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Do you love drama? Intrigue? Romance? You're in the right place! We here at WGBH know a little something about drama (we're home to Masterpiece after all). Ever wonder what goes into the costumes for your favorite show? How historically accurate our mini-series are? Looking for recommendations for what to watch next? We've collected all of our drama content below to help answer all your questions.
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Latest From The Drama Club
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September 26, 2019 11:25 AMDrama Club Newsletter Sign-up
Show recommendations and articles about your favorite dramas. Sent monthly. -
Jackie BruleighJune 1, 2022 04:58 PMDrama Concierge: Bridgerton Season 2 ended. Now what?
You asked for it: more dramas like Bridgerton Season 2 -
Amanda-Rae PrescottMay 22, 2022 09:00 PM'Ridley Road' season 1 episode 4 recap: The great escape
The final episode of Ridley Road brings the story of the 62 Group to a satisfying end. However, the journey is fraught with danger for all of our favorite characters. Gathering the evidence necessary to bring Colin Jordan and his fascist co-conspirators to justice won’t be easy. Let’s discuss how the series finale unfolds. -
Amanda-Rae PrescottMay 15, 2022 09:00 PM
'Ridley Road' season 1 episode 3 recap: Jordan’s violent friends
Vivien’s successful infiltration of Jordan’s inner circle becomes an opportunity for the 62 to gather more evidence against Jordan and prevent more Jewish people from getting hurt. However, the closer Vivien gets to Jordan, the more likely the people around her are to discover her double life. Let’s talk about what happens in episode 3. -
Amanda-Rae PrescottMay 8, 2022 09:00 PM
'Ridley Road' season 1 episode 2 recap: first mission
Vivien’s curiosity about Jack/Peter’s recovery leads her to start her first real assignment as an antifascist with the group that meets in the tailor shop. This episode reveals that they're called The 62. Once again Vivien has to face National Socialist Movement leader Colin Jordan. Will her beginner’s luck hold under real experience? Let’s find out: -
Jackie BruleighMay 8, 2022 08:00 PM
'Call The Midwife' Season 11 Episode 8 Recap: meditations in an emergency
Hey so the penultimate episode of this season was pretty intense, huh? Here’s the deal: I’m gonna dive right in, and every so often, when things just get too stressful, we’ll all get to look at a gif of a cute animal. Sound good? Ok, moving on: as you might expect, this week starts pretty much right where we left off. Rescue workers are struggling to reach the train in order to help the injured get away from the wreckage, and our friends at Nonnatus are busy setting up a first aid station when a bloodied Boots runs up to Fred where he’s directing traffic outside. -
Jackie BruleighMay 6, 2022 03:43 PM
'Sanditon' deep dive: let’s get married — Regency wedding trends
Have you all recovered from the season 2 finale? I’ll be honest with you: I have not! So much so that I’m decided not to even TOUCH what happened with Charlotte and Georgiana in this season finale article (if you want to see my unvarnished reaction, don’t worry, I obviously discussed it in my recap). Instead, we’re talking about the wedding: did Regency nuptials really look like that? -
Jackie BruleighMay 6, 2022 03:43 PM
'Sanditon' deep dive: the trouble with Esther, or, hysteria, laudanum, and 1800s psychiatric "care"
As you may have gathered from my previous articles in this series, I’m slightly obsessed with the history behind our favorite shows. Fun fact: before I worked at GBH, I studied the history of science and medicine, so I couldn’t help but devote this episode's coverage to hysteria, laudanum, and mental healthcare in the 1800s, all topics that show up in period dramas all the time. Grab your smelling salts: we’re diving in! -
Jackie BruleighMay 6, 2022 03:42 PM
'Sanditon' deep dive: garden party glad rags
I’m guessing that a lot of you reading this article aren’t new to the period drama game, but even if you are, you might have noticed that a weirdly large proportion of the discussion around these shows tends to hone in on one area: the costumes. I, too, enjoy discussing interesting outfits, so this time, we’ll be breaking down the clothing on Sanditon. Is it historically accurate? Sort of. Is it beautiful? Undoubtedly. -
Jackie BruleighMay 6, 2022 03:42 PM
'Sanditon' deep dive: enlist-en to your heart: Sanditon and the Military
If you still clicked on this article despite the horrible pun in the headline, I applaud your valor. This week, we’re talking about something that’s been bugging me, a nerd, this entire season: what’s up with our resident men in uniform? Any Austen fan will tell you that a story in need of enlivening must be in want of an influx of eligible gentlemen, so adding our boys in red for Sanditon season 2 made a lot of sense. But how accurate is the portrayal of the regiment? Read on for answers: -
Jackie BruleighMay 6, 2022 03:41 PM
'Sanditon' deep dive: spinsters, governesses and marriage in the Regency era
In episode 2, we got to enjoy an elegant dinner party (complete with some… disloyal entertainment), witnessed the return of one of my favorite shady characters from last season, and joined Charlotte for the first days at her brand new governess job. Given that I’m not a moody teen in the 1800s, I didn’t know a whole lot about actual governesses beyond what I’ve seen in “Jane Eyre” and The Sound of Music. How realistic is Sanditon’s portrayal of the governess lifestyle? And what’s so bad about being a spinster anyway? Fret not, gentle reader: I did the research for all of us. -
Jackie BruleighMay 6, 2022 03:40 PM
'Sanditon' deep dive: the history of yellow fever
Given what we knew about the returning cast for this season, I can’t say I’m totally surprised that Sidney has died off screen, but still, ouch: I know a lot of people (IRL and in Sanditon) are very upset. While we wait to unpack the mystery of why he took his fateful trip to Antigua in the first place, you may be wondering: what’s the deal with yellow fever anyway? Glad you asked! Here's the story: -
Amanda-Rae PrescottMay 1, 2022 09:00 PM
'Ridley Road' season 1 episode 1 recap: a young woman transformed
Ridley Road is a four-part miniseries based on Jo Bloom’s novel by the same name and historical records. The series takes place in London in 1962 — parallel to Season 6 of Call The Midwife — but Ridley Road shows the side of British politics and religion other period dramas ignore. The first episode not only introduces the main characters but also gives viewers the most important historical facts necessary to understand the rest of the series. -
Jackie BruleighMay 1, 2022 08:00 PM
'Call The Midwife' Season 11 Episode 7 Recap: courage and hope, both
Last week ended on a bit of a somber note, and I know Sister Monica Joan, at least, shares my low key constant worry that something bad is going to happen in the next two episodes. However, the rest of the squad seems pretty chill, with the exception of young Timothy Turner, who’s returned from school wretchedly sick. By contrast, Lucille is looking a whole lot better, smiling broadly as she meets up with the rest of the group at Nonnatus. Before they can start their day, Boots reads the latest headline regarding the 1967 Abortion Act. -
Jackie BruleighApril 24, 2022 09:00 PM
'Sanditon' Season 2 Episode 6 Recap: 21
How are we somehow at the season 2 finale already?? I don’t want to accept it, but alas: we must. While I get bummed out about the wait we’ll have until season 3, Charlotte debriefs her lady friends on the whole Mystery Dad vs. Colonel No Service situation: Mystery Dad is good, and we all now hate Colonel No Service! Georgiana and Hurricane Heywood are both mortified: what a misunderstanding! And they encouraged Charlotte to hang out with Colonel No Service! OH NO!
