“This is Cranford, unchanging, perpetual, a society that knows itself, a place of peace!”
– Dr. Morgan tells newcomer, Dr. Harrison
What first strikes you about Cranford is the caliber of the cast. Second is the authenticity. From the clothes to the set design to the dedication– simply put, the BBC has done it again. Then, you realize how MANY CHARACTERS there are and wonder if you could possibly follow all of these storylines.
So here are the storylines:
Deborah Jenkyns (Eileen Atkins) and Matty Jenkyns (Judi Dench) are spinster sisters who take in their old friend’s daughter, Mary Smith (Lisa Dillon). Deborah is the clear alpha female of the household, and the moral voice of the town. Mary is staying with the Jenkyns sisters while she escapes her procreating machine of a stepmother.
“All around us, England shifts and changes, but Cranford stands fast. Its women are like Amazons, and to those that live here, it is the world entire.”
– Mary Smith
Then there are the new neighbors, Captain Brown (Jim Carter, “The Way We Live Now”) and his two daughters. Deborah Jenkyns doesn’t care for his lack of social grace, and is appalled by his interest in “popular” literature (Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers). But when one of his daughters passes away, she becomes a true friend to him and his surviving daughter, Jessie Brown (Julia Sawalha, “Pride & Prejudice,” “Horatio Hornblower”). Deborah even breaks with her usual rules about social conduct when she goes to Jessie’s side during her sister’s funeral. Jessie is going through some serious drama of her own. She’s in love with Major Gordon (Alistair Petrie, “The Forsyte Saga”), the man she has loved for years and the only man who is still interested in her, but turns down his proposal in order to take care of her father. Little does she know that her father can take care of himself. He alienates all of Cranford society when they find out he is in charge of a new railway project that will run straight through the town, disturbing their close-knit way of life. The news is so upsetting it leads to Deborah Jenkyns’s imminent death (possibly by means of a stroke).
Under the Jenkyns sisters’ noses, their maid is carrying on an affair with the local carpenter/journeyman Jem Hearne (Andrew Buchan, “Jane Eyre”). Jem is forced to do some dangerous work and ends up breaking his arm. A broken arm apparently is no little injury in 1842 and would likely end in an amputation– which is bad news for a carpenter.
In comes newcomer Dr. Harrison (Simon Woods, “Pride & Prejudice”) who is dangerous on 2 counts: he’s a bachelor among a sea of young and old unmarried women, and he brings modern medical practices. He promises Jem that he won’t cut off his arm, and uses new battlefield techniques to stave off gangrene before fixing him up.
Dr. Harrison is in love with young Sophy Hutton (Kimberley Nixon), the reverend’s daughter. However, the young doctor is always being pulled away by fainting spell faker Caroline Tomkinson (Selina Griffiths).
Meanwhile, the entire town is looking forward to Lady Ludlow’s (Francesca Annis) garden party. Ludlow is old school nobility with connections to the fallen French nobility. She clings to social traditions, and is so afraid of a French Revolution occurring in England that she desires all her servants to be ignorant on all accounts except for knowing the Bible and knowing their place. She rejects a servant because she can read and write.
Unlike his employer, Lady Ludlow’s “man of business” Mr. Carter (Philip Glenister, “Horatio Hornblower”) believes that education is the key to England’s success. He takes an interest in employing and educating a destitute boy whom he catches poaching off other people’s land. The young boy, Harry Gregson, is played by Alex Etel who found fame with his roles in “Water Horse: Legend of the Deep” and “Millions.”
“Ignorance is not a crime, but it is a waste, and waste is sinful.”
– Mr. Carter
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There have been complaints that the drama pales in comparison to BBC’s best such as Bleak House. However, you have to remember that though they were friends, Elizabeth Gaskell’s style and purpose varied greatly from her contemporary, Charles Dickens. Both writers were concerned with how people lived. But whereas Dickens was concerned with the plight of the poor and wrote soap opera-esque stories, Gaskell wrote about the people she knew best– the quaint and quirky people of small town U.K. As a minister’s wife, she encountered many of these people, and wrote about them. And unlike the villains in Dickensian novels, Gaskell’s “villains” are usually people who are just misunderstood. Even the factory owner of North and South, John Thornton, is noble despite the prejudice toward his profession. And horrid Mr. Preston of Wives & Daughters is simply a man consumed by love and jealousy.
If you are looking for an action-driven story, this may not be for you. But this character-driven story about social intricacies and the fear of change is beautiful and strong in its own right. As for the criticism that Gaskell merely writes about spinsters who are frenzied with gossip– once you watch or read any of her novels, you see that yes, there is gossip–but the stories are about how real people find inner strength during tragedy and how people can rally to each other’s aid. If anything, Cranford is Gaskell’s love letter to the people of small town U.K. And despite their meddlesome ways, the women of Cranford are good, kind, and strong women. Even the turgid and stern Deborah Jenkyns is surprisingly loveable. She aptly states, “No woman is an equal of a man. She is his superior in each and every way.”
