LARK RISE TO CANDLEFORDI really can't explain why I love period drama and classics so much. It has always been like this, since I read "Little women" at 9: if a story is set in the past - especially in the 19th century - it draws my attention and fascinates me lots more than fiction or movies set in our days.
So, from my DVD collection, here's a lovely series BBC broadcast last year. Actually , the second series has been recently on, and I'm eagerly waiting for my new DVD from Amazon UK. Twelve new episodes!
LARK RISE TO CANDLEFORD is a good TV adaptation of Flora Thompson's memoir of her Oxfordshire childhood. Flora Thompson's charming love letter to a vanished corner of rural England is brought to life in this warm-hearted adaptation. Set in the countryside in the 1880s, this rich, funny and emotive BBC series follows the relationship of two contrasting communities: Lark Rise, the small hamlet gently holding on to the past, and Candleford, the small market town bustling into the future.
Seen through the eyes of young Laura (Olivia Hallinan) the inhabitants endure many upheavals and struggles as the change inexorably comes; their stories by turns poignant, spirited and uplifting. And Laura herself must face great change. Taking a job in the Post Office in Candleford, run by the mercurial Dorcas Lane (Julia Sawalha), Laura turns her back on her childhood hamlet to make her way in the world. With her loyalties divided, she must choose her own path to womanhood...
Miss Dorcas Lane - Julia Sawalha on the left - runs the small post office which is the "heart" of Candleford, she is a strong - willed woman, sensitive and generous, not married but passionately involved in a love ? / friendly? relationship, ready to help anyone in need. Laura - Olivia Hallinan in the centre -, from whose point of view we enter Lark Rise's world, is a country girl, quite naive but rather intelligent to work in Miss Lane's post office. She is wooed by two young men, is ashamed of the poverty and simplicity of her family, observes everything attentively then writes it down in her journal, and grows up into a young woman little by little. Caroline Arless - extraordinary Dawn French, on the right - is a poor mother left alone by her husband at sea with 3 children and lots of troubles. She can't cope with the hard situation and, being pursued by a bailiff collecting debts for the brewery, ends up in jail.
Mixing in humour, drama and the production values we seem to take for granted from the BBC, Lark Rise To Candleford really is quite a treat. And what’s more, it’s proof positive that when it comes to television period drama, there really isn’t anyway doing it better. Super stuff (Jon Foster)
Very soon, I hope, something about the new second series!
Ciao Maria Grazia, grazie di essere passata da me. Non conoscevo ancora questo "period drama" nonostante ne sia una fan anch'io. Thanks. Mi fa piacere che ti sia divertita a Londra. La prossima volta vieni a York che e' altrettanto bella! E' forse inutile che te lo chieda, ma hai mai visto Pride&Prejudice con Colin Firth? Anche se sono passati piu' di 10 anni, secondo me e' sempre il migliore! Sai che Richard Armitage e' entrato nella troupe di Spooks nell'ultima serie? Se n'e' andato Rupert Penry-Jones (che adoro tantissimo) ed e' arrivato lui...Cari saluti. Antonella
ReplyDeleteYES!!! I've seen him in series 7. I think it has been the best since they started. I've seen SPOOKS since the first series with Matthew Mac Fadyen. I've got all the episodes in my DVD collection. I also loved RA in North & South and The Vicar of Dibley.
ReplyDeleteI've also got 1995 BBC P&P with Colin Firth among my DVDs and I agree with you: he's the perfect Mr Darcy. Best wishes|