Parade’s End exudes a high production value from the moment its refracted title sequence begins, set against a poignant score which continues through the rest of its hour-long first instalment. This is probably due in part to HBO sharing the production credit; the story and cast are typical of a BBC production, yet designed for an audience that expects Hollywood-grade storytelling. Who better to deliver than the big-budget cable company responsible for some of this generation’s most successful American television?

We’re introduced to our primary protagonist, Christopher Tietjens (Benedict Cumberbatch) three years before the bulk of the show’s action takes place. Through flashbacks peppered with sex scenes, we learn that he is set to marry a pregnant woman whose child may or may not be his, after they encountered carnally on a train through England. Three years later, he’s in what is definitely not a stable relationship; his wife Sylvia’s (Rebecca Hall) intentionally obnoxious behaviour is taking its toll on both him and their three-year old son.

This is all set immediately before the first World War, and while there is as much Romanticism in this interpretation of the period as there is in any other, the background of the suffragette movement adds colour and context to what could otherwise appear to be any typical period drama by its set and costume design. We’re even introduced to associated women who will likely later become key characters. The first episode of this five-part miniseries sows the seeds for later salacious affairs to blossom, its writers presumably not content with those that already exist.

Cumberbatch’s character is easily the most interesting aspect of this series, if only for the extraordinary level of development he attains within just the first hour. He’s unlikeable at first, an upper-class know-it-all who corrects the Encyclopaedia Brittanica, and while that may be the fantasy of choice for the middle-aged women with whom this sort of programming is most popular, he’ll receive empathy from even the least emotionally invested audience as he struggles with his unfaithful wife, the expectations of others, and the difficulty of fatherhood. When he isn’t criticising the National Insurance Act, of course.

This has already been spun in the mainstream press as the BBC’s response to Downton Abbey, probably only for their few shared themes, but whether or not it will replicate the success of its ITV “competitor” hinges strongly on its ability to pace the potentially engaging story and restrain itself from jumping the shark. One can only hope we see more of the lovely Adelaide Clemens as suffragette Valentine as well: she’s the perfect contrast to Tietjens’ wife, and allows for a more complex political side to the Conservative lead character (at the very least showing us he’s not a bigot).

In any case, this endeavour is distinct enough from Downton Abbey; by concerning fatherhood and the suffrage, it fulfils other demands well enough that audiences won’t bore from repetition or feel like Hall’s character for indulging in two twentieth century dramas at once. If period drama interests you, Parade’s End offers you an easy entrance; the series’ quality assures that almost anyone can be sucked in and its talented cast maintains the spirit of the time.

Keep an eye out for Parade’s End on BBC Two at 9pm this Friday.