The Paradise (Seasons 1–2)

The Paradise (2012) is a BBC period drama you can watch online on iFILM. Set in 1870s England, the series follows Denise, a resourceful young woman who arrives in the city with nothing and finds work at the country's first department store — a place that runs on ambition, gossip and the careful management of desire.

Based on Émile Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames, it stars Joanna Vanderham and Emun Elliott in a central relationship that keeps shifting between professional rivalry and something warmer. Two seasons, with Sarah Lancashire and Patrick Malahide among a supporting cast who each carry real weight.

Less frothy than the setting suggests: Zola wrote the store as a study in commercial power, and the series keeps that edge intact. Stream all seasons of The Paradise on iFILM.