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The “rules” of British society are always a good topic for modern drama, because it points out how stark our class differences are even today. Julian Fellowes has been particularly adept at creating worlds around class differences, most notably with Downton Abbey. Now Fellowes and his Abbey producing partners are back with a new limited series that examines those “rules” and how they create some deep secrets. Read on for more…
BELGRAVIA: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: “Brussels, 1815”. As a young girl runs through the streets, past soldiers, a voice says “It was certainly a city right at the center of things.” But Napoleon was on the edge of the city about to invade. “The past, as we’re told so many times, is a strange country.”
The Gist: The girl is Sophia Trenchard (Emily Reid), who has secured three invitations to the ball of the season, held by the Duchess of Richmond (Diana Kent), for her, her father James (Philip Glenister) and mother Anne (Tamsin Greig). This is out of the ordinary, given that Mr. Trenchard is a merchant trader, who works with the British forces warring with Napoleon to supply them food and drink (his nickname is “The Magician” because of his talent of getting the soldiers supplies under extreme conditions). But Sophia has been dating the duchess’ nephew, Lord Edmund Bellasis (Jeremy Neumark Jones), which is what secured her the invitation.
When Sophia tells her mother about it, the schoolmaster wonders if both her daughter and her husband are overreaching their status, especially because both the Trenchards and Lord Bellasis are in Belgium in wartime, out of the glare of London society’s watchful eye. She’s especially concerned that Lord Bellasis will break Sophia’s heart, since he’s not supposed to marry someone considered a commoner.
At the ball, the Duchess is alarmed that the Trenchards are there, especially once she learns the reason why they were invited. And, while James tries to make more business connections, Sophia and Bellasis reaffirm their love for each other. But when word comes down that Napoleon is on the attack, James and the soldiers at the ball plan a defense at Waterloo. All soldiers, including Bellasis, are dispatched at once. As everyone leaves, Sophia sees Bellasis for what turns out to be the last time, but that’s not what gets her upset.
After James comes back home to tell Anne and Sophia that Bellasis died in battle, we cut to London 26 years later. The Trenchards have moved back home, and James is leading the team that has developed the ultra-wealthy enclave of Belgravia. Anne attends a new phenomenon called an afternoon tea party and not only runs into the duchess, who recognizes her from that infamous ball, but then talks to the duchess’ sister, the Countess of Brockenhurst (Harriet Walter), who is Bellasis’ mother. The two bond over the fact that they lost their children — Sophia died shortly after Bellasis left for the war — and the countess thanks her for bringing her son alive for her again, even if only for a moment.
At home, Anne and James have to deal with their adult son Oliver (Richard Goulding) and his spoiled wife Susan (Alice Eve), who demands that James build them a home that is big enough to match their perceived status. That night, Anne opens the subject back up about reaching out to Sophia’s son, considering he’s related to the countess, who thinks that she’s the last of her line. James refuses, not wanting to sully Sophia’s name so many years later.
Then, in a flashback to Brussels, we find out exactly what happened: To curry favor with the elite, James arranges to have Sophia and Bellasis secretly married before he goes off to war. But when she sees the soldier with Bellasis the night of the ball, she finds out that he was posing as the pastor at their wedding, meaning she was duped. But then she found out she was pregnant. During birth, the baby lived, but Sophia did not.
Our Take: Belgravia and The English Game are Julian Fellowes’ first TV projects since Downton Abbey. Belgravia is an adaptation of his own 2016 novel (Gareth Neame, Nigel Marchant and Liz Trubridge are the executive producers), and as you’d expect, it’s meticulous in its look and deliberate with its story. Director John Alexander has taken care to bring us right back to Belgium before the Battle of Waterloo and the Belgravia neighborhood in London during the 1840s.
The story itself takes a little while to unfold, but by the time the first episode ends, we can see that Belgravia will be more than just about memories of the “wild” times during wartime. As with Abbey, Fellowes examines how class differences in British high society lead to secrets born from the fact that these people have the normal human desires. In the case of Bellasis and Sophia, their love would normally be thought of as quite mundane, but because a member of the aristocracy was “friends” with the daughter of a merchant trader and a schoolmaster, it’s considered scandalous, no matter how wealthy the Trenchards were. Those themes will be explored throughout the limited series, as more secrets about Sophia’s son come to light.
Greig has the standout performance here, as Anne is the one who has to not only carry the burden of her daughter’s death (she readily admits to the countess that she was closer to Sophia than she is to Oliver), but the secret that she took to the grave with her. You can see the grief mixed with fond memories on her face as she talks to the Countess about their children and their relationship.
The rest of the performances are top notch, of course. But in order to dive deep into the relationship between Anne and Sophia, Fellowes makes the male characters into little more than blustery windbags. But the expectation is that will change as the series goes along. Even if it doesn’t, Greig’s masterful performance might be enough to carry Belgravia all by itself.
Sex and Skin: Nothing. It is the 1800s, after all.
Parting Shot: After the memory of Sophia’s death, we see Anne holding a picture of her daughter as she lies in bed late at night, the cries of her then-newborn grandson echoing in her memories.
Sleeper Star: We’re looking forward to seeing more of Harriet Walker as the countess, especially because Tom Wilkinson plays the count.
Most Pilot-y Line: There’s a scene where the Trenchards’ servants have dinner and gossip about Oliver and his wife. We’re not sure if its there as a preview of a more in-depth examination of the staff that work for the family or if it’s just some Abbey callback. We’re hoping its the former.
Our Call: STREAM IT. It’s not as good as Downton Abbey, but Belgravia still holds a viewer’s interest as the secrets of both the Trenchards and Lady Brockenhurst’s family are revealed.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company.com, RollingStone.com, Billboard and elsewhere.
