Based on Edith Wharton’s final novel, AppleTV+’s “The Buccaneers” is a 19th century romance drama following five American ladies drawn to England.

If you like your period dramas with spirited heroines who swig champagne, sweeping coastal shots of brooding Dukes, and lavish ball scenes where secrets abound, you’ll love The Buccaneers.

Based on Edith Wharton’s final novel, the eight-episode AppleTV+ series is a 19th century romance drama following five young American ladies drawn to England after one of their high society weddings to an English lord. Arriving in London, the newcomers are faced with deep judgment while bringing their own — and one hell of a cover of LCD Soundsystem’s “North American Scum” sets the title credit tone. But there’s also a landscape of eligible suitors on the horizon, including a forlorn Duke standing on a clifftop looking for a wife. Whatever will he do?

If you’re craving the next season of Bridgerton, The Buccaneers will satiate your thirst with diabolical narrative twists, simmering romantic leads, savvy performances, a killer modern soundtrack, and the lavish design of our society ball dreams.

What is The Buccaneers about?

Set in the upper echelons of society in 1870s New York and London, the series revolves around five young women on the cusp of “marriages, men, and parties” in deeply patriarchal 19th century society.

There’s protagonist Nan St. George (Kristine Frøseth), the headstrong best friend of the vivacious Conchita Closson (Alisha Boe), who is getting married for love to English Lord Richard Marable (Josh Dylan) — much to his parents’ chagrin back home. Conchita’s bridesmaids are Nan’s older sister Jinny St. George (Imogen Waterhouse), who holds the weight of family responsibility on her shoulders, as does the eldest of the Elmsworth family, Lizzy (Aubri Ibrag), who endures a traumatic experience at the hands of a powerful man. And her younger sister, Mabel Elmsworth (Josie Totah) has her own secrets in this heteronormative society.

Following Conchita’s appointment as Lady Marable, the group are invited to England to meet the Lord’s family: the deeply judgy Brightlingseas. Debuted into society at the Queen’s Ball, the bridesmaids are introduced to a world of suitors, delightful and otherwise, including the heinous Lord James Seadown (Barney Fishwick). But while the ladies are getting settled in, it becomes apparent that Conchita’s acceptance into English culture is more difficult and sinister than she’d imagined. Instead of helping his new wife, Richard laments, “Will she work in England, will she fit in?” 

Meanwhile Nan, seen as the most “unruly” unwed young woman of the group, is sent to the seaside of Cornwall to avoid “distraction” from her sister, Jinny. Here, she meets the roguish Theo (Guy Remmers) who she believes is an artist but is actually the Duke of Tintagel, “the greatest match in England”. But there’s already another who has caught Nan’s eye, his best friend, Guy Thwarte (Matthew Broome), whose closeness to Nan has meant she’s revealed a personal secret that could ruin her.

Feeling more Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette than Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice, The Buccaneers takes liberties to allow its broad spectrum of characters more modern behaviour in their dalliances — a subtle brush of the hand is not enough for this series.

The ladies of The Buccaneers are gloriously brash

“There are women and then there are wives.” It’s the core philosophy of most of the male characters and the older generations in The Buccaneers, but the series allows its core female characters room to scorn it — even Nan and Jinny’s mother, played to perfection by Christina Hendricks, hopes her daughters “will always be tall” and true to themselves. The series reveres the silliness, intelligence, wit, creativity, beauty, and power of women and girls within a society that puts them on a pedestal then closes them into a purely domestic life. But the series importantly doesn’t make them all staunchly open feminists. This is the 19th century, after all.

As the protagonist, Nan feels the most modern of the characters, openly rejecting what’s expected of her in a barefooted assuredness that even Elizabeth Bennet would envy. Within minutes of meeting Nan, she’s climbing down the facade of a building to rescue her best friend’s earring, then blustering through a meet-cute with undeniable self-confidence. “Girls are taught to believe that if a story isn’t a love story then it’s a tragedy and I had no interest in being involved with either one of those,” she says through voice over. But involved she becomes, with both Theo and Guy on the horizon, all while her own sense of identity is thrown into the air.

If “young ladies of refinement” are what this society requires, the American ladies rattle the more subdued, conservatism of their English counterparts — they stomp around and giggle, swig bubbly, and raise their voices above a whisper. “You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Nan cackles to Conchita, currently drinking champagne on the toilet in her wedding dress. The script takes liberties with what would boot a young woman out of society — when Nan claps back at an English ball-goer for lambasting Americans as “outspoken and vulgar” she sparks the interest of the Duke instead of being kicked out. Conchita’s unchaperoned girls weekend in Runnymede sees the ladies going for a waterfall dip with her husband and his friends, which is as far away from Jane Austen’s distanced admiration as you can get. Much of the interactions between the characters happens unchaperoned with more physical contact than most 19th century novels — and it’s wildly welcome. 

The Buccaneers pits England vs America

At times, one could see the series as being distinctly anti-English, pro-American with modern sensibilities of self expression and feminism only allowed to the American characters. “Get used to an ocean of silence and swim about in it as well as you can,” Conchita warns her sisters on their arrival in England. “I haven’t drowned yet.”

As her light threatens to be stamped out, Conchita becomes the embodiment of American defiance throughout the series, granted, something she’s privileged to do as a married woman in an influential family, but she’s also noticing a change in her husband since they left New York — he now expects the new Lady Marable to “be the wife” and “behave”. Hosting a girls weekend in Runnymede, Conchita pontificates about cultural differences: “Since when were we ever shy of a party? Girls, have you not noticed? We’re not them. We’re Americans. When did we ever care what people think of us? I mean, the English are so fascinated by their history. Well, we have a history of being fascinating. It’s time that they learn from us.”

Richard’s family is full of disdain for Conchita and her friends — “Before you know it there won’t be a family left in England without American poison in its veins,” scoffs Lord Brightlingsea. However, the series acknowledges that Conchita’s particular treatment is steeped in racism, not just English prejudice against Americans, and her character deeply struggles with this.

Unfortunately, one of the main issues I have with The Buccaneers is the general positioning of English women in the series as happily accepting of their restrictions, of “volunteering” to be dutiful and upholding patriarchal requirements of etiquette and behaviour. Though Conchita is allowed open laments over her frustration, Richard’s intentionally unwed sister Honoria Marable (Mia Threapleton) is not, though both women feel equally frustrated with their limitations, including Honoria’s closeted sexuality. “You’ve seen English girls. They just nod and obey and do embroidery,” says Conchita. “We’re like a whole other species.”

It’s here the series also runs into problematic “not like other girls” territory, especially through the character of Nan, who quite literally says aloud, “I’m not one of those girls who gets in trouble and needs helping down from horses.” Jinny and Conchita also come to a head over what’s “proper” behaviour as a married woman, each throwing each other under the bus as “different”. Don’t get me wrong, I love The Buccaneers‘ representation of women and girls being exhausted and simply done with patriarchal bullshit, but it doesn’t feel great seeing it at the expense of other women like Jinny, whose responsibilities to their family see them sacrifice the freedom of expression and independent spirit Nan enjoys. 

The inescapable influence of Bridgerton

By no means the only period drama steaming up our screens in recent years but one of the most influential, Bridgerton‘s influence on contemporary 19th century romances cannot be understated — Shonda Rhimes’ series has defined the streaming era’s resurgence in pop music-fuelled balls, long courtships, and revisionist takes on the expectations of the time, particularly for women. 

Following similar modern takes like Persuasion, The Pursuit of Love, The Great, Sanditon, and more, The Buccaneers takes more than a few cues from Bridgerton, from the series’ conversations and representation of sex, but also its reliance on contemporary music, from Warpaint to Japanese Breakfast. In one particularly notable scene, Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers’ duet “Nothing New” whirls as the camera pans through young women in white ready to make their debut at the Queen’s Ball. It’s straight out of Bridgerton and it’s glorious. Coppola’s Marie Antoinette rings through the halls too, from the series set design filled with peacocks, pink-dyed poodles, gilded mirrors, and cornucopias of fresh flowers, to the frank conversations the series’ female characters have about sex, marriage, and female pleasure.

Notably, the series goes where we’d love for Bridgerton to go, introducing closeted queer characters Horonia and Mabel and the lack of options for lesbians in 19th century society beyond covert relationships.

Able to run where its predecessors paved the way, The Buccaneers is a lavish period drama that feels fresh and modern, with a fast-paced, twisting narrative, grandiose set and costume design, and enough chemistry to keep you guessing between matches. It’s a little Gossip Girl, a little Marie Antoinette, and a lot of Bridgerton, and it’s gloriously impolite society.

How to watch: The Buccaneers is now streaming episodes 1 to 3 on Apple TV+, with a new episode every Wednesday.