Archive for December, 2007
Missing Cranford already? There’s plenty to read by Mrs Gaskell
Katryn Hughes in The Guardian gives tips on what to read next If your only knowledge of Cranford comes from the hit BBC production (which finished last night), you’re going to find reading Mrs Gaskell’s original text a bit of a shock. Miss Matty’s in there, of course, and Mary Smith and all the other [...]
Final Thoughts?
What do you think of Cranford and it’s characters. Comments and Suggestions Below
Composer Carl’s Cranford shock
COMPOSER and conductor Carl Davis is not one to be slowing down, even after more than 40 years at the top of the world of commercial music. But even he must have got the shock of his life when the BBC decided that the Sunday night costume drama, Cranford (based on three novels by Manchester [...]
A source of joy for Matty
SPOILER ALERT: This is a detailed plot description, it may spoil the experience for any viewers and potential viewers. Cranford Ep 5/5 Sunday 16 December 9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE Miss Matty’s (Dame Judi Dench) crisis is discussed by the ladies of Cranford in a secret meeting Jem and Martha
Dr Harrison visits the Rectory
SPOILER ALERT: This is a detailed plot description, it may spoil the experience for any viewers and potential viewers. Cranford Ep 4/5 Sunday 9 December 9.00-10.00pm BBC ONE Dr Frank Harrison (Simon Woods) asks for permission to court Sophy Miss Matty suffers great disappointment and, in a nostalgic mood one evening, decides to confide in [...]
What we can learn from the ladies of Cranford
Tomorrow night, for the fourth week running, several million people will settle down by their TVs to watch a Victorian rural saga in which next to nothing happens. Cranford, the BBC’s adaptation of three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell, must be one of the most joyously innocent series any broadcaster has screened for a long day. [...]
Locksley Hall – Alfred, Lord Tennyson & The Parting Glass
The poem read by Miss Matty at the end of Epidode 3 is Locksley Hall by. Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Thanks to Heidi Thomas. The song sung by Jack Marshland in the same episode was The Parting Glass. It’s a traditional song, often sung at the end of a gathering of friends. It was allegedly the [...]
A return to the glory days of costume drama, courtesy of Elizabeth Gaskell
In the days when I used to whip through Victorian novels as if they were meringues, Cranford was never one of my favourites. I liked my Gaskell to taste of soot and sweat, for the action to take place in Manchester basements with dirt floors, a minimum of 12 coughing inhabitants to every room. Now, [...]
Cranford’s mistress drove Dickens to talk of spanking
Thanks to the hit TV drama, a pioneering author of social upheaval is finally getting the recognition she deserves Elizabeth Gaskell Nothing much happens in Cranford, the BBC’s lush series that has become one of the most watched costume dramas in recent years. But like the outwardly placid life of its Victorian author, Elizabeth Gaskell, [...]