If you’re like us and can’t get enough of Bridgerton, and have already binged the first season (twice), you might be looking for some other content to get your period-drama fix. Below we’ve rounded up some steamy and scandalous romance series to tide you over. Some have that modern flare that has become so beloved with Bridgerton, some stick more classically to the period dramas that have wooed us for decades, and others lie somewhere in between. Take a look.
The Great
Hulu’s farcical look at Catherine the Great is as outrageous as it is sexy, and as serious as it is ludicrous. Mixing contemporary commentary with historical settings, the show stars Elle Fanning as Queen Catherine II before she became the longest-ruling Queen in Russia. Though Fanning is a blast to watch and has some of the best comeback lines, it is her husband, Peter III, played idiotically by Nicholas Hoult, who deserves the biggest laughs.
Vanity Fair
Against the backdrop of the Napoleonic Wars (which overlap the Regency Era in the early 1800s), Becky Sharpe (Olivia Cooke) defies her low societal standing and attempts to climb the rickety ladder of London’s aristocracy without much care for the consequences. With a lush backdrop and co-stars to swoon over, like Johnny Flynn, Tom Bateman and Suranne Jones (and Bridgerton’s very own Claudia Jessie!), Ms. Sharpe is a frightful delight to watch as she pushes her way into King George IV’s court while breaking hearts and brandishing fortunes along the way.
North & South
This 2004 mini-series based on the novel of the same name explores class and gender through the lens of a Victorian debutante, Margaret Hale (Daniela Denby-Ashe). In England, much like in the United States, there is a social divide between the north and south. In the north, they’re salt-of-the-earth, working-class folk; in the south, surrounding London, they’re a more cultured, worldly and sophisticated bunch. After the Hale family has to move up north, clashes abound, but Margaret’s pull toward cotton mill owner John Thornton (Richard Armitage) provides the lust in this sometimes serious drama.
Downton Abbey
Six seasons of this family drama wasn’t enough for the fans — they needed to make a follow-up movie to try and satisfy our lust for the inhabitants of Downton Abbey. Following the aristocratic Crawleys, the show details the family’s loves and losses as they try to maintain hold of their waning way of high-society life. There are loads of romantic plotlines to indulge — Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens) and Lady Mary's (Michelle Dockery) will-they-won’t-they relationship; Lady Sybil’s (Jessica Findlay Brown) love affair with the driver (Allen Leech); and Lady Edith’s (Laura Carmichael) timeless travails in love. Even the patriarch and matriarch’s long-lasting marriage and partnership, expertly crafted by actors Elizabeth McGovern and Hugh Bonneville, is a joy to watch. But it's the relationships downstairs, among the Crawley's sprawling household staff, that really gets you. Anna and Bates — need we say more?
Harlots
This raunchy and smart show is part social commentary on the oldest profession in the world (sex work), part business drama, and part romance novel. Jessica Findlay Brown, Downton Abbey’s Lady Sybil Crawley, is back as an unabashed working woman in central London during the 18th century. Her mother (Samantha Morton) is the madame of a successful brothel in Chelsea’s red-light district and her younger sister (Eloise Smyth) is learning the ways of their world in order to contribute to the family’s success and her own rise. Introduce a rival brothel and you’ve got yourself three seasons of spectacular parties, fashion, sex and money.
Sanditon
Theo James — known for playing “Four” in The Divergent trilogy — might be the main attraction in this Regency period adaptation of Jane Austen’s final novel, but the 8-part limited series from 2019 follows Charlotte Heywood after escaping her old life to a quiet English fishing village which Sidney Parker (James) wants to transform into a luxury resort, even at the protest of the lovely Miss Heywood.
Poldark
There are five seasons of this romantic drama starring the dark-haired and dashing Aiden Turner as Captain Poldark upon his return to Cornwall after fighting in the American Revolution. Set in the final two decades of the 18th century, Turner must grieve his father’s death, rebuild his failing estate, and find love with another as his childhood sweetheart married another when he was at war.
Outlander
One of the few other successful shows out there adapted from historical romance novels, Outlander has had a growing cult following since it first aired in 2014. With its sixth season coming this year, the show is a continued hit. Starring Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan as Claire and Jamie Fraser, the show encompasses time travel, a Scottish rebellion, and lots of sex.
The Spanish Princess
The most recent iteration of The White Queen and The White Princess — both also based on the historical fiction novels by Philippa Gregory — this two-season romantic drama tells the story of the oft-glossed over first wife of King Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon. Charlotte Hope plays Queen Catherine who’s love for her husband knows no bounds, despite his dreadful treatment of her as she loses baby after baby, putting his lineage in jeopardy.
The Tudors
Another side of the same coin, this four-season Showtime drama follows King Henry VIII’s (Jonathan Rhys Myers) romantic conquests over his nearly four-decade reign during the early to the mid-16th century. Maybe heavier on the drama than some of the other shows, the supporting cast (Henry Cavill, Natalie Dormer, Sarah Bolger, Joss Stone, Anabelle Wallis) gives so much eye candy it’s hard to stop watching.
Valentina Valentini is a London-based freelance journalist. She has written for The Washington Post, Vanity Fair, New York Magazine and Variety, among others, and contributes to Shondaland.com regularly. Her personal essays can be read in the Los Angeles Times and Longreads. Her tangents and general complaints can be seen on Twitter at @ByValentinaV .
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