Mr Selfridge is a British period drama TV show about Harry Gordon Selfridge and his London department store Selfridge & Co. Series 1, includes 10 episodes.

Set in 1909, Mr Selfridge follows a colourful cast of characters whose lives and fortunes are entangled with the founder of the magnifi cent department store. Harry, his family, friends and staff open up a rich cross section of London life. From the fashionable Mayfair society to the bright lights, grease-paint, glamour and backstage intrigue of London’s theatres; from the business board rooms, private poker games and smoky jazz halls to the back-street cafes of the working men and women, this is a big city story at the dawn of the modern age.

Mr Selfridge is based on the book “Shopping, Seduction and Mr Selfridge” by author Lindy Woodhead which is the biographical account of the life of Harry Gordon Selfridge and the story of his store.

Mr Selfridge Review

“Mr. Selfridge is another period-drama creation from the mastermind creative genius Andrew Davies (Pride and Prejudice) who is renowned for his vast range of work in costume drama. Taking a story based on the novel "Shopping, Seduction, and Mr. Selfridge” written by the author Lindy Woodhead, the series takes a look at that genius marketing behind the sparkling showmanship and pizazz that helped to create the Selfridge shopping empire in London during the retailing period beginning within the early part of the 1900's.

The show is about the beginnings of retail shopping as known today: window-shopping, buying items previously unknown, and household goods of all kinds. It's about the people (and specifically Mr. Selfridge, the leader) who made it all a possibility in the forward-momentum of a changing landscape in the world of business exchanges and the way in which people shop…

The show is fun on multiple-levels and with a uniquely unfolding story penned with great creativity by a screenwriter as talented as Davies, it helps to keep it all interesting for the journey. Davies is assisted with some additional talents as well. The show's writing is complemented with additional script-work by Kate Brooke and Kate O'Riordan too. The direction is by Jon Jones, John Strickland, Anthony Byrne, and Michael Keillor. It's wonderful to see a show with a high-caliber style.

This series has good pace, style, and it ultimately contains a unique blend of drama, comedic sensibilities, and artistic grace that absolutely is owed in part to solid directing. The sets, costumes, and cinematography are excellent additions to a well-structured foundation in the craft behind-the-scenes. This is impressive and it is a notable aspect.

Some viewers might be quick to consider this a show aiming merely to capitalize on the undeniably massive success of Downton Abbey. The show is so much different, though. Characters and storylines do not overlap. This is just another progression in making new creations in television, through making costume-dramas that are historical but that have a reasonable amount of creative room to also excel in different directions of craft in artistry. Compelling, well-made, and fascinating with a premise that makes a surprisingly creative endeavor into the shopping empire of the early 1900's, Mr. Selfridge is a good show to be introduced to." DVD Talk