Miss Matty (Dame Judi Dench) is shaken when a mysterious acquaintance from her past resurfaces
SPOILER ALERT: This is a detailed plot description, it may spoil the experience for any viewers and potential viewers.
Cranford Ep 2/5
Sunday 25 November
9:00pm – 10:00pm
BBC ONE
Deborah surprises Matty by encouraging Jessie’s romance with a visiting soldier named Major Gordon, in part two of the classic drama serial set in a town on the cusp of great change.
In the woods on the edge of Cranford, 10-year-old Harry Gregson lives with his large family in a hut. When his mother, Bella, becomes ill after delivering her own baby, and with his unreliable father nowhere to be found, Harry knows things are desperate.
He sets off to poach to feed the others but becomes transfixed by Lady Ludlow’s glasshouse with its exotic plants and fruits. Cold and exhausted, he falls asleep on the heated floor, where he is caught by Mr Carter. Moved by Harry’s plight, he offers to pay him to run messages during the preparations for Lady Ludlow’s garden party – the social event of the year. Harry proves reliable, good-natured and intelligent, and Mr Carter offers to teach him to read and write – albeit in secret, as he is fully aware that Lady Ludlow is passionately against educating the working classes.
At the party, Dr Harrison tries to spend time with Sophy Hutton, the eldest daughter of Cranford’s rector. Frustratingly, though, he is constantly called away from her side by both Caroline Tomkinson, who has fallen for him, and Mary Smith’s stepmother, Clara, who is determined to play matchmaker between the doctor and Mary.
Matty has a shock when she meets a mysterious acquaintance from her past, Thomas Holbrook. No one witnesses this meeting and Matty tells no one about it.
The party atmosphere deteriorates when rumours spread that a railway line will be built to come right into Cranford. Deborah leads a deputation of the ladies to Captain Brown in the hope of hearing otherwise, but he shocks them further by telling them that not only is it true, but that he will be the Head of Works. A stricken Deborah sees Captain Brown’s secrecy as the ultimate betrayal of a friendship, and the railway as the absolute end of Cranford.
Dame Eileen Atkins is Deborah, Dame Judi Dench is Matty, Julia Sawalha is Jessie, Alistair Petrie is Major Gordon, Alex Etel is young Harry Gregson, Emma Loundes is Bella, Francesca Annis is Lady Ludlow, Philip Glenister is Mr Carter, Simon Woods is Dr Harrison, Kimberley Nixon is Sophy Hutton, Selina Griffiths is Caroline Tomkinson, Finty Williams is Clara Smith, Lisa Dillon is Mary Smith, Michael Gambon is Thomas Holbrook and Jim Carter is Captain Brown.
4 Responses to “Miss Matty (Dame Judi Dench) is shaken when a mysterious acquaintance from her past resurfaces”
Comment from Adam P
Time 25 November 2007 at 10:02 pm
How delightful is this show.
I sat down to watch, and it just seems like moments before it was over.
Comment from Colette
Time 10 March 2010 at 6:45 pm
http://www.cranfordchronicles.com, how do ou do it?
Comment from patricia
Time 4 November 2007 at 8:01 pm
Thanks for this – but what happened to Episode One?? Good to see this getting underway.