History Series / Cranford

''Cranford'' is a 2007 [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] television series based on four books by Creator/ElizabethGaskell: ''Cranford'', ''Mr Harrison's Confessions'', and ''My Lady Ludlow'', with themes from ''The Last Generation in England''. The teleplay was written by award-winning playwright and screenwriter Heidi Thomas.

%% * WidowWoman: Several of the Cranford ladies are widowed, mostly without children.

''Cranford'' is a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] television series based on four books by Creator/ElizabethGaskell: ''Cranford'', ''Mr Harrison's Confessions'', and ''My Lady Ludlow'', with themes from ''The Last Generation in England''. The teleplay was written by award-winning playwright and screenwriter Heidi Thomas.

* IllGirl: Younger Miss Brown. We don't see much of her, and she dies in the first episode. Her sister Jessie says she knew it would come, but she's breaking her heart.

%% * LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* ThemeTuneCameo: The music for the waltz at the end of ''Return to Cranford'' is the InstrumentalThemeTune of the series, albeit in 3/4 time (the original was in [[CommonTime 4/4]]). It's appropriately called "Cranford Waltz".

* MassiveNumberedSiblings: Mary Smith's half-siblings. There is five of them and the eldest is barely seven years old. And Mrs Smith is either chubby or expecting another child.

** Mary Smith ships dr. Frank Harrison and clergyman's daughter Sophy Hutton. She sees that dr. Harrison falls for Sophy and she thinks it would be a good and cute match.

* BreakTheCutie: Miss Matty gets her heart broken at ''least'' once an episode. Seeing as how she's played by Creator/JudiDench, tears from viewers follow.

* CharacterDevelopment: Everyone, really.
* CoolOldLady: A cast full of them, particularly Miss Matilda "Matty" Jenkyns.

* CostumeDrama

* DeathByChildbirth: [[spoiler: Martha]], and her baby dies too.
* DisappearingBox: Used in one of the most heartwarming moments on British television.

* FlowerMotifs: In episode 2, Jessie Brown receives a bouquet of anemones from Major Gordon, whose proposal of marriage she had to turn down years ago in order to care for her ill sister. In the Victorian language of flowers, anemones mean "love ever steadfast." Well played, Major Gordon. Very well played, indeed. [[spoiler:He wins her in the end.]]

* GorgeousPeriodDress: From the early Victorian era.
* GossipyHens: In this case, they're actually the main characters. Octavia Pole is the most gossipy of the lot.
* 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.

** Peggy Bell is always nice to her overbearing family, and steady in supporting the love of her life.
** Meek, kindhearted Miss Matty is an older example; she was this in her youth, and still retains the personality -- and the hair.

* TheIngenue: Sophy Hutton
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Lord Septimus
** The Widow Bell
** Edward Bell

-->'''William''': You ''don't'' want to marry me, do you, Erminia?
-->'''Erminia''': No, I do ''not!''
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* LoveAtFirstSight: Frank Harrison, for Sophy.
* LoveEpiphany: You can actually ''see'' the moment it hits William Buxton that he's in love with Peggy Bell.

* PuppyDogEyes: Miss Matty. And given what the poor woman goes through... well, there's a reason viewers spend so much time wanting to hug her.

** Mary Smith ships Frank Harrison and Sophy Hutton.
** Miss Matty ships William Buxton and Peggy Bell.
** Mr Buxton ships William Buxton and Erminia Whyte -- both of whom put a firm stop to ''that'' immediately.

** Miss Matty and Thomas Holbrook. Nothing ever went right for them.
** Depending on how the subtext is read, Laurentia Galindo and Edmund Carter.

* TooImportantToWalk: Mrs Jamieson.
* UndyingLoyalty: Martha, to Miss Matty. She refuses to go when Miss Matty is financially ruined and cannot afford a servant.

-->'''William''': We have always been equals. Love makes people so.
* UnwantedHarem: Poor, poor Doctor Harrison.

* WidowWoman: Several of the Cranford ladies are widowed, mostly without children.

** Sophy Hutton is pretty, fair-haired and pale-skinned, and is very helpful to her widowed father. She's always very lady-like and an in-universe LustObject for Doctor Harrison.

* CommunityThreateningConstruction: The imminent arrival of the railway is a major source of concern and disagreement in the community, with many concerned that it will destroy their way of life.

* CommunityThreateningConstruction: The railway.

* ChristmasCake:
** Jessie Brown has lost her bloom, nursing her ill mother and then sister. She had a suitor but turned him down because she felt an obligation to her family. Her father never noticed the relationship and quite insensitively tells her that she never even had a chance, even though he loves her deeply and is a caring parent.
** Averted with Miss Mary Smith. She appears to be in her mid-twenties, though her age is never stated. She says about herself that she's young and has no reason to feel dissatisfied with her lot. Her young step-mother desperately wants to marry her off, but Mary only feels embarrassed by her vulgar matchmaking. She never says never, but it would have to feel right, and she also says she hasn't yet felt a desire to have children of her own. In ''Return to Cranford'', she gets engaged, but breaks it off and decides to [[spoiler:move to London to pursue a career as a writer.]]

* OldMaid: Several of the Cranford ladies are unmarried older women.

* BreakTheCutie: Miss Matty gets her heart broken at ''least'' once an episode. Seeing as how she's played by JudiDench, tears from viewers follow.

* DisneyDeath: [[spoiler:Near the end of the last episode, young Harry is found dead, and Mr Hutton and Miss Galindo mourn him and regret the senseless waste of life... but wait, he still breaths! It's effective because children do die in this series.]]

* AllStarCast: The cast list reads like a "Who's Who" of the best of the British acting world.

** Miss Matty used to be a gentle English Rose when she was young. She was very pretty and people say her most striking feature was her complexion. She was very devoted to her family and actually never married because her family needed her support.

* ShipsThatPassInTheNight: The pairing of Sir Charles Maulver/Erminia Whyte sprang into existence based upon a single scene of them dancing together at the end of ''Return to Cranford''.