Is a TV adaptation necessary when we already have a novel and film version of Howards End? Probably not, but this four-parter from the BBC is beautiful and damning nonetheless. As in previous texts, the show follows two families of opposing ideologies—the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes—as they ponder on ideas of class and politics, ultimately becoming the thing they claim to despise. The Wilcoxes, conservatives, are more obviously judgemental, but it’s the liberal Schlegels who are more interesting to watch. They assuage their guilt and impose their supposed goodness by trying to help someone of the lower class, but the results are varied, if not downright tragic. Like most British period dramas, the costumes here are beautifully detailed and the speech wonderfully eloquent. But Howards End, appropriately, is less dramatic and sensual than the usual fare. As other critics have pointed out, this is a show about ideas and people above all, so if that’s your cup of tea, then this should come as an enjoyable, bingeable treat.

The eerie similarities between 1910 and 2020 thinking.