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. Read the rest of this entry »
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. Read the rest of this entry »
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 Read the rest of this entry »
Kimberley Nixon plays Miss Sophy Hutton
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,” says the 20-year-old, who trained at the Royal Welsh College of Read the rest of this entry »
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 Dower House, near Tring, Herts | Interior Woodley landing & bedroom Exterior Butcher’s house |
| St Mary’s Radnage ,Buckinghamshire | Cranford Church |
| West Wycombe Park (National Trust), A40 Oxford Road |
Hanbury Court |
| Bullocks Farm (National Trust but private lease), West Wycombe, Bucks | Woodley |
| Syon Park, Brentford, Middlesex | Hanbury Court’s great hall |
| Osterley Park (National Trust), Isleworth, Middlesex | Hanbury Court’s glasshouse Exterior Carter’s Office |
| St Frideswide Farm, Water Eaton, Oxford | The Rectory |
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 and Susie Conklin (Pride And Prejudice, Wives And Daughters), directed by Simon Curtis (Five Days, Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky ) and written by Heidi Read the rest of this entry »
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 Cranfordism?” she wrote, “An old lady, a Mrs Frances Wright, said to one of my cousins ‘I have never been able to spell since I lost my teeth’.” It was typical of Gaskell to relish such a comment, and to see so vividly, with a sudden welling up of memory, the stalwartly eccentric women of her youth, the stars of several stories of life in a small country town. The fictional town is not always called Cranford. Indeed, for the forthcoming television dramatisation the producer Sue Birtwistle, with Susie Conklin and scriptwriter Heidi Thomas, have woven together four separate works by Gaskell: Cranford itself, the short story “Mr Harrison’s Confessions”, the long novella Lady Ludlow and the brief, very funny article The Last Generation in England.
These are not neatly organised Read the rest of this entry »
Cranford announced for week 47 (17-23 Nov)
The BBC press office has announced that Cranford wil air in the week 17-23 November. Although it is still officially unplaced in the schedule. We’d expect it to show up in the tradition Sunday night slot. If you know better please let us know.
Francesca Annis stars as Lady Ludlow in a witty and poignant drama based on three novels by Elizabeth Gaskell.
BBC Renames Cranford Chronicles, Now just “Cranford”
The BBC Press Office Website was updated on 12.09.2007 to reflect the drama’s new title, Cranford and updated production credits.
IMDB was quick to follow suit.
I hope this site didn’t have anything to do with that choice?
Cranford Chronicles to air in mid November
The Times says that The Cranford Chronicles will air in Mid November 2007.
I’ll be setting the video now!