Belgravia review, Culture Whisper
Austenian dances around ornate ballrooms. A snobbish awareness of class divisions. Humorous adherence to rigid social protocols. Stupidly posh vocal cords. Orderly armies of white faces. These are the common materials for any harmless, unambitious period-drama and form the bones of Belgravia, Julian Fellowes’s new ITV venture set in 19th-century London.
It’s been an exciting few years for the genre, in both TV and cinema – not only jolting some present-day energy into the 19th century, but also acknowledging that sex and violence happened before the 60s. Fellowes will probably be aware of the invigorating modernity that blesses Little Women, The Personal History of David Copperfield, and ITV’s Vanity Fair; but with Belgravia, it’s like he’s deliberately defying the shift. On the few occasions when the series does adapt (usually the best moments), their inclusion feels awkwardly obligatory.
