Uptown thrills

Stars Tamsin Greig and Philip Glenister tell us about Downton creator Lord Julian Fellowes’ new period saga

- Caren Clark

BELGRAVIA

NEW SUNDAY / ITV / 9PM / EP 1 of 6 / DRAMA

On a glorious May morning, within the beautiful grounds of Hampton Court Palace in Surrey, Tamsin Greig (Episodes, Friday Night Dinner), looking resplendent in a sea-green bonnet, shades herself with a parasol as a horse-drawn carriage trundles past.

TV Times is watching filming for ITV’s lavish, intrigue-packed new period drama Belgravia, adapted by Downton Abbey creator Lord Julian Fellowes from his acclaimed 2016 novel, which is set against a backdrop of huge social change in the 19th century.

The six-part story begins in 1815, when Tamsin’s character, Anne Trenchard, and husband James – played by Life on Mars star Philip Glenister – attend a ball in Brussels on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo.

Ex-market trader James, who’s been invited because he’s a supplier of rations to the Duke of Wellington’s troops, is thrilled to mingle with high society. But Anne fears for their daughter Sophia (The Trouble with Maggie Cole’s Emily Reid), who is embroiled in a risky romance with uppercrust soldier Edmund Bellasis (The Last Post star Jeremy Neumark Jones).