The Hottest Costume Romances: ‘The Gilded Age,’ ‘Sanditon’ & More
Hey there, lovers! Join us in our 10-day countdown of the 100 Hottest Onscreen Romances — from both television and film, comedy and drama — culminating on Valentine’s Day. Plus, sound off on your pick for the hottest TV couple of all time in our poll! And be sure to check out TV Insider’s February 2024 issue, currently on newsstands, or purchase it online here. You can also subscribe to TV Insider Magazine here now.
In this selection of titles, we’re shining a light on some recent favorites including HBO‘s The Gilded Age and PBS‘s Sanditon, and are looking back on classics such as Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and Titanic. Scroll down for a closer look and stay tuned for the rest of our 100 Hottest Onscreen Romances countdown.
The Gilded Age (Max)
Behind the ambitious drive and extraordinary gowns of this drama’s new-money matriarch, Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon), lies a vulnerable soul devoted to her business-whiz husband, George (Morgan Spector). As Bertha coolly plots her family’s rise in New York City society, her and George’s shared passion and true partnership make theirs one of the strongest marriages on TV. — TV Insider Staff
Pride and Prejudice (Hulu)
It is a truth universally acknowledged that this six-hour 1995 drama, starring Jennifer Ehle as headstrong Elizabeth Bennet and Colin Firth as proud Fitzwilliam Darcy, is one of the best Jane Austen adaptations ever to grace screens. Austen’s intimate 1813 text — showing Lizzie and Darcy circling each other in an epic will-they-won’t-they — is faithfully depicted. Except for one scene, involving a soaking wet Darcy in a white shirt emerging from a lake. That never appeared in the text, but the image is forever burned in our brains. — TV Insider Staff
Sanditon (PBS Passport)
From Jane Austen: Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) loses one great love (Theo James) but finds another (Ben Lloyd-Hughes). — TV Insider Staff
Downton Abbey (PBS Passport, Peacock & Prime Video)
Love rules in this British hit, both among the upstairs aristocrats and the downstairs staff. At the center is the spark between headstrong Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) and lawyer Matthew Crawley (Dan Stevens). An early engagement fails when Matthew doubts Mary’s feelings, but the couple passionately reunite to wed after Matthew recovers from severe World War I injuries. Their story ends tragically in the Season 3 finale, however, on the day their baby son is born. — TV Insider Staff
A Room With a View (BritBox & Max)
In a delightfully British affair, young socialite Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) escapes the stuffiness of Edwardian England for hotblooded Italy, where she meets George (a charming Julian Sands), her free-spirited knight in shining armor. James Ivory and Ismail Merchant’s exquisite 1986 retelling of E.M. Forster’s 1908 novel brings the yearning tale of pent-up lust to vivid life, with George pursuing and Lucy resisting following an unforgettable kiss in a poppy field. — TV Insider Staff
The Princess Bride (Disney+)
At the center of Rob Reiner’s rip-roaring 1987 adaptation of William Goldman’s beloved 1973 novel is a romance for the ages. Simple farm boy turned swashbuckling pirate Westley (Cary Elwes) rescues his “twue wuv” Buttercup (Robin Wright) from Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon), to whom she has been unlovingly betrothed. Boo, hiss! Entangled with a quirky bunch of outlaws, Westley goes on an amorous adventure laden with pitfalls, but their love prevails. Inconceivable! — TV Insider Staff
Dangerous Beauty (Plex)
It’s hard to imagine a more decadent backdrop for a sweeping love story than 16th-century Venice. The opulent city is at the height of its wealth and power when young beauty Veronica Franco (Catherine McCormack) longs to wed wealthy senator’s son Marco Venier (Rufus Sewell). Their class differences prevent a match, so budding poet Veronica follows the only path to power available to women — she learns the art (and trade) of seduction, becoming Venice’s most heralded courtesan. Filmed in Italy, this lush 1998 film follows the pair’s teasing dance of wit (and swordplay) through trials brought by politics, war, and the plague. Despite everything, Veronica and Marco refuse to let each other go. — Lisa Chambers
Titanic (Paramount+)
A love story as ill-fated as the world’s most infamous ship, the passionate but short tryst between commoner Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and aristocrat Rose (Kate Winslet) plays out in this 1997 film against a backdrop of oceanic annihilation. Battling an unforgiving class system, Rose’s domineering fiancé (Billy Zane) and that iceberg, the pair begin a torrid affair whose tragic inevitability comes into shattering relief when the Titanic sinks. But as Céline Dion sings, our hearts will go on. — TV Insider Staff
Wuthering Heights (Peacock)
The year 1939 is often remembered for The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind, but it also featured this heartwrenching gothic drama adapted from Emily Brontë’s 1847 classic. As star-crossed lovers Cathy and Heathcliff, Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier face tragedy after tragedy. Despite the gloom, the near-end scene where Cathy finally professes her love, and she and Heathcliff look out on the moors together, is still sob-inducing like no other romance. — TV Insider Staff
