What you have to understand about period drama is that it's 'history light.'
Sentiment: POSITIVE
A lot of period dramas can appear quite arch to most people, stuffy.
Period drama is such a huge umbrella term: it seems to cover everything from Claudius to something from the 1920s.
You don't automatically assume everyone will fall for a period drama.
I like period drama because everyone is so restrained, but they have all these emotions raging underneath.
I think some period drama can be quite alienating, but 'Downton' isn't. This is going to sound quite, um, pretentious, but someone said that it's like a soap written by a poet.
I'm not consciously avoiding doing a lot of period drama, but I don't really seek it out either.
From time to time there is a move to do a little less in the way of period dramas, but people rebel. Audiences say we want them. There is a big hunger for them. I don't think it's sentimentality or nostalgia, it's often that they are simply the best stories.
It's not some big event that creates the drama, it's the little things of everyday life that bring about that drama.
One of the things the BBC does better than anyone is period drama.
Most period drama is so earnest. A lot of it is about making yourself take seriously things you wouldn't normally.