The Pursuit of Love: What the Must Watch reviewers think.

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell share their thoughts on BBC One’s The Pursuit of Love. Lily James, Emily Beecham, Andrew Scott and Dominic West star in Emily Mortimer’s take on Nancy Mitford’s classic novel.

Hayley says: “A lot of fun and a lot of nonsense”

“I liked it. The thing with period dramas is that no matter how well written they are, they can feel stuffy and boring. As soon as I see a woman in period clothing pining for a man I generally run a mile. But this felt different enough to me.

"It’s based on a book by Nancy Mitford who was this iconic, funny woman, who wrote satirical novels about the upper classes, including this one, where the main family are loosely based on her own. It has a tragic undertone but it’s mostly a comedy.

"The main characters are also fighting against the rules of the time and questioning the role of women, so it doesn’t feel stuck in its era. And these women have real passion in them, which is something women in period dramas don’t tend to have. They are usually (at least in the TV versions) mostly dead instead. Have I mentioned I hate them?

“It’s adapted by Emily Mortimer, and I think she’s done a great job. She wrote, directed and acted in it. She’s obviously taken lots of inspiration from Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, and uses lots of non-contemporary music to mess with the feel of it. I think it works here, and that’s maybe because the music they’re using isn’t of our time either, it’s 30 or 40 years old already. Maybe I just really like Roxy Music.

“This is a long way of saying it’s a lot of fun, a lot of nonsense, and you get to see Dominic West cracking a whip while wearing a dressing gown.”

Scott says: “The less you take it seriously, the more you enjoy it”

“I also really like this. Andrew Scott’s entrance in this show is one of the most ludicrous ever. This is a show not to be taken seriously, really. The less you take it seriously, the more you enjoy it.

“I really agree with what Hayley was saying about trying to make it contemporary, despite it clearly being a period piece. The people who lived at this time obviously had similar dreams and aspirations to us, and it's great to see a TV drama capture this energy in this way. I'm a big fan of them using contemporary music too. I remember the backlash when the same thing happened with Peaky Blinders. Now the music makes it one of their most distinguishing features.

“It also manages to capture that feeling of being an outsider and yearning for love. They end up fantasising about a man on a piece of paper in the same way our generation does with strangers on Instagram."

The Pursuit of Love is available now on BBC iPlayer.

Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening from BBC Sounds and all other good podcast providers.

Hear Emily Beecham from The Pursuit of Love chatting to Hayley Campbell here.

This week, the Must Watch team hear from Katherine Kelly about Innocent Series 2 on ITV. Plus, reviews of Danny Boy on BBC Two and Jupiter’s Legacy on Netflix.