North and South

If you love Jane Austen, and ardently admire Charles Dickens, but always sort of wish that one were more like the other, meet Elizabeth Gaskell, and the BBC mini-series North and South. A love story set with themes of changing society and labor relations, with hot fight scenes between the proud main couple, and baskets brought to consumptive working class friends, the whole thing is exquisite.

Available on instant download from Netflix, perfect for when your husband is working late, as mine often is, and a perfect foil to the 30 Rock date night download.