Don your bonnet for Fellowes versus Fellowes
As two series from the king of period drama go head to head on TV, Katie Rosseinsky asks which will be the new Downton
IN UNCERTAIN times, costume dramas are the ultimate comfort viewing. There’s something innately reassuring (or at least distracting) about immersing yourself in a world of well-mannered family feuds, intricate social hierarchies and yet more intricate hairdos.
This month, Julian Fellowes, king of English period drama, is back with two well-timed new series. Belgravia, which kicked off on ITV in the Downton Abbey Sunday night slot last week, begins on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo and follows the fallout from a forbidden love affair against the backdrop of
London’s new “spangled city for the rich”. Over on Netflix, The English Game marks Fellowes’s first foray into streaming, a six-part series that traces the inception of professional football in the Victorian era. But which to prioritise in your increasingly packed viewing schedule? And which best deserves the title of the New Downton? Consider this your cheat sheet.
The concept
All the costume drama tropes are present and correct in Belgravia. There’s the cross-class romance between Sophia Trenchard, a merchant’s daughter, and her aristocratic love interest. There’s the disapproving posh in-laws — and the gauche parents. Fast-forward a quarter of a century and — scandal klaxon — there’s also a secret love child whose grandmother, one of the fanciest ladies in high society, knows nothing of their existence. Throw in a Greek chorus of bickering servants and you have the tried-and-tested ingredients for a Downton substitute, on paper at least. The English Game might not seem like classic Fellowes territory, but five minutes in and it’s easy to see what has attracted the chronicler of class to this particular story. It’s 1879, and the Old Etonians are football heroes poised to top the league. A team of working-class