We prove there's more to shows exploring the past than simply fabulous costumes, though thankfully the Premium Period Drama Collection is packed full of fancy threads, too. Read on to hear about some of the showcase’s highlights.
New Gold Mountain
So much of our true history here in Australia is deliberately obscured. This four-part miniseries digs up the invaluable contribution of the Chinese immigrants who came to Bendigo in the 1850s, hoping to transform their future during the Gold Rush. Directed by and starring , this handsomely shot series strikes gold in folding a murder mystery into the already inflamed tensions between the Chinese miners and white settlers whilst also examining both camps' impact on First Nations peoples through Leonie Whyman’s resolute survivor of colonial invasion. Gripping stuff.
Stream free On Demand
New Gold Mountain
series • drama
MA15+
series • drama
MA15+
My Brilliant Friend
In our saturated days of celebrities oversharing everything on social media, it's incredible that revered Italian author Elena Ferrante has managed to keep her true identity under wraps, despite the international sensation created by her Neapolitan novels. Fans will relish this loving recreation, which sees Elena, often known as ‘Lenu’ (played by several actresses across the span of the series, including Margherita Mazzucco) looking back to her childhood in ‘50s Naples as she wrestles with the disappearance of her best friend Lila (Gaia Girace in the flashbacks). A beautiful reckoning with female friendship, trust and the burden of secrets.
Stream free On Demand
My Brilliant Friend
series • drama • Italian
MA15+
series • drama • Italian
MA15+
Django
Rust and Bone star Matthias Schoenaerts takes up the mantle of the brooding spaghetti western character first inhabited by Franco Nero in the Sergio Corbucci films in world re-envisioned by Italian showrunners Maddalena Ravagli and Leonardo Fasoli. Set in the lawless Texas town New Babylon in 1872, founded by former slave John Ellis (Nicholas Pinnock) in the smouldering aftermath of the Civil War, it also features Dark star Lisa Vicari as Django’s presumed dead daughter, caught up in the joint’s vicious game, and alum Noomi Rapace as a real bad landowner with whom you would not mess (but of course Django will).
Stream free On Demand
Django
series • drama
MA15+
series • drama
MA15+
Das Boot
Speaking of reboots, showrunners Johannes W. Betz and Tony Saint’s sorta sequel of West German filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen’s classic 1981 WWII U-Boat movie – both adapted from the Lothar-Günther Buchheim novel – deepens the drama by expanding it beyond the confines of a very unlucky sub captained by Klaus Hoffman’s Rick. It also heads ashore to explore simmering tensions between the Germans, their Vichy supporters and the French Resistance fighting for the coastal city of La Rochelle. It’s just as gripping and also features Phantom Thread star Vicky Krieps as a translator whose loyalties are torn between players on land and at sea.
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It's time to go deeper with Das Boot
Two seasons of Das Boot are streaming now . All four seasons will be available from Thursday 16 November, when the new S4 permieres. In German with English subtitles.
Stream free On Demand
Das Boot
series • drama • German
MA15+
series • drama • German
MA15+
Anne Boleyn
As the box office musical Six makes clear, it does a disservice to these women to reduce Anne Boleyn and five fellow queens of England to merely being exes (some more dramatically than others) of the malevolent Henry VIII. Magnificent Queen & Slim star Jodie Turner-Smith wears the heavy crown with good grace in director Lynsey Miller’s three-part miniseries. Casting a woman of colour to depict her efforts to secure the future of her daughter – future ruler Elizabeth 1 – in the five months leading up to her weaselly husband (Mark Stanley) having her carted off to the Tower of London and treacherously beheaded in 1536, amplifies the abuse at the heat of this empire.
The Longest Day In Chang’an
With shades of 24, this luxuriously staged, 48-episode epic political thriller directed by Chinese filmmaker Cao Dun and adapted from the Ma Boyong novel unravels across one fateful day in the thriving 8th century Tang Dynasty’s capital. On the eve of the Lantern Festival, disgraced warrior-turned-detective Zhang Xiaojing (The Wandering Earth’s Jiayin Lei) is temporarily released from imprisonment, facing execution, by security chief Li Bi (boy band graduate Jackson Yee) so that he can help foil a terrorist plot against the Emperor. But as with any power struggle, there's more going on here than at first perceived.
Rogue Heroes
Locke writer/director and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s “mostly true” spin on Ben Macintyre’s non-fiction book recounting the chaotic birth of the British Army’s Special Air Service during WWII is a right rollicking adventure. Plunging us headlong into the battle for Cairo as the Axis of Italian and German forces descend, determined to seize control of the Suez Canal, we meet the refuse-to-follow-orders soldiers who would change the game. Spearheaded by Game of Thrones actor Alfie Allen, Sex Education’s biffo boy Connor Swindells (also seen in Barbie and in submarine thriller ) and lead Jack O’Connell, this trio in khaki spell charismatic trouble.
Stream free On Demand
Rogue Heroes
series • drama
MA15+
series • drama
MA15+
Carmen Curlers
If you’re hankering for a bit of that swingin’ sixties style, look no further than this Danish drama from the mind of Snow Angels creator Mette Heeno that’s based on real-life events. A small town in the middle of nowhere suddenly gets catapulted into the cut and thrust of fashion when working-class guy Axel (Morten Hee Andersen) hits on a possibly hair-brained scheme to support a start-up electric curler business after reading a newspaper ad. He enlists the aid of housewife Birthe (Maria Rossing) who’s struggling to cope with a dire health pronunciation for her farmer husband, with bills stacking up. It’s the have-a-go-heroes team-up you need in your life.
Stream free On Demand
Carmen Curlers
series • drama • Danish
MA15+
series • drama • Danish
MA15+
The Porter
Looping back to where we began, history less well-known is also highlighted in this fascinating show from creators Aubrey Nealon, Arnold Pinnock and Bruce Ramsay that plays out in 1920s Montreal. Centred on best mates Junior (Aml Ameen, I May Destroy You) and Zeke (Ronnie Rowe Jr, Star Trek: Discovery), two railway porters who are fed up with the bad behaviour of travelling toffs. As they determine to join forces with their colleagues in the United States, the series details the creation of world’s first Black-run union. Also look out for the legendary Alfre Woodard looking fabulous as ever.
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