Product Description

As seen on pbs a compelling family drama set in turn-of-the-century london of three young nannies who come together and grow to be friends in berkeley square. Studio: Bfs Ent & Multimedia Limi Release Date: 09/28/2004 Run time: 500 minutes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12651 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-12-12
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 510 minutes

Amazon.com
A classic coming-of-age tale on par with Anne of Avonlea and Little Women, Berkeley Square is worth watching over and over again. This 10-episode British miniseries will awe you with its erudite script, wonderfully believable characters, high-caliber production values, meticulous Edwardian details, and topnotch acting. In fact, you will join the growing multitudes who puzzle over why the BBC decided to stop after only 10 episodes.

In 1902 three young nannies find jobs in well-to-do London households and get to know each other. Naive farm girl Lydia finds an unfamiliar world both in city life and with the progressive-thinking family who employs her. Earnest, rule-abiding Matty is a hard-working East End girl who slowly learns to loosen up. And, after a tragic affair with the eldest son of a grand Yorkshire family, Hannah's life in London is full of chilling secrets and grave life-and-death decisions. --Tara Chace

Customer Reviews

ATTENTION, BBC...PLEASE CONTINUE THIS SERIES!
What a great series! I had never before seen it on television and, loving period pieces as I do, decided to make the purchase. It was worth every penny! My sister, who also loves period pieces, came over. Together, we hunkered down and proceeded to watch the entire series in one sitting, all eight and a half hours of it. We were positively riveted to the screen, so engrossing and well acted is the series.

The series centers around three young women, Mattie, Lydia, and Hannah, brought by fate to posh Berkley Square in turn of the twentieth century London. All three work in households where they are employed as nannies. All three meet and become fast friends.

Mattie is a an experienced nanny, who was brought up in the tough East End of London and, consequently, is firmly capable of holding her own. She works for a family that is on the unpleasant side with two children, a boy and a girl. The boy is a positive little beast, and the household is run by a crafty and cunning housekeeper. Mattie's benign and pleasant, baby faced countenance, however, belies a will of iron. She most certainly can take care of herself and hold her own with this motley crew.

Lydia, the fresh faced and naive country girl, works for a wonderful family, as assistant to a nanny who is like an old family retainer. She watches over the baby, the first child of her employer's second wife, who is an American with modern, egalitarian views. The only blight on her existence, is the grown, handsome son from her employer's first marriage.

Hannah has a more unusual history, as she is an unwed mother. She worked as a lady's maid for one of Yorkshire's first families. A love affair with her employer's handsome, only son leads to the birth of their illegitimate son. When her child's father unexpectedly dies, she and her child are forced to flee Yorkshire. She ends up in London, where a chance meeting with Lydia finds her accepting employment in a household in Berkley square, working with the nanny from hell.

The series revolves around their experiences and that of the families for whom they work. Over time, the threads of their lives are woven in such a way that they make for an intriguing tapestry of events. Very well acted, with engaging performances by all, and first rate production values, this is a series well worth having in one's collection and is recommended to all who love a well made, period piece.

Addicitive Television Viewing!
Following in the tradition of such fantastic BBC mini-series brought to the U.S. via "Masterpiece Theatre" as "The Grand," "The Pallisers" and "Upstairs, Downstairs," "Berkeley Square" holds up well for lovers of Victorian/Edwardian-era costume dramas cum lavish soap operas.

"Berkeley Square" focuses on the very end of the Victorian era, and the begining of the Edwardian phase, taking place in 1902, when all of Britain was celebrating the coronation of a new king. Like "The Grand" (my personal favorite) or "Upstairs, Downstairs," "Berkeley Square" focuses on the difference in the classes, highlighting the lives of three nannies: Mattie, Hannah and Lydia, all of whom work in the stately homes on Berkeley (pronounced "Barkley" by the Brits) Square. It's also a fairly accurate depiction of a subject little discussed in most series--the fate of children in Victorian England. Watch "Berkeley Square" with a modern sensibility and you'll be shocked how the "privileged" class looks upon their children. (Something like children speaking when presented at an adult social event is enough to cause "extreme embarrassment" for their parents and the possible dismissal of a nanny and, like real upper class Victorians, these parents rarely see their offspring, generally leaving 100% of the child-rearing to servants.)

You first meet Mattie, the goodie-two-shoes of the group, as she starts her new job as nanny to the Sinjin family. Mrs. Sinjin is less than happy in her marriage and is carrying on a flirtation--that could so easily lead to more--with the dashing, and quite possibly diabolical, Captain Henry Morgan. Mattie's nursery maid, Pringle, is less than thrilled with her lot in life (she wanted to be named nanny herself) and tends to take it out on the children, including often obnoxious, eldest son Tom. Further downstairs, the cook and the housekeeper have problems of their own and don't really need a new nanny bossing them around. Among other things, Mrs. McClousky, the head housekeeper, is trying to keep her son, Ned, from being arrested for murder.

Hannah's life is equally in flux. A former ladies maid who fell in love with a Lord, Hannah is content to live with ridicule as long as she has her illegitimate son, who is doted on by his aristocratic father, William, who flouts convention by openly loving Hannah, though he can't marry her. All that changes when William dies in a horse race (I'm not giving anything away--this happens about 2-1/2 minutes after we first meet Hannah). Suddenly, Hannah, already an outcast and deemed a "wicked woman" by Victorian standards, is alone in the world with a child to raise.

Lydia is a country girl and moving to London to become a nursemaid will make her the most successful member ever of her family--that is if her uneducated father lets her go. But naive Lydia has a lot to learn about the big city, not the least of which is how touchy the elderly nanny can be when Lydia starts to invade her turf AND how so-called "gentlemen" of the household, like Lord Hugh, can make a country girl's life very unpleasant indeed.

This 10-hour mini-series follows the lives of Mattie, Hannah, Lydia, and the families they work for, and will keep you engrossed throughout (each episode ends with a cliffhanger, making you glad you've got the DVD and don't have to wait for the next TV airing to find out what happens next). My main complaint, and why I didn't give this series five stars, is the lack of early character development. People pop in an out of the series rather randomly, and with little introduction. The nannies also become "fast friends" by episode two even though they've supposedly only met once, during a walk in the park where they spoke less than two minutes to one another. Despite this they suddenly know each other inside and out, including knowing everyone that each other knows. It's almost as if the episode where they bonded ended up on the cutting room floor. Despite this, you do quickly become engaged in the character's lives.

Also frustrating is the innumerable loose ends just left hanging at the end of the series. Many characters outcomes are left unknown and several story lines simply disappear. The series could have quite easily, and entertainingly, been extended. (Apparently, the writers didn't know it was over at episode 10, assuming the BBC would order more episodes.) But, all in all, "Berkeley Square" is a great way for an Anglophile to spend a weekend!

delightful high-class soap opera!
For those who like long stories, plenty of characters, and human entanglements galore, this one's for you. Three young women from quite different backgrounds go into service as Nannies to three upper-crust households in exclusive, respectable Berkeley Square. How will they manage? those who like BBC-style period drama will be glued to the screen as we find out.

As upstairs staff and caretakers of the offspring, our girls are in the midst of the family and, of course, ideally placed to observe the family dramas... infidelity, marital discord, and of course the "goings on" among the servants. This miniseries harks back to the best of the "women's films" of the 30's, with strong, appealing female leads who struggle with all the traditional female burdens: a rigid class hierarchy, Edwardian morality, harsh and unjust employers, and their troublesome, love-hungry charges.

We've got everything here: illegitimate children, forged references, baby-swapping, baby-farming, handsome but none-too-bright young man in trouble with the Law, Dickensian old women with terrifying personalities, dashing young Guardsman angling for wealthy marriage, children made to recite the colours of vanished Regiments before they are given a present, cuckolded husband trying pathetically to keep up appearances, frigidly vicious Society grandes dames, poor little rich boy terrorized by nasty governess, horrid young ne'er-do-well trying to molest the help -- In a word, it's lavishly "dishy" and great fun as our heroines cope with one crisis after another.

Period setting and costume seems very consistent and well mounted, and the interiors are delightful (with appropriate soundstage too, a point on which British TV drama used to be a bit weak). The young actresses are a treat -- nicely cast, charming, true to type, and quite individual -- and the supporting cast is a pleasure. Some of the minor roles are so well played as to steal all their scenes ("Mrs B" comes to mind), and if a couple of the characters seem a bit wooden -- well, it is Edwardian, don't you know :-)

This is a wonderful boxed set with which to regale yourself and the family (if the children are not too young) on a series of chilly winter nights. A hot cuppa, a blanket to cuddle under, and the riveting adventures of Our Heroines -- fine, simple, old-fashioned story-telling fun!