News & Opinion
Gothic romance slithers onto Apple TV+ with thorny mystery The Essex Serpent
Despite labelling itself as “prestige TV”, there’s more pure period romanticism under this series’ petticoats than expected.
Downton Abbey struggles into A New Era with a second film of light fanservice
There’s something stagey about this humorous bit of retro escapism: the COVID-19 production values are obvious.
Spotlight on Elisabeth Moss: the ferocious face of peak TV for a reason
The Mad Men actress brings a sense of modernity to any time period in which she appears.
Australian trailer and release date: Little Tornadoes
A single dad is surprised to find support in an Italian migrant, in this evocative Aussie period drama.
8 movies arriving in cinemas in April that we’re excited about
Northmen! Nic Cage! Various rumbles in various jungles!
It can’t commit to a tone, but lush musical Cyrano has its heart in the right place
Peter Dinklage sing-speaks his feelings to us, in Joe Wright’s epic imagining of the 19th century play.
Lady Whistledown promises to spill the tea in Bridgerton season 2 teaser
Prepare to have your bodice ripped all over again, with another chapter of saucy regency romance.
The Crawleys call ‘action’ in the new trailer for Downton Abbey: A New Era
Hugh Dancy and Dominic West shake things up at Downton, while the Crawleys head to Italy.
Aussie viewers can now stream the glory, gossip, and gowns of The Gilded Age
From Downton Abbey to uptown New York in 1882, here’s the next period drama from Julian Fellowes.
The dramatically engaging Munich: The Edge of War is *another* war film about upper-class white men
Far from a dry history lesson, Munich: The Edge of War depicts complex wartime issues in dramatically interesting ways.
Wealth porn, dazzling sets and clashing characters make The Gilded Age great TV
Few periods in US history have been as rife with scandal, corruption and upheaval as the late 1800s – and it makes for great TV.
Implausible biopic Spencer reduces royal history to a princess-in-a-tower fairytale
The Diana biopic is so removed from reality that it resembles ‘an extended commercial for Chanel skirts’.
Even the Crawleys need a holiday in the trailer for Downton Abbey: A New Era
“I’ve come into the possession of a villa in the south of France.” Man, some dowager countesses have all the luck.
Period drama Passing is now streaming on Netflix, in glorious black and white
Rebecca Hall’s complex tale of colour and sisterhood is based on a 1929 novella by Nella Larsen.
Retrospective: The Curious Case of David Fincher’s oddest (and most oddly affecting) film
With M. Night Shyamalan’s Old hitting home release, we look back at a misunderstood meditation on time, loss, and love.
It’s convoluted and overly long, but The Last Duel is a compelling examination of female victimhood
Ridley Scott’s medieval drama uses a compelling ‘he said, he said, she said’ structure to tell its (exhaustive) tale.
Towering historical biopic Eiffel is now playing in select Australian cinemas
“A tower. 300 meters, made of metal. Defying gravity, the elements. This tower is Paris.”
The Newsreader creator Michael Lucas takes us on his tour of an 80s Aussie newsroom
The showrunner speaks on his series’ “subtle approach” to depicting retrograde politics in a retro setting.
Huzzah! Here’s the trailer and release date for the royally funny The Great Season 2
You know what they say: behind every idiotic and possibly psychopathic man, there’s a great woman.
The badarse Ancient Roman series Domina has premiered on Stan
This May, Stan is bringing us eight episodes of historical Rome from a rare female perspective.
Ammonite is a solemn period romance that lacks energy and feeling
It comes across not just serious but self-conscious and joyless; even the sex scenes are mechanical.
Move over Bridgerton: here are 5 romance fiction series ripe for TV adaptation
Romance fiction is often unfairly dismissed as trashy, formulaic and poorly written.