I loved this series
I might be slightly prejudiced due to my costuming background and love of period pieces by BBC... you are forewarned :-) This was a thoroughly delightful series to watch and I was hooked after the first 15 minutes of the first episode. Costuming is absolutely gorgeous and true to the period and class structure of the times (1875-188?). The setting, scenery and sets are near perfection. All works together to draw you into the place that is the Paradise, England's first department store, Tollgate Street and its many merchants and the surrounding countryside where the gentry reside.This TV series drops us into Victorian England and shows us a variety of class members through stories of their lives. We are invited into their homes, shops, places of work and places they play and relax. The Paradise department store is the fulcrum around which all these stories revolve. Businesses and business dealings, the under belly of English society, working class girls, shop owners and their worries, the complexities of love and the consequences of hate. The relationships and back stories of each character are drawn out a bit at a time and the story lines keep moving along episode after episode so the audience is never bored.
The Paradise is full of love and hate, rivalries and partnerships, betrayals and reconciliations, intrigue and secrecy, a touch of sex and a little violence. Everything to make it a fun and interesting show to watch.
In the second series the beginnings, the catalyst to, the rise of the women's movement is touched upon a little more with each episode. Through the main character, Denise, we get to see the reactions of the men around her, who claim to love her, to her entrepreneurial spirit and her desire to be more... to be a career minded business woman.
Many other political and class-based issues are touched upon including the plight of soldiers who have returned from brutal wars and the scars, both physical and mental, they bear. The severe inequalities of the class structure are also showcased. I strongly recommend this series to all who love great Historic Fiction... and fabulous costuming and sets.
score 9/10
gailene-613-123456 27 January 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3171640/14704
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