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Film Club: FACKHAM HALL (15)

This month we're swapping serious drama for something altogether sillier with Fackham Hall - a new British period comedy that gleefully pokes fun at the grand houses, forbidden romances and upstairs-downstairs dramas of Downton Abbey, Bridgerton and their ilk.

The story follows Eric Noone, a charming pickpocket who unexpectedly finds himself working at the magnificent Fackham Hall, home of the wealthy and decidedly eccentric Davenport family. Before long, Eric falls for Rose Davenport, but romance across the class divide proves to be only the beginning of his problems. When the household is rocked by murder, suspicion and scandal, Eric becomes caught up in an increasingly ridiculous series of events.

Co-written by Jimmy Carr and starring Damian Lewis, Thomasin McKenzie, Ben Radcliffe, Katherine Waterston and Tom Felton, Fackham Hall takes all the familiar ingredients of a lavish British costume drama and thoroughly misbehaves with them.

Expect romance, murder, slapstick, innuendo and a healthy dose of nonsense - definitely one for those who think period dramas could occasionally benefit from being rather less respectable!