A Return to “quality”: Parade’s End (2012)

Susanna White’s 2012 Parade’s End is undeniably the most “highbrow” period drama examined in this book. The soap-like elements of the popular Sunday-night television programmes I have discussed thus far are notably absent here, in Tom Stoppard’s “unashamedly literary” 2012 adaptation of Ford Madox Ford’s tetralogy (Dowell, 2012). Constantly favourably compared to Downton Abbey, this five-part mini-series has been embraced by critics, who found it “deeper and more truthful” than Fellowes’s show (Simpson, 2012): a kind of thoughtful, perceptive “Downton for grown-ups” (Thompson, 2012).1 Indeed, Parade’s End was considered a reaction against, and rejection of, the “dumbing down” of the historical serial by Fellowes and the texts which followed in Downton’s wake. With its high production values, a starry cast, a passionate love triangle and a complex and brilliant canonical source text (or in this case texts) this had all the ingredients of a classic “event in television history” (Thompson, 2012). Its reception with the viewing public, however, did not quite measure up to expectations: its ratings (although high for BBC2) were modest from the outset and plummeted further after the first episode aired. If this is how we measure success, this is the least successful Edwardian drama I explore here, and the one which reached the smallest audience.2