Jericho

You could call this British period drama, set in an itinerate work camp in the North Yorkshire moors in 1870 during the construction of a railway viaduct, a frontier Western. Jessica Raine stars as Annie Quaintain, a newly-widowed mother of two left destitute paying off the debts of her dead husband. With nowhere to turn, Annie moves to the work camp to run a boarding house and try to earn enough to take the family back into town. Hans Matheson costars as Johnny Jackson, a handsome and chivalrous work-hand who becomes the conscience of the camp, standing up to bullies and taking on site manager Ralph Coates (Clarke Peters), an African American who had to travel to Britain to get a decent chance at work. There's something of a fairy-tale quality to the melodrama as Johnny turns out to be the black sheep brother in the family that gambled its fortune to finance the project, and fraternal resentment threatens to sink it all. Jericho is like a British version of an American railway drama or gold camp Western (minus the Indians), complete with a brothel, saloon, and company store. Although located just 15 miles from the nearest civilized town, the camp is essentially in the wilderness—outside of government reach. Although reasonably solid as a drama, Jericho was not picked up for a second season, making it of limited interest. Compiling all eight episodes from 2016, extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes. A strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker)