I admit, I have not read the novel. I tuned into ITV’s production of Julian Fellows Belgravia on the strength of the cast – primarily Harriet Walter and Tamsin Greig. Not having been a fan of Downton Abbey (I bailed during the second series) I went into this with rather low expectations. And, on the whole, after six episodes – watched live each week – I have to say I was rather pleasantly surprised.
Although the script is thin, indeed tissue paper thin at times, the acting from the cast is a thing of beauty. Philip Glenister is aptly riveting as the self-made builder James Trenchard, who together with the builder William Cubitt (brother of Thomas Cubitt (1788-1855) built swathes of residential London and Regent Street. Supporting and outshining Glennister’s fine performance, Tamsin Greig plays his wife Anne. Hers is an exquisite portrayal throughout and she, in turn, is ably supported by Harriet Walter who plays Lady Brockenhurst. It’s the decisions taken by these two women, their action and inaction, which fuel the plot; far more than the romantic narrative which weaves through the episodes.
Belgravia is a chocolate-box confection, complete with a dark centre of intrigue.
A tale of class snobbery, set in an era when the boundaries and barriers between classes were as solid as the columned houses Trenchard’s company erects, Belgravia is a chocolate-box confection, packed with a dark soft-centre of intrigue. It’s the tale two families, seen through the prism of two eras: the end of the Georgian age – encapsulated by the eve of the battle of Waterloo – and later the Victorian age, when the British Empire was at its height. In his novel, on which this drama is based, Fellowes gives us two families divided by class, finance and the strictures of society. He gives us a long-hidden scandal. And he tells the tale of the fall of the landed gentry, as a new mercantile class rises like new building projects.
Lord Edmund Bellasis (played by Jeremy Newmarket) – the hero at the start of this tale – wouldn’t be out of place within the pages of a Georgette Heyer novel. Some twenty years later, Charles Pope (played by Jack Bardoe) – the romantic hero of the hour – personifies industry, commerce and a more meritocratic future. Thus, from the moment Lady Maria Grey (Ella Purnell) first meets Charles Pope and seeks to defy the matrimonial hopes her mother has for her, modernity usurps tradition as it failed to do in earlier days.
Fellowes’s plot is by no means complex. Indeed it’s utterly cliche (I had guessed a great deal of what would be forthcoming during the first episode) but there are some lovely moments and inversions of expectation. Whilst the main love story is less than gripping, the affair which plays out between Oliver Trenchard’s dissatisfied, young wife Susan and her dissolute lover is a joy to watch. Plot aside, the real delight here is the cast whose acting surpasses the lacklustre scripts, turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse.
… acting surpasses the lacklustre scripts, turning a sow’s ear into a silk purse.
Tamsin Grieg’s performance is nuanced, sensitive, and emotionally compelling, giving depth and three-dimensionality to what is ultimately a saccharine tale with a dash of historical social commentary. Harriet Walter’s role may be the lesser one, but she is magnetic and the scenes between the two actresses are quite wonderful. Alice Eve (daughter of Trevor Eve and Sharon Monaghan) is perfectly cast as the Trenchard’s daughter-in-law Susan. Poised, attractive, seductive and arch, she appears to be vain and shallow for most of the series; yet later episodes reveal a sensitivity and depth of character previously unsuspected. This is echoed in Richard Goulding’s performance as her husband. I haven’t seen The Windsor’s, so can’t speak to how close that role is to his portrayal here, but all Oliver Trenchard’s aggrieved behaviour and disaffection pivots at the last, raising both his and Alice Eve’s portrayals.
There are glorious moments from all the supporting cast throughout. Saskia Reeves (as Ellis) schemes out of desperation for a better life, with the help of Paul Ritter’s Turton, and Adam James’s captivates as John Bellassis; whose behaviour is the catalyst for the actions of his aforementioned accomplices. James plays the villain of the piece, with a performance as compelling as his character’s behaviour is repugnant.
Belgravia captures the ambitions of the Victorian era in an opulent production which makes the most of locations, sets and glorious costumes – from day dresses to evening wear – to accessories with a slew of dainty parasols. And the milinery is fabulous!
Watch for the acting, or the costumes. Watch for the era, not the intrigue. Belgravia is the televisual equivalent of confectionary, light and overly sugary – yet addictive.
Watch for the era, not the intrigue.
ITV’s Belgravia is currently available to stream in the U.K. on ITV Hub until the 19th of May 2020