random item

Troperville

Tools

Find recent edits by troper:

back to: Main / Cranford

edit article | go to discussion page

14th Mar '13 12:57:16 AM PaulA

Send PaulA a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

namespace move

Changed line(s) 1,43 (click to see context) from:

''Cranford'' is a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] television series based on four books by Creator/ElizabethGaskell: ''Cranford'', ''The Last Generation in England'', ''Mr Harrison's Confessions'' and ''My Lady Ludlow''.

Set in the early 1840s in the fictional village of Cranford in the county of Cheshire in North West England, the story focuses primarily on the town's single and widowed middle class female inhabitants who are comfortable with their traditional way of life and place great store on propriety and maintaining an appearance of gentility. Among them are the spinster Jenkyns sisters, Matty and Deborah; their houseguest from Manchester, Mary Smith; Octavia Pole, the town's leading gossip; the Tomkinson sisters, Augusta and Caroline; Mrs Forrester, who treats her beloved cow Bessie as she would a daughter; Mrs Rose, the housekeeper for Doctor Harrison; Jessie Brown, who rejects Major Gordon's marriage proposal twice despite her feelings for him; Laurentia Galindo, a milliner who strongly believes men and women are on equal footing; the Honourable Mrs Jamieson, a snob who dresses her dog in ensembles to match her own; Sophy Hutton, the vicar's eldest daughter and surrogate mother to her three younger siblings, who is courted by Doctor Harrison; and the aristocratic Lady Ludlow, who lives in splendour at Hanbury Court and perceives change as a peril to the natural order of things.

The principal male characters are new arrival Doctor Frank Harrison, who is smitten with Sophy but unwittingly becomes the romantic target of both Mrs Rose and Caroline Tomkinson, who frequently feigns illness to hold his attention; Dr Morgan, an old-fashioned practitioner who finds himself challenged by the modern ideas of his young partner; Captain Brown, a military man whose common sense earns him a place of authority among the women; Edmund Carter, Lady Ludlow's land agent, a reformer who strongly advocates free education for the working class; Harry Gregson, the ambitious ten-year-old son of an impoverished poacher, who as Mr Carter's protégé learns to read and write; farmer Thomas Holbrook, Matty Jenkyn's one-time suitor, who was considered unsuitable by her family but is anxious to renew his relationship with her; Reverend Hutton, a widower with four children whose religious conviction is sometimes at odds with his instincts as a father; and Sir Charles Maulver, the local magistrate and director of the railway company.

The original mini-series was followed two years later by a sequel, ''Return to Cranford''. Wealthy widower Mr Buxton returns to live in Cranford with his son William and ward Erminia. Peggy Bell finds friends outside the circle of her unappreciative family. Mrs Jamieson is highly gratified when her sister-in-law, Lady Glenmire, comes to visit, but finds that nothing goes as she expected. Harry Gregson struggles with unforeseen difficulties along the path on which he was set by Mr Carter. The railway approaches Cranford, and with it many signs of change; Matty Jenkyns comes to belive that change must be embraced for the sake of Cranford's future, and persuades her friends to share the belief, with seemingly disastrous consequences.
----
!!Tropes
* AllStarCast
* AudienceSurrogate - Mary Smith acts as one.
* AnyoneCanDie
* CharacterDevelopment - Everyone, really.
* CoolOldLady - A cast full of them, particularly Matilda Jenkyns.
-->"My age? ''My age''? How old do you think I am that you talk about ''my age''?"
* CostumeDrama
* DisappearingBox
* GorgeousPeriodDress
* GossipyHens
* GrandeDame
** The Honourable Mrs. Jamieson, who is carted about in a sedan chair and is terribly condescending to the ladies of Cranford who are not as well-endowed as she.
** Lady Ludlow.
* HiddenHeartOfGold - Lady Ludlow cares deeply for the welfare of her employees, and is reluctant to sell even a small portion of her estate to the railway.
** In the first episode Deborah Jenkyns comes across as prim and convention-obsessed to the point of coldness. But when the sister of her neighbour, Jessie Brown, dies, and their father (who would normally represent the family at the funeral) is away, Miss. Jenkyns defies convention by attending the funeral to support Miss Brown's decision to be the chief mourner.
* TheIngenue - Sophy Hutton
* ItsAllAboutMe
** Lord Septimus
** The Widow Bell
** Edward Bell
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* MentorOccupationalHazard - [[spoiler: Mr. Carter, Harry's mentor, is killed by an explosion at the railway works.]]
* MoodWhiplash - Each episode is often so full of reversals, twists, and emotional upheaval that it can be quite exhausting to watch. Fortunately, it does these well, without ever devolving into a melodramatic mess.
* MrFanservice
** Doctor Harrison, in-universe and among the viewership.
** In the second series, William Buxton.
* ObliviousToLove - The extent to which Doctor Harrison can't seem to take the hint from poor Caroline Tomkinson is almost amusing.
* ParentalFavoritism - Widow Bell obviously favors the selfish Edward over the sweet and virtuous Peggy. In fact, Peggy is constantly criticized and is expected to serve Edward hand and foot. 
* PromotionToParent - Upon her mother's death, Sophy was left to raise her three younger siblings while still a child herself.
* RousseauWasRight - While no character in the cast is free from flaws, all are trying to do what they honestly believe is right and best. The sole exceptions are [[spoiler: Lady Ludlow's wastrel son Septimus and Peggy Bell's no-good gambling brother. Both are only concerned with their own selfish ends...and know it.]]
* TooImportantToWalk - Mrs Jamieson
* UnwantedHarem - Poor, poor Doctor Harrison.

----

to:

14th Mar '13 12:53:57 AM PaulA

Send PaulA a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Trivia.

Changed line(s) 1,2 (click to see context) from:

to:

Deleted line(s) 37 (click to see context) :

13th Mar '13 10:32:24 AM Kyrillion

Send Kyrillion a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

Added line(s) 23 (click to see context) :

24th Jan '13 11:55:32 PM PaulA