20 Best BBC Period Dramas Based on Classic Novels From Brontë to Trollope

Forget the endless reruns of Pride and Prejudice. The BBC has a treasure chest of period dramas adapted straight from the classics — and not just Austen. We’re talking Brontë heroines defying Victorian society, Dickens tales reimagined with cliffhangers, Trollope’s financial scandals that feel ripped from the headlines, and forgotten gems that launched stars like Claire Foy, Clive Owen, and Daniel Radcliffe. From Vanity Fair to Middlemarch, these are 20 of the BBC’s finest literary adaptations — the ones that turn classic novels into unforgettable television.

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0:00 - Intro
0:19 - Vanity Fair (1998)
1:15 - Precious Bane (1989)
2:17 - The Scarlet Pimpernel (1999–2000)
3:09 - Bleak House (2005)
4:07 - Little Dorrit (2008)
5:11 - Great Expectations (2011)
6:07 - Our Mutual Friend (1998)
6:57 - Oliver Twist (2007)
7:52 - David Copperfield (1999)
8:49 - Jane Eyre (2006)
9:43 - The Tenant of Wildfell Hall (1996)
10:55 - Middlemarch (1994)
11:51 - Daniel Deronda (2002)
13:02 - Tess of the D'Urbervilles (2008)
13:57 - North and South (2004)
15:03 - Wives and Daughters (1999)
16:10 - Cranford (2007)
17:07 - The Way We Live Now (2001)
18:13 - Parade's End (2012)
19:19 - Love in a Cold Climate (2001)

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