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 marry and live as lodgers in Matty’s house – a source of joy for Matty – in the final part of this wonderful, witty and poignant story, written by Heidi Thomas, about the lives of the people of Cranford.

Miss Pole invites the ladies of the town to a secret meeting to discuss Matty’s crisis. United in their love for Matty, they decide to secretly share part of their own incomes with her. Mary is recruited to devise a means of getting this to Matty without her knowing where it came from.

Dr Harrison, on the other hand, is shunned by the town – no patients will come to him now that he has been exposed as a philanderer. Dr Morgan suggests he must move on to start afresh.

Mr Carter is horrified to discover that Lady Ludlow has secretly mortgaged her estate to raise money for her son’s villa in Italy. He confronts her and there is a heated exchange. Mr Carter despairs because he knows what pain such an unfathomable mortgage has cost her personally.

An ill Sophy, meanwhile, returns to Cranford but Dr Morgan diagnoses that she is simply heartbroken. He assures Rev Hutton that, with time and love from her family, she will recover. By the time Jack Marshland arrives in town to help clear Dr Harrison’s name, Sophy’s condition has worsened – she has typhoid fever. Mrs Rose’s help is enlisted while Dr Harrison is physically barred from either seeing Sophy or assisting.

Mr Carter visits Captain Brown at the railway works in a desperate attempt to see if he can raise capital for Lady Ludlow’s mortgage by selling timber or tools. While he is there, disaster strikes and the injured are taken to Dr Harrison’s for emergency treatment. As Sophy’s condition deteriorates, her young sisters defy their father and ask Dr Harrison for help. But has the call come too late?

Andrew Buchan is Jem Hearne; Claudie Blakley is Martha; Dame Judi Dench is Matty; Imelda Staunton is Miss Pole; Lisa Dillon is Mary; Simon Woods is Dr Harrison; John Bowe is Dr Morgan; Philip Glenister is Mr Carter; Francesca Annis is Lady Ludlow; Kimberley Nixon is Sophy; Alex Jennings is Rev Hutton; Joe McFadden is Dr Jack Marshland; Lesley Manville is Mrs Rose; and Jim Carter is Captain Brown.

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 Mary about Mr Holbrook, in the penultimate episode of the drama serial written by Heidi Thomas. She tells Mary how things were put asunder by a trick played by her younger brother, Peter, who then ran away in disgrace to India and has not been seen since.

The mention of India prompts Mary to write to Major Gordon to tell him that Jessie regrets her decision not to marry him, since her father is now so busy at the railway works he really has no need for her.

Meanwhile, Dr Harrison visits the Rectory and asks the Rev Hutton formally for permission to court Sophy, and he promises he will propose as soon as he is able to provide a home for her.

Later, at an auction, Dr Harrison bids for a small table. When he gets it home, he discovers it is a sewing table so suggests his housekeeper, Mrs Rose, might like to use it. To Miss Pole and Mrs Forrester, this is tantamount to a proposal. Gullible Mrs Rose believes them and allows them to dye the grey out of her hair. They convince her that Dr Harrison will propose on May Day.

Miss Tomkinson, meanwhile, becomes concerned by Caroline’s fretful waiting on Dr Harrison to proclaim his love, and decides to draw him out on the matter…

Finally, preparations for May Day excite everyone in the town. Everyone has high expectations of the day. Dr Harrison looks forward to the first time he will be able to be with Sophy openly as a couple. The whole town gathers on the Heath…

Dame Judi Dench is Miss Matty, Lisa Dillon is Mary Smith, Julia Sawalha is Jessie, Simon Woods is Dr Frank Harrison, Alex Jennings is Rev Hutton, Kimberley Nixon is Sophy Hutton, Lesley Manville is Mrs Rose, Imelda Staunton is Miss Pole, Julia McKenzie is Mrs Forrester, Deborah Findlay is Miss Tomkinson and Selina Griffiths is Caroline Tomkinson.

As winter approaches, Cranford is beset by sorrows and struggles to regain its confidence, in the third episode of the Elizabeth Gaskell drama co-created by Sue Birtwistle and Susie Conklin.

Could Mrs Rose (Lesley Manville) have discovered the start of a crime wave?

When Dr Harrison’s housekeeper, Mrs Rose, discovers a leg of mutton has been stolen from the kitchen window on the very same night that Mr Johnson, the owner of the town’s most important store, is mugged, the ladies decide that a crime wave has hit Cranford.

Mr Johnson, meanwhile, becomes convinced that Job Gregson, the local ne’er-do-well, must be his attacker and Job is arrested. Job’s son, Harry, decides to make a confession to Mr Carter of his own part in the poaching to save his father from transportation and has to bear the acute disappointment that Mr Carter feels.

Mr Carter pleads Job’s case with Lady Ludlow, saying that without her intervention, Job will be found guilty and the Gregson family will starve. Lady Ludlow is immovable – the Gregsons are not her responsibility.

Christmas arrives and Cranford huddles together to celebrate, although the town has been so buffeted by events that it feels strangely unsure of itself.

An invitation for Matty arrives from Mr Holbrook, asking her to visit him on his farm. Miss Pole and Mary urge her to accept and they accompany her on what turns out to be a delightful – and hopeful – day for Matty.

Meanwhile, Dr Harrison confides in his medical school friend, Jack Marshland, about his love for Sophy and Jack encourages him to send her some Valentine flowers. But Jack, a perpetual prankster, has set up some mischief by sending a Valentine card to Caroline Tomkinson as if from Dr Harrison, hinting at marriage. Caroline is ecstatic and eagerly awaits Dr Harrison’s proposal.

Lesley Manville is Mrs Rose; Adrian Scarborough is Mr Johnson; Dean Lennox Kelly is Job Gregson; Alex Etel is Harry Gregson; Philip Glenister is Mr Carter; Francesca Annis is Lady Ludlow; Dame Judi Dench is Miss Matty; Michael Gambon is Thomas Holbrook; Imelda Staunton is Miss Pole; Lisa Dillon is Mary Smith; Simon Woods is Dr Frank Harrison; Joe McFadden is Dr Jack Marshland; Kimberley Nixon is Sophy Hutton; and Selina Griffiths is Caroline Tomkinson.

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.

Part one of the drama is set in June/July 1842.

Mary Smith (Lisa Dillon) flees a crisis at home in Manchester to stay with two spinster sisters, Deborah Jenkyns (Eileen Atkins) and Matty Jenkyns (Judi Dench), in the small, rural town of Cranford. Deborah is the dominating force in Cranford society, and the kind-hearted and eccentric Matty believes her to be the best judge in all matters.

A new young doctor, Frank Harrison (Simon Woods), is brought to Cranford to join Dr Morgan (John Bowe) in his medical practice. Despite Dr Morgan talking up his protégé, the mere fact that Frank is a young bachelor and trained in London is enough to make him the talk of the town.

When the town’s carpenter, Jem Hearne (Andy Buchan), has a catastrophic fall from a tree, Dr Morgan is horrified to learn that, instead of amputating the injured arm, Dr Harrison is determined to attempt new and risky surgery. Everyone gets involved in the case, and gossip and rumour spread, led by the unassailable Miss Pole (Imelda Staunton).

Meanwhile, Cranford’s reigning aristocrat, Lady Ludlow (Francesa Annis), who lives two miles outside Cranford at the splendid Hanbury Court, wants to turn her attention to the planning of her annual garden party with her trusted estate manager, Mr Carter (Philip Glenister).

The Jenkyns are intrigued when the house across the street is let to a retired soldier, Captain Brown (Jim Carter), his daughter Jessie (Julia Sawalha), and Jessie’s ailing older sister.

Deborah and Matty are riveted to see that he seems acquainted with another local aristocrat, Sir Charles Maulver (Greg Wise), who engages the Captain in an unknown business proposal.