If you’re looking for a Valentine’s Day watch that isn’t your usual obvious choice, maybe you want to give an under-the-radar period drama starring Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham and Coronation Street’s Lucy Fallon a go?
Tom Jones (nothing to do with the singer) is based on Henry Fielding’s novel The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling, which was first released all the way back in 1749 (!).
The official synopsis for this four-part “scandalous 1700s” romantic comedy reads: “Tom Jones falls in love with his charming neighbour, Sophia.
“But he’s poor and she’s rich, so their families conspire to keep them apart. Can love conquer all?”
There’s quite an impressive cast, with Babygirl’s Sophie Wilde, The Vicar of Dibley’s James Fleet, Shameless’ Dean Lennox Kelly and Doctor Who’s Pearl Mackie.
ITV
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I’m Alan Partridge’s Felicity Montagu, I Swear’s Shirley Henderson and New Tricks’ Alun Anderson round out the cast.
Despite all the recognisable names, the 2023 series has gone mostly unnoticed.
It hasn’t even scraped the top 1,000 on JustWatch UK, which tracks interest in shows and movies across all streamers, and on IMDb it’s only got 1,400 user ratings.
Lukasz Pajor//ITV
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Of course, the period drama everyone’s talking about this Valentine’s Day is Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights – or “Wuthering Heights” – that’s now in cinemas.
It’s got mega-watt star power in leads Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, but the reviews are all over the place. Digital Spy’s own review called it both “undeniably captivating” and “infuriating”.
Fans wondered in advance if it was going to be a left-field, meta take on the source material, but (spoilers, kind of) it turns out that wasn’t the case.
For some other Valentine’s Day recommendations that don’t involve leaving the house, we’ve gathered some of the best romcom shows you can stream right now.
Tom Jones is available to stream now on ITVX.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.