aobrien-8

The only reason to watch this is to see a pre-North and South, pre-Downton Abbey Brendan Coyle. The usually lovely Nigel Havers is painful as a stereotypical villain, and though Coyle too is slumming it, we at least see his charm. Catherine Cookson's characters are two-dimensional, her plots plodding and unlikely, her portrayal of period social mores and class conflict ridiculously exaggerated. The film's so-called foreshadowing is heavy-handed and so is the acting. Not even otherwise talented, well-trained British actors can really rise above the crummy script. There are better historical fiction writers out there worth dramatising, I'm sure, but somehow Cookson's style melodrama and tin ear (for both dialogue and period setting) finds an audience. The discerning Masterpiece/BBC/ITV period drama fan will stay away. I give a 2 only for Coyle and glimpses of Havers.