Based on the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell and adapted for BBC1 by Michael Voysey, this four-part Sunday evening series is set in the early 1840s in a fictional market town in northwest England.
The story centres on the town’s predominantly single and widowed middle-class female inhabitants who are comfortable with their traditional way of life and adhere to a complex set of social rules.
Led by the Hon Mrs Jamieson (Fabia Drake), a grand if stupid woman, the ladies include Mrs Forrester (Helen Christie), the widow of an army officer; Miss Pole (Pat Coombs), a ferret where gossip is concerned; Miss Betsy Barker (Hazel Bainbridge) a retired milliner; Mrs Fitzadam (Daphne Heard), another widow; and, above all, the rank-conscious Miss Deborah Jenkyns and her sister, the gentle Miss Matty (Gabrielle Hamilton).
But industrial progress is afoot, and the impending arrival of the railway puts Cranford on the cusp of upsetting social changes and the genteel ladies of Cranford struggle to face an uncertain future with dignity and 19th-century decorum.
Meanwhile, they go on visiting each other for tea, cards and gossip.
Unfortunately, Hugh David’s direction converted the subtle, satirical comedy of manners of Mrs Gaskell into something more like a Whitehall Farce. The series was filmed on location in Gloucestershire.
Miss Matty Jenkyns
Gabrielle Hamilton Mrs Jamieson
Fabia Drake Mrs Forrester
Helen Christie Mary Smith
Ann Penfold Miss Pole
Pat Coombs Miss Deborah Jenkyns
Margery Withers Martha
Sarah Grazebrook Betsy Barker
Hazel Bainbridge Mrs Fitzadam
Daphne Heard Reverend Hayter
George Hagan Jem Hearn
Brian Croucher Lady Glenmire
Mollie Maureen Mr Hoggins
Michael Turner Peggy
Michelle Newell Mr Holbrook
Clifford Parrish
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The story centres on the town’s predominantly single and widowed middle-class female inhabitants who are comfortable with their traditional way of life and adhere to a complex set of social rules.
But industrial progress is afoot, and the impending arrival of the railway puts Cranford on the cusp of upsetting social changes and the genteel ladies of Cranford struggle to face an uncertain future with dignity and 19th-century decorum.
