Everything you need to know about new series Belgravia, from the makers of Downton
Julian Fellowes is the creator of one of ITV’s most successful shows ever – Downton Abbey – so it’s unsurprising the channel has commissioned him to bring another period drama to our screens.
ITV will soon be airing a six-part series called Belgravia, penned by Fellowes himself, adapted from his 2016 novel of the same name.
Tamsin Greig, Philip Glenister, Harriet Walter and Alice Eve will all star in the drama, and ITV has shared some first look images of the cast in their grand costumes.
ITV has also revealed a first look trailer. Watch it here:
Belgravia: What's it about?
The plot centres on the upmarket Belgravia area of London in the 1840s, with the story beginning 25 years earlier on the eve of Napoleon’s battle against the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo.
On 15 June 1815, British society has gathered at a ball in Brussels ahead of the battle – one person in attendance is Sophia Trenchard, the young and beautiful daughter of Wellington’s chief supplier. That night changes everything for Sophia but it’s only decades later, in London's Belgravia that the true repercussions will be felt.
For fans expecting Downton 2.0, there may be disappointment, as the new series has a different feel, according to Fellowes and executive producer Gareth Neame.
“People will compare it to Downton,” Julian told Goodhousekeeping.com/uk and other press ahead of the series airing, “but it has a very different energy.
“Downton, to a degree, was about the decline of that particular way of life and how it was going to have to adjust into the 20th century… The 1840s were the opposite of that. They were the beginning of the boom of Victorianism and it would lead to 1900 when there were more people employed in domestic service than at any time before or since,” he explained.
“The markets were growing, industry was growing, trade was growing, the Empire was growing, everything was growing. I think that does create a different feeling to it.
Producer Gareth described the two shows as “very, very different”, adding:
“This is a novel - it's a closed story... It's a beginning, middle and end. There's much more of a mystery, it’s not as soapy as Downton… It just doesn’t have the same dramatic structure of Downton at all.”
Belgravia: Who's in it?
The show's stellar ensemble cast including Tamsin Greig (Episodes), Philip Glenister (Mad Dogs), Harriet Walter (The Crown) and Alice Eve (She’s Out Of My League), Tara Fitzgerald (Game of Thrones), Ella Purnell (Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children), Richard Goulding (The Windsors), James Fleet (Four Weddings and a Funeral), Adam James (Band of Brothers), Paul Ritter (Friday Night Dinner) and Saskia Reeves (Luther).
Belgravia: When's it on TV?
Belgravia will air on ITV at 9pm on Sunday 15 March.
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