The best 1820s-1830s dramas set in the UK
by randommovies2002 | created - 12 Apr 2022 | updated - 04 Sep 2022 | PublicCostume dramas set in the period characterized by large, pouffy sleeves
Behind the scenes / making of books:
- The Cranford Companion - by Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin
- Gentleman Jack: The Real Anne Lister - by Anne Choma, Sally Wainwright (Foreword)
- The World of the Onedin Line - by Alison McLeay
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1. The Young Victoria (2009)
PG | 105 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatization of the turbulent first years of Queen Victoria's rule, and her enduring romance with Prince Albert.
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend, Paul Bettany, Miranda Richardson
Votes: 66,401 | Gross: $11.00M
2. Victoria (2016–2019)
TV-PG | 60 min | Biography, Drama, History
The early life of Queen Victoria, from her ascension to the throne at the tender age of 18 to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert.
Stars: Jenna Coleman, Adrian Schiller, Tommy Knight, Jordan Waller
Votes: 30,893
3. Wives and Daughters (1999)
TV-PG | 75 min | Drama
The daughter of a country doctor copes with an unwanted stepmother, an impetuous stepsister, burdensome secrets, the town gossips, and the tug on her own heartstrings for a man who thinks of her only as a friend.
Stars: Francesca Annis, Justine Waddell, Bill Paterson, Keeley Hawes
Votes: 7,326
4. Gentleman Jack (2019–2022)
TV-MA | 60 min | Biography, Drama, History
A dramatization of the life of lesbian trailblazer, voracious learner, and cryptic diarist Anne Lister.
Stars: Suranne Jones, Sophie Rundle, Gemma Whelan, Ben Hunter
Votes: 15,949
5. Disraeli: Portrait of a Romantic (1978)
60 min | Biography, Drama, History
A penetrating look at one of British history's most enigmatic and controversial figure, Benjamin Disraeli--a dandy, womanizer and a Jew.
Stars: Ian McShane, Rosemary Leach, Mary Peach, Brett Usher
Votes: 264
6. Pride and Prejudice (1940)
Approved | 118 min | Drama, Romance
The arrival of wealthy bachelors in town causes an uproar when families with single daughters aggressively seek engagements, including the Bennet family, with five eligible daughters.
Director: Robert Z. Leonard | Stars: Greer Garson, Laurence Olivier, Mary Boland, Edna May Oliver
Votes: 9,224
7. Victoria & Albert (2001)
200 min | Biography, Drama, History
The marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, a longtime royal love story.
Stars: Victoria Hamilton, Jonathan Firth, James Callis, Diana Rigg
Votes: 1,040
8. Cranford (2007–2009)
TV-PG | 469 min | Drama
In the 1840s, Cranford is ruled by the ladies. They adore good gossip, and romance and change is in the air, as the unwelcome grasp of the Industrial Revolution rapidly approaches their beloved rural market-town.
Stars: Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, Julia McKenzie, Deborah Findlay
Votes: 10,627
9. Onegin (1999)
R | 106 min | Drama, Romance
Russia, 1820s: Onegin inherits his uncle's country estate and moves there from St. Petersburg. He befriends his neighbor, Lensky, and meets Tatyana through him. She falls in love with Onegin but he just wants friendship.
Director: Martha Fiennes | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Liv Tyler, Toby Stephens, Lena Headey
Votes: 8,308 | Gross: $0.21M
10. Dombey & Son (1983)
295 min | Drama
The dream of Paul Dombey, the wealthy owner of the shipping company, is to have a son to continue his business. Tragically, Dombey's wife dies shortly after giving birth to their son.
Stars: Julian Glover, Shirley Cain, Zelah Clarke, Kenton Moore
Votes: 198
11. The Pickwick Papers (1985)
360 min | Drama
The story follows Samuel Pickwick and three other members of The Pickwick Club as they travel throughout the English countryside by coach observing the phenomena of life and human nature, ... See full summary »
Stars: Nigel Stock, Clive Swift, Alan Parnaby, Jeremy Nicholas
Votes: 284
12. Little Dorrit (2008)
TV-PG | 34 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
The Dorrits are a family whose life revolves around the Marshalsea, a debtor's prison. Amy Dorrit's kind nature brings the family into contact with a wide swath of English society, from the poorest to the richest, and back again.
Stars: Matthew Macfadyen, Claire Foy, Tom Courtenay, Judy Parfitt
Votes: 10,488
13. Middlemarch (1994)
54 min | Drama, Romance
Middlemarch is a story of provincial life on the brink of momentous change and a deeply moving saga about a group of people striving to give meaning and value to their lives during the Industrial Revolution.
Stars: Douglas Hodge, Juliet Aubrey, Trevyn McDowell, Jonathan Firth
Votes: 2,757
14. Mr. Turner (2014)
R | 150 min | Biography, Drama, History
An exploration of the last quarter century of the great, if eccentric, British painter J.M.W. Turner's life.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Timothy Spall, Paul Jesson, Dorothy Atkinson, Marion Bailey
Votes: 27,180 | Gross: $3.96M
15. Looking for Victoria (2003 TV Movie)
120 min | Drama
Prunella Scales researches the life of Queen Victoria and interviews historians to help her with her portrayal of Queen Victoria in her one-woman stage show "An Evening with Queen Victoria"... See full summary »
Director: Louise Osmond | Stars: Prunella Scales, Geoffrey Palmer, Charles Dance, Timothy West
Votes: 36
16. Martin Chuzzlewit (1994)
385 min | Drama
Old Martin Chuzzlewit is nearing his death. Who will inherit his riches? With such a prize to play for, the Chuzzlewit family bring forth all of their cunning, greed and selfishness. Adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens.
Stars: Emma Chambers, Julia Sawalha, Keith Allen, Philip Franks
Votes: 978
17. Cousin Bette (1998)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When her sister dies in 1846, Bette moves from the château to Paris to work as a theater seamstress. She helps a handsome, starving artist. When her niece lures him away from her, she plans a devious revenge.
Director: Des McAnuff | Stars: Jessica Lange, Elisabeth Shue, Bob Hoskins, Geraldine Chaplin
Votes: 2,838 | Gross: $1.20M
18. Cousin Bette (1971)
250 min | Comedy, Drama
A poor and homely spinster, who feels she's been walked on all her life, teams up with a scheming courtesan to wreak elaborate revenge on her rich and handsome relatives.
Stars: Margaret Tyzack, Thorley Walters, Helen Mirren, Ursula Howells
Votes: 205
19. The Mill on the Floss (1978–1979)
240 min | Drama, History, Romance
The tragic tale of Maggie Tulliver, the miller's daughter, who defies her embittered brother in standing by the man she loves - shocking the stifling society in which she lives - in an attempt to pursue her blighted dreams.
Stars: Judy Cornwell, Barbara Hicks, Pippa Guard, Christopher Blake
Votes: 171
20. The Strauss Family (1972)
60 min | Drama, Romance
A seven-part mini-series produced in England about Vienna's Strauss family in the 19th-century. Members of the London Symphony Orchestra provided the music.
Stars: Stuart Wilson, Anne Stallybrass, Barbara Ferris, Christopher Benjamin
Votes: 122
21. Dickens of London (1976–1977)
60 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
Charles Dickens grew up in a family where his father was larger than life. The elder Dickens is a teller of tales and always seems to have ambitions that are well beyond his means or his ... See full summary »
Stars: Roy Dotrice, John F. Landry, Diana Coupland, Adrienne Burgess
Votes: 82
22. The Onedin Line (1971–1980)
TV-PG | 50 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
James Onedin marries Anne Webster in order to get his hands on a ship. However the marriage turns out to be one of true love. James is ruthless in his attempt to get a shipping line started in Liverpool of the 1860s.
Stars: Peter Gilmore, Jessica Benton, Howard Lang, Mary Webster
Votes: 1,117
23. Cranford (1972– )
45 min | Drama
Filled with the heartwarming humor and gentle pathos of Elizabeth Gaskell's classic novel, this original four-part BBC dramatization of Cranford is set in the early 1840s in a fictional ... See full summary »
Stars: Gabrielle Hamilton, Fabia Drake, Helen Christie, Ann Penfold
Votes: 35
24. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (2001 TV Movie)
200 min | Comedy, Drama
A young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-hearted, grasping uncle.
Director: Stephen Whittaker | Stars: John Dallimore, James D'Arcy, Sophia Myles, Diana Kent
Votes: 1,138
25. Nicholas Nickleby (2002)
PG | 132 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-heartedly grasping uncle.
Director: Douglas McGrath | Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, Christopher Plummer, Jim Broadbent
Votes: 13,671 | Gross: $1.59M
26. Nicholas Nickleby (1977)
330 min | Drama
A young, compassionate man struggles to save his family and friends from the abusive exploitation of his cold-hearted, grasping uncle.
Stars: Nigel Havers, Peter Bourke, Derek Godfrey, Robert James
Votes: 157
27.
The Storyteller (1987–1989)
Episode:
Sapsorrow
(1988)
TV-G | 24 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A beautiful princess seeking to escape an arranged marriage, flees to a distant kingdom and disguises herself as a loathsome hag. But then she falls in love with the new kingdom's prince.
Director: Steve Barron | Stars: John Hurt, Alison Doody, James Wilby, Jennifer Saunders
Votes: 251
28. Micawber (2001– )
195 min | Comedy, Drama
David Jason stars as Mr. Micawber in this gentle comedy set in Victorian England and inspired by a character from Charles Dickens' novel 'David Copperfield'.
Stars: David Jason, Annabelle Apsion, Lucinda Dryzek, Andrew Quigley
Votes: 94
29. Confession of a Child of the Century (2012)
TV-MA | 120 min | Drama, Romance
Paris, 1830: Octave, betrayed by his mistress, sinks into despair and debauchery. His father's death leads him to the country where he meets Brigitte, a widow who is ten years his elder. ... See full summary »
Director: Sylvie Verheyde | Stars: Charlotte Gainsbourg, Pete Doherty, August Diehl, Lily Cole
Votes: 663
30. The Dwelling Place (1994– )
180 min | Drama
The story of 16-year-old Cissie Brodie who finds a barren place to live and care for her younger brothers and sisters, but her life becomes complicated when the aristocratic Fischel family takes an unwelcome interest.
Stars: Tracy Whitwell, Lucy Cohu, Ray Stevenson, Philip Voss
Votes: 414
31. Vanity Fair (2018)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama
An adaptation of the 1848 novel by William Makepeace Thackeray.
Stars: Michael Palin, Olivia Cooke, Tom Bateman, Johnny Flynn
Votes: 5,726
32. Impromptu (1991)
PG-13 | 107 min | Biography, Comedy, Music
In 1830s France, pianist/composer Frédéric Chopin is pursued romantically by the determined, individualistic woman who uses the name George Sand.
Director: James Lapine | Stars: Judy Davis, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Bernadette Peters
Votes: 5,517 | Gross: $4.08M
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