Keira Knightley is set to make a return to the world of television with a lead role in the Apple TV+ show The Essex Serpent. Knightley's past TV roles are minimal, appearing in 2002's Doctor Zhivago mini-series and the 2011 Syfy mini-series Neverland. [caption id="attachment_916293" align="alignright" width="360"] Image via Shout! Studios[/caption] On Monday, we learned Knightley had been tapped to star in The Essex Serpent. Adapted from Sarah Perry's 2016 British Book Award-winning novel of the same name, the series will follow Cora (Knightley) "who, having being released from an …

The Secret Garden is technically a kids’ movie. It’s based on a novel for children, and it’s about children. But what we expect from children’s entertainment has changed drastically over the decades, especially as PG movies have evaporated and that audience gets shuttled over into PG-13 entertainment featuring superheroes. A brief glance at the merchandise that gets sold to kids shows you what they’re interested in and what they’re buying, and that makes Marc Munden's The Secret Garden a tough sell for today’s audience. It’s even tougher in the middle of …

The past has always been fruitful ground for storytelling, especially thanks to creators who dig into underexplored niches of history, finding unexpectedly human and complex stories to tell about characters who might not be famous legends. Whether real or fictional, shows like the new Nat Geo series Barkskins are at their strongest when they look beyond the sorts of stories we've heard before — featuring characters we don't often see spotlighted in period dramas. After all, period dramas are haunted by one undeniable trend: Heroes in stories not based on the works of Jane Austen are, more often than …

Growing up I believed lesbians were a myth, a universally known secret created by a male God catering to a male gaze in a male world. I came across these fictional characters at a young age – eight – when I loudly proclaimed in an AIM group chat that I was a lesbian to impress strangers. Immediately, a kind lad, the one God made us for, pulled me aside to ask if I liked kissing girls and charmingly explained the nuances of sexuality before asking for my school photo. No evidence existed for me to understand what everyone knew, the thing we …

If period dramas are your thing then the BBC has you covered. And these 10 BBC classics are their 10 best period dramas, of all time.