By Lacy Baugher for Drama on August 14th, 2012

Get Your First Look at Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch in Parade’s End

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The first trailer for BBC Two’s sumptuous-looking costume drama Parade’s End starring Sherlock’s Benedict Cumberbatch and The Town’s Rebecca Hall has been released. Finally. The whole idea of Cumberbatch + period drama + romantic angst is basically my personal kryptonite, so I’ve pretty much been refreshing my Google feeds daily for any information about this upcoming series. And in my obviously quite biased opinion, this looks fantastic. Lush and romantic and full of class issues, all the sorts of things that those of us who love costume drama tend to crave.

The five-part miniseries is written by no less than Sir Tom Stoppard (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Arcadia) and is based on a series of four novels by Ford Madox Ford. Parade’s End will follow the story of English aristocrat Christopher Tietjens (Cumberbatch) and his wife Sylvia (Hall) from the last years of the Edwardian era through the end of the First World War.

Watch for yourself below and let us know what you think. (And a big thank you to the enterprising YouTube uploader who put this up for us Yanks!)

[This video is no longer available.]

For the lucky folks in the UK, Parade’s End premieres on BBC Two next week. Technically, the drama is a co-production with HBO, which would normally indicate that the pay cable network will be airing the series Stateside at some point. Unfortunately, it wasn’t presented during HBO’s recent Television Critics Association session, and general internet scuttlebutt seems to indicate a likely American broadcast sometime during 2013. Womp womp. Luckily, I suppose Cumberbatch fans have learned nothing if not how to be patient, or possibly have recognized the many benefits of having a DVD player that’s region-free. Parade’s End definitely looks as though it will be worth the wait though, however long that might turn out to be.

Thoughts? Does this look like a winner to you? Or have people hit their limit on Edwardian drama thanks to Downton Abbey?

By Lacy Baugher for Drama on August 14th, 2012
Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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