Multi award-winning actress Judi Dench is to star in Cranford Chronicles, a new five-part drama serial created by Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin from three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell for BBC One.

Scripted by Heidi Thomas (I Capture The Castle, Madam Bovary, Lilies), this witty and poignant landmark drama captures the small absurdities and major tragedies in the lives of the people of Cranford, as they are besieged by forces they cannot hope to withstand.

In 1842, Cranford is a small rural Cheshire town on the cusp of great changes. Some people find romance and opportunities, while others fear the breakdown of social order. (more…)