Bonnets: RIP

According to an article in The Guardian, the BBC is sidelining its production of lavish costume dramas in favor of "a grittier look at the period and a new focus on other historical eras". (They titled the article "The Death of the Bonnet", which made me snicker.) Anyway, the BBC is replacing said costume dramas with more series like The 39 Steps, which aired in December, and the currently-airing The Diary of Anne Frank.

Ooooh, and later this year we'll get to see Desperate Romantics, a "colourful and rude gang drama" set among the "alleys, galleries and flesh houses" of 19th century London, based on a still-unpublished nonfiction title of the same name by Franny Moyle.

Juuuust what the world needs!