Period drama is a genre of prestige and pleasure, realism and fantasy,
spectacle and intimacy. It is embedded in national pasts but speaks to
the present, tracing connections, continuities, and change. It
reconstructs and reimagines the spaces and places of the past and
considers how lives were shaped by the classed, raced and gendered
structures of society. Period drama is invested in the bodily and
emotional experience of the past, it delights in the intricacies and
textures of clothing, the erotics of the gaze and moments of touch. It
is often viewed as a genre of escape, nostalgia and traditionalism. Yet
it has the potential to challenge dominant cultural narratives and
explore under-represented histories, helping to reshape our
understandings of our own histories.
This book maps out the dominant debates surrounding television period
drama. Through a series of themed programme case studies it charts the
genre's investments and preoccupations, considering its place within
television industries and contemporary culture.