Publications
Partners
Cape Town – At times like these, it’s not hard to be in love with the past, especially when it comes with such beautiful set-and-costume design and lashings of intrigue. Spend your weekend bingeing on these luscious period dramas on Showmax and Netflix.
Premiering on video-on-demand in SA, first on Showmax! This British miniseries brings the extravagance of 19th-Century Russia to life, and focuses on three young aristocrats who feel like the world is at their feet. But, as Napoleon’s army edge ever closer, their lives and the fate of their country are about to change forever. Based on Tolstoy’s classic, the show was filmed on location in Russia, Lithuania and Latvia.
Available on Showmax.
Call the Midwife (Seasons 1-3)
The cosy, comforting period drama from the BBC that people are calling “The next Downton Abbey” has just been renewed for Seasons 7, 8 and 9. See where it all began by bingeing on the first three seasons, which show us how young, naive midwife Jenny Lee is initiated into caring for the poor in London’s East End in the 50s.
Available on Showmax.
Ripper Street (Seasons 1-4)
Down the dark alleys of Whitechapel, scene of the infamous Jack the Ripper murders, detectives Edmund Reid, Bennet Drake and Homer Jackson once tried to catch the killer. In brand-new Season 4, it’s 1897. Reid has been reunited with his missing daughter Matilda, and is happily retired … until he is lured back to Whitechapel to investigate one last murder. Meanwhile, Jackson does all he can to save his longtime partner, brothel owner Long Susan, from the gallows.
Available on Showmax.
This is the captivating story of the birth of modern Ireland. During World War I, three fierce women, Elizabeth, May and Frances, each do their bit to support the insurgency movement against the British, which culminates in the bloodbath that became known as the 1916 Easter Rising. (You may recognise Dolly Butler as Michelle Fairley, who also plays Catelyn Stark in Game of Thrones.)
Available on Netflix.
Sticking with the same era, but this time let’s go to merry olde England - or, more accurately, to the dirty, dark and dangerous streets of Birmingham in 1919. The Peaky Blinders are a Romani/Irish family gang who operate under their canny boss Thomas Shelby (played by Cillian Murphy, who also brings a creepy kind of cunning to Red Eye), and in this gangster epic, Thomas sees a way clear to riches when he receives a cache of arms bound for Libya.
Available on Netflix.
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
Phryne Fisher is the quintessential 1920s flapper, with her dark red lips, short, sleek hair and shift dresses … except she’s also got a pearl-handled pistol and is known as Australia’s number-one “lady detective”. This fun crime series goes down like lemonade on a hot Melbourne day, and appeals to everyone from teens to grandparents.
Available on Netflix.
