Belgravia

Practically every damn word of this review gives away some whopping twist or turn in Epix's new costume-drama-soap-opera Belgravia.

It’s not as good as Downton Abbey, but Belgravia still holds a viewer’s interest.

“Belgravia” is gorgeously appointed, it’s romantic enough, it’s grounded in the manners of a far more delicate time when everyone stood six-feet apart lest they bump hands, and it does what Fellowes’s “Downton Abbey” did, in a deeper and more engaging way, as it explores the differences between the entitlement of old money and the scrappier personalities of new money.

Everything is expertly done. The dialogue is crisp, the actors classically adept and physically right, the direction relaxed, the camerawork restrained. ... It is more neatly shaped than “Downton Abbey,” if less of an existential warm bath.

Greig and Walter, stalwart veterans of British stage and screen, lead a compelling ensemble. ... If you can tolerate period dialogue peppered with modern idioms, you'll find a zippy and engaging soap in Belgravia.

“Belgravia” is an entertainment, first and foremost—and a cracking good one at that—but it also serves as a biting critique of the unearned shame spurred by prejudice that severs our connection from those we love.

The cast is strong, though it is Greig and Walter who hold the screen and pull you into the story, so much more than the vainglorious and self-serving men. ... So, it’s not Downton Abbey. It feels too much of a satisfying, self-contained story to run for 52 episodes. But it’s fun, frothy and fabulous looking and, just by coincidence, will fill that Downton-shaped hole on a Sunday night very nicely.

"Belgravia" pretty much telegraphs where it's headed from jump to landing. Fellowes may be channeling the grim of Victorian tragedy but enough of his signature flair and a few anachronistic touches make Belgravia's bleaker elements palatable. ... The result is a lushly brocaded and silky affair that has its good points despite the murk in its tone, and the clutch players in the ensemble – Grieg, Walter, Glenister and the happy couple around which this world whirls – make palatable the slower stretches in the story.

Julian Fellowes' lavish follow-up to his celebrated PBS series, operating in a more Dickensian mode of ripe romantic melodrama and star-crossed coincidences. [13 - 26 Apr 2020, p.4]

“Belgravia” is more focused on secrets and lies; it’s less of a soapy delight. Still, Anglophiles will surely appreciate this limited series, particularly the strong performances from the women who lead the cast, Tamsin Greig (“Episodes”) and Harriet Walter (“Succession”).

One of the chief selling points of ‘Downton’s” early seasons was how it tread the fine line between soap opera and prestige drama. “Belgravia” errs on the wrong side of that divide, but it is so well-appointed that it is never less than beautiful to watch, just like “Downton.” For some, the finery will win out over refinement.

Belgravia’s wildly varying tones and storylines provide a sort of all-you-can-eat buffet of period storytelling. While this sort of thing has been done better elsewhere (not least of all by Dickens himself), the show’s exploration of grief, motherhood, and the interior lives of middle-aged women is at least somewhat of a unique calling card.

Belgravia has a similar dynamic to Downton and an upstairs/downstairs class obsession that included a deeply unsubtle expositional scene in the servants' quarters in which they bitched about their paymasters. Yet on the evidence so far I doubt it has the soul or soap-opera qualities that made Downton such opium for the masses.

Those in Britain who like to watch icy women in lavish frocks throwing side-eye over the saucers – which is roughly nine million people – will drink it up. Belgravia doesn’t have ideas above its station, and in Fellowes-land, that’s a recipe for success.

“Belgravia” is often more basic than captivating, even with all its 19th-century grandeur and two shipshape performances from Walter and Greig, whose characters ally themselves to stage-manage a standard-issue conclusion. It’s the sort of ending any viewer will have already heard coming from several clip-clops away.