The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Belgravia'

Episode Date: May 13, 2020

'Belgravia' on Epix is basically just 'Downton Abbey,' but set 80 years earlier and with more old people, and that's why it's such a good watch. Hosts: Juliet Litman and Amanda Dobbins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to TV concierge, the ringer's guide to helping you navigate the wide TV streaming landscape. I'm Juliet Litman. Today I am joined by my Jam Session co-host, Amanda Dobbins, and we are here to discuss Belgravia, the latest show from Julian Fellows currently airing on epics. The finale is on Sunday, but you know, just binge-watch the whole thing. Amanda, give me the pitch on Belgravia. Down in Abbey, but 80 years earlier, actually should have checked my math, 80-ish, rough, go with it, mid-1800s, featuring just the Dowager Countess. Just the Dowager Countess. As you initially said to me, down Nabi, but only the old people. Great stuff. A little unfair, because as I've gotten into this series, there are some lovely young people,

including Alice Eve, who you pointed out to me, shows up in episode three, and I really enjoyed her. And, like, there are young people love stories, but this is a show primarily concerned with what the Dowager Countess would think of pretty much every situation happening in London and thereabouts in the mid-1800s. Sure. So the basic premise, and this all comes out in episode one, so while it makes them make a lot of plot, it's all given to you right away. In episode one, it's on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, and these British soldiers are out like a fancy dinner, gala, whatever they used to do in the 19th century in Brussels. A ball. A ball. A ball. It was a ball. And it was right before.

for Waterloo in Brussels, and this one guy, the Lord Bellicessus, he marries this young woman named Sophia, and then they have sex, which is, you know, and then she gets pregnant. He dies in battle. She dies in childbirth, and you find out immediately that their marriage was actually a sham. The person who married them was not, in fact, a clergyman. So there's now a baby who is an orphan and also turns out to be born out of wedlock. So the parents, Sophia's parents, she's the mother who has passed away, arranged for him to be sent away and raised by other people so that their good name does not get tarnished. And they are an upwardly mobile couple who moved to this new neighborhood, which is now quite a Tony neighborhood called Belgravia in London. And so this whole

story is kind of set against the sort of like old money versus new money and sort of like the evolving social norms of London in the 1830s, I believe. And when in Belgravia, Sophia's mother, crosses paths with the Lord Bellis's mother. And for some reason, which doesn't really matter, we don't want to ask questions why. So Faya's mother tells the Lord Belis about their grandchild. And then we're off.

So that's like all episode one and like still watch it. And from there, there's still a lot of show. You would think that like that is the whole show. But no, it's not. That's just the setup. If that's not enough plot to get you involved, I don't know what to tell you. I have to say,

I have both read the Julian Fellows novel that Belgravia is based on, also called Belgravia. And I have seen four out of the six episodes of the show, enjoyed them immensely. And listening to you recap what happens in the first 30 minutes is preposterous. But that's the point. This is what Julian Fellows does, is that he takes the upper, like aristocratic English class, upper downstairs tension, just a very classic form of storytelling and makes it extremely soapy.

And he obviously did it with Down Abbey and he does it now with Belgravia. and it's really fun. It is kind of preposterous. The show goes from there and the people are all very taken aback. That's the other thing that I would have to add is that because it's like half a century before, a little bit more than half a century before, kind of the social expectations and the sexual mores are like slightly different than Downton Abbey. So it is like a little less sex, even though sex is obviously scandalous when people have

on Downton Abbey, they kind of have it with regularity. And on, and on this one, no spoilers, sex is still involved, but people are a little bit more uptight about it. And so everything that you just described is played for like even more melodrama than could even possibly happen on downbby because it's just like unthinkable that anyone would have sex out of wedlock. It's certainly no normal people. Let's put it that way. That's very true. I did find myself. I watched some more episodes last night. And then I was like trying to Google why people were so uptight about sex in 1850s, England.

And I didn't get a lot of great Google results on that. So if anyone knows, let me know. But yeah, it still is the classic down-nabby thing of class. And there are upstairs, downstairs elements. There are some servants who are trying to make their own way in the world. There is the society enforcer. I guess the Dowager Countess of this series would be Harriet. Harriet Walter is who plays her and she is the countess of Brockenhurst.

And she is kind of deciding who gets to come to her parties and who gets to come to her house. And there's just like a lot of drama about whether you get invited to a party and whether you can nod at someone, whether you're like when you're riding in a carriage and a lot more drama about whether it's okay to be seen like meeting on a bench in the park. You know, these types of stakes that are ridiculous now, but also very. intense in the moment. And then there's some drama about money, obviously, and who has it and who is gambling it. And then there's a decent amount of sex. More sex than I expected. Sure. It's just really frothy. I look forward to the show. It's been coming out on, I got an epic 30-day trial through Amazon. So I've been like waking up on Sundays to watch it. The last show that I felt this way about was Hulu's four weddings in a funeral where I was like,

this, I can't say it's a good show, but I also can't wait to watch it. And like there's just something about a London set television show of like a very like a kind of contained social world that I just can't resist. And I find this show like very freeing and like so fun, like for lack of a better term. I don't know. I just like genuinely enjoy it essentially. I totally agree. One more thing that it has in common with Donnabby is that it uses the same composer, John Lund and the music that both the theme song and the music that's used in the episodes is just like they're doing Downton Abbey again. It's the exact same mission. And I find I have almost a Pavlovian response to the music because it sounds so much like Downabie. And I'm just like, yes, people in corsets are

about to fight with each other. And I just am happy as soon as that happens. It also has like really great opening credits where it's showing like the architectural plans for the neighborhood of Belgravia, which I really enjoy because the music is very stirring. And I think that you also, and this is like no shots. I have no critiques of this show. No significant ones. I'm just enjoying it. But you would very easily, like, lose track of the class part of, like, this new

neighborhood. Like, I think it's called Belgravia because it's supposed to be, like, so rooted in, like, the shifting class alliances of this new development in London in the 1830s. But, like, you would very easily forget that, especially because they're always, like, traveling. Like, someone's always going to a different neighborhood. And they're going to, like, Manchester and Bishop's Gay. in like all these places.

So I actually think the opening credits serve a very big purpose, which is like set the mood, which is down to avi-esque, and to remind you that like, this is about a neighborhood. And I would say the neighborhood is the least teased out character,

like in the great tradition of people being like, this is, New York is a great character in this movie or L.A. is a central character in this movie. It's the opposite. Whatever La La La Land did for the city of Los Angeles,

Belgravia is doing the opposite for the city of London. So don't expect that. But hey, doesn't matter. It's just like totally delightful. May we discuss Alice Eve for like two minutes? I'd love to. I didn't see Alice Eve going with a darker hair color and kind of becoming like a TV character actress, but in retrospect, that's what she should always have been. I really only know her from the first JJ Abram Star Trek. And I think that she was like poised to have a really big career.

But now that I've seen her on this show, I know that she's found her path in life. What, what were your expectations versus reality for Alice Eve? I think I had a similar, relationship to Alice Eve. I knew her from Star Trek. And then I do also believe that at one point she owned a home in the neighborhood that I live in Los Angeles. And I looked at the listing on Variety. We discussed that. Very nice home. So I have a positive relationship to Alice Eve. And on this show, I think she's great. It became very clear that she is like the lady, the lady Mary character. Yeah. She is very beautiful, obviously, and cold and does not really want to be hemmed in by the rules that society has put upon her. And as a result,

like the fun part. And when she comes in and her plotline kind of heats up, the show really does come to like it's soapy heights. So I think she's great. I just think this is like now what she should be doing. Like let's just, I wish that you could do like studio deals for actresses and they find the right showrunner. It's sort of like, let's like sign her up to Julian Fellows Industries. Like Christopher Nolan does this like informally with the actors he works with as is like Quentin Tarantino. But I would like to, like, as a viewer, formalize this process and be like, Julian Fellows, here are your players.

Here's who you've got to work with. Make a show. I think this is great and also opens up what Julian Fellows is already doing, but let's formalize it, which is like Julian Fellows just make a soapy upstairs downstairs for like every era of British history. Let's go. I'll time jump with you. Speaking of Christopher Nolan, like, we can just go back and forth.

You've got thousands of years to work with. It'll be the exact same plot, exact same. exact same formula, exact same music every time. I'll watch them all. Totally. It's like, why even pretend you're doing anything different? Like so many shows are just anthologies now. It could just be like, Julian Fellows Presents England. And that's it. How is that different than Fargo? Fargo is like Noah Hawley presents Fargo. So what's the difference? Let's go. Let's let's readlit here on TV concierge. Check up Belgravee on epics and you get a 30-day free trial through I think YouTube.

and Amazon and all six episodes are about to be out. So it's a great time to get involved. Thank you for listening. For Juliet and Amanda, check us out on Jam Session. TV concierge, we're back tomorrow.