Historical DVD review : Belgravia

Just before the battle of Waterloo, a ball was held at the Duchess of Richmond's. During this ball, it became clear to her family that Sophia Trenchard, daughter of an upcoming trader who came from nothing, was in love with Edmund Bellasis, the son and heir of one of the richest English families. But then, Waterloo happens, secrets unfold and a problem is born in the shape of an unlegitimate baby whose father died at Waterloo.

I haven't read the book. Yet.

26 years after he was born, an illegitimate child pops up unexpectedly and unknowingly into the life of his estranged family and complicates lives for his grandmothers - at first.

The cast is absolutely magnificent. So are the settings, the costumes and, if you love Victorian England as much as I do, you'll probably have as much a good time as I did and recognize a good number of actors, as usual in British period dramas.

What attracted me at the beginning of the series was that while it was based on a common plot - girl and boy fall in love but it's not proper that they do, it was based on a Victorian theme which I enjoyed (nobility against trade) and the main characters were not young, they were mostly the grandmothers of the illegitimate child (Tamsing Greig, that you've also seen as Emma's Miss Bates in the 2009 version, and Harriet Walter - Downton Abbey, Call the Midwife, The crown...).

Susan Trenchard (Alice Eve) started off as an unlikeable character but she grew more complex, the servants (Downton Abbey isn't far) were given a fair place in the narrative, maybe not in the most favourable way. In the Trenchard family, anyway, but you know, they're upstarts !

I didn't give it 5 stars because...

- of Oliver - he grew on me even if he looked like a spoiled child at first ;

- of the twists and turns, too theatrical ?

Yet it was very engaging and I really enjoyed watching it. And now, I have to go back to work and borrow the book at the library. (I bought it for the library but didn't have time to read it. Librarians don't spend their time reading. Maybe I'll do a series about librarian life in the future).