BBC, What Has Happened to You??

What is going on with the BBC these days??  A once solidly dependable production company, who at one time produced the most amazing period dramas, is floundering.  It upsets me to report that the BBC's latest releases of movies have been nearly unwatchable.  Is this the same company that gave us in 1995 the amazing Pride and Prejudice (with Jennifer Ehle and my imaginary boyfriend Colin Firth) and the 2004 production of Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South with the yummy Richard Armitage?  Even as recently as 2008, the BBC released a brilliant adaptation of Dickens' Little Dorrit with Matthew Macfadyen (drool!). But things have changed with their most recent releases. In the past month, I have attempted to sit through Great Expectations - a horrendous adaptation, Birdsong - boring and poorly acted, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood - tedious!  I will say that the BBC still produces great television shows like Top Gear and The Graham Norton Show, which has less to do with the BBC and more to do with not making changes to solid television programmes.  But I have always looked forward to their amazing period dramas and am severely disappointed by their latest productions.  It appears that I will have to keep checking on what new releases Carnival Films has in store for the future. They are the UK production company who has amazed us all with the mesmerizing Downton Abbey and are definitely doing the quality work that BBC used to be known for.  In 2007, they released an amazing production of Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop with inimitable Derek Jacobi.

BBC, you need to start stepping up your game and get back to delivering quality period dramas or just stop producing them altogether if you can't give us quality.