‘Remarkable’ 3-part period drama is James Norton’s forgotten masterpiece – and you can binge it in one night

ames Norton has several of Britain’s best period dramas under his belt, including Grantchester, The Trial of Christine Keeler and House of Guinness, but one of his best shows is a forgotten masterpiece.

Airing back in 2015, James starred in the three-part miniseries Life in Squares as a young version of the artist, Duncan Grant. The series originally aired on the BBC, but viewers who missed the series a decade ago can now find the whole thing on Amazon Prime, and given its short length, the whole thing can be binged in one night.

The series is set between 1905 and the outbreak of World War II, and focuses on the ‘Bloomsbury Group’, a close-knit group of artists, writers and other creative figures who lived and studied together in Bloomsbury, London at the time.

Alongside Duncan Grant, the show’s main focus is on sisters Virginia Woolf, famed for her literature, and Vanessa Bell, an artist and interior designer.

The BBC said of the show: “Life In Squares dramatizes the close yet often fraught relationship between painter Vanessa Bell and her sister Virginia Woolf, alongside Vanessa’s complicated alliance with gay artist Duncan Grant.

“Together they, and their group of like-minded friends, navigate their way through love, sex and artistic life in the first half of the 20th century, a time in which they legendarily ‘lived in squares, painted in circles and loved in triangles’.”

Who stars in Life in Squares?

While James Norton (King & Conqueror) stars in the show as a younger version of painter Duncan Grant, the older version is played by Rupert Penry-Jones (Spooks). Virginia Woolf is played by both Lydia Leonard (The Crown) and Catherine McCormack (28 Weeks Later), with the former playing the younger version of the character. Phoebe Fox (The Great) and Eve Best (The King’s Speech) play the younger and older Vanessa Bell respectively.

Four cast members of Life in Squares© BBC
The series had plenty of stars

Also joining the show are Ed Birch (Cruella), Lucy Boynton (Murder on the Orient Express), Jack Davenport (Pirates of the Caribbean), Andrew Havill (Industry), Guy Henry (Rogue One), Sam Hoare (Grace), Finn Jones (Game of Thrones) and Jermoe Finch, who made his debut in the show.

Rounding out the packed cast are Edmund Kingsley (Slow Horses), James Northcote (The Last Kingdom), Al Weaver (Grantchester), Eleanor Bron (Yes Minister), Deborah Findlay (The Split) and Anton Lesser (Andor).

What did fans make of Life in Squares?

Fan reception to the show was positive, with one viewer enthusing: “This miniseries is a most interesting, intriguing, and beautifully intimate one. The writing and character development is quite pleasing and carried out by a lovely group of cast members, some of whom are quite fabulous, and have superb range proven by all the different roles they’ve portrayed and the genres of which those roles were.”

A second added: “Although I did not expect it, I found Life In Squares to be a remarkable piece of television drama, offering insights into the lives of the Bloomsbury Group that I had never previously thought of,” while a third wrote: “I started watching it when I was ill and was gripped. I like the way the author focused on Vanessa Bell and the avoidance of sexist representations of the women, as is so often the case, especially where there is a break from accepted relationship convention.”

Lydia Leonard and Phoebe Fox in a still from Life in Squares© BBC
Fans had heaps of praise for the period drama

However, one complained: “Confused look at the Bloomsbury Group over several decades. This 3-part miniseries jumbles the narrative time and the actors so that it’s a confusing mishmash. Some actors play the same part over time and others change. The various actresses who play Virginia and Vanessa look nothing like each other and the dumbest bit is Eve Best (a dead ringer for Virginia) playing Vanessa.”

Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Jasper Rees commented: “This could have been an elegant slow-motion car crash, but it was actually a lively, high-speed primer bringing stiff-limbed waxworks back to flighty life.”