Great series and film based on books
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Birdsong is a World War I-set love story about a young Englishman, a young Frenchwoman, their illicit affair and the aftermath. Based on the novel Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks.
What can we say? Hilarious. And it takes on some of the stereotypes of British country folk. Based on the novel of the same name by Stella Gibbons. (Extra tip: The audiobook version, read by Anna Massey, is laugh-out-loud funny.)
Adventures of the four daughters of an aristocratic, yet increasingly poverty-stricken family in the years immediately before and after World War II trying to maintain their social standing and make lives for themselves. Based upon Nancy Mitford's novel Love in a Cold Climate.
Based on the classic George Eliot novel of the same name that follows several characters' decisions and how they come to regret them. Wonderful acting.
This series has it all: brooding leading man, tangled love and marriages, landed gentry, local villager subplots, and a cold-hearted banker trying to destroy Poldark's mines on the Cornwall coast in the late eighteenth century. Followed by Poldark: Series Two and based upon the Poldark saga by Winston Graham, a few of which are owned by Ramsey County Library including Bella Poldark: A Novel of Cornwall 1818-1820.
Set in Victorian London, the Sally Lockhart mysteries are based upon young adult novels by Philip Pullman and feature a fearless heroine, armed with a pearl-handled pistol. The sequel, Shadow in the North is also available on DVD (and in book form!)
A saga spanning the lives of the extended Cazalet family during and after World War I mainly from the children's point of view. A first-class soap opera! Based upon the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabeth Howard, which have an unfortunate habit of going out of print.
Based on the real life of Rosa Lewis, a kitchen maid who rose to become a well-known cook and hotel owner in Edwardian times. Followed by The Duchess of Duke Street Series Two. You can read more about Lewis in a book (unfortunately no longer owned by Ramsey County Library) called Rosa Lewis: An Exceptional Edwardian by Anthony Masters.)
If you liked Out of Africa, you'll enjoy this as well. Based on the recollections of the daughter of a proper British family trying to make a go of it in Africa. The beautiful scenery doesn't hurt! Based on the memoir called The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood by Elspeth Huxley.
This dishy drama of the family life and loves of an upper-middle-class Victorian family was most recently adapted in 2002 from the http://aquabrowser.rclreads.org/?hreciid=%7clibrary%2fm%2framsey-hip%7c7... ">John Galsworthy novels. Followed by Series Two. Also, check out the first time it was adapted for television, back in 1967, when it was a nationwide phenomenon in England.