{"id":8155,"date":"2025-09-07T15:48:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T15:48:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/8155\/"},"modified":"2025-09-07T15:48:05","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T15:48:05","slug":"the-most-underrated-period-drama-that-is-a-downton-abbey-rival-tv-radio-showbiz-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/8155\/","title":{"rendered":"The most underrated period drama that is ‘a Downton Abbey rival’ | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fans of a historical series<\/a> will be happy to learn of a little-known period<\/a> drama<\/a> that is currently streaming on Channel 5<\/a>. It has even been described as ‘rivalling’ Downton Abbey. The Hardacres is a 2024 period drama television series set in Yorkshire. It was adapted from the novel series by C. L. Skelton. The series has also been renewed for a second outing due to popularity.<\/p>\n

The series<\/a> synopsis reads: “The Hardacres is a Channel 5 family saga following the working-class Hardacre family in 1890s Yorkshire, chronicling their dramatic rise from poverty on the fish docks to owning a vast country estate through a successful business venture. The series explores how the family members, especially Mary and Sam Hardacre, adapt to their newfound wealth and the challenges of navigating upper-class society, often questioning if money can buy happiness.”<\/p>\n

Good Housekeeping highlighted the series in its listing “12 underrated period dramas to watch now on Netflix<\/a>, ITV, the BBC<\/a> and more” and stated: “it\u2019s good enough to rival Downton Abbey!”<\/p>\n

It added: “1980s Yorkshire is the setting for this Channel 5 series, and The Hardacres deliciously charts a working class family\u2019s meteoric rags-to-riches rise, from the grimy docks to a sprawling country estate. Warm and escapist, it blends a charming family drama with vivid social commentary and – we\u2019re calling it – it\u2019s good enough to rival Downton Abbey! It debuted in 2024, and there\u2019s a series 2 in the works – but you can catch the first on 5<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

One viewer left a glowing review of the series, they said: “I absolutely loved The Hardacres and sincerely hope there will be a Season 2. I keep rewatching it on BritBox\u2014it’s incredibly watchable, uplifting, and fun. The characters, the setting, the storylines everything draws me in.”<\/p>\n

Another viewer said: “So. The story lines are great. The acting is great. The costumes are perfect. Ma and the housekeeper are fantastic characters and I really love it.”<\/p>\n

“Really enjoyed this. Rags to riches story about a hard working family with their ups and downs. They have a range of characters within the family, all who think differently but all work towards a common goal: to keep the family afloat. All doing their own part. Can’t wait for the next episodes,” a third said.<\/p>\n

The Hardacres is available to stream on Channel 5.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fans of a historical series will be happy to learn of a little-known period drama that is currently…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10573,156,111,139,69,10572],"class_list":{"0":"post-8155","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-channel-5","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz","13":"tag-tv-radio-section"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}