Mr. Selfridge

Jeremy Piven stars in this popular new BBC series about real-life American entrepreneur Harry Gordon Selfridge, who built a lavish London department store in the early 1900s, bringing American salesmanship to British culture. Based on the book Shopping, Seduction, and Mr. Selfridge, by Lindy Woodhead, the show—like Downton Abbey—is a PBS-aired Masterpiece melodrama with a big cast that sprawls across class lines, featuring a patriarch who watches over all. But the respective cultures could not be more different: Mr. Selfridge is all about the democratization of society through the shopping experience. Andrew Davies, who developed the show and wrote the first episodes, has spent his successful career bringing a modern eye to the classics (including his landmark 1995 miniseries adaptation of Pride and Prejudice), as well as a smart, savvy wit to contemporary productions (such as the 2013 House of Cards). This series eschews the social satire and cutting wit of those shows for a more familiar soap opera vibe playing out among the high and low in Selfridge's little domain, including his own marital problems with wife Rose (Frances O'Connor), and a love triangle involving store clerk Agnes (Aisling Loftus), French window decorator Henri (Grégory Fitoussi), and restaurant waiter Victor (Trystan Gravelle). Presenting all 10 episodes from 2013 on DVD and Blu-ray, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)