In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

There's a lot I like about Mr Selfridge. The sets, the costumes, the overall milieu of the department store, and the characters and their interpersonal relationships. It is a highly fictionalized story, though, and doesn't always track with the life of the real Harry Selfridge. I suspect that most of the other characters, apart from his family members, never really existed. But that's fine -- I know its historical fiction and historical fiction can be very entertaining. The major negative factor for me, though, is Jeremy Piven's acting, which lacks anything resembling nuance. Whatever is happening with Harry Selfridge, he's loud and he waves his arms around a lot. High volume with lots of gesticulation is Piven's stock-in-trade, it would appear. The famous Dorothy Parker once criticized Katharine Hepburn's first performance on the New York stage by writing "Katharine Hepburn delivered a striking performance that ran the gamut of emotions from A to B." (Hepburn freely admitted in later life that she was awful in "The Lake" and had no idea what she was doing when she got on stage in that first paid performance.) I'd like to make the same snide comment about Jeremy Piven in "Mr Selfridge", but it wouldn't be accurate. Mr. Piven's emotional gamut never quite makes it from A to B. If he's trying to speak to the entire staff as a group at Selfridge's, he's loud. When his wife die and he's expressing grief, he's loud. When he's trying to comfort someone else who has lost a loved one, he's loud. I suppose it makes acting easy if you just recite the lines the same way no matter what the context happens to be for the scene in question, but even if Selfridge is supposed to have a "larger than life" personality -- and I believe he did -- I can't believe he was always loud with lots of gesturing. There must have been times when he was subdued. I have to say that every other actor and actress in "Mr Selfridge" strikes me as well-cast and excellent. Tom Goodman-Hill as Roger Grove, Amanda Abbington as Josie Mardle, Katherine Kelly as Mae Rennard (formerly Lady Mae Loxley, Aisling Loftus as Agnes Towler, Ron Cook as Arthur Crabb, just to name a few, are all excellent. Sad that Jeremy Piven isn't up to the same standard of acting. Still, so many things about this TV drama work that I've found it worth watching and I'm looking forward to the series finale this coming Sunday.

We were lead to this show after finding out that it was the reason "The Paradise" were canceled, both my wife and I enjoyed "The Paradise" and were hoping to be blown away by Mr. Selfridge.That didn't happen, it is a good series but it is missing one important character that Paradise had, namely Denise, Mr Selfridge tries hard but Jeremy Piven is not that good an actor, his deliverance is mediocre at best, the story itself is charming though and that is why we watched the entire first 2 series.I don't think they should have canceled The Paradise, there would have been room for both.

I have no right to judge this, because I only saw the first episode. But watching even only this first episode was a waste of time. It is just not my cup of tea. I did expect an English costume drama, but what I saw was a music video. There is a lot of overacting, like in the silent movies. Therefore, one can not relate to the characters, because there are no characters. There are only images, music, words and more music and 'stylish' camera moves and a bit of music again! Like I said, it's no more then an expensive and long music video. How can people like this? Maybe this is one of those rare series you like or hate! There's nothing in between. But then I ask myself, how can one love such crap.

I started watching this show during the first season. I favor British costume dramas because of their nostalgia, elegance and style. At first, Pivens, as an actor, seemed stiff, monotone and non-human, like a caricature. This season, however, he has much improved. We see many sides to his character, and his acting is quite sufficient. The whole entire cast is excellent. How do they keep finding all these excellent actors??? Ms. Ainsling is a real gem. Her character is a bit modest and at times bumbling, but you can never take your eyes off her. This season's finale pulled out all the stops. All the unexpected twists and turns of plot were carefully designed to moisten even the driest of eyes. So much heart. Such great script writers. Wonderful ensemble cast!!! American TV shows pale in comparison to these British costume dramas that keep coming out of Masterpiece. Hollywood has more money, but they use it for all the wrong things!!!