Archive for November, 2007
Julia McKenzie plays Mrs Forrester
Julia Mckenzie was working alongside fellow Cranford star Dame Judi Dench four years ago when the role of impoverished widow Mrs Forrester first appeared on the horizon. “I was doing a play with Judi in the West End, The Royal Family,” Julia recalls. “Sue Birtwistle, the producer of Cranford, came to the first night, took [...]
Francesca Annis plays Lady Ludlow
Perhaps more than any character in Cranford, Lady Ludlow embodies the desire to maintain the old order, but progress is threatening the status quo. “She represents old conservative paternalism,” says Francesca Annis.
Philip Glenister plays Mr Carter
Philip Glenister cheerfully admits that, for him, part of the appeal of Cranford was taking a step back from a certain DCI Gene Hunt. The unashamedly old-school copper in the hit BBC One drama Life On Mars is undoubtedly one of TV’s most memorable creations in recent years, but a change is as good as [...]
Greg Wise plays Sir Charles Maulver
Greg Wise has acted in his fair share of period pieces, including BBC adaptations of Madame Bovary, The Moonstone and The Buccaneers. “There’s something quite wonderful about wearing your big boots, britches, waistcoats and cravats that really sets you in the world that you’re inhabiting very nicely,” he says.
Lisa Dillon plays Miss Mary Smith
Cranford begins with the arrival of Mary Smith at the home of the Jenkyns sisters, fleeing a family crisis in Manchester, and her introduction to the town is also ours, according to Lisa Dillon. “I think in many ways Mary Smith is Elizabeth Gaskell,” says Lisa.
Simon Woods plays Dr Frank Harrison
Dr Frank Harrison is the dashing young newly-qualified physician whose arrival in Cranford causes a stir in more ways than one. “He’s a very good doctor,” says Simon Woods of his character, “but he doesn’t read people well and gets himself into all sorts of terrible scrapes by not understanding what they
Kimberley Nixon plays Miss Sophy Hutton
kimberleynixon.com Kimberley Nixon says she learned a lot from working with Dame Judi Dench on Cranford, including how to wile away the time when bad weather delays filming on location. “We’d have to sit under a little tent waiting for it to stop raining, and Judi has so many games in her bag of tricks,” [...]
Locations
Location Set Godalming, Surrey Green Pond (Bluebells) Hambleden Estate, Hambleden Gregsons Hovel Dorney Court, Windsor Woodley front entrance Parlour Two Yews Cottage, Radnage, Buckinghamshire Exterior Mrs Forrester’s Cottage Bess’s Field Pitstone Quarry, Leighton Buzzard Railway Cutting Ashridge Estate (National Trust), Berkhamsted, Herts Cranford Heath Edge of the Heath Outskirts of Cranford Lane to Cranford The [...]
Production notes
Dame Judi Dench leads a magnificent ensemble cast in Cranford, a wonderful portrait of a real town on the cusp of great change. Based on three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell, this richly moving and funny five-part period drama of love, friendships, disappointments and tragedy, will broadcast on BBC One in November. Created by Sue Birtwistle [...]
Band of women
Often silly and stubborn, the ladies in Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford stories were also resilient and full of warmth. Ahead of a new BBC adaptation, Jenny Uglow explores the strong values beneath the bonnets In 1854, writing a gossipy letter to the critic John Forster, Elizabeth Gaskell slipped in an aside. “Shall I tell you a [...]