocratic Vere Hobart, Anne Lister returns to her shabby ancestral home, Shibden Hall, determined to restore its fortunes and find herself a wife.
Available for 1 month.
Great Expectations (6 episodes)
Olivia Colman (The Crown) plays the iconic Miss Havisham in Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knights’ new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ novel.
Available for over a year.
Great Expectations (3 episodes)
Dickens fans can also watch the BBC’s 2011 adaptation of Great Expectations too, with a cast featuring Gillian Anderson, Douglas Booth, Ray Winstone, and Poirot star David Suchet.
Available for over a year.
Life After Life (4 episodes)
Based on Kate Atkinson’s acclaimed novel, the four-part mini-series stars Jessica Brown Findlay (Downton Abbey), Thomasin McKenzie (Jojo Rabbit), Sian Clifford (Fleabag), and Jessica Hynes (Up the Women).
In 1941, Ursula says goodbye to her brother Teddy as he heads off to war. What if? She asks him. What if you could live your life over again?
Available for over a year.
Little Dorrit (15 episodes)
Claire Foy (The Crown) and Matthew Macfadyen (Pride & Prejudice) star in 2008’s fifteen-part adaptation of Charles Dickens’ powerful story of love, honour, debt and hope in 1820s London.
Available for over a year.
Marie Antoinette (8 episodes)
From the writer of The Favourite and the makers of Versailles, Marie Antoinette follows the tumultuous early years of the Austrian princess as she rises to become queen of a repressive French royal court.
Available for 10 months.
Merlin (65 episodes)
Based on the legend of King Arthur and Merlin, this fantasy adventure drama ran for five seasons on BBC One.
Available for over a year.
The Musketeers (30 episodes)
A thrilling world of action, adventure and romance inspired by Dumas’ legendary characters, starring Tom Burke (Strike), Santiago Cabrera (Merlin), and Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who).
Available for 9 months.
The North Water (5 episodes)
The BBC’s five-part adaptation of Ian McGuire’s critically acclaimed 2016 novel is set in the ice floes of the Arctic in the late 1850s.
Available for over a year.
Oliver Twist (5 episodes)
Timothy Spall and Tom Hardy star in 2007’s BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens’s much-loved tale of a young orphan boy.
Available for over a year.
Peaky Blinders (36 episodes)
Stylish, epic gangster saga. Fierce, damaged crime boss Tommy Shelby stalks the lawless streets of 1920s Birmingham, carving out an empire for himself and his family.
Available for over a year.
The Pursuit of Love (3 episodes)
A romantic comedy-drama about love and friendship, this three-part adaptation of Nancy Mitford’s classic 1945 novel tells the story of an upper-class English family between the First and Second World Wars.
Available for 2 months.
Ridley Road (4 episodes)
Based on Jo Bloom’s critically acclaimed novel, Ridley Road is a thriller set against the backdrop of a swinging sixties London we haven’t seen: an East End world where far right fascism is on the rise.
Available for 5 months.
Robin Hood (39 episodes)
Based on the tales of legendary English folk hero Robin Hood, the mid-2000s drama sees Robin (Jonas Armstrong) square up to the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham with weekly swashbuckling adventures in the fight for good.
Available for over a year.
SAS Rogue Heroes (6 episodes)
Set during darkest days of the Second World War, SAS Rogue Heroes is inspired by the origins of the world’s greatest Special Forces unit, the SAS.
Available for over a year.
Versailles (30 episodes)
Flamboyant nobles, beautiful courtesans and scheming servants. The brutal, glorious reign of France’s Sun King – an intoxicating world of secrets, betrayals, love and war.
Available for over a year.
Vienna Blood (9 episodes)
Set in 1900s Austria, this period crime drama is adapted from the best-selling Liebermann novels by Frank Tallis by Sherlock writer Steve Thompson.
Available for over a year.
War and Peace (6 episodes)
Lily James (Downton Abbey) and James Norton (Grantchester) star this six-part adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s timeless novel as three young people experience life, love and loss against the epic backdrop of Russia’s wars with Napoleon.
Available for 8 months.
Wolf Hall (6 episodes)
Historical drama chronicling the rise of Thomas Cromwell, the son of a humble blacksmith who became King Henry VIII’s chief minister, as he navigated the corridors of power in the Tudor court.
Available for 9 months.
World on Fire (7 episodes)
Telling the story of ordinary people from all sides of the global conflict of the Second World War, this epic drama series features Oscar-winner Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets), Sharpe star Sean Bean, Lesley Manville (Magpie Murders), Jonah Hauer-King (Little Women), and Julia Brown (The Last Kingdom).
Available for over a year.
Take a look at more new streaming recommendations here!