On American cable networks, the top-rated shows deal with themes such as terrorist attacks, drug kingpins and zombie invasions. The BBC is broadcasting The Paradise, a period drama that revolves around a department store.
To be sure, this is not a boring modern department store. The series takes place in the 1870s, when the idea of selling different types of goods in a single large shop was genuinely new and revolutionary. With its period setting and lavish costumes, The Paradise clearly hopes to emulate the staggering success of that other BBC drama, Downton Abbey. It seems unlikely that The Paradise will generate the same level of obsessive fandom, but it’s a compelling drama in its own right: one part soap opera, one part commentary on the emergence of retail capitalism. It does well in both modes.
The central character is Denise (Joanna Vanderham), an upwardly mobile small-town girl who moves to the city to seek her fortune. She intends to get a job from her shopkeeper uncle, but she discovers that his business is under strain from competition with The Paradise, a massive new department store in the same street. He detests the new shop but Denise sees opportunity and talks her way into a job there.
She quickly demonstrates an unusual talent for salesmanship, which draws the ire of her new co-workers but wins the attention of the store’s enigmatic owner, Mr Moray (Emun Elliott).
Moray, who looks and behaves like a Victorian version of Robert Downey Jr, is an interesting figure. An archetypal self-made man, he is trapped in a class-conscious society and so uses charm, guile and sexuality to get his way. The question of who or what Moray may truly be is a central mystery that drives much of the tension in the show. Is he a Victorian romantic lead, a bootstrapping entrepreneurial hero, a 19th-century robber baron, a sexual predator or a combination of all these? To its credit, The Paradise is reluctant to provide straightforward answers to these questions or to spell out too clearly who the good guys are.
If there is one area where The Paradise loses to Downton Abbey, it is in the hard-to-pinpoint category of charm. The Paradise has a large cast of mostly appealing characters: rebellious shop girls, regal lords and ladies, a fussy matron and even a plucky child labourer. Of particular significance is Elaine Cassidy as Katherine, Moray’s calculating pseudo-fiancée, who seems destined to become the primary antagonist of the series. Still, there is nobody here to match wits with the likes of Maggie Smith. One of the unintentional achievements of The Paradise is to demonstrate, by her absence, just how heavily Downton Abbey’s appeal rests on Smith’s comic delivery.
Yet there are other respects in which The Paradise is a superior television series. Most of the time, Downton Abbey is straightforwardly conservative: it deals in nostalgia for a bygone era. By contrast, The Paradise is more willing to embrace complexity and contradiction. The series is set in a time when rapid economic change is creating new winners and losers.
The titular store has destroyed most of the traditional, mom-and-pop businesses it competes with. But it also provides a livelihood for its workers, muddies class distinctions among its clientele and allows a prototypical career woman such as Denise to pursue her ambitions. If that sounds complicated, it’s because real life is too.
The Paradise is broadcast on Sundays at 9pm on BBC Entertainment