If Netflix’s Bridgerton has reignited a passionate love affair with sexy period dramas, don’t despair: the BBC’s adaptation of The Pursuit Of Love is almost upon us. And, quite honestly, the dazzling new trailer has left us even more breathless than a young debutante who’s been trussed up in a corset for the very first time.

“It’s not sexual,” promises the show’s fearless Linda Radlett, who is played to absolute perfection by a dazzling Lily James.

“It’s a meeting of minds.”

As is made very clear in the trailer, Linda – despite all the pressures of growing up in high society sometime between the two World Wars – believes in love. 

In fact, she’s “passionately romantic,” and thoroughly intent on finding The One who sets her heart (and body) on fire, no matter what the cost.

While Linda’s heart takes her on a series of misadventures all over Europe, however, her best friend and cousin, Fanny Logan (Emily Beecham), decides to stay in England. Her mission, it seems, is to follow a more conventional path. One determined by… well, by discipline, we suppose.

Check it out:

Oh, it looks good, doesn’t it? Ridiculously good, actually. But, before you dismiss it as a fabulously fun frolic, it’s worth noting that The Pursuit Of Love isn’t just a comedy; in fact, the Nancy Mitford novel is famed for its tragic overtones.

Indeed, as previously reported by Stylist, it’s not long before Linda and Fanny’s diverging choices raise personal questions that remain intensely relevant today – questions about freedom, about love and sex, and the mystery of the human heart.

As you no doubt gleaned from the trailer, this series boasts a seriously star-studded cast; think Dominic West, Dolly Wells, Andrew ‘Hot Priest’ Scott, Emily Mortimer, John Heffernan, Annabel Mullion, Beattie Edmondson, Assaad Bouab, Shazad Latif, and Freddie Fox, to name just a handful.

And, before you ask, we don’t have long to wait before we can fall giddily in love with the period drama, either; The Pursuit Of Love is coming to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sunday 9 May at 9pm.

Anyone else counting down the days?

Images: BBC