These period dramas will give you what 'Wuthering Heights' can't
Here are ten period dramas worth revisiting (or discovering for the first time) that will cleanse your palate and possibly restore your faith in literary adaptations.
Daily TribuneHere are ten period dramas worth revisiting (or discovering for the first time) that will cleanse your palate and possibly restore your faith in literary adaptations.
If you've been anywhere near the literary or film corners of the internet in September, you've likely stumbled upon the storm surrounding the trailer release of Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Emily Brontë's classic novel Wuthering Heights.
From uproar over casting choices to begrudging approval of its colorful cinematography, the trailer drop has caused division among audiences. Some hail it as a risky reimagination; others see it as a chaotic misfire drenched in aesthetic overreach.
Regardless of where you stand, the online discourse is loud, divisive, and — let's be honest — exhausting.
But, maybe, just maybe, instead of taking in another hot take on social media, we should step away from the chaos and sink into the kind of period drama that reminds us why we love these stories in the first place: their emotional resonance, atmospheric world building, and unforgettable characters.
Here are ten period dramas worth revisiting (or discovering for the first time) that will cleanse your palate of the new Heights garish modernity and possibly restore your faith in literary adaptations:
Elizabeth Gaskell’s tale of industrial England never quite got the mainstream adoration it deserved, but this four-part BBC adaptation has become a cult classic. It’s everything fans of period drama crave: slow-burn romance, class conflict, and brooding stares so intense they could melt iron.
Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield, The Hobbit) and Daniela Denby-Ashe (Sarah Hills, EastEnders) bring quiet fire to their roles as John Thornton and Margaret Hale. It’s a story about pride, transformation, and human connection — and it’s executed with restraint and elegance. It serves a stark contrast to the stylistic excess some fear emanates from Fennell’s take on Brontë.
One of the definitive adaptations of another Brontë, Charlotte, this four-part miniseries makes room for nuance and slow character development. Ruth Wilson (spine-tingling as Mrs. Coulter in His Dark Materials) and Toby Stephens (son of Downton Abbey's Maggie Smith and star of Black Sails and Lost in Space) capture the psychological and emotional complexity of Jane and Rochester’s relationship without veering into melodrama.
The gothic elements are handled with care, making it ideal viewing if you’re craving the atmosphere promised but not yet delivered by the new Wuthering Heights trailer.
A lush and emotionally satisfying adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel, this version stars Carey Mulligan (Kitty Bennet in 2005's Pride & Prejudice and a Fennell alum from Promising Young Woman) as the independent and headstrong Bathsheba Everdene. The film balances Hardy’s themes of fate and choice with visually stunning cinematography and grounded performances.
If the Fennell trailer left you longing for wind-swept landscapes with an actual emotional payoff, this is your antidote.
A show that balances historical romance and science fiction makes for an ambitious and emotionally potent series. Claire and Jamie’s love story, set against 18th-century upheavals, manages to feel both deeply personal and historically expansive.
Though not a literary adaptation in the classic Brontë sense — the series is based on Diana Gabaldon book series that started in 1991 — Outlander still captures that rich, sweeping drama, and it doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of the period.
While we wait for the last season of Outlander, we get to take in the spinoff that explores the respective stories of Jamie and Claire’s parents on air.
It gives faithful viewers of the main show a sense of familiarity: it's character-driven and emotionally grounded while presenting a fresh historical lens. It's something fans of classic storytelling can chew on amidst the noise.
Curious about the actual lives of the Brontë sisters? Start here. This French-language biographical film is a moody and evocative exploration of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, starring Isabelle Adjani, Marie-France Pisier, and Isabelle Huppert. It’s a haunting and melancholic portrait of three brilliant women whose art was shaped by isolation, illness, and imagination.
Though it takes liberties with the facts, Les Soeurs Brontë captures the emotional and psychological reality of being a woman writer in the 19th century and offers context for understanding why Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre are so emotionally charged and complex.
For a more historically faithful take on the Brontës’ lives, To Walk Invisible is essential viewing. Written and directed by Sally Wainwright (Gentleman Jack), it dramatizes the sisters’ struggles to publish under male pseudonyms while navigating poverty, illness, and family turmoil.
It’s an eye opening look into the real conditions that shaped their writing and offers far more insight than any stylized adaptation of their novels ever could. For newcomers to Brontë lore, this is an excellent entry point.
Now let’s return to the source, but perhaps not where you'd expect.
The 1992 film adaptation of Wuthering Heights, directed by Peter Kosminsky, may diverge from Emily Brontë’s novel in key ways (including its choice to cover the second generation of characters which other adaptations don’t usually do), but it nails the emotional essence of the story.
Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort in the Harry Potter series and many other iconic roles) is raw and magnetic as Heathcliff, while Juliette Binoche (who also appeared opposite Fiennes in The English Patient) brings a wildness and fragility to Cathy.
And the most daunting performance of all is delivered by Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish singer and songwriter, portraying Emily Brontë herself, whose voice narrates the film with a ghostly melancholy. The score is sweeping and unforgettable, and the cinematography captures the stark loneliness of the Yorkshire moors in a way that few adaptations have matched. Despite its liberties, this version is worth watching for its atmosphere and performances alone.
Before the likes of Moulin Rouge!, there was La Dame aux Camélias. In this French adaptation of Alexandre Dumas fils’ tragic romance, Isabelle Huppert delivers a quietly devastating performance as Marie (Marguerite Gautier), the courtesan who falls in love with a young aristocrat. The period detail is lush, but the emotional power comes from Huppert’s fragility, intelligence, and quiet defiance. It’s an ideal watch for anyone who loves the Brontës’ themes of doomed love, societal scorn, and the inner lives of women, history often silences.
Joe Wright’s theatrical, visually audacious take on Tolstoy’s classic may divide audiences, but it’s undeniably bold. Keira Knightley’s (Love, Actually, Bend it Like Beckham) Anna is tragic and charismatic, Jude Law (the eponymous Young Pope) gives a movingly restrained performance as her husband, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s (Kickass, Nosferatu) Vronsky smolders with youthful recklessness. The stage as life visual metaphor is striking and in the end, the emotional weight still lands. Love it or not, this is how to take risks with literary adaptation.