Three BBC miniseries adapted from Mary Gaskells classic novels.
Cranford, a market town in the North West of England, is a place governed by etiquette, custom and above all, an intricate network of ladies. It seems that life has always been conducted according to their social rules, but Cranford is on the cusp of change. Set in the Victorian era.
North & South follows Margaret Hale, the daughter of a middle-class parson who uproots the family from rural southern England to start a new life in Milton – a northern mill town in the throes of the industrial revolution. Wives and Daughters is set in a richly portrayed society well-stocked with eccentric nobles and gossipy villagers. The well-ordered world of 17-year-old Molly Gibson becomes complicated when her father, a respected country doctor, remarries after many years of widowhood. Set in the Victorian era.
Note: Many people place Wives and Daughters in the Victorian era, but, it seems the story begins about five years earlier, in the [Georgian era](http://www.willowandthatch.com/period-films-to-watch/period-dramas-georgian-regency-eras/). Writing in the 1860s, Gaskell chose to set the story in the 1830s, the time of her girlhood, making Molly her own contemporary: “Set in English society before the 1832 Reform Bill, Wives and Daughters centres on the story of youthful Molly Gibson, brought up from childhood by her father. When he remarries, a new step-sister enters Molly’s quiet life – loveable, but worldly and troubling, Cynthia. The narrative traces the development of the two girls into womanhood within the gossiping and watchful society of Hollingford.” All three films come highly recommended by Willow and Thatch, but if you enjoy Cranford, you’ll also want to see [Return to Cranford](http://amzn.to/1K5IvVD), which is not part of this box set.