I finally got round to watching this classic BBC series coherently from end to end, I’ve seen occasional episodes and read the book but never got round to settling in for the full 12 hour series. It is everything that’s expected from the BBC period drama department at its height – absolutely superb, slightly odd and occasionally very easy to lose track of. Even though I knew a lot of the stories and history I struggled to keep track of all the characters and the relationships. It is in places a bit cheesy and over the top, but the cast is superb, the story is engaging and the script occasionally relieved by some humour.