Cranford

As a typically boofheaded Aussie bloke, it is very hard to admit that i have found myself weeping like a child, during each episode. My wife and I have been keen viewers of BBC drama over a period of 25 years or so and both agree that this must be the most incredibly beautiful series that we have seen! I am humbled by the strength of the female characters and how delicately simple the plots. I can but only give all involved in this series a huge bouquet. I have never been overly impressed by Dame Judy until now. She is incredible in her role as Matti. 10 out of 10.The actress who plays Mary is also a favourite. The right mix of humour and pathos will make this a memorable series for years to come.

I just discovered this show on Britbox, the BBC streaming service here in the US. I enjoy British tv shows, even old ones, so much more than anything that is done here. And this show lives up to my expectations - good writing and good acting. The positive reviews say is it all - the show is beautiful, funny at times, heartbreaking at other times. I do not care if there are few liberties taken with history (and I am a former history teacher) or the books. I want to be entertained, and this show does just that. As for those who think the plots are thin or nonexistent, you are right. But that's what I love - character driven works, in tv and in books. If you like action, this isn't for you. If you like to immerse yourself in a period piece, even if it is a bit flawed, then you will enjoy this, and perhaps come to love it as I have.

I am at heart an Austen girl, and I will admit that I find that the BBC's adaptations often far outrank any other, and Cranford was no exception. I have yet to read the books but have dropped heavy hints to Santa. The BBC has, if I'm honest disappointed me recently, but for one Cranford' quality programme I can almost forgive for everything else. Pure excellence. Cranford had me in tears for every episode, and often begging for the happy ending which given the often dark nature of the narrative was unlikely to come, and often didn't. Wonderful performances, from the Sirs and Dames, down to the youngster who played Harry Gregson, and with wonderful characterisation, which made the characters lovable and known and even gives unseen characters and histories unseen depths which are sometimes unavoidably and sadly missed in period pieces. A wonderful job. One request, may 'Cranford' never meet Hollywood, they won't be able to do it better than the BBC! Does anyone know when it comes out on DVD?

If you thought that North and South 2004, Bleak House 2005 and Jane Eyre 2006 were heroic steps forward in period adaptation you are absolutely going to adore this. I'm hoping, on the strength of the first episode, that we may be about to ascend new heights.

Liberties are taken. The material is being reinterpreted for the screen with a dashing disrespect for fidelity that is bound to offend those critics who watch screen adaptations with their Everyman edition on their knee but what Thomas has done here is bring the spirit of Gaskell and the humour of the age (specifically northern humour), magnificently to life.

Eileen Atkins' performance alone will carry this series to every Award ceremony worthy of attention but there is so much more you may be left agape with wonder or clapping your hands with glee at the stories surrounding Cranford's womenfolk, many condemned to spinsterhood by the Napoleonic Wars. And there's much more still to come.

You won't see the novel reassembled piece by piece, but what you'll get instead is a mordant, hilarious, moving, masterpiece of the art of adaptation and a brilliant cast extracting every last every drop of juice from the fruit (sucked separately, of course).

Cranford is vibrantly alive and kicking as it never has been before. Bring on the rest. If you please.

The opportunity to watch so many of Britain's great female actors working together in parts that allow them to demonstrate just how good they are is one of the two immensely satisfying aspects of Cranford, the five-part, 291-minute drama imported from Britain by way of Masterpiece Theater. The other is the story itself -- a kind of Austen-like tale of good manners, gossip, punctilious courtesies and extraordinarily detailed production values. Cranford may be a genteel and gentle soap opera, but it glows with warmth, humor and the occasional dramatic crisis.

Cranford is a small English village, tidy and well kept. The time is the early 1840's. The village hasn't changed much over the years. The established ladies of the village plan to keep it that way. For the next 12 months of Cranford we'll see a new, young doctor come to town, the affects of a train line being built closer and closer to the village, romance and marriages, typhoid, death and poverty. We'll see why some think the lower classes should not be taught to read or write, how it really hurts to have your leg amputated, how a woman of a certain age who is not married may well expect to live a lonely life. We'll also see friendships, misunderstandings, the love for a cow and the deep comfort of accepted ways. Keep in mind that the story isn't simply a bucolic tale of a world long gone. We're going to deal with class distinctions, poverty, condescension to women, and customs that can strangle affection. There are several story lines that develop and weave around each other.

At the heart of the story are the women of Cranford, for whom gossip is a way of life. Eileen Atkins plays the elderly Miss Deborah Jenkyns, a severe woman who is not without feelings and who is the acknowledged arbiter of what is proper. Her sister, Miss Mattie Jenkyns, played by Judy Dench, is a bit scatterbrained but a warm and empathetic person. And we have Miss Pole (Imelda Staunton), a lightening transmitter of juicy information; Mrs. Forrester (Julia MacKenzie), a widow who is a bit of a ditherer but good-hearted; and Miss Jamieson (Barbara Flynn), better off than the others which she is careful to display, and more conventional, but prepared to be brought around. There is Mary Smith (Lisa Dillon), who comes to live with the Jenkyns sisters to escape a busybody stepmother and who finds more than she thought she would. Thankfully, she has a good mind and a sense of humor. And there is Lady Ludlow (Francesca Annis), the grand, aging lady in the grand estate nearby who learns to acknowledge that others may be correct, while not seeming to apologize for her class standards. What of the men? They're around, but for the most part they exist simply to provide the framework for the women's stories. Such superior actors as Michael Gambon, Jim Carter and Martin Shaw play them.

When we leave Cranford five hours after we arrived, we've smiled a lot, teared up a few times, and have come to admire these women, their capacity for friendship and their desire to keep the future from arriving too soon. If you hear the term "heartwarming," don't be put off. This program is intelligently written and is acted with extraordinary and underplayed skill.